Juliet Marillier

After escaping her wrongful imprisonment, magical healer Blackthorn, living on the fringe of a mysterious forest with a former prison mate named Grim, is duty bound to assist anyone who asks for her help.

"In exchange for help escaping her long and wrongful imprisonment, embittered magical healer Blackthorn has vowed to set aside her bid for vengeance against the man who destroyed all that she once held dear. Followed by a former prison mate, a silent hulk of a man named Grim, she travels north to Dalriada. There she'll live on the fringe of a mysterious forest, duty bound for seven years to assist anyone who asks for her help. Oran, crown prince of Dalriada, has waited anxiously for the arrival of his future bride, Lady Flidais. He knows her only from a portrait and sweetly poetic correspondence that have convinced him Flidais is his destined true love. But Oran discovers letters can lie. For although his intended exactly resembles her portrait, her brutality upon arrival proves she is nothing like the sensitive woman of the letters. With the strategic marriage imminent, Oran sees no way out of his dilemma. Word has spread that Blackthorn possesses a remarkable gift for solving knotty problems, so the prince asks her for help. To save Oran from his treacherous nuptials, Blackthorn and Grim will need all their resources: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and more than a little magic" --

Dreamer's pool

Embittered healer Blackthorn, wrongly condemned to death, is offered a lifeline by a mysterious stranger. In return, she must set aside her bid for vengeance against the man who destroyed all that she once loved. Not only that: for seven years she must agree to help anyone who asks for her aid. She and her companion Grim settle on the fringes of a mysterious forest in Dalriada, far from the place of their incarceration, and start a new life. Oran, the crown prince of Dalriada, is waiting for his bride-to-be, Lady Flidais. Her letters and sweet portrait have convinced him that she is his destined true love. But letters can lie. To save Oran from disaster, Blackthorn and Grim will need courage, ingenuity, and more than a little magic.'Juliet Marillier's new book is filled, as always, with beauty, wisdom and wonder - she's one of my all-time favourite authors and I only wish that she would write faster. A new book by Juliet Marillier is always a cause for celebration.'KATE FORSYTH

Dreamer's Pool

Amanda

3.5 

Review Posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z48sj...

Sarah Escorsa

►► BR with my MacHalo Freaks starting January 1, 2016.



☠ DNF at 41% ☠ 

My first DNF of the year!!! Get the maracas out of storage, people, this calls for a celebration!!! 



I'm sure this is the first of many, many DNFs to come, I'm so excited right now! And Ange picked this book for us, which means I get to choose a penance read to punish her for putting me through this, too! Oh, I think 2016 is going to be a great year!



Okay. Let's do this quickly, shall we? Things to do, places to go, potential DNFs to read and all that crap.

So most of my slightly demented fellow buddy readers really enjoyed this story. What can I say? They're good people, really they are. It's just that they keep reading books wrong. Well, I have to admit it certainly doesn't help that they have such atrocious, dreadful, lousy, substandard taste in books. But hey, they're good people, really they are. So I guess I shouldn't complain, right? Right.

But anyway. 

Why didn't LOVE this unequaled masterpiece, you ask? Let's see…

① Boredom. It's a thing
Juliet Marillier, you should be awarded a Nobel Prize for finding the cure to insomnia. I could tell you that the story is slow paced but it wouldn't do it justice. I mean, I stopped reading the book at the 41% mark and I was still waiting for something to happen. Oh these people here talk and think and ramble, that they do. They also talk and think and ramble sometimes. Mind you, that's only when they don't talk and think and ramble. It's really fascinating. You'd think an alternating POV-type book would at least offer some variety it terms of tone and voice of character. Don't be silly now. It's all flatness, all the time.

 

② Tiresome, tedious characters Inc.
I couldn't bring myself to give a damn about a single character in this story. They could drop dead for all I care. That might be a good idea, actually. That would mean something had finally happened. But I don't think Marillier would have the guts to kill one of her MCs. Nah, she only kills the lowly servants. Because, you know, they're lowly. And servants. Such scum doesn't deserve to live. But I digress. So we have three alternating POVs, for three delightfully delightful characters:

☠ Blackthorne: an ungrateful, unlikable, whiny bitch. You know, woe is me and all that stuff. 
☠ Grim: think of a grumpy wood log-brown bear hybrid, with the personality of a cardboard box. 
☠ Oran: the guy prefers poetry and nature to killing and bloodshed. If that's not pathetic, I don't know what is. I'd call him a wimp but that would be an insult to all the wimps out there.

Now. To be honest, there is one character I actually liked. One character that actually had some personality. One character that was full of life, interesting, and with some great potential for development. One character that stole the show every time he appeared. What character, you ask? Why Bramble the dog, of course. 

Yeah, we have a pretty stellar cast of characters here. Added to the fascinating story, non-stop action, and insane plot twists, it makes for a staggeringly spectacular read. 

►► Anything else to add? Nope, that's it. Bye now.

Alexandra Mellas

Another excellent tale from Juliet Marillier, proves that the protagonist does not need to be a pretty young girl to capture your attention. Blackthorn is crotchety, unsociable and hurting, yet she makes for the perfect wise woman, added by Grim, her quiet, hulking companion. 

Juliet weaves a story of the uncanny alongside Blackthorns history of sorrow and abuse, with insight into the cruel things men can do to women, and how far kindness and respect can go when making a man. 

An excellent first instalment in the blackthorn and grim trilogy.

Nickie Mohler

Blackthorn and Grim are both in Mathuin's prison. She is there for speaking out against Mathuin's disgusting behavior towards women. Hours before her execution, she is approached by one of the Fey with a proposition she would be stupid to turn down. Put aside her hatred and dreams of vengeance against Mathuin for 7 years and he will get her out. Can she give up the only thing that has kept her alive for a chance at a new life? I loved this book! Filled with great characters, good and bad. I have ordered the next one, and requested Den of Wolves from Net Galley, but of course they turned me down because I don't have a blog. I would love to boycott the publisher, but it's not the authors fault they suck.

Christina M Masters

Honestly, The first time I tried to read this I got to about 100 pages then stalled. The same thing happened this time around, but then I got an itch to keep going after a week or two, and am really glad I did. The beginning started slowly for me. there were some interesting things brought up, but it felt a bit meandering. But, once I reached about the 200-page point it started to pick up. I enjoyed the mystery of the story, although it was fairly easy to guess what was going on. Although I am not so sure it was meant to be such a mystery to us if that makes any sense. 

The thing in the story I probably loved the most was the developing relationship between Blackthorn and Grim. It sort of started as an "acquaintance" (if you can really call being imprisoned together an acquaintance) and the need to interact with each other more for survival and to remind themselves of their humanity than anything else, then slowly develops into a partnership and friendship. I am interested to see where this relationship goes, although after the couple Juliet Marillier books I have read I think I might have a pretty good idea, which I am perfectly fine with. I love a slow burn. And of course, I love all the magical elements and the rich medieval world that the author has created. And I realize now that this is meant to be set in the same world as So, in the end, after the hump, I quite enjoyed the story and am looking forward to continuing with the series.

Giulia 

Medieval a thon round 3 - Buzzword readathon

Non avendo mai sentito una vera e propria recensione di questo libro non sapevo bene cosa aspettarmi. Non fraintendetemi, non l'ho comprato totalmente a scatola chiusa. Ma... sì lo ammetto è stato un cover buy >.<.
Sono rimasta piacevolmente sopresa. Sin dall'inizio mi ha presa tantissimo, tanto che non riuscivo a smettere di leggere. L'atmosfera di questo libro è meravigliosa, spero che continui anche per il resto della serie 💚

Dreamer's pool

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