Liviania’s review of Dreamer’s Pool (Blackthorn & Grim, Book 1) by Juliet Marillier
Historical Fantasy published by Roc 4 Nov 14
I adored Juliet Marillier’s Shadowfell trilogy, which concluded just last September. It was a lovely throwback to traditional fantasy, particularly with its slower pace. Dreamer’s Pool is aimed at an older audience than the Shadowfell books, which is clear from the opening. Blackthorn is imprisoned, wrongfully but purposefully, because she wants her day in court to speak out about what she knows. It’s an unpleasant imprisonment, full of filth and violation, but she’s steadfast that it will all be worth it.
Then she learns that she’s going to be assassinated, so she can never say her piece about the chieftain Mathuin.
That dispiriting reveal is why she decides to make a deal with an elf who shows up. He’ll rescue her if she’ll become a wandering healer and help everyone who asks. During the escape from the prisoner, Blackthorn ends up becoming traveling partners with her neighboring prisoner Grim. Grim is large and not the quickest, but he’s strong and kind and sees the good parts of Blackthorn that the prison hasn’t entirely beaten down. Dreamer’s Pool alternates between their points of view, as well as the view of Prince Oran. The strands start to come together when Oran asks Blackthorn for help.
Oran is a romantic and naive young man. As the future leader of the Dalriada, he must marry for politics. However, his letters with Lady Flidais have convinced him that she is a woman of his own heart, one that he can love. Their letters and courtship are absolutely adorable. It’s easy to see why Oran thinks everything will work out like a storybook romance. Flidais, unfortunately, comes in the wake of tragedy – one of her handmaidens drowns in the pool they stop to bathe in. The Lady Flidais, in person, is cruel and uninterested in ruling beyond the personal power. Oran is concerned about the future of his people, but knows that he can’t get out of the marriage honorably. At the same time, he suspects that this isn’t the true Lady Flidais, no matter that she matches her portrait and everyone recognizes her.
Blackthorn’s anger and disillusionment are a nice contrast between the sweet lovers of Oran and Flidais. Her history with men misusing their power gives her good reason to mistrust Oran and to hold Grim at arm’s length. At the same time, she’s not so stubborn that she can’t eventually see Grim’s efforts to make the healer’s cabin they live in a home, for instance. Grim is my absolute favorite in the story. He is a bit flat, however. His past is left for future books in the series, I suppose. He’s a loveable guy, but there’s not much to him beyond gentle goodness. At the same time, it’s nice to read about good people sometimes.
I find the plot too easy to figure out. During much of Dreamer’s Pool, I feel like I was spinning my wheels while I was waiting for the characters to catch up. That makes for a somewhat frustrating reading experience. I love the slow pace of the Shadowfell books, but here it feels less like a deliberate style and more like the author obviously holding the characters back from making certain realizations so that the plot would stretch out throughout the whole novel.
I really like these characters, so I hope that there’s more going on in the next Blackthorn & Grim novel. There’s certainly lots of opportunities for story. There are hints of a tense political situation brewing with Oran and Mathuin on opposite sides. There’s Blackthorn becoming part of the community, and potential for stories among the common people. There’s whatever brought Grim to the prison and convinced him he wasn’t good enough. There’s also whatever the elf is playing at, why he rescued Blackthorn and made her follow stringent rules. I’ll certainly be reading the second book to see what path the story and characters take.
Grade: B
Summary:
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.
Read an excerpt here.
