Thank you to NetGalley, Deirdre Sullivan, and BooksGoSocial

First of all, the illustrations were fantastic; Karen Vaughan is the artist.

This is an interesting retelling of “The Children of Lir”, which I’d never heard of prior. I had however read/seen Swan Lake which seems somewhat similar.

A story of poetry, anger, sisters, motherhood, and regret; one you’ll want to add to your bookshelf.

Utterly, wondrously breathtaking. Deirdre Sullivan's prose is as impeccable as always and the way she has crafted this retelling of Children of Lir is truly incredible.

A dark, feminist retelling of The Children of Lir by the author of the multi-award-winning Tangleweed and Brine
The evocative details and impeccable research make for a delightful reading experience.

This was a very different sort of read than what I’m used to. Not really in genre, but in tone and the stylistic choices of Deirdre Sullivan.

Savage Her Reply is a memoir-ish style retelling of the Irish myth, The Children of Lir. Told from the point of view of the “villain” Aife, we learn that there really are no clear heroes or villains, at least when it comes to stories passed on through generation to generation.

We learn that stories get twisted and bent from each mouth they pass from, and truth lies in little pockets between it all. Sullivan also crafts a morally complex story and protagonist. Aife has done horrible wrongs, owns up to them, and still makes a case that brings her to a sympathetic view. It is compelling in a literary perspective and as a commentary on the female experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and the US publisher for allowing me to read and review this novel. I hope you all take the time to seek it out.

La leggenda dei figli di Lir è sempre stata la mia preferita e quando ho visto questo libro non potevo non leggerlo!
Sebbene non sia una lettura semplice, l'ho davvero apprezzato molto, perchè seppur mantenendo la storia base della leggenda, questo libro ci racconta molto di più dei personaggi che compongono la storia.
Tutto viene raccontato dal punto di vista di Aife, di cui, a parte essere la matrigna malvagia che li trasformava in cigni per gelosia nella storia originale, non sapevamo molto altro. Qui ci viene raccontato molto di più, del motivo per cui compie questo gesto e del suo immediato pentimento nell'aver ferito i figli della sua amata sorella per colpa del marito che non l'amava. E come per 900 anni a loro insaputa abbia vegliato su di loro e cercato di proteggerli sebbene fosse stata mutata per punizione in un demone dell'aria, invisibile a chiunque.
Tutto è raccontato come se fosse una sorta di diario di quello che le accade, dei suoi pensieri e paure, delle confessioni che fa a se stessa. E tutto ha un tono molto poetico e delicato, ma anche solenne proprio come le leggende e i racconti della mitologia celtica.
L'autrice ha sicuramente compiuto ricerche approfondite e ha costruito in maniera impareggiabile le impalcature che mancavano a questa antica storia.
Sono davvero contenta di aver avuto l'opportunità di leggerlo e mi piacerebbe che un'operazione del genere venisse fatta anche con le altre leggende celtiche.
Grazie a Netgalley per avermi concesso di leggere questo libro!

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The legend of the Children of Lir has always been my favorite and when I saw this book I couldn't help but read it!
Although it isn't an easy reading, I really appreciated it a lot, because while keeping the basic story of the legend, this book tells us much more than the characters that make up the story.
Everything is told from Aife's point of view, of whom, aside from being the evil stepmother who turned them into swans out of jealousy in the original story, we didn't know much else. Here we are told much more about her, about why she does this and about her immediate repentance in having hurt the children of her beloved sister because her husband did not love her. And how for 900 years, unbeknownst to them, she watched over them and tried to protect them even though she had been mutated as a punishment into a demon of the air, invisible to anyone.
Everything is told as if it were a kind of diary of what happens to her, of her thoughts and fears, of the confessions she makes to herself. And everything has a very poetic and delicate tone, but also solemn just like the legends and tales of Celtic mythology.
The author has certainly done extensive research and built the foundations that was missing from this ancient story in an incomparable way.
I am really glad I had the opportunity to read it and I would like that an operation like this was done with the other Celtic legends as well.
Thanks to Netgalley for letting me read this book!

Thank you to the publishers - BooksGoSocial - for giving me access to this book as an E-ARC via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

As I gathered this book is a retelling of an Irish myth. I definiately read it... but that's all I have to say about it. I can't remember anything. Sorry.

An interesting read that was well written and had good charcater development. A quick and easy read that was enjoyable.

I love this genre overall, and I think this book is an incredible representation of the genre. Deirdre Sullivan's writing style is lyrical and beautiful and kept me captivated throughout. The story is wonderful, and Sullivan really drops her readers right into the atmosphere. I felt fully immersed. I didn't want to stop reading!

I loved this, but found it a bit repetitive. Nothing really happened after the curse but it was an interesting take

The writing style is magical, like nothing I have never seen. When I was a child I read the story of the children of lir, so I was very curious about this retelling and I can safely say it didn’t disappoint, it was very interesting seeing the story from the stepmothers perspective and it made me understand her side of the story more and make it more complex because it doesn’t absolve her of her actions but at the same time you understand what made her do it, during the reading I also hated lir, how he was so careless with people and he was the reason aebh died and how he basically raped aife, it is a very haunting tale that is dark and very unique

A powerful, vulnerable tale of a complex female character; I think in a way we’ve all grappled with her struggles as she navigates what it means to feel unloved and trapped in a fate set by others. This book centers around one sister of three whose life is full of tragedy, whose life brings more tragedy to others, but who in the end you come to understand. I loved the style of writing with poetic chapter headings and mini-synopsis to set up the truths to be revealed in the chapters. I love all books with a feminist slant and this one made my heart clench with the emotions it portrayed, as if I knew the same sorrows. Though the tale being told here is an old one, with history, it still felt fresh and relatable, in a sad way sometimes as the things the protagonist goes through as a woman still resonate today. This is a story that will stick with you and, dare I say, that you’ll read again.

This book is beautiful. From the first page I was really taken in by the writing style. It is lyrical and lovely. I love fairy tale retellings and read them often. I’ve never read one like this though. The author had a unique voice that made the reading experience engaging and special. I would recommend this book to fantasy/fairy tale readers and literary fiction readers. The book itself is also beautiful. Love the cover art and there are pages between the chapters or sections that have words arranged in such a way that they almost become like illustrations. I thought that was a magical touch.

This was a lovely retelling of the Irish legend known as "The Children of Lir," which has some thematic and plot similarities to the Six Swans fairy tale as well as the Swan Lake ballet, something you're likely to notice even if you aren't familiar with the Irish myth, because this book sticks pretty close to it.

It's not a long book, and provides a couple of hours of enjoyment for the prose and the storytelling, which to me are its selling points. Sullivan's writing is evocative and lovely, delivering the story in short chapters told in first person; easy to get immersed in and very atmospheric. But it's the sort of atmospheric that might be too dark and too painful for some, as the author doesn't pull any punches at times. The protagonist, Aife, is on glance your average evil stepmother that gets rid of her stepchildren by turning them into swans doomed to live in such bodies for centuries, but as the story goes by, you see she's not that typical. For one, she's very self-aware, and whilst she's portrayed as more complex and layered than the legend casts her as, she isn't made to be a woe-is-me poor misunderstood little woman who blames the victim for her own foibles, as seems to be the trend in retellings that tackle "villainous" women from mythology, in spite of having a tragic past herself. Aife was bad, she made a huge mistake because she was bad and flawed, and she doesn't need to make the other side look bad to excuse herself. She knows what she is and what she has done. That was really refreshing to me.

This book just proves that you don't need to turn a villainous or anti-heroic female character into a woobie and patronisingly strip women of agency and accountability for their own bad deeds to write an interesting "other side of the coin" version. Other retellings should take note from Sullivan here, she's pulled it off.

FHDJSKFHKJD this was amazing!! literally everything i wanted from this book, i got! atmosphere, characters, romance!

A lyrical retelling of the Irish legend of The Children if Lir. The story deals with desire, the desires that a woman has the the brutality that comes when there are unmet desires. The story follows Aife, the middle sister of a family who is then traded in place of her dead sister to the husband. She has to take care of her older sister’s children. The marriage isn’t what she had imagined or wanted. Her husband treats her like a nuisance and in turn her anger and resentment are lashed out onto his children. She turns the four children into swans for 900 years and her own punishment for doing so is being unable to connect to anyone from her past life. She slowly begins to developed an affection towards the swans but this is also a story about men who toy with women and the bonds of sisterhood and children who can forgive. This is a story about a woman who has made a mistake but in turn is trying to fix them and to make things right. The illustrations in the story were stunning and the forgiveness was a beautiful aspect of the story.

*Thank you Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was a beautiful story, that though stuck with the legend, showed that Aiffe had good reasons for turning the children to swans. The humanness of characters and the power of forgiveness.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of "Savage Her Reply" by Deirdre Sullivan.

This book is a retelling of 'The Children of Lir' and I think it was done in such a good manner. Some bits were overly repetitive for artistic purposes but I just felt like it dragged on the story and I got tired of it. The illustrations were gorgeous but they were very difficult to read.

Overall, Sullivan wrote an amazing book but I think some tweaks could be made.

“Perhaps I am a dark, unpleasant creature. But I am my own creature. I am mine, my feet on the earth and the water in my soul and fire in my heart. And when all is taken from me, I will still have my anger and my pain and they will feed me.”

A lyrical retelling of the Irish legend of 'The Children of Lir,' Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan explores the wanting of women and brutality brought by unmet desires of one. Aife, the middle sister, is traded in place of her dead sister to the husband to take care of her elder sister's children. But not all women are there to make families. As Aife once said, creation is often forced upon women, and her magic; it destroys.

When her husband begins treating her as a nuisance, Aife's harbored resentment turns towards his children. To hurt him, she turns the four children into swans for nine hundred years. She, in turn, receives her own punishment. Unable to connect to anyone from her past life, Aife develops a kindred affection towards the four swans. This is not just the story of a woman maddened by jealousy. This is the story of men who toy with women, who drive them to do unspeakable things, whose brutality is glorified while the women's is antagonized. This is the story of the bonds of sisterhood, of the affinity one shares with their siblings. This is the story of children who can forgive despite going through unspeakable horrors. Above all, this is the story of a woman set to mend her mistakes and find a way past her guilt.

Savage Her Reply is a reflection of how history twists and turns, for better or worse, of the impact it has upon lives. It is a complex work of art and one that shatters old illusions to allow the light to shine on us, to teach us of both the good and the bad of being alive.