#dreamers pool

[skeletoninthewaterfilter]

They are here !!

[ladyiswriting]

ever since i read dreamers pool by juliet marillier (even before honestly) i couldnt take away from my mind the cover

it is so pretty and its the exactly style i love! (old fantasy feels) so of course i had to paint it!

and today im finally done with it and im so proud! tomorrow i will be taking pics and posting here

[majorajackson]

Has ANYONE read dreamers pool by juliet marillier? I don't want spoilers at this point but i can't read this book if someone kills that dog. Can someone please tell me? Dog death is a huge trigger for me and I don't need it rn.

[emperor-meow]

Day 08: Most overrated book 

I’ve been going through my bookshelves, and I realize I don’t really posess books that I think are overrated. Yes, some of them are “meh”, and some of them aren’t really my thing - but it all boils down to not being in my particular field of interest or my taste - not necessarily because they’re overrated. 

But then I opened Audible to have a look at my books there. 

And there I found it. Frankly I’d forgotten about its existence until I looked at my app. 

Blackthorn & Grim #1: Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier 

Okay, the book has a promising start. A strong female lead (Blackthorn), and action right from the start. And I really wanted to like this book. She escapes imprisonment and fucks off, and the action just “prrrrt” like the last dying sounds of a balloon you let go of. 

When she feels relatively safe and settles down with her friend and companion, Grim, they get involved with people’s lives and slowly a little bit of drama and plot starts building again.  But things move at an incredibly slow rate, and if you pay attention to what you’re reading you’ve figured out the plot about 30% into the book. And it’s your standard run-of-the-mill drama. “Oh, the local ruler’s son is being tricked into a bad deal/corrupted by an evil influence. How shall we ever resolve this?” 

And in between the few pages where the plot actually moves, there are a lottttt of pages with ...nothing. I feel like this author must’ve been the embodiment of 14-year-old-me trying to reach the word count on my essays. How does she fill this? Well, let me give you an example:  "I talked to some farmers about a troublesome patch of boggy ground and the need to dig a drainage ditch. They could not agree on its position. I suggested they consider a compromise that would not encroach too severely on either man's farm, and told them to bring it to the council if they had not reached agreement by then."

And it goes on and on and on. 

Blackthorn and Grim are supposed to be layered characters, but I find them pretty 2-dimensional. Being tortured doesn’t automatically make you layered.  

Also I don’t get the point of this book. It doesn’t really give you anything. 

And I’m leaving out a lot now. I could’ve talked about the deus ex machina Fae Lord, the slut shaming and purity speeches (sex = bad, ‘purity’ =good (which Blackthorn does not defend for the record. Credit where it’s due and so on.)). The archetypal secondary characters. A lot of little things that add bad flavor. 

tl;dr: Slow and boring. 

[readercottontail-blog]

I've been carrying this book with me because it's been on my TBR for a while now and I am really excited about it, but other books keep getting thrown on the top of the pile! It's intimidating getting into a series that already has a bunch of books because it could possibly take over my life! 😀 Do you prefer series or standalones?

[readaroundtherosie]

Completed Trilogies in my collection  //  6 / 6

[atlasandartemis]

Book Review: Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier

★★★★☆: Thorny heroines and dark mysteries abound in this grim fairytale

This was a new release at the library, and the cover drew me in straight away (say what you want about not picking a book by it’s cover but that’s how I pick a number of my books). This was my first Juliet Marillier and I was not disappointed.

Blackthorn has been a prisoner for one long, dark, hopeless year. On the eve of her hearing, the guard tells her she will be dead before she can present her case. Or will she? A stranger appears and gives her a deal: give aid to anyone who asks for it for seven years and you will be free. But seven years is a long time to wait to seek vengeance on the one who wronged her, and a year in prison has sorely tested Blackthorn’s trust in humanity. With Grim, a fellow inmate, to help her, Blackthorn means to stick to her oath, but against monarchy and magic, treachery and half-truths, Blackthorn may be no match for the locals she’s forced to live with.

Juliet Marillier spins a tale of fairies, dark pasts and hopeful futures in this wonderful high fantasy romp through the wilds of old Ireland. For a fairytale setting, this book was dark and it made it all the better to read. As a reader I kept waiting for lighthearted moments and I felt like I glimpsed them through the clouds before they were snatched away once more. In most other stories I would dislike a dark narrative, but Marillier manages to make you long for each word on the page and read on to see how she will solve the wonderful riddle she weaves throughout the story. Many questions are left unanswered, but all the right ones were tied up nicely, leaving the reader satisfied but anxious for the next installment of Blackthorn and Grim, who are themselves and unlikely pair but a wonderful compliment to each others shadowy personalities.  

I enjoyed the brisk, sharp nature of Blackthorn, who had no time for niceties and yet she was gentle with her patients. She was not a typical caregiver, or heroine, as they are usually painted. She was broken, angry, bitter and did not desire to be fixed - which is a breath of fresh air in my opinion. There were some dicey areas of the text where sexuality was described in a questionable manner - namely a woman who is vilified for having any sort of sexual appetite, which dampens the high praise I have for this author. But overall, a wonderful first installment in this series, good for fans of fantasy and suspense!

[weereader]

Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Matillier has such a gorgeous cover. I’m excited to read it!

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