Wildwood Dancing; and Merchant of Death

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, 2007
Jenica, 15-year-old girl living in the middle ages, wants to keep the family business going and her four sisters safe while their father is away trying to regain his health in a milder climate, but her older sister has fallen for Sorrow, who looks like one of those dangerous Night People, and her cousin Cezar is becoming more and more controlling and abusive. She finds comfort in the friendship she enjoys with her pet frog and seeks advice from the sorceress Draguta as well as the elf queen Ileana. Nothing comes without a price, and she almost loses her great opportunity for true love. From the book: Five sisters who live with their merchant father in Transylvania use a hidden portal in their home to cross over into a magical world, the Wildwood.

I found it a little hard to get into, but once into the story, thoroughly liked it. Jenica’s character is trying hard to hold things together, but is frustrated at every step by her chauvinistic cousin and her own insecurities.

Some memory-jogging tags: Dwarfs. Night people (vampires). True love. Dancing. Oppression. Magical kingdoms. Prejudices. Sisters.

MS Rating: Great.


Merchant of Death (Pendragon, bk 1) by D. J MacHale, 2002
Bobby Pendragon, a 14-yr-old basketball player who just has had his first kiss, only wants to return home but his uncle is sentenced to die and the Milagos are being brutally treated and indiscriminately killed. So, summoning bravery and wits he didn’t know he had, he proves Loor, a warrior teen, wrong by staying. The danger goes beyond the conflict between these two tribes, threatening the entire fabric of the universe if Saint Dane, the evil traveler with pet quigs, has his way. From the book: Bobby Pendragon is slowly starting to realize that life in the cosmos isn't quite what he thought it was. Before he can object, he is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory inhabited by strange beings, ruled by a magical tyrant, and plagued by dangerous revolution. If Bobby wants to see his family again, he's going to have to accept his role as savior, and accept it wholeheartedly.

Fun read, written as a journal from Bobby on the other end of the flume to his friends back on Second Earth. This is the first of several in the series where Bobby, his Uncle Press, and Loor go traveling throughout the universe, encountering civilizations in crisis and trying to prevent Saint Dane from sending the universe crashing into total chaos.

Some memory-jogging tags: Trust. Courage. Explosives (tak). Exploitation of one society by another. Mining. Medieval society. Travel through time and space. Relying on others.

MS Ratings: Great.