Review: A beautiful fairytale for today's world
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 7, 2013
This book is amazing and different and odd and absolutely beautiful.  It is a fairytale that harkens back to the original fairytales before they were cleaned up and packaged by Disney to be palatable to the largest audiences.  It is about good versus evil, the purity of love and its ability to overcome tragedy, and the importance of keeping your heart and mind open to all possibilities.  And as many have said, the cover is beautiful and represents the book perfectly.I was immediately drawn into the world of the river valley; the sense of place that Mr. Arvin establishes at the outset is outstanding.  It is a place of darkness but absolute beauty that is fighting to hold its own against change, both in beliefs and progress.  I felt like I was wandering the forest with Minerva, Leith, Aubrey, and Deverell.  The characters are all flawed, as people are, but always in ways that are understandable.  Although I did not always like all the characters, especially Calpurnia, the reasons behind their actions made them all at least somewhat sympathetic.  To say that Calpurnia was the catalyst for many of the tragedies that befall the valley would be technically correct but there is a sense that she was fulfilling her role in the life of the valley and therefore had to do the things she did.  However, Dark Eyes had a sense of pure evil and completely embodied, for me, the danger of letting a single belief system take over your heart and mind to the exclusion of any others.  Minerva to some extent but definitely Leith, Aubrey, and Deverell encompass the opportunities that permitting yourself the freedom to explore the world as a whole will allow you to experience.I admit to having difficulty reviewing this book because it is a book that contains so much that it is hard to cover it all.  There are a lot of characters, a lot of time covered, and a lot of things happening so make sure you have the time to read it, it is not something that you can set down and come back to later and hope to keep the flow of the story.  I don't think you'll want to do that anyhow but it is something that you should take into account before you start reading.If you are looking to be challenged, to be immersed in a beautiful world full of magic, and to experience something beyond the usual read you will love this book.