Heart’s Blood
- Mar 8
- 7 min read
by Juliet Marillier
Whistling Tor is a place of secrets, a mysterious, wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress of a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the district in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies over Anluan's family and his people; those woods hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. For young scribe Caitrin it is a safe haven. This place where nobody else is prepared to go seems exactly what she needs, for Caitrin is fleeing her own demons. As Caitrin comes to know Anluan and his home in more depth she realizes that it is only through her love and determination that the curse can be broken and Anluan and his people set free.
I’ve read a couple of books by Juliet Marillier before, and I really love her stories. So when I read a comment or review about this one, from someone saying it was among the best retellings of Beauty and the Beast that they’d ever read, it was a no-brainer to get it for myself. I do enjoy a good retelling, and I had high expectations about this one. Marillier did not disappoint.
I got this book as a pocket, and I absolutely love this cover, with the bookshelves in the background and the magic mirror — it perfectly reflects (hehe) the story, and it looks simply enchanting.
Heart’s Blood is such a great title. It sounds romantic, mysterious and a bit dangerous. The namesake is also a major plot device, and the words are mentioned in other context as well a couple of times, which I enjoy. It’s always fun when the title comes into actual play in the story. It always stands out on a page and nudges you a little as you read.
The story starts with Caitrin getting dumped in the middle of nowhere near a mysterious place called Whistling Tor, when the carter refuses to go any further. The first chapter did a great job with introducing the story. You’re immediately pulled into the plot. The main character, Caitrin, is fleeing from her abusive relatives, and it’s desperation that’s brought her this far. The close-by village is shrouded in mist and no one dares leave its walls after sundown. When Caitrin makes it there, the villagers whisper and mutter about their lord, warning her about an ancient curse haunting the castle on the hill and its surrounding forest.
You get both the mystery of this new place and hints at Caitrin’s backstory. You’re also introduced to a lot of important characters, including Anluan (Beast) and Cillian (Gaston), via quick mentions. I love that there’s so much conflict and intrigue right at the start. There’s so much worldbuilding without it dragging on or detracting in any way from the reading experience.
In the second chapter we actually get to meet Anluan, while Caitrin is inspecting a precious plant called Heart’s Blood (title alert!) in the castle gardens. The plant is valuable in more ways than one, but its main use is to make a very pricy kind of ink. This is also why Caitrin is drawn to it. Her father was a scribe, and he taught her the craft as well. She’s come to the castle because she’s heard they’re looking to hire a scribe over the summer. The job would mean both a refuge and some money for when it’s time to move on, so she desperately wants the position. After a bit of arguing and getting tested, she eventually gets the job. Her task is to translate books and the journals of Anluan’s ancestors, who were also cursed.
And so she spends the summer in a strange castle with magic mirrors, a cursed ghost army and an evil force that rules the lives of all the inhabitants. Besides the job assigned to her, she also sets out to help lift the curse.
The setting of a medieval Ireland is very atmospheric with the old, stone castle on the hill. The surrounding dark, misty forest also makes for the perfect barrier to the outside world, and Caitrin rarely ventures beyond the grounds other than the couple of short visits to the village. This makes the threat of a Norman invasion seem very distant for a long time, despite being an important plot point throughout the book.
The bleakness also plays really well with the mystery aspect surrounding the curse, as well as the strong themes of depression, PTSD and hope — or lack thereof. Especially hope is brought up a lot, and often discussed between the characters. I’ve seen a few reviews where this is thought to bee too much and annoying, but with the heavy offset of the hopelessness conveyed via the scenery, with nearly every character in the castle, and especially our self-loathing Beast, I think it works. While I definitely made note of it, it was never off-putting to me.
I do like that this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with this darkness, is so very different to many others I’ve read. Both Caitrin and Anluan are scarred in their own ways, but eventually find comfort and healing in each other.
The whole book is told from Caitrin’s POV, in first person. So we get to know her really well. We get to know a lot about her previous situation from flashbacks: after her father dies, relatives move in to “take care of her” (Cillian — Gaston — and his mother). As so often with abusers, they put on a sympathetic face to the town and discredits Caitrin more and more, so she sees no point in asking for help and instead sets out on her own. While she’s understandably a bit timid, and scared of Anluan at the beginning, I admire the courage this took. Even if she doesn’t feel it, this shows a bravery that was always in her character.
From just being away from the abuse, she naturally slowly starts feeling more comfortable and that development is quite subtle and actually very well written. There’s still an overlaying threat where some force seems to want rid of her from the castle, so she still never feels quite safe, but all the mysteries related and unrelated to the curse feeds her curiosity. It’s also a very different sort of threat to her previous constant abuse, and not as oppressive, so it doesn’t affect her at all in the same way.
Her courage is more obviously displayed towards the end of the book, when (as customary in a B&B story) she leaves the castle to go back home. At this point, her and Anluan are already in love, but he makes her leave due to the pending Norman invasion, and she goes since she thinks it’s his wish as well as wanting to confront her relatives and reclaim her father’s house and belongings. She’s received legal advice from her new friends and can finally see a way to get rid of Cillian and his mother. With her she brings Anluan’s journal and a magic mirror. It’s the confirmation of his feelings for her via the journal in combination with her desperation at seeing his death in the mirror that makes her eventually return to the castle.
Because of her courage having been displayed from the start, I don’t see Caitrin as having had a particular major character development. The one I think displays the most change is rather Anluan (which fits with the source material, I guess).
Anluan starts off being very withdrawn and bitter, depressed from the seeming hopelessness of the curse hanging over several generations of his family. He’s also very insecure due to a disability stemming from a childhood illness. On top of all of this, he has to deal with the pressure of protecting his people from the looming Norman invasion. So he’s understandably not a very cheerful person. He eventually learns to accept the leadership role his title bestows, and steps up to take care of his people and the villagers, all of whom he’s been avoiding for most of his life. It’s interesting to see all of this through Caitrin’s eyes, who for a long time remains an outsider in the castle.
With both of their insecurities and the many other issues taking such major roles, it’s no surprise that they take their time getting close to each other and finally falling in love. Anluan is actually absent a lot, and with Caitrin focusing so much on the curse and Anluan’s family’s journals, it’s almost more a mystery than a romance novel. Since it’s at its core a retelling of a legendary romance, this was very different, and perhaps one of the reasons I liked it so much. There’s also a large difference in the dynamics of the main characters’ relationship: Caitrin is actually there working, she’s never a captive. And though Anluan’s bitterness and grumpiness initially comes off as frightening to Caitrin, that feels more like her PTSD from previous abuse than any real conceived threat. So the relationship itself seems a lot more healthy than many other versions of the fairy tale, which are often borderline abusive before or even during a typically quickly developing romance.
Regarding the other characters… I don’t have too much to say. There were of course a few interesting ones, and each of them were well developed. I suppose that most of them really just felt like what they were — side characters. The one I found the most interesting was of course the mysterious Rioghan. I wish we’d gotten more information and backstory about him, but I guess that was the point.
I suspected Muirne from the get go, but although her part of the whole mystery was a bit obvious, that didn’t bother me too much. While it got frustrating a few times, it was so well written and there was so much more to it — that it didn’t really matter.
Something I wonder about the curse is that they talked a lot about a counter-spell as a solution, but I think they also mentioned sometime during the book that the curse would last 100 years — and though they finally did use the counter-spell, it also just happened to co-incide with the 100 year anniversary, to the day? Does that mean they never really had to do the counter-spell, or was the whole 100 years-thing more a prophecy than a condition to the curse? Maybe I missed something, but this confused me a lot.
Besides this, I do think the entire book and all the different plotlines were tied up very well at the end, so I was very happy with the conclusion, so it’s a strong 4 stars.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🌶️🌶️
~🖤~ FAVOURITE QUOTES ~🖤~ | |
To lose you is to spill my heart’s blood. I do not know if I can bear the pain. | Very sweet, and what convinces Caitrin of Anluan’s love for her. Also: title alert! I love these! |
Patterns could be broken; paths could be changed. All it took was courage. | A little motivational quote for you. |
“How could you not know?" His voice was full of wonderment. "You changed me utterly. You were like a... like a bright, wonderful bloom in a garden full of weeds. Like a graceful capital on a page of plain script, a letter decorated with the deepest, finest colors in all Erin. Like a flame, Caitrin. Like a song.” | ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ |
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