Dreamer's Pool (Blackthorn & Grim, #1)
Juliet Marillier
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.
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This novel takes 280 pages to get to the actual plot that is described in the synopsis, but I DIDN'T CARE ONE BIT. I was utterly taken in by Blackthorn and Grim immediately, even in the dire situation they start out in. Honestly, I went into this knowing almost nothing, and it surprised and delighted me the whole time.
I'd call this light fantasy; it feels much more like historical fiction (set in medieval Ireland) that is threaded with veins of fantasy. The fey exist and are introduced very early on, but they're on the back burner. Magic is mentioned and shown, but it's not a massive part of the story that is being told here.
Blackthorn and Grim and Oran all felt like fully fleshed out characters. I enjoyed every single one of their POV narratives, and they all brought different emotions to the table as Marillier sketched out the world.
Honestly, I'd say if you're interested in a book that is heavily a character study and a story of hurt people trying to do their best to be good people as they deal with their PTSD, then this is for you. The world building is lovely, it felt fully realized and lived in. The seeds of the actual plot are sown throughout the entirety of the book as the characters are deeply explored, but there really isn't too much of a plot here to rely on.
I just really loved this. I want to gush about it so much. I can't wait to finish out this trilogy, and if the other two go well then I'll move on more Marillier.
Content warnings: Mentions of and on-page sexual assault and rape, violence, imprisonment, death of a child, domestic abuse, misogyny, slut-shaming.
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