Skip to main content

Dreamer's Pool (Book #1 of The Blackthorn and Grim Series) by Juliet Marillier: A Book Review

Dreamer’s Pool (Book #1 of The Blackthorn and Grim Series)
Author:  Juliet Marillier
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: 2014
Pages: 464
Source: Personal Collection
Synopsis: Award-winning author Juliet Marillier “weaves magic, mythology, and folklore into every sentence on the page” (The Book Smugglers). Now she begins an all-new and enchanting series that will transport readers to a magical vision of ancient Ireland....

     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.

     My Review: Blackthorn, an innocent prisoner, has been freed by a fey nobleman. In return for her freedom she must travel up north to the kingdom of Dalriada and to not seek revenge on the person who has ruined her life. She is accompanied by Grim, a fellow inmate. Together, they try to rebuild their lives by healing the people of Winterfalls. One day, Prince Oran asks for their help. He claims that something is wrong with his soon-to-be bride because she seems to be a different woman than when he was courting her. Blackthorn and Grim begin to look into the mystery and to solve Prince Oran’s problem.

     Blackthorn is an interesting character. She is an emotionally distraught woman. Her heart is so full of anguish that she has turned her heart to hatred and to have a thirst for vengeance. Revenge is her main goal that she does not care what happens to her. However, the penance that she made with the fey nobleman seems to do her some good. For while she still wants revenge, she is beginning to heal spiritually, psychically, and emotionally. She is trying to recover and to have a new start with her life. She is even starting to make friends and to care about others’ well-being. Grim is also a likable character. The book does not mention his past. However, he is caring and loyal. He feels that he needs to protect and take care of Blackthorn. The only main character that I did not like was Prince Oran. He was childish and selfish.

     Overall, this book is about friendship, love, and redemption. The message of this book is to be yourself. While I did like Blackthorn and Grim, I did not really care for the other characters. This book is slow-paced and dragging. I thought that it should have been shortened. I felt this story to be lacking. It did not have any of its magic that I expected from Juliet Marillier. I also felt that the problem was very similar to the other works that she had written. Still, I recommend this to anyone who is interested in historical fantasy and a light story.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

King Alfred's Daughter: The Remarkable Story of Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, the Heroine who Written out of History by David Stokes: A Book Review

King Alfred’s Daughter: The Remarkable Story of Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, the Heroine who was Written out of History Author: David Stokes Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: The Book Guild Publication Date: 2023 Pages: 348 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: King Alfred is dead and the achievements that made him great are in jeopardy. Rebels challenge the succession of his son Edward to the Wessex throne, and his old ally in Mercia is sick. The Vikings in the Danelaw sense the time has come to complete their conquest of England.       It falls on Alfred’s firstborn, his daughter, Æthelflæd, to unite the Anglo-Saxons. Reluctantly, she takes up the challenge. But can a woman rebuild ruined towns and lead men into battle against hardened Viking warriors? And can Æthelflæd fulfil her father’s dream of uniting England?       Based on contemporary sources and archaeological evidence, King...

King John's Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa De La Haye by Sharon Bennett Connolly: A Book Review

King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa De La Haye Author: Sharon Bennett Connolly Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Pen & Sword History  Release Date: 2023 Pages: 236 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: In a time when men fought and women stayed home, Nicholaa de la Haye held Lincoln Castle against all-comers. Not once, but three times, earning herself the ironic praise that she acted ‘manfully’.      Nicholaa gained prominence in the First Baron’s War, the civil war that followed the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. Although recently widowed, and in her 60s, in 1217 Nicholaa endured a siege that lasted over three months, resisting the English rebel barons and their French allies. The siege ended in the battle known as the Lincoln Fair, when 70-year-old William Marshal, the Greatest Knight in Christendom, spurred on by the chivalrous need to rescue a lady in distress, came to Nicholaa’s aid. ...

Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen by Jane Draycott: A Book Review

  Cleopatra’s Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen Author: Jane Draycott Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Liveright Release Date: 2023 Pages: 336 Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The first modern biography of one of the most influential yet long-neglected rulers of the ancient world: Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra.      As the only daughter of Roman Triumvir Marc Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII, Cleopatra Selene was expected to uphold traditional feminine virtues; to marry well and bear sons; and to legitimize and strengthen her parents’ rule. Yet with their parents’ deaths by suicide, the princess and her brothers found themselves the inheritors of Egypt, a claim that placed them squarely in the warpath of the Roman emperor.      “Supported by a feast of visual and literary references” (Caroline Lawrence), Cleopatra’s Daughter reimagines t...