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The Bitterbynde #3
The Battle of Evernight
Once upon a time the great Faeran high king, Angavar, became trapped in mortal Erith along with his twin brother - and nemesis - Morragan 'the Raven Prince', when the gate to the Faeran Realm was closed on them...Now, many centuries later, the fugitive who calls herself Tahquil has at last discovered the truth. She is being hunted down by the Raven Prince because she alone can reopen the gate to the Fair Realm, so Morragan plans to use her for his escape from exile. However, Tahquil's mind is still clouded by a potent spell called the Bitterbynde, and she is also dying from a mystical wasting disease. The cure, and the final answers to the mystery of her past, can only be found in Evernight - at the fortress of the Raven Prince himself.Nothing can prepare Tahquil for the horror that is Evernight. Here magic rules, the sun is banished - and the Raven Prince's whims shape the very nature of existence. As Morragan's wights and Angavar's knights become locked in a battle that could engulf all of Erith, Tahquil's quest for the truth finally hinges on a desperate choice. If she opens the Gate, will she thereby save two worlds - or instead destroy everything she holds dear? 'I extend the More! More!' - Tanith Lee. 'Like Tolkien and many of the best fantasy writers, Dart-Thornton has created a wonderful fantasy world that is a delight to wander through' - "Herald-Sun".
634 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 2002
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1109 people want to read
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 115 reviews
May 23, 2009
The end of this book disappointed me - bitterly.
The other two books of the series were brilliant, if they did do a little rambling, there was no harm in it.
However, I might as well have skipped the majority of this book. I found Ashalind's main journey to be bland, and uninteresting, as well as confusing. Also, the lack of emotion displayed by some characters was unnerving.
Although I started to like it towards the end, because Dart-Thornton had FINALLY gotten her act together, and stopped the waffling, I intensely disliked it at the very end. The resolution was rushed, and it had seemed like Dart-Thornton was simply making up excuses to stop the story, and picked the shortest ending that she could think of.
While I do not like this book, I enjoyed the creativity of the series, even if most of it was borrowed from folk-tales.
the battle of evernight: the bitterbynde book III
The other two books of the series were brilliant, if they did do a little rambling, there was no harm in it.
However, I might as well have skipped the majority of this book. I found Ashalind's main journey to be bland, and uninteresting, as well as confusing. Also, the lack of emotion displayed by some characters was unnerving.
Although I started to like it towards the end, because Dart-Thornton had FINALLY gotten her act together, and stopped the waffling, I intensely disliked it at the very end. The resolution was rushed, and it had seemed like Dart-Thornton was simply making up excuses to stop the story, and picked the shortest ending that she could think of.
While I do not like this book, I enjoyed the creativity of the series, even if most of it was borrowed from folk-tales.
the battle of evernight: the bitterbynde book III
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.
July 20, 2016
Do you want a book that is the most disappointing ending possible to a very promising trilogy?
Do you want a book where any charm or dimension that the characters once had is completely erased?
A book where the plot is extremely redundant, endless variations on the plot "twist" "you were told in absolutely certain terms to never violate this rule about dealing with fairies, and you violated it! EXTREMELY VIOLENT CONSEQUENCES which for some reason the heroes will escape from scot-free!"?
Does your heart crave a book that has eschewed all the actual interesting character interactions for a dumb, tell-don't-show romance with a boring, one-dimensional Gary Stu of a love interest?
Does your fantasy-loving soul crave a book full of underdeveloped fairy creatures, each of whom speaks in a less intelligible accent than the one before?
Is your idea of wonderful worldbuilding to craft an inventive and richly colorful archipelago, then at the end of the series reveal that the author never gave two hoots about what became of the world she made, and that world can go and rot for all she cares as long as the heroine gets a """happy ending"""?
A really weird "happy ending" that was so poorly explained that the author has to add an epilogue?
Do you want to be bored, frustrated, irritated, and furious that such a promising series should have degenerated into such dreck?
Then The Battle of Evernight is the book for you!
Do you want a book where any charm or dimension that the characters once had is completely erased?
A book where the plot is extremely redundant, endless variations on the plot "twist" "you were told in absolutely certain terms to never violate this rule about dealing with fairies, and you violated it! EXTREMELY VIOLENT CONSEQUENCES which for some reason the heroes will escape from scot-free!"?
Does your heart crave a book that has eschewed all the actual interesting character interactions for a dumb, tell-don't-show romance with a boring, one-dimensional Gary Stu of a love interest?
Does your fantasy-loving soul crave a book full of underdeveloped fairy creatures, each of whom speaks in a less intelligible accent than the one before?
Is your idea of wonderful worldbuilding to craft an inventive and richly colorful archipelago, then at the end of the series reveal that the author never gave two hoots about what became of the world she made, and that world can go and rot for all she cares as long as the heroine gets a """happy ending"""?
A really weird "happy ending" that was so poorly explained that the author has to add an epilogue?
Do you want to be bored, frustrated, irritated, and furious that such a promising series should have degenerated into such dreck?
Then The Battle of Evernight is the book for you!
July 3, 2009
I battled my way through all three of these books - and the ending so annoyed me that I almost tossed the last volume out the window.
What could she have been thinking!?!
What could she have been thinking!?!
August 9, 2010
The clunky style problems in this book are as evident as in the previous ones in the trilogy and the plot was so dull I find myself forgetting long chunks of it whilst still reading.
The only reason I did persevere with reading was for the payoff to Ashalind's story and I found the ending unsatisfying, unclear and unbelievable. Was she really so stupid as to do the exact opposite of what Thorn told her two seconds after he was gone? How did anyone else get through the gate when it was held open with her hair? How did she forgive him so easily for lying to her about who he was (twice)? Even with suspension of disbelief, the style (first from Caitri, then through an old fairy tale) in which the end of the story was told put me at a remove that made it difficult to feel any emotional payoff. Bleh.
The only reason I did persevere with reading was for the payoff to Ashalind's story and I found the ending unsatisfying, unclear and unbelievable. Was she really so stupid as to do the exact opposite of what Thorn told her two seconds after he was gone? How did anyone else get through the gate when it was held open with her hair? How did she forgive him so easily for lying to her about who he was (twice)? Even with suspension of disbelief, the style (first from Caitri, then through an old fairy tale) in which the end of the story was told put me at a remove that made it difficult to feel any emotional payoff. Bleh.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2009
Third in the trilogy and was a GRAVE dissapointment. I loved the other two books out of the bitterbynde trilogy and thought they were brilliant from start to finish.
I loved the way this book begun but in the middle i was completely bored. I felt that the "bad guys" of the book werent bad enough and in the end you arent sure who to like or dislike.
The ending was rushed and left the reader extremely infulfilled!
In comparison on the previous 2 book this was a huge let down
I loved the way this book begun but in the middle i was completely bored. I felt that the "bad guys" of the book werent bad enough and in the end you arent sure who to like or dislike.
The ending was rushed and left the reader extremely infulfilled!
In comparison on the previous 2 book this was a huge let down
February 3, 2012
Okay, I've given this three stars as I like the story, but the writing has turned me insane. Two pages given to describing the food at a coronation - written as a list mind. The end of the book was so vague that when publishing as paperback the author had to add 5 pages describing how the book ended and that it was happy. I don't want to spoil it but basically the heroine was trapped on Erith and had lost all her memories again. Her true love trapped in Fairy land. The author explained that birds had taken a secret to him and he kidnapped her back, returned her memory and disguised someone else (willing victim) as her to fool the 'king'.
Shouldn't this be in the actual book!
Do yourself a favour, don't start the trilogy! This is the first time I've been moved to write any type of review, let that be a warning!
Shouldn't this be in the actual book!
Do yourself a favour, don't start the trilogy! This is the first time I've been moved to write any type of review, let that be a warning!
February 26, 2013
Loved it. But yes I struggled to accept the ending. But when I had thought about it for a while I realized that there really was no other way to end the story. Remember people: most traditional fairy tales are not happy endings. They are cautionary tales about dealing with the supernatural. Disney has written happy endings not in the original stories. Did I want a Disney ending? Absolutely! Did I enjoy the book anyway? Loved it!!
May 24, 2011
There's something about the uber high fantasy-ness of this book that rubs me the wrong way. Maybe it's the endless lists of things in each descriptive setting that aren't described so much as named, so that I can't be sure if she even knows what she's talking about. Maybe it's the overly flowery dialogue, and how everyone tends to exclaim rather than talk. Maybe it's the horribly trite chivalry/sexism (depending on your point of view), which is epitomized in this exchange:
"Two worlds dost thou rule," she said. "Thou lack'st for naught, some might say. Gold thou might'st have in oceans, and rivers of jewels. I cannot give such treasures. Yet, when we have made our wedding vows, I can only surrender to thee a gift that no one else in either world can bestow, and which can only be given once, by any maiden."
"A gift to be enjoyed lifelong."
Kudos, though, for taking what was shaping up to be a picture-perfect fantasy happy ending and throwing a monkey wrench into it.
"Two worlds dost thou rule," she said. "Thou lack'st for naught, some might say. Gold thou might'st have in oceans, and rivers of jewels. I cannot give such treasures. Yet, when we have made our wedding vows, I can only surrender to thee a gift that no one else in either world can bestow, and which can only be given once, by any maiden."
"A gift to be enjoyed lifelong."
Kudos, though, for taking what was shaping up to be a picture-perfect fantasy happy ending and throwing a monkey wrench into it.
July 12, 2007
The Bitterbynde Trilogy concludes with the same breaks for miscellaneous faerie tale additions and diversions from the main plot. While it may have been enlightening the first two novels, I found it annoying in the first half of the book. The journey north was painstakingly slow and the real motivation behind it made little sense. The rest of the story is entertaining and the revelations of how Angavar and his Court supplanted James's is which unexpected even if his identity can be figured out. The end was utterly shocking and a little depressing though the last paragraph is vital to the ending.
December 30, 2008
Well! Where do I begin? This trilogy had such an impact on me - and not in the way I hope to impact on my readers! - that I am now putting together a blog post on it.
I felt bitterly disappointed and betrayed by how this trilogy ended, so much so that I will not be reading any more books by this author. :(
I felt bitterly disappointed and betrayed by how this trilogy ended, so much so that I will not be reading any more books by this author. :(
August 27, 2016
I read this about 12 years ago, have neither forgotten nor forgiven this author for a god-awful narrative of nauseatingly overblown prose, and have never opened another of her books since. Investing time in this trilogy will repay you with impotent rage that you allowed your time to be so grandly wasted.
March 19, 2013
I really liked this trilogy when I started reading it. I loved Cecilia Dart-Thornton's wealth of folklore cleverly woven into her texts and her poetic descriptions. I loved the premise of floating metals and mysterious shang winds, of hidden treasures and pirate rogues. The Hobbit is one of my favourite books and I could see its influence on the shape of the text.
But these poetic descriptions I felt were over-used, and although they were beautiful I found myself skipping over them more and more just to get on with the story. By the third book in the Bitterbynde series I was pretty disappointed.
The language of familiar intimacy between Thorn and Rohain was stilted by the fact that it relied on the archaic thee, thou and thy, which just made it seem cumbersome and full of 'courtly pretence'. The 'surprise reveal' ending was quite predictable and a number of the more interesting and unique aspects of the novel are never fully explained.
I really liked the imaginative ideas and the vast collection of folklore woven into the text, I was disappointed it ended on a bit of a fizzle.
But these poetic descriptions I felt were over-used, and although they were beautiful I found myself skipping over them more and more just to get on with the story. By the third book in the Bitterbynde series I was pretty disappointed.
The language of familiar intimacy between Thorn and Rohain was stilted by the fact that it relied on the archaic thee, thou and thy, which just made it seem cumbersome and full of 'courtly pretence'. The 'surprise reveal' ending was quite predictable and a number of the more interesting and unique aspects of the novel are never fully explained.
I really liked the imaginative ideas and the vast collection of folklore woven into the text, I was disappointed it ended on a bit of a fizzle.
June 9, 2010
I just could not get into this book – never really felt like picking it up. Although I really liked the first book of the trilogy, I felt like the characters in this book weren't even the same people – or anyone at all, really. There was a completely different ‘feel' to the writing – and the ‘poetry' just took over. If one is interested in reading over 600 pages of overly flowery and often redundant descriptive phrases, while lovely cardboard characters sigh and languish and wander around on quests that don't seem to go anywhere.... well, then please do check this book out.
I found it to be particularly disappointing, because I thought that the first book of the trilogy showed remarkable promise. However, as the story went on all the original and interesting aspects were gradually eliminated, and all the flaws multiplied and took over.
It's too bad – but I can't say I'll seek out any more of this author's books.
I found it to be particularly disappointing, because I thought that the first book of the trilogy showed remarkable promise. However, as the story went on all the original and interesting aspects were gradually eliminated, and all the flaws multiplied and took over.
It's too bad – but I can't say I'll seek out any more of this author's books.
March 18, 2009
Hard to get through. I don't know why; the prose was rather impenetrable, but no more so than in her earlier two, which I found oddly readable despite that. The plot, partly - it wandered, but then the earlier two did as well. Characters? Fewer interesting secondary characters, less interesting setting, or maybe I'd just lost patience with them somehow.
A pity, because I did enjoy the earlier two, and also because she did come up with good answers for some of the things I disliked in the earlier books - Thorn was inhumanly attractive and capable because he was, in fact, inhuman, for one.
I choose to believe the second option at the ending - that she was spirited away by her unworldly lover to beyond the gate. The other was too pointless and stupid a tragic ending, and unworthy of both the prince and his supposedly befuddled bride.
A pity, because I did enjoy the earlier two, and also because she did come up with good answers for some of the things I disliked in the earlier books - Thorn was inhumanly attractive and capable because he was, in fact, inhuman, for one.
I choose to believe the second option at the ending - that she was spirited away by her unworldly lover to beyond the gate. The other was too pointless and stupid a tragic ending, and unworthy of both the prince and his supposedly befuddled bride.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2009
One of my all time favorite series! The ending was just chopped off, but as a positive side note you can read and extra chapter on Cecilia Dart-Thornton's website where she extends the end of the book. yea! Thank you Mrs. Dart-Thornton!
October 25, 2018
One of the most epic romantic love stories I have immersed myself into. And a great work of language and myth.
November 27, 2017
This book was a slog. It took me 6 months to read this book. I did have a break between July & November, therefore only 3 months reading time, but it was hard. It just wasn't my taste because it was exhausting to read all the description. The plot itself is quite interesting but it was drowned in clothing, food & landscape descriptions. Obviously you need description, and it can be a very interesting part, but not to this extent.
Tahquil goes through a series of name changes again and settles on Ashalind. I like this name, easy to say and read. It's a little annoying that she's had so many names, but that's part of this book. Hidden identities are a large part of the plot.
Speaking of the plot: It takes half the book to actually get to the story. The first half is of Ashalind and her two companions traipsing around dangerous territory. I think to try and find the gate for the fae realm, but I cannot remember exactly why. This part reminded me of the last Potter book, where Harry & co. are wandering the globe looking for horcruxes, but the golden trio had clues and a more structured journey. Ashalind seemed to be wandering just to take up space and display the author's knowledge of mythical creatures.
The creatures themselves I enjoyed reading about. Some frightening, some friendly, often a mix of both, and always interesting. I appreciate Dart-Thornton's world building. The creatures enrich the story, but I would have preferred a tighter novel with less creatures than what was published.
I wondered when reading this, whether this kind of fantasy isn't for me. And it probably isn't, however I still enjoy high or epic fantasy, just again, not to the descriptive extend of this novel.
This is the lowest star rating I've given all year, and maybe even ever - aside from DNF-ing. It sucks because the plot is awesome, but the pages of meaningless description wrecks it.
Aside from whinging about the scenery, the ending felt too jarring and short. Like many other reviews have said, it feels like Dart-Thornton wrapped it up in the quickest way possible because she was sick of it. And personally, she turned a character on it's head and I didn't like it. Their change within moments seemed out of no where and I don't even understand why it was there. I don't understand the meaning of it at all. I'm not sure whether it was meant to bring in some kind of historical accuracy because it involves royalty, but I felt it was ridiculous. If I were to meet and talk to Dart-Thornton, I would ask her why. That would be my first question.
I will now be unhauling the two books I have in this trilogy and move on. After putting so much time into this trilogy, I'm not regretful I finished it. But I must admit, I did skim the second half. I stuck to the plot and ignored the description.
Tahquil goes through a series of name changes again and settles on Ashalind. I like this name, easy to say and read. It's a little annoying that she's had so many names, but that's part of this book. Hidden identities are a large part of the plot.
Speaking of the plot: It takes half the book to actually get to the story. The first half is of Ashalind and her two companions traipsing around dangerous territory. I think to try and find the gate for the fae realm, but I cannot remember exactly why. This part reminded me of the last Potter book, where Harry & co. are wandering the globe looking for horcruxes, but the golden trio had clues and a more structured journey. Ashalind seemed to be wandering just to take up space and display the author's knowledge of mythical creatures.
The creatures themselves I enjoyed reading about. Some frightening, some friendly, often a mix of both, and always interesting. I appreciate Dart-Thornton's world building. The creatures enrich the story, but I would have preferred a tighter novel with less creatures than what was published.
I wondered when reading this, whether this kind of fantasy isn't for me. And it probably isn't, however I still enjoy high or epic fantasy, just again, not to the descriptive extend of this novel.
This is the lowest star rating I've given all year, and maybe even ever - aside from DNF-ing. It sucks because the plot is awesome, but the pages of meaningless description wrecks it.
Aside from whinging about the scenery, the ending felt too jarring and short. Like many other reviews have said, it feels like Dart-Thornton wrapped it up in the quickest way possible because she was sick of it. And personally, she turned a character on it's head and I didn't like it. Their change within moments seemed out of no where and I don't even understand why it was there. I don't understand the meaning of it at all. I'm not sure whether it was meant to bring in some kind of historical accuracy because it involves royalty, but I felt it was ridiculous. If I were to meet and talk to Dart-Thornton, I would ask her why. That would be my first question.
I will now be unhauling the two books I have in this trilogy and move on. After putting so much time into this trilogy, I'm not regretful I finished it. But I must admit, I did skim the second half. I stuck to the plot and ignored the description.
January 23, 2018
This is the last book in a trilogy and when I first read them, I devoured them. Upon the recommendation of my sister I snagged a copy of "The Ill Made Mute" and from the first paragraph I barely put it down. I finished it in a day and then the next day scoured every book store I could to find the second and third in the trilogy - devouring them even more swiftly. Which led me to the end of the book and series - or perhaps the "not end". Because it had a natural conclusion, but there were more pages, which I dutifully read.
Regret is a very small word for a very large emotion. 5am, rage-crying on the sofa and waiting until my sister gets up for work so I can phone her and wail "Why didn't you warn me!" It seems she hadn't expected my speedy reading and she had indeed planned on warning me. The ending is awful. It is very much one of those "...and now I resent my readers so I will destroy them" moves. It could also have been "..my editor is making me hit a word count, so now everyone suffers." Unfortunate as it won't bother those who hate the book and it will royally tick off those who adored it and the series. I graffiti-ed my copy before dropping all three books at a book donation centre with "Do not read past here!" It seems my family are not the only ones permanently in a state of rage at the ending as the author made ANOTHER ending that she SOLD from her website. Insult, meet injury, I think you'll get along well.
My sister and I have speculated on the exact line at which the book should end but can't come to a unified conclusion - it appears to be about a chapter and a half from the actual end of the book. I recently went out and bought the series again at a second hand book fair because I apparently have an abusive relationship with it. I adore and often think about much of their content, but that ending is syphilis in book form.
Regret is a very small word for a very large emotion. 5am, rage-crying on the sofa and waiting until my sister gets up for work so I can phone her and wail "Why didn't you warn me!" It seems she hadn't expected my speedy reading and she had indeed planned on warning me. The ending is awful. It is very much one of those "...and now I resent my readers so I will destroy them" moves. It could also have been "..my editor is making me hit a word count, so now everyone suffers." Unfortunate as it won't bother those who hate the book and it will royally tick off those who adored it and the series. I graffiti-ed my copy before dropping all three books at a book donation centre with "Do not read past here!" It seems my family are not the only ones permanently in a state of rage at the ending as the author made ANOTHER ending that she SOLD from her website. Insult, meet injury, I think you'll get along well.
My sister and I have speculated on the exact line at which the book should end but can't come to a unified conclusion - it appears to be about a chapter and a half from the actual end of the book. I recently went out and bought the series again at a second hand book fair because I apparently have an abusive relationship with it. I adore and often think about much of their content, but that ending is syphilis in book form.
April 24, 2011
Non ci posso credere, il supplizio è terminato!
Eh, perché è stato davvero un supplizio. Descrizioni interminabili, interludi inutili, continue pause di (sprecata) riflessione della protagonista che pare non sappia fare altro che autocommiserarsi, ed ecco qua un sonnifero bello che pronto.
Peccato, perché la storia in sé, e intendo il contenuto di tutta la trilogia, non era davvero niente male. Ben elaborata, ben strutturata, avvincente ed accattivante. Tutto ottimo materiale buttato nel gabinetto.
Ci si sarebbe potuto scrivere un ottimo romanzone, a mio parere.
Bisognava dilungarsi un po' di meno e tagliare un duecento pagine abbondanti da ogni libro.
Se tutti i libri della Dart-Thornton sono così, che il Cielo ce ne scampi.
Eh, perché è stato davvero un supplizio. Descrizioni interminabili, interludi inutili, continue pause di (sprecata) riflessione della protagonista che pare non sappia fare altro che autocommiserarsi, ed ecco qua un sonnifero bello che pronto.
Peccato, perché la storia in sé, e intendo il contenuto di tutta la trilogia, non era davvero niente male. Ben elaborata, ben strutturata, avvincente ed accattivante. Tutto ottimo materiale buttato nel gabinetto.
Ci si sarebbe potuto scrivere un ottimo romanzone, a mio parere.
Bisognava dilungarsi un po' di meno e tagliare un duecento pagine abbondanti da ogni libro.
Se tutti i libri della Dart-Thornton sono così, che il Cielo ce ne scampi.
February 23, 2013
Hmm I don't know why all these reviews are so angry but that's probably because I read the hardcover version with the revised ending.
You think Dart-Thornton's ending was rushed or poorly written? HA! Her ending was ORIGINAL and CREATIVE. Talk about a plot twist!
It would have been so easy for Ash to just go and marry Thorn, happily ever after, the end. Instead, Dart-Thornton throws a wrench in it and makes it all the more sympathetic. I always felt as though Ash had it way too easy throughout the books when it came to her and Thorn's relationship so I was pleased when it ended in a rougher manner than was expected.
You think Dart-Thornton's ending was rushed or poorly written? HA! Her ending was ORIGINAL and CREATIVE. Talk about a plot twist!
It would have been so easy for Ash to just go and marry Thorn, happily ever after, the end. Instead, Dart-Thornton throws a wrench in it and makes it all the more sympathetic. I always felt as though Ash had it way too easy throughout the books when it came to her and Thorn's relationship so I was pleased when it ended in a rougher manner than was expected.
August 28, 2012
Book three, loved it just as much as the first two! If you like the old, old folklore like faie folk, silkie and kelpie this series is definatly for you! The epic ending of the trilogy, everything comes to an amazing conclusion! However i recommend that you go to http://www.dartthornton.com/bitterby/... after you read it for the 13th chapter not included in the book itself!
May 19, 2008
A wonderfully sweeping story that gathers every loose end and dangling rope from the first two books in the series and ties them into a beautiful piece of art.
The writing was lyrical and you were deeply imbedded into the story every minute you read it.
The writing was lyrical and you were deeply imbedded into the story every minute you read it.
July 19, 2011
I loved this book almost as much as the other ones, not knowing what is suppose to/going to happen. My only problem is that it is a bittersweet ending, not what I expected, but still good. I definitely recommend this series.
June 24, 2012
It was so bad and annoying that I eventually decided not to finish it. I got almost to the end but I just couldn't do it and I am a VERY patient person. It was that bad. My recommendation: don't even start reading the series. There is much better literature out there.
November 11, 2012
Really disappointed, ending was terrible, a real shame as I had really enjoyed the first two, what a downer on the whole series, it makes you feel cheated and as if you had wasted your time on the whole thing.
April 15, 2011
I really truly enjoyed this series, and this third installment did not disappoint. Well worth the read.
April 8, 2016
What a horrible ending
December 21, 2018
I love this series! The ending was too quick and vague, though.
July 4, 2021
Oh my gosh the ending wow. Anyway apparently there is a book with an edited ending that some people don't have. Here it is on what the Epilogue says.
EPILOGUE
On my word I want you,
And it will be so while I have life.
Lovers Vow
When the Gates were Closed for the second time, it is not known for sure whether they were ever again opened. It was said in tales that they were.
Once.
The reign of Edward lasted many years. Certain it is that the Chang unstorms never more came and went, except within the Violence of the ringstorm roiling around the waist of the world. Certain it is that seldron-powered ships no longer flew, nor did Stormriders rule the skies, and that their once-great Houses declined, becoming squabbling, land-bound clans.
It was maintained (and indeed it was set down thus in the annals of Erith) that the bride of Edward, King -Emperor, was a damsel of grwat beauty, although her ways were strange, quite and remote, and the marriage was childless. She outlived her husband by many years. When he died, a distant relation of the House of D'Armancourt came to the throne and Edward's widow retired to a country estate, where she lived for an extraordinary length of time. Her beauty, though it faded in the end, faded slowly.
But others added a fanciful twist.
They avowed that she who became the wife of Edward, King Emperor of Erith, was not he's heart's choice but a substitute, and that he never loved her as deeply. According to their version, he's first bride was stolen away in the very hour they were to be married.
On the day of the royal wedding, into the midst of the ceremony walked a tall stranger, more beautiful then the night, and a white owl flew above his shoulder, and no man could touch either of them. Before the marriage vows were exchanged, the stranger demanded a boon of Edward, and to the amazement of all those present, it was granted. Whereupon the stranger took the bride in his arms and kiss her.
Then the whole court stood back, staring in astonishment. For where the visitor had stood, a great eagle rose up. By its side flew a white seabird, and the two were linked by a golden chain. The roof opened like a flower to let them pass. They flew away and were never seen more in Erith.
TC
EPILOGUE
On my word I want you,
And it will be so while I have life.
Lovers Vow
When the Gates were Closed for the second time, it is not known for sure whether they were ever again opened. It was said in tales that they were.
Once.
The reign of Edward lasted many years. Certain it is that the Chang unstorms never more came and went, except within the Violence of the ringstorm roiling around the waist of the world. Certain it is that seldron-powered ships no longer flew, nor did Stormriders rule the skies, and that their once-great Houses declined, becoming squabbling, land-bound clans.
It was maintained (and indeed it was set down thus in the annals of Erith) that the bride of Edward, King -Emperor, was a damsel of grwat beauty, although her ways were strange, quite and remote, and the marriage was childless. She outlived her husband by many years. When he died, a distant relation of the House of D'Armancourt came to the throne and Edward's widow retired to a country estate, where she lived for an extraordinary length of time. Her beauty, though it faded in the end, faded slowly.
But others added a fanciful twist.
They avowed that she who became the wife of Edward, King Emperor of Erith, was not he's heart's choice but a substitute, and that he never loved her as deeply. According to their version, he's first bride was stolen away in the very hour they were to be married.
On the day of the royal wedding, into the midst of the ceremony walked a tall stranger, more beautiful then the night, and a white owl flew above his shoulder, and no man could touch either of them. Before the marriage vows were exchanged, the stranger demanded a boon of Edward, and to the amazement of all those present, it was granted. Whereupon the stranger took the bride in his arms and kiss her.
Then the whole court stood back, staring in astonishment. For where the visitor had stood, a great eagle rose up. By its side flew a white seabird, and the two were linked by a golden chain. The roof opened like a flower to let them pass. They flew away and were never seen more in Erith.
TC
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