A Swan's Tale

"This hurts, I know.
But you have been strong before, and you will be now.
What is burned can be replaced, what is destroyed can be made again.
In time you will win back your voice.
In time--in time, you will find your path back home."

--Juliet Marillier, Daughter of the Forest

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Tor Books

Pages: 560

Publication Date: February 18th, 2002

Source: Bought

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Previous Books in Series: First book in series

Goodreads Description

Lovely Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Bereft of a mother, she is comforted by her six brothers who love and protect her. Sorcha is the light in their lives, they are determined that she know only contentment.

But Sorcha's joy is shattered when her father is bewitched by his new wife, an evil enchantress who binds her brothers with a terrible spell, a spell which only Sorcha can lift-by staying silent. If she speaks before she completes the quest set to her by the Fair Folk and their queen, the Lady of the Forest, she will lose her brothers forever.

When Sorcha is kidnapped by the enemies of Sevenwaters and taken to a foreign land, she is torn between the desire to save her beloved brothers, and a love that comes only once. Sorcha despairs at ever being able to complete her task, but the magic of the Fair Folk knows no boundaries, and love is the strongest magic of them all...

Ok, where do I begin with this one? I had high expectations after both Alexa and Hannah pushed this series on me. Alexa is the queen of fantasy and Hannah’s fantasy tastes are very picky so this was a recipe for amazing knowing they loved and obsessed over this series for a week. I was NOT disappointed! I read this while traveling and while it took me longer than I wanted to finish it, it IS almost 600 pages long, I WANTED to find time to read! But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This story is about Sorcha and a re-telling of the Six Swans fairy tale, which I previously never heard of and still haven’t looked up properly. Sorcha is the seventh child of a seventh son and has six older brothers. The BEST part of this book for is HANDS DOWN the love…pure, undiluted, loyal LOVE between Sorcha and her brothers. They love each other so much and so deeply they will all do anything to ensure the other’s happiness and well-being even if it means sacrificing their own lives. How is this shown? Well Sorcha’s father marries a witch who puts a curse on her brothers, turning them into swans and giving Sorcha a near impossible task. Stay silent, don’t speak a word, and sew 6 shirts for her 6 brothers out of a plant whose prick is infinitely painful…piece of cake, right? LOLZ.

But I’m getting ahead of myself because quite a lot happens prior to this curse being thrust upon them but the main conflict of our story obviously revolves around Sorcha completing this task. Sorcha is strong, courageous, open-minded, smart yet vulnerable. She is the perfect example of a young woman learning to come into her own and trying to understand her emotions. It takes her awhile to get there sometimes but when she does, it’s worth it. Her journey is not easy and reading about her struggles is inspiring. The love she has for her brothers is one of a kind. All the siblings together brought my heart such joy that *I* wanted to be a part of the family! I know I'm tangenting again on their relationship but I just COULD NOT get enough! Ok, back to the story.

What else, what else can I say about this amazing story? It’s hard to put into words really just WHY I loved it. The story was fluid and slow-moving in the best way. The character development was phenomenal. The writing is heart-breaking and uplifting all at the same time. The fusion of the harsh realities of stark circumstances and the shred of hope Sorcha clings to is gorgeous in its execution. The contrast of her situation vs what she has in her heart is epic and bold and so totally raw in its emotion. It was a perfect mix of brutality and inspiration. The romance we get is a slow burn and while I wanted a little more passion, there is a scene at the end that holy balls, makes everything before it so much more intense. I’m not gonna lie, I wanted more from the romance but once a certain someone makes a little speech at the end I was like, boom, sold, ding, take me out of the oven, I’m done for.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot because you HAVE to experience it for yourself. It is just such a fantastic story of hope, love, desire, strength, and overcoming near impossible odds. Horrible things happen to Sorcha along the way and while it does not leave her unaffected, the fight she continues to show is amazing. She is such a strong female character and you root for her the entire story. I cannot wait to see where the rest of this series goes and I got a teaser chapter for the second book in my Kindle edition and OH my gosh, I can’t wait!!!

Backstage Pass

If you love fantasy, strong characters, magical plots, and an epic slow-burn of a romance…this one’s for you.