Cecilia Dart-Thornton

[Liselle]

Just wondering what people think of the Bitterbynde books. I love them - they're awesome!

 

[Werthead]

They haven't got a very good reputation. A reviewer on SFX Magazine had to read three of her books and ended up strongly campaigning for a negative scoring system since he gave the first one a one-star review but the story then got substantially worse. I've also heard her name mentioned in the same breath as Robert Newcombe.

So no, I've never been tempted to try any of her books.

 

[The Procrastinator]

Obviously this is a matter of taste because I very much enjoyed the Bitterbynde books. I bought the first one on the strength of the title alone - The Ill-Made Mute just intrigued the hall out of me, and after dithering for a few years I lashed out - and quickly had to buy the rest of the trilogy to find out what happened next. I found Dart-Thornton's world fascinating, her characterisation superior, and her writing style excellent. It was wordy, though, and waffly in places, and I can see that it would not be everyone's cup of tea, particularly readers who are impatient with plenty of detail and descriptive colour, and a plotline that takes time to unwind. I, however, really enjoy a story that meanders in an interesting fashion and lets you feel you way into a place. I am equally appreciative of the terser "less is more" style of writing mind you; I think they are both hard to do well. I found the Bitterbynde trilogy to be waffly done well, and if you enjoy taking your time with a book and savouring immersive detail, then I would highly recommend it.

 

[Lioness]

I love them, but there are also people who hate them - they are very wordy.
Personally I love the attention to detail, and the descriptions are a pleasure to read. The Bitterbynde Trilogy really resounded with me. My friend lent it to me, said, 'You will love this' and I did. It's one of the few series that I've gone out and bought so that I can re-read whenever I want to.

It has a recommendation from me as well.

(PS, keep a dictionary on hand, she does like to use some lesser-known words.)

 

[Jen526]

I'm afraid I'm firmly in the "hate it" category on this one. I wanted to like the series on the strength of the title, cover art, and uniqueness. The language made the first book a bit of a slog, but I was able to keep enough interest to continue to the next volume, but I gave up halfway through book 2.

The Mary Sue factor was just too far off the scale. The plot turned into something straight out of a bad fanfic with her reaching new heights of beautifulness and speshulness every other chapter, and all the signs were there that it was just going to get worse.

 

[TheMerlin]

I just finished the ill made mute and loved it , iv`e got the other two ready to read really good so far.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I love them, but there are also people who hate them

This statement probably applies to most SFF authors.

 

[David Doherty-Jebb]

I included the Bitterbynde series in my final uni dissertation on how Tolkien's influence on fantasy lingers in modern day fantasy fiction. This was in 2003, just when Lord of the Rings movies were coming out and the Bitterbynde books were quite recent as well.

The books are enjoyable on a certain level, but they are by no means well written. The story and the world that is set up in the Ill-Made Mute is never fully realised in the latter books. Also,

*****SPOILERS SPOILERS TURN AWAY NOW******

the revelation of the mute being a beautiful maiden only lessened the hardships and struggles he/she had overcome in the first book.
Dart-Thornton's main character faded from interesting protagonist into Mary Sue by the second book and never looked back. I'm not sure if I can really recommend this series for more than a fluffy, brain-set-to-standby read.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

This statement probably applies to most SFF authors.

Marmite, deffo.

 

[The Judge]

I picked up book 2 for £1 in a library sale some years back just to see what it was like. There was a certain voluptuousness about the writing that made me feel I was gorging on easter eggs non-stop, both guiltily enjoyable and slightly sick-making at the same time. But the revelation of the beloved's identity was definitely of the sick-making variety, there was no attempt at psychological or even social realism thereafter (and little enough beforehand), and when it took what felt like 100s of pages to tell a pretty well-known folk tale I couldn't take any more.

If I came across book 1 cheaply I'd have a read as I'd heard it was the better of the two, but I certainly don't want to bother with book 3 as I can't see anything about plot, characterisation or writing getting any better.

 

[GOLLUM]

I'm also a fan of the Bitterbynde series and happily have a signed copy of the series from Celia whom I've met a few times.

Like some of the previous comments here I think the prose has a whimsical lyricism to it framed as it is within a folkloric 'old-style' linguistic narrative. I like the meandering style that lends itself to some lovely descriptions but I agree this is an acquired taste and not for everyone.. It also helps if you enjoy Scottish and Irish myths populated by Faerie folk. You can certainly see the influences (as Cecelia has previously stated) of Shakespeare, George MacDonald, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Andrew Lang, Ursula LeGuin, Andre Norton, Susannah Clark, Charles Kingsley Allan Garner, William Morris and Dianna Wyne-Jones.

The plot is interesting but could have been better edited in parts and I didn't think the final installment was as well constructed as the first and second books. It's over 10 years since I last read these but I seem to recall there was some criticism towards the passive nature of the female characters.

I think I've mentioned this elsewhere in the past but it's interesting to note that her initial success came as a blog writer, who based on the strength of same extracts from the Ill-Made mute she had posted, resulted in a U.S. editor who had read her posts precipitating a late night phone call from a Time Warner executive who literally offered her a $200,00 plus contract on the spot for development of the books. To her good fortune she had already largely written the 3 books in this series..so you see there's hope for us all...

I should say that I did not like her follow-up Iron Tree quartet as much. I feel the Bitterbynde series is the best thing she's written to date.