| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: Medium-High (Not deeply described, but definitely there) Violence level: Medium-High Back Cover: “Whistling Tor is a place of secrets, a mysterious wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress of a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the region in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies over Anluan's family and his people. The woods hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. And Anluan himself has been crippled by a childhood illness. Then the young scribe Caitrin appears in Anluan's garden, admiring the rare plant known as heart's blood. Retained to sort through entangled family documents, Caitrin brings about unexpected changes in the household, casting a hopeful light against the despairing shadows. But even as Caitrin brings solace to Anluan, and the promise of something more between them, he remains in thrall to the darkness surrounding Whistling Tor. To free Anluan's burdened soul, Caitrin must unravel the web of sorcery woven by his ancestors before it claims his life—and their love.” |
On the other hand, the whole place actually is under a curse of sorts, which Caitrin does have to figure out how to break so that she and Anluan can be together. In the way of such things, she's materially aided by the presence of a magic mirror that she happens to find. It isn't a very nice magic mirror, and it shows her a lot of things she'd really rather not see, but it does turn out to be helpful. With the mirror, you end up getting two stories, of course—one of Anluan's ancestor causing the problem and one of Caitrin solving the problem. You really can't understand one without the other.
There's an overall dark and creepy feel to the whole book. It has a lot of ghosts and/or spectral beings, a lot of death and insanity and dark magic involving bloodshed. It doesn't feel like the kind of fairytale that's going to end with “And they lived happily ever after.” More like “They survived it all, and were probably emotionally scarred for life, but they lived with it and things slowly got better.”