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A review by bookwoods
Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier
5.0
Second read, 3/2021, 5/5
What can I say, I still love Heart's Blood as much as two years ago and it has secured its place as my all time favorite fantasy romance.
First read, 3/2019, 5/5
Juliet Marillier is quickly becoming my favourite fantasy author. Her books are perfect for escapism – while I’m reading them I can’t focus on anything else as I get so immersed in the characters’ lives. The unfortunate consequence of this is severe book hangovers, where returning to the real world and starting a new book feel extremely difficult.
I’m experiencing the hangover especially strongly after Heart’s Blood, which is Marillier’s only standalone novel and a loose retelling of The Beauty and the Beast. It’s never been one of my favourite fairy tales (apart from the library scene), but this is better than any other interpretation I’ve read or seen. Marillier definitely adds her own imaginative twists to the story making it her own.
The romance is more of a focal point than in any other Marillier’s books that I’ve read so far and I was deeply (perhaps even too deeply) invested in the relationship. But there’s more to the story as well. I loved figuring out the mystery element and appreciated all the mundane scenes with the fantastic side characters. The theme of domestic abuse was handled really well and the prose is truly transportative. The story is slow paced, but as I read this in a day I couldn’t really even notice that.
What can I say, I still love Heart's Blood as much as two years ago and it has secured its place as my all time favorite fantasy romance.
First read, 3/2019, 5/5
Juliet Marillier is quickly becoming my favourite fantasy author. Her books are perfect for escapism – while I’m reading them I can’t focus on anything else as I get so immersed in the characters’ lives. The unfortunate consequence of this is severe book hangovers, where returning to the real world and starting a new book feel extremely difficult.
I’m experiencing the hangover especially strongly after Heart’s Blood, which is Marillier’s only standalone novel and a loose retelling of The Beauty and the Beast. It’s never been one of my favourite fairy tales (apart from the library scene), but this is better than any other interpretation I’ve read or seen. Marillier definitely adds her own imaginative twists to the story making it her own.
The romance is more of a focal point than in any other Marillier’s books that I’ve read so far and I was deeply (perhaps even too deeply) invested in the relationship. But there’s more to the story as well. I loved figuring out the mystery element and appreciated all the mundane scenes with the fantastic side characters. The theme of domestic abuse was handled really well and the prose is truly transportative. The story is slow paced, but as I read this in a day I couldn’t really even notice that.