Juniper by monica furlong

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I finished this on Friday at the airport. I confess I had not heard of Monica Furlong's stories until I read a Strategist article in their "Things I Can't Live Without series. Usually these are very "What can I shill" pieces, but this one was with Kate McKinnon and her list was extremely authentic.

She actually recommended Furlong's "Wise Child," but since this is the prequel I thought I'd start there.

Very good early Celtic story about a young girl who is to be a doran (if I spelled that wrong, lo siento, I did the audiobook!). Wonderful sense of time and place, I would have loved to read this when I was in middle school. I especially loved the parts about spinning, dyeing and weaving, but I'm a knitter - who has not yet started spinning, but never say never.

I look forward to reading "Wise Child" and "Colman" as well. I love an audiobook that is about 5 to six hours, so these are perfect for me, and the narration was top-notch.

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Ephemeralx00

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Terrific book, for YA folks, but not exclusively for the young. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read it in Sharon Blackie's recommendation, as a way of imagining the Wise Woman archetype. Well done.

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KunoYuna

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I enjoyed reading this, and there's no doubt that Furlong is a talented, thoughtful writer. As a prequel, however - Juniper features as its young protagonist the mentor figure of Wise Child - I'm not sure it's an unqualified success. I mean, these books both have the exact same story. A well-loved, well-spoiled little girl goes to live with a good but unsympathetic witch, where she learns practical skills, an awareness of nature, and basic magical abilities. There is a pivotal friendship with a young boy her own age - in both cases a cousin. Finally, she undergoes an initiation where her own suitability for witchiness is assessed through a dream of flying. Once aware of her own potential, the child then faces down a magical threat from a close female relative (in Juniper it's an aunt, in the previous volume a mother) who the child defeats but does not kill, before said child leaves her community to establish a new life elsewhere.

And honestly, Wise Child did it better.

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GrimAnimeManga

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

I thoroughly enjoy the magical world that this author has created, but I didnt enjoy this book as much as Wise Child.

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ConfusedOtaku

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

n n Can she save her father's kingdom from an evil sorceress?n n

^^ that's the blurb on the front of this book and while, technically, yes, also ugh no.

Set after the timeline sequel Wise Child but written after, Juniper follows the titular character on the first part of her journey from the spoiled, only child and princess of a local king/chieftain in England in the early days of Christianity to the powerful, peaceful, centered doran we know she becomes. And yes, she has to fight a sorceress who is threatening her father's kingdom but that's not the point.

Even the blurb at the back of the book gives equal importance to Juniper's training and the eventual showdown. It's as if the publishers thought there was a segment of the market who was put off by the slow, methodical nature of Wise Child and would be willing to read a book that's ~10% less about churning milk into butter if there was a showdown about 10% more climactic sandwiched before the end. As it were, the actual final showdown is true to the spirit of these books and is much more about Juniper realizing who she is and what she wants than about any fancy footwork.

It's interesting to come back to this book time and again and see how my views have changed. One of the central conflicts is within Juniper herself (also known as Ninnoc) as she wrestles with what it means to be the only child of a king but a girl (aka not in line to inherit the throne), appreciative of comforts and stability but wary of marriage as the only (stifling) route available to her, or interested in her godmother/mentor's powers but uncertain of how it relates to her ambitions and desires. Unlike Wise Child, which about the larger societal forces that 'other' those who aren't like us, the witchery in this novel is taken for granted. Of course bathing in clearwater provides protection against evil incantations. But is that what Juniper wants to do? Give up being a righteous, wise ruler for a nomadic existence where she'll only ever touch the lives of a selected few?

As I grow older and experience more of life, I find myself less and less indignant that Juniper is forced to give up any claim to the throne (both because of her gender and because her mother does eventually bear a healthy boy child) and chooses a life of adventure and small comforts instead. Just because they're small doesn't make them less worthy. Just because Juniper will only ever help a village at a time doesn't make her life less meaningful than if she'd become chief of Cornwall. Within the confines of the world she's in, that she's choosing at all means that she's come into her own power and agency. It's hard to argue that she chooses poorly, either, since we know the life that's waiting for her.

All I hope is that she gets to bone Finbar (or whomever, or whomevers) between this novel and Wise Child. For a book that's all about the cycle of life and appreciating the spirit in everything, I assume that dorans are all about that sex positive life. I imagine Angharad and Euny are long time lovers and friends. Juniper seems very straight, but Trewyn I think has some strong gay vibes as well.

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Veldenava7

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Dit is het tweede deel in de Heksenkind trilogie. Het eerste deel Heksenkind las ik vorig jaar. Eindelijk kwam ik eraan toe om het verhaal van Juniper te lezen en wat was het weer een genot! Om in de sfeer van het boek te blijven ga ik direct door met het lezen van het laatste deel in de serie, Colman. Echt een aanrader dit!!!

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s0n1c

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

April 17,2025

Good, but not as satisfying as Wise Child, perhaps because Wise Child raises some expectations about Juniper's story that aren't quite met. I'd forgotten that Maeve the Fair doesn't ever appear here; we don't learn how Juniper came to be the Red Doran, or why it was her destiny to live in Scotland. It's easy to see why -- Juniper is a story about Juniper's childhood and her first experience of adult powers (just as Wise Child is about that part of Juniper's pupil's life), and of course Juniper did not stop maturing and learning and becoming herself after her very first adventures. There was more; it's just not written down. But it makes Juniper feel a bit as though it's about a different person than the one I knew in Wise Child.

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