Review of "Heart's Blood" by Juliet Marillier

I was so lucky in the choosing of two books this past week. Really, there's not much better than being in the middle of a book and thinking, "Wow this is so very good..." Which is exactly how I felt when I was in the middle of reading Juliet Marillier's latest "Heart's Blood."

Set in an Ireland of the distant past, one dealing with the slow steady encroachment of the Normans, "Heart's Blood" is a smart, emotionally compelling fantasy story of young scribe Caitrin on the run. We are not told in the beginning just exactly what she's running from, but she's working hard at overcoming her fear and that sets the mysterious tone for the entire book - which has another big mystery in store for us as well.

Caitrin's small bag of coins takes her to the far west of Ireland where she has vague notions of tracking down her mother's family. But she runs out of money in a desolate village where her only chance of employment turns out to be with the local chieftan Anluan who the villagers tell her is a cursed, no good freak of a man, who hardly anyone has ever set eyes on, and hasn't the strength or courage to look after his people well.

So of course she takes the job, right? Yes, our fair lass pulls together her courage and marches up to the ancient keep straight through the creepy and threatening forrest for a job no one believes she'll last two days at. And so the real adventure begins.

For those YA readers out there this book works beautifully. It's a wonderful coming of age story about a young woman creating a new life for herself and slowly learning to face her own fears as she challenges those around her to do the same. As a love story it's a slow unravel, which was quite refreshing, as are the character flaws of both Caitrin and Anluan, as well as their integrity and newly found strength.