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The Bitterbynde #2
The Lady of the Sorrows
1st Tor 2002 large trade edition paperback vg++ book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
Paperback
First published April 24, 2002
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About the author
Cecilia Dart-Thornton
39 books409 followersJoin Cecilia's blog: https://ceciliadartthornton.substack....
Cecilia Dart-Thornton became a full-time writer in 2000 after her work was 'discovered' on the Internet and published by Time Warner (New York).
She is a lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and has been a judge of the World Fantasy Awards.
Her books are published around the world and have been translated into several languages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
THE BITTERBYNDE TRILOGY
'This series follows the journey of a mute, amnesiac foundling through a world of beauty and peril, teeming with faerie creatures.'
The Ill-Made Mute (2001)
The Lady of the Sorrows (2002)
The Battle of Evernight (2003)
THE CROWTHISTLE CHRONICLES
'A four-part epic fantasy describing the adventures that befall a cursed and gifted family.'
The Iron Tree (2004)
The Well of Tears (2005)
Weatherwitch (2006)
Fallowblade (2007)
SHORT STORIES
Long the Clouds are Over me Tonight (Published in the anthology Emerald Magic: Great Tales of Irish Fantasy; Tor Books, 2004)
The Stolen Swanmaiden (Published in Australian Women's Weekly September 2005)
The Lanes of Camberwell (Published by Harper Collins in the anthology DREAMING AGAIN, 2008)
The Enchanted (Published by Harper Collins in the anthology LEGENDS OF AUSTRALIAN FANTASY, 2010)
Cecilia Dart-Thornton became a full-time writer in 2000 after her work was 'discovered' on the Internet and published by Time Warner (New York).
She is a lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and has been a judge of the World Fantasy Awards.
Her books are published around the world and have been translated into several languages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
THE BITTERBYNDE TRILOGY
'This series follows the journey of a mute, amnesiac foundling through a world of beauty and peril, teeming with faerie creatures.'
The Ill-Made Mute (2001)
The Lady of the Sorrows (2002)
The Battle of Evernight (2003)
THE CROWTHISTLE CHRONICLES
'A four-part epic fantasy describing the adventures that befall a cursed and gifted family.'
The Iron Tree (2004)
The Well of Tears (2005)
Weatherwitch (2006)
Fallowblade (2007)
SHORT STORIES
Long the Clouds are Over me Tonight (Published in the anthology Emerald Magic: Great Tales of Irish Fantasy; Tor Books, 2004)
The Stolen Swanmaiden (Published in Australian Women's Weekly September 2005)
The Lanes of Camberwell (Published by Harper Collins in the anthology DREAMING AGAIN, 2008)
The Enchanted (Published by Harper Collins in the anthology LEGENDS OF AUSTRALIAN FANTASY, 2010)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
November 17, 2010
I'm giving up on this series. I wanted to re-read it because I loved it a lot the first two times I read it (when I was still in my fantasy stage of reading), and I needed to read something that didn't require any thought, but wow, it's boring.
The author seems to think that writing in a deadpan, old-fashioned style studded liberally with uncommon words makes for beautiful prose. I beg to differ. She also spends inordinate amounts of time describing food, clothing, furniture, banquets and other such things, in a most repetitious fashion.
The plot's not bad, as such (actually I was pleasantly surprised), and neither are the characters - though why do people always become boring as soon as they find beauty and wealth? The Irish fairy tales sprinkled throughout the plot are interesting, but often there are just too many of them, and when combined with the yawn-inducing pages and pages of description, there's just not enough happening.
The author seems to think that writing in a deadpan, old-fashioned style studded liberally with uncommon words makes for beautiful prose. I beg to differ. She also spends inordinate amounts of time describing food, clothing, furniture, banquets and other such things, in a most repetitious fashion.
The plot's not bad, as such (actually I was pleasantly surprised), and neither are the characters - though why do people always become boring as soon as they find beauty and wealth? The Irish fairy tales sprinkled throughout the plot are interesting, but often there are just too many of them, and when combined with the yawn-inducing pages and pages of description, there's just not enough happening.
January 13, 2012
The writer of this book is definitely talented, but was too enamored of her own powers of description for my taste. Many of the descriptive passages were beautifully poetic, but I often found myself admiring her turns of phrase while wanting her to get on with the story already! Yes, Cecilia, you're a poet and you know it, but did you really have to bring the story to a halt while you spent a whole page on exactly how the light fell on a pool of water, or listed all 263 tools in a character's workshop? Some reviewers were annoyed by the dozens of Celtic stories and myths crammed into the plot, but I didn't mind that too much because that's an interest of mine. But I agree that sometimes it appeared that Dart-Thornton wanted to use every story she'd ever been told or unearthed in her research, without regard to how they affected the structure of the book. I do think a discerning editor could have vastly improved this book by curbing Dart-Thornton's excesses, while keeping enough of the poetic language and the grounding in Celtic mythology to elevate the book above others of the genre.
Also, I listened to it as an audiobook, and the reader mispronounced so many not-so-uncommon words I wanted to scream. I wouldn't have minded mispronunciations of the Celtic or made-up words as much, but I was annoyed by the frequent mispronunciation of standard English words whose pronunciation could be checked in dictionary. I wish I'd kept a list, because now the only ones I can remember are "ebullient", which she pronounced "EB-yuh-lent", and "demesnes" which she pronounced "de-MEN-ses" (over and over, aargh!). I realize that neither of those are good examples of standard English words that a professional reader should know how to say, but trust me, there were many others.
I think I'd have liked these books better if I'd read instead of listened so that I could have skimmed the song lyrics and over-long descriptions, and so I wouldn't have been constantly irritated by mispronunciations. After skimming the reviews of the third book in this trilogy, I've decided not to bother with it at all.
Also, I listened to it as an audiobook, and the reader mispronounced so many not-so-uncommon words I wanted to scream. I wouldn't have minded mispronunciations of the Celtic or made-up words as much, but I was annoyed by the frequent mispronunciation of standard English words whose pronunciation could be checked in dictionary. I wish I'd kept a list, because now the only ones I can remember are "ebullient", which she pronounced "EB-yuh-lent", and "demesnes" which she pronounced "de-MEN-ses" (over and over, aargh!). I realize that neither of those are good examples of standard English words that a professional reader should know how to say, but trust me, there were many others.
I think I'd have liked these books better if I'd read instead of listened so that I could have skimmed the song lyrics and over-long descriptions, and so I wouldn't have been constantly irritated by mispronunciations. After skimming the reviews of the third book in this trilogy, I've decided not to bother with it at all.
March 13, 2009
The second book in a trilogy, The Lady of the Sorrows sets an even faster pace than An Ill-Made Mute. Some quests and questions from the first book are resolved, and at the end of the book both the reader and the character finally has a complete understanding of the beginning of the trilogy. :~D Several throwaway references have gained a deeper meaning by now, and the ending promises a truly exiting finale.
There's also a very sweet romance, oodles of action, and several pieces of witty dialogue. I especially enjoy the way Irish-type fairy tales are interweaved through the book, and how these tales are usually quite relevant to the plot. It may look long, but this book just sucks you in and won't let go... as evidenced by my finishing it at 01:30 last night.
There's also a very sweet romance, oodles of action, and several pieces of witty dialogue. I especially enjoy the way Irish-type fairy tales are interweaved through the book, and how these tales are usually quite relevant to the plot. It may look long, but this book just sucks you in and won't let go... as evidenced by my finishing it at 01:30 last night.
October 28, 2013
(This is a joint review for the entire trilogy. No spoilers)
So, the first book in the trilogy is titled The Ill-Made Mute. I highly recommend it. Now, a large part of the book is very hard to wade through. I would not be surprised if this woman had earned a doctorate in pre-Industrial Celtic and Anglo-Saxon folk tales and legends. She incorporates almost every known folk tale from these cultures as a bona-fide part of her world. The Great Hunt rides at night, seelie and un-seelie wights await at every turn, and more or less every superstition is held as gospel. The woman uses a few Gaelic terms here and there, and much of the spellings, and many of the names, are Celtic.
This can get very distracting.
There will be long, drawn out 20 page passages where she basically just retells a folk tale for the reader, without any of the book's characters participating, just listening to the tale be told, or she'll even pause the action entirely to give this as a 20 page aside. And when words like Fithiach, Imrhien and Each Uisage are used at whims, the book can sometimes be hard to wade through.
But, the tale was amazing, and she is perhaps the best author I've read at being able to make the world around you seem alive. Never before have I read a book where the author evokes in me the thoughts and feelings I had as a child going camping. Every odd noise in the woods was some animal, or a sprite of some kind just out of sight, playing games with our fears. The world is truly alive around you. This was a whole new type of fantasy writing.
The tale itself concerns a disfigured mute amnesiac (say that three times fast) who stumbles out of a collapsed mineshaft and is taken in by some type of scullery maid or something. The whole tale is told third person limited, so we only know of the world what this mute knows, which is nothing. It's a great way to introduce the world to us. And what a world it is. There's apparently 2 metals in this world not in ours, sildron and allium. Sildron has the peculiar magnetic property of repelling gravity. Allium, when placed between sildron and earth, nullifies this anti-grav effect. Thus, a whole culture of airborne messengers riding winged horses with sildron-shod feet arises. There are huge sailing ships, akin to the British Navy of the 1700s, with their external hulls lined with sildron, and movable allium covers (allowing them to change their amount of lift). Combine all this with a typical medieval fantasy world, and add in all the folk legends, and you have one helluva new world.
Despite what may sound like a few big flags and complaints on my end, I fully suggest everyone read it, if for nothing else than a look at a refreshing new fantasy world, and a completely different writing style than any I've ever come across before.
I liked it enough to want to buy the rest of the trilogy
Partly because of the novelty of her writing style, and partly because Book II (The Lady of the Sorrows) had a character named The Lady Dianella in it. So, back during my latest Barnes and Noble buying spree I picked up the second and third (The Battle of Evernight) books.
The cool thing is, about 3/4 of the way through book 2 (The Lady of the Sorrows), some very cool plot developments arise that make you realize she probably planned out and wrote all three books before anyone even saw 1 page of them, and that they are very cooly thought out and planned. And there is some exciting action and interesting plot twists. Many kudos to her for a well thought out series. She also knows her geology and botany.
The problem, however, is that the 20 page asides have grow both in frequency and length, and instead of being a decent quest fantasy, it somehow rapidly turned into a harlequin romance. Or at least, a bunch of Victorian type damsels at court pining and wisting away in very flowery language over the same, graceful, exquisitely handsome (sorry, comely), sensitive, caring, and understanding man. There was even mention somewhere about a woman being proud that the one thing she was able to give to the man who had everything was the most marvelous gift of all, the once given and always cherished maidenhead. Yes, that was how she described it. Or maybe he described it that way. Either way, the books weren't what I bargained for. I found myself skimming 20, 30, 60 page passages at a time simply to getback to a plot and some semblance of a break from internal dialogues. This is the first time I've skipped chunks of a book since I tried to read Dr. Zhivago entirely in 1 night, for a quiz the next morning. (It didn't go well at all)
Also, the novel writing style she had in the first book becomes bloated and amplified, so that every description is a long string of alliteration, metaphor, and hyperbole, not to mention anthropomorphization. I mean, passages like, "the book of night opened across the sky, it's paragraphs written in constellations" can be very cool, but when that's the shortest, clearest, and most direct description of nightfall the woman can come up with (and believe me, there were many many more in the book, all of them long and pointless ways of saying "it was nighttime") - then there's an editor somewhere sound asleep at her desk, or just not showing up for work. This woman can make Robert Jordan's descriptive style seem sparse and insufficient.
Anyway, skipping to the end... In the paperback version I have of the third book (The Battle of Evernight), there is a one-page epilogue/Author's Note that says, in a nutshell, that when the first edition of the third book came out, no one could understand the ending. Not that they couldn't see how the characters could do whatever it is they did, but that no one was at all clear on what happened. Apparently, there was enough confusion about this that the author felt it necessary (in the paperback release) to include a few paragraphs explaining, in layman's terms, exactly what happened in clear and understandable language.
So, the first book in the trilogy is titled The Ill-Made Mute. I highly recommend it. Now, a large part of the book is very hard to wade through. I would not be surprised if this woman had earned a doctorate in pre-Industrial Celtic and Anglo-Saxon folk tales and legends. She incorporates almost every known folk tale from these cultures as a bona-fide part of her world. The Great Hunt rides at night, seelie and un-seelie wights await at every turn, and more or less every superstition is held as gospel. The woman uses a few Gaelic terms here and there, and much of the spellings, and many of the names, are Celtic.
This can get very distracting.
There will be long, drawn out 20 page passages where she basically just retells a folk tale for the reader, without any of the book's characters participating, just listening to the tale be told, or she'll even pause the action entirely to give this as a 20 page aside. And when words like Fithiach, Imrhien and Each Uisage are used at whims, the book can sometimes be hard to wade through.
But, the tale was amazing, and she is perhaps the best author I've read at being able to make the world around you seem alive. Never before have I read a book where the author evokes in me the thoughts and feelings I had as a child going camping. Every odd noise in the woods was some animal, or a sprite of some kind just out of sight, playing games with our fears. The world is truly alive around you. This was a whole new type of fantasy writing.
The tale itself concerns a disfigured mute amnesiac (say that three times fast) who stumbles out of a collapsed mineshaft and is taken in by some type of scullery maid or something. The whole tale is told third person limited, so we only know of the world what this mute knows, which is nothing. It's a great way to introduce the world to us. And what a world it is. There's apparently 2 metals in this world not in ours, sildron and allium. Sildron has the peculiar magnetic property of repelling gravity. Allium, when placed between sildron and earth, nullifies this anti-grav effect. Thus, a whole culture of airborne messengers riding winged horses with sildron-shod feet arises. There are huge sailing ships, akin to the British Navy of the 1700s, with their external hulls lined with sildron, and movable allium covers (allowing them to change their amount of lift). Combine all this with a typical medieval fantasy world, and add in all the folk legends, and you have one helluva new world.
Despite what may sound like a few big flags and complaints on my end, I fully suggest everyone read it, if for nothing else than a look at a refreshing new fantasy world, and a completely different writing style than any I've ever come across before.
I liked it enough to want to buy the rest of the trilogy
Partly because of the novelty of her writing style, and partly because Book II (The Lady of the Sorrows) had a character named The Lady Dianella in it. So, back during my latest Barnes and Noble buying spree I picked up the second and third (The Battle of Evernight) books.
The cool thing is, about 3/4 of the way through book 2 (The Lady of the Sorrows), some very cool plot developments arise that make you realize she probably planned out and wrote all three books before anyone even saw 1 page of them, and that they are very cooly thought out and planned. And there is some exciting action and interesting plot twists. Many kudos to her for a well thought out series. She also knows her geology and botany.
The problem, however, is that the 20 page asides have grow both in frequency and length, and instead of being a decent quest fantasy, it somehow rapidly turned into a harlequin romance. Or at least, a bunch of Victorian type damsels at court pining and wisting away in very flowery language over the same, graceful, exquisitely handsome (sorry, comely), sensitive, caring, and understanding man. There was even mention somewhere about a woman being proud that the one thing she was able to give to the man who had everything was the most marvelous gift of all, the once given and always cherished maidenhead. Yes, that was how she described it. Or maybe he described it that way. Either way, the books weren't what I bargained for. I found myself skimming 20, 30, 60 page passages at a time simply to getback to a plot and some semblance of a break from internal dialogues. This is the first time I've skipped chunks of a book since I tried to read Dr. Zhivago entirely in 1 night, for a quiz the next morning. (It didn't go well at all)
Also, the novel writing style she had in the first book becomes bloated and amplified, so that every description is a long string of alliteration, metaphor, and hyperbole, not to mention anthropomorphization. I mean, passages like, "the book of night opened across the sky, it's paragraphs written in constellations" can be very cool, but when that's the shortest, clearest, and most direct description of nightfall the woman can come up with (and believe me, there were many many more in the book, all of them long and pointless ways of saying "it was nighttime") - then there's an editor somewhere sound asleep at her desk, or just not showing up for work. This woman can make Robert Jordan's descriptive style seem sparse and insufficient.
Anyway, skipping to the end... In the paperback version I have of the third book (The Battle of Evernight), there is a one-page epilogue/Author's Note that says, in a nutshell, that when the first edition of the third book came out, no one could understand the ending. Not that they couldn't see how the characters could do whatever it is they did, but that no one was at all clear on what happened. Apparently, there was enough confusion about this that the author felt it necessary (in the paperback release) to include a few paragraphs explaining, in layman's terms, exactly what happened in clear and understandable language.
January 22, 2012
This series utterly blew me away. I was already impressed with the first volume, but Thornton, takes us into a completely different context and setting in her second book, and manages to keep the same level of complexity and atmosphere. I actually think this book was more of a challenge to create the atmosphere. Being predominantly in an enchanted wood, the first book was already predisposed to be enchanting, but the second book takes place almost entirely around the complexities of court politics, and yet still manages to be quite enchanting. Some people might find Thornton's use of adjectives and obscure archaic nouns a bit cumbersome, but I generally found she used them in a descriptive capacity, which ultimately served to weave the tapestry of the world into vivid immediacy. What I find so refreshing about Cecilia's work is that she does not use the theme of prophesy, which I ultimately find to be a conceit. The heroine is simply living her life, is somewhat adrift in a bewildering set of circumstances, and has no clear notion of what she is meant to be doing. For me this created a greater feeling of suspense as to what was going to occure. The drawback of prophesy, is that it also tends to be a bit of a spoiler. If the hero is destined to save the realm, there's a good chance he's going to pull in off in a fantasy novel. Celia leaves us in the dark as to what will happen to the heroine, and for me personally, she got me to care about the main character, which I rarely do.
May 24, 2010
I'm not sure what happened here. It's like her writing suddenly got really bad, because I don't remember the first book being like this. The writing was so trite, filled to bursting with metaphors and rambling lists, insipid dialogue...argh. I do want to finish the trilogy because the story at least is still interesting, but this book has got to win a purple prose award of some kind. It actually reminds me of the things I don't like about Tolkien: way too much scenery porn, overly flowery dialogue, very little complexity, and reading through it just feels like a slog with little reward.
October 25, 2018
At this point, it's impossible to stop reading.
July 23, 2011
Overall, I really enjoyed The Lady of the Sorrows. The story got a lot better towards the end - the storyline actually moved somewhere. The author was under the impression that using long and mostly unused words and listing huge paragraphs of what someone was wearing, or the food that was being served etc. contributed to the story. Well, suffice to say, it didn't. I found myself skimming over whole paragraphs, just to get to the actual story.
I did like the references to mythology, and the legends told throughout the book were captivating. The twists were mainly unpredictable, and I couldn't see them coming.
I did like the references to mythology, and the legends told throughout the book were captivating. The twists were mainly unpredictable, and I couldn't see them coming.
August 27, 2011
Gripping, the story gets better. Very cleverly written and I'm straight onto the next one now :) great series
December 8, 2017
I read book 1 and was curious enough to start book 2 so I could find out who the main character was. Unfortunately, I just couldn't finish. The writing is so bogged down with random and unimportant details that it just become exhausting to continue. Additionally, the writer really loves commas!
Here's an example:
"All over Erith, in hovels and bothies, in cottages and crofts, in cottages, marketplaces, smithies, and workshops, in barracks, taverns, malt-houses, and inns, in manor house, stately homes, and Relayer Towers, in halls and keeps, castles and places, the set holly garlands on rooftrees, ivy festoons around inglenooks, sprays of mistletoe about the doors and strolled wreaths of pine and fir and spruce on every available projection."
Aren't you just exhausted after reading that? And this book is filled with lists and scenes of where inconsequential things happen. The author certainly wanted to make sure that nothing was left to the imagination.
Then to make things worse, one of the main characters begins speaking with Thee's and Thou's midway through the story. Really? Evidently this indicates royalty. And the main character suddenly becomes someone else - not just in name, but in behavior. In book one she seems to be very young, but by book 2 years must have gone by because although the plot hasn't moved forward much, she is now quite mature.
If the author had spent more time working on character and plot, and less time trying to fit in everything that entered her mind, the story would have been a fun fairytale. As it is, I decided that finding out the who and why of the main character just wasn't important enough to compel me to read any further.
Here's an example:
"All over Erith, in hovels and bothies, in cottages and crofts, in cottages, marketplaces, smithies, and workshops, in barracks, taverns, malt-houses, and inns, in manor house, stately homes, and Relayer Towers, in halls and keeps, castles and places, the set holly garlands on rooftrees, ivy festoons around inglenooks, sprays of mistletoe about the doors and strolled wreaths of pine and fir and spruce on every available projection."
Aren't you just exhausted after reading that? And this book is filled with lists and scenes of where inconsequential things happen. The author certainly wanted to make sure that nothing was left to the imagination.
Then to make things worse, one of the main characters begins speaking with Thee's and Thou's midway through the story. Really? Evidently this indicates royalty. And the main character suddenly becomes someone else - not just in name, but in behavior. In book one she seems to be very young, but by book 2 years must have gone by because although the plot hasn't moved forward much, she is now quite mature.
If the author had spent more time working on character and plot, and less time trying to fit in everything that entered her mind, the story would have been a fun fairytale. As it is, I decided that finding out the who and why of the main character just wasn't important enough to compel me to read any further.
June 30, 2021
Settled on 4 stars for this book. Gave the first book 3 which I felt was a little harsh and I sort of feel I'm being a bit generous giving this one 4 stars.
I found that early on I had already predicted Thorn's identity and that the death of a character from the first book had been exaggerated.
Also felt that it was really dragging on at the start with a lot of pages (and words) passing without much actually happening.
However, it really picked up the pace at the end and took a twist that I had not seen coming. I found that I was really enjoying it and want to know how it all ends in the last book.
That alone basically earns it 4 stars.
Also think that regardless how tedious I find it to plough through page after page of lavish description and little action, this might be one of those series that sticks in my memory for a long time after I finish.
I found that early on I had already predicted Thorn's identity and that the death of a character from the first book had been exaggerated.
Also felt that it was really dragging on at the start with a lot of pages (and words) passing without much actually happening.
However, it really picked up the pace at the end and took a twist that I had not seen coming. I found that I was really enjoying it and want to know how it all ends in the last book.
That alone basically earns it 4 stars.
Also think that regardless how tedious I find it to plough through page after page of lavish description and little action, this might be one of those series that sticks in my memory for a long time after I finish.
August 14, 2019
3.75 stars, rounding up.
Some little things bugged me about the writing--the multiplicity of aliases this main character goes through, her obsession with Thorne (which was over the top enough to bug me despite my normal enjoyment of romance subplots), Thorne's true identity, the unnecessary fashion descriptions, the hodge-podge way of chucking in every British/Celtic folk story the author thought of, the practically straight regurgitation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin (though I did appreciate how the story eventually tied back into the plot; that was cool and well done and went some good places)...but still. A decent book, and I liked the island interlude, and overall I did enjoy it and will read the final book soon.
Some little things bugged me about the writing--the multiplicity of aliases this main character goes through, her obsession with Thorne (which was over the top enough to bug me despite my normal enjoyment of romance subplots), Thorne's true identity, the unnecessary fashion descriptions, the hodge-podge way of chucking in every British/Celtic folk story the author thought of, the practically straight regurgitation of the Pied Piper of Hamelin (though I did appreciate how the story eventually tied back into the plot; that was cool and well done and went some good places)...but still. A decent book, and I liked the island interlude, and overall I did enjoy it and will read the final book soon.
November 29, 2017
This book is long winded but very well thought out. The combination of the loss of some side characters who were important to the main character with the gaining of her true past was fantastic. I was so sad to know that Thorn's son may have died and Thomas the Bard also, that was heart wrenching and now that Rohain knows who she is and why she is being hunted she get back to the origin quest she had as a child. The villains in this series now have more history and depth to them which is good. They aren't some evil unknown entity. Thorn and Rohain's relationship is so precious and cute. If you can endure long winded lyrical writing then this series is for you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2018
Another story with way too many words wasted on descriptions and characters telling horror stories of the fae. Another story ending with a cliffhanger. This trilogy could probably have been condensed into a single story with some decent editing.
Another weird thing - in the first story the heroine is somehow wise and makes smart choices. In this story she keeps making stupid choices. It’s like her whole character was changed when she got her face and her voice back. I wish I had known this was a story about the fae before I bought it. I would have saved my money. There are no happy stories about the fae.
Another weird thing - in the first story the heroine is somehow wise and makes smart choices. In this story she keeps making stupid choices. It’s like her whole character was changed when she got her face and her voice back. I wish I had known this was a story about the fae before I bought it. I would have saved my money. There are no happy stories about the fae.
March 28, 2020
I'm having a love/hate relationship with this series.
On the one hand, it's a good story with interesting stuff happening.
On the other hand, OMG WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS WOMAN AN EDITOR?! Seriously, if she can use 7 words to describe something instead of one? She will use NINE just in case. On both of the books I've read so far I have had to adopt a "skimming" style of reading just to get through the overabundance of verbiage.
Every time I'm on the verge of putting the book down, though, something happens that sucks me back in to the story.
I'm plowing right into number three - I'll say more about the series as a whole when it's done.
On the one hand, it's a good story with interesting stuff happening.
On the other hand, OMG WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS WOMAN AN EDITOR?! Seriously, if she can use 7 words to describe something instead of one? She will use NINE just in case. On both of the books I've read so far I have had to adopt a "skimming" style of reading just to get through the overabundance of verbiage.
Every time I'm on the verge of putting the book down, though, something happens that sucks me back in to the story.
I'm plowing right into number three - I'll say more about the series as a whole when it's done.
Read
May 9, 2020Wow, this one had some wild twists and turns in it! I really enjoyed this novel. It's a great fantasy romp through an interesting world, it continues an intriguing tale from the first novel and WOW does it through some curveballs. The big reveal of who Rohain really is, that comes at the end of the novel, was just so unexpected and such an interesting story. I started reading the third book straight away because I just need to know what happens. Although one thing I will say: this series is so PG13 it's painful. Give me at least a fade to black or something, you know? Insufficient smooches and romantical entanglements for my liking.
October 26, 2016
The second in the Bitterbynde trilogy this was a little better than the first. Halfway through it was like someone else wrote the book. Much tighter, less of the endless descriptive lists. I think maybe she got a new editor. Why they didn't go back and redo the first half I can't fathom. Anyway most of this volume was a lot of wandering around having adventures or not. But we do finally get the main characters story. She has about 4 different named throughout the series so I'm not sure what to call her.
November 21, 2016
Deel II in de Bitterbynde trilogie. Ja, eens begonnen moet men doorlezen want het is spannend!hervi
In dit deel wordt het ware doel van het hoofdpersonage duidelijk en dit na en met het overwinnen van vele obstakels en gevaarlijke tochten.
Opnieuw fantasy zoals het hoort maar nu met een creatieve twist op basis van het verhaal van de rattenvanger van Haemelen.
Goed geschreven, vlot leesbaar en eentje dat je moeilijk kan wegleggen.
https://www.leespleziervoorjou.nl/bit...
In dit deel wordt het ware doel van het hoofdpersonage duidelijk en dit na en met het overwinnen van vele obstakels en gevaarlijke tochten.
Opnieuw fantasy zoals het hoort maar nu met een creatieve twist op basis van het verhaal van de rattenvanger van Haemelen.
Goed geschreven, vlot leesbaar en eentje dat je moeilijk kan wegleggen.
https://www.leespleziervoorjou.nl/bit...
January 9, 2018
I would have liked this book more if it was 200 pages worth of description shorter. I think this one is worse than the first. The writing is overly flowery and filled with lists of descriptions that become hard to wade through. The middle lagged a lot and I thought I might give up. But overall the story is pretty good and has some interesting parts that can really hold your attention if you can make it through everything else. I'm debating whether to read the third. Maybe after a really long break.
March 26, 2018
3 1/2 stars
I really enjoy the storyline and it's what's keeping me going with the series, I just wish there was more push for the story itself to build instead of every minute detail of just about everything that doesn't really matter. Yes there's a call for building up the world in novels, but to have to go nearly a page or 2 full on just describing one room with all it's decorative's and colours. It gets tedious at times trying to push past the over-descriptive parts, but if you get past them, or are a fan of all that detail then the story itself is great.
I really enjoy the storyline and it's what's keeping me going with the series, I just wish there was more push for the story itself to build instead of every minute detail of just about everything that doesn't really matter. Yes there's a call for building up the world in novels, but to have to go nearly a page or 2 full on just describing one room with all it's decorative's and colours. It gets tedious at times trying to push past the over-descriptive parts, but if you get past them, or are a fan of all that detail then the story itself is great.
January 17, 2022
As much as I enjoyed Book 1 ("The Ill-Made Mute") of this trilogy, I thought the second book, "The Lady of the Sorrows" was even better. The author's use of language is like a beautiful painting, full of color and emotion, as she weaves her tale of her heroine's quest to find her identity, and the meaning of her life. The quest is not a simple one, and after much travail, the story leaves you hanging for the last chapter of the tale, which I will eagerly start soon. Cecilia Dart-Thornton is an artist, who deserves to be better known.
March 21, 2022
I was reading this and realizing exactly where this story was going to go... The mute/lady was going to do something to get separated from the King and try the whole book to get back to him. I'm so sick to death of this plotline. But NO!! It was so good. Such a cool twist and I enjoyed every page of this story all the way to the end. Now, without hesitation or wait, I am starting the final book and I am just as excited 900 pages into the story as I was when it first opened up. This book series is simply fantastic.
January 23, 2025
I keep reading people's reviews that talk about what a lovely romance or love story these books have and while there is a love story plotline, it's shallow at best. There was instalove on her part in book 1 and there is absolutely nothing in either book 1 or 2 to give me any real indication about why he has feelings for her, and, in fact, any real depth of their relationship. I wasn't reading it for their love story, but if you're reading it because other people say it has a romance/love story...eengh?
May 13, 2022
The second of The Bitterbynde Trilogy in which the former mute with the damaged face, now renamed Imrhien has regained her true face and has a name. Yet she still has no memories of who she was before she became mute. She now goes to court, renaming herself Lady Rohain, with a story of having come from the Sorrowful Isles. There she makes quite a stir, gaining both friends and enemies. In the end she is sent by her fiancé to a distant isle that is protected with magic where they should be safe. Only they aren't. Disaster happens, she with two of her maids survive the wreck of their ship. She now guesses that her story has much wider implications and has a strong idea about where she must go to regain her memories. Accompanied by her two faithful friends (maids, really, but so much more than that) she goes on this quest. At the end, Rohain has gained her memories and yet ANOTHER name. Ashalind. The name thing is getting to be a bit much, although I think this is likely the last one. Also I know that many readers will/would be put off by Thornton-Dart's prolixity. She LOVES naming and describing obscurities from tableware to items of clothing, musical instruments to the names of the myriad wights. She's worked hard to acquire this information and wants to use every little bit of it. I'm in two minds, on the one the story is slowed by these endless lists, on the other she is darned good at it. Be warned. ***1/2
May 26, 2022
I really liked the first book in this trilogy The Ill Made Mute and it encouraged me to pick up this the second in the series, and while this one is ok, I am not as eager to read the third.
I found Imhrien (Rohain) a far more interesting character in the first book than I did in this book.
I found Imhrien (Rohain) a far more interesting character in the first book than I did in this book.
June 18, 2021
This was Amazing read. Happy she kept it detailed like the first one. I'm about to start book 3 now. Again this book is slow and a lot of story telling but honestly I don't mind it at all, and a lot of old folk lore storys. If you are interested make sure to read it from a library first cause it is not for everyone.
September 13, 2021
From the first book, the mute drudge has been cured and is beautiful and living under a false name. Rohain of The Sorrows goes to court to try to tell the King-Emperor about a vast treasure she and a traveling companion found in the first book. War is afoot, with magical creatures heeding the call from the north. Huon, horned leader of the hunt, and every other unseelie, looks for Rohain. Why?
November 9, 2022
I loved the Ill-Made Mute and really looked forward to reading the second book. I couldn’t finish it. The author filled page after page of detailed descriptions of scenery, costumes, and tales that seemed to be side notes that I found myself skimming paragraphs to figure out what truly was happening next in the plot. I finally gave up.
March 7, 2024
Ok wow ! so many things have happened and I’m enjoying these twists and turns ! I was so happy Irmhein / Rohain found Thorn again, so saddened they have been separated again so I can’t wait to see what happens next between them. All of Irmheins / Rohains memories are coming back after finding her bracelet which have been adventurous .
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed following our heroine through a completely different challenge in this book. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the first book more, but found myself more connected to the characters in this one. Loved it!
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