The Women of Fantasy

I love the works of Juliet Marillier. I had avoided her YA books Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret - maybe because they are YA? Or the description didn't do it justice? I'm not sure. In any case, I have read them now and they are up there with my favorite books by her. Wildwood Dancing is set in Transylvania - which immediately summoned up "Dracula" to me. There is no Dracula in this book, although there are some similar sounding names, and Fae that are called "Nightwalkers" who sound very much like vampires. This is not a vampire book. This is beautiful, faerie legend historical fantasy at it's best with a beautiful love story flawlessly told.

Cybele's Secret is almost as good - set in Istanbul, it explores the history and legends there. Cybele is an ancient pagan goddess. Told by a younger sister this time, the beginning moves a bit slowly. But the love story in Cybele's Secret is just as good as Wildwood Dancing - and is much more central to the plot. I love the amount of detail and research Juliet Marillier puts into her stories. They come alive.

After perusing her fan boards it seems there should be a third installment in the Wildwood series. I hope, that like the Sevenwaters series, it has more than three. There is so much more to learn about this world!!