Don't mind me, I'm just really happy about Swan Island
I recently acquired Blackthorn and Grim and the Warrior Bards, both trilogies by Juliet Marillier and set in the same universe as Sevenwaters, though at least a couple centuries removed.
I don't know if any other factors make this apparent, but the really obvious one is Swan Island!
SWAN. ISLAND!
Bran and Liadan founded Inis Eala so Bran's band of warriors could have legitimacy and purpose and safety, and they brought my son Finbar I to the island for his safety and to give him a peaceful, isolated place to stay. The island was named in his honor (something a fellow fan had to tell me because I had no idea what the name meant.)
And hundreds of years later, Swan Island is still a thing! They train warriors and spies there! It's still going Bran, Liadan, Finbar! It is still going! Your legacy reaches on into the future and I know you'd love Blackthorn and Grim's babies! I love them!
I didn't know until the other day that these two trilogies were connected in this way, but as soon as I found out, I had to get them! If nothing else, this is an Expansion the Sevenwaters Infinite Loops can't leave unaddressed, even if there has to be a separate Anchor (more likely two, I wouldn't make poor Blackthorn do that alone!)
Thought you ought to know that I saw that Warrior Bards fic you reblogged last night and now I've splurged seven credits on Warrior Bards, Blackthorn and Grim and the sequel to Wildwood Dancing. I could, theoretically, drop most of my remaining credits on the rest of the Juliet Marillier audiobooks as well. Still mad they don't have 'Twixt Firelight and Water yet!
That's great! :D I ended up buying the first Warrior Bards book after seeing/reblogging that fic post and I really enjoyed it! I bought the second book right after I finished the first one and I'm reading it now. :D Also it looks like the books are set in the Sevenwaters-verse which is exciting! :D I think they're definitely worth checking out!
I haven't read Blackthorn and Grim but I might try it again once I'm done with Warrior Bards. I also haven't read Cybele's Secret, because I didn't enjoy Wildwood Dancing.
The Warrior Bards novels are to the Blackthorn and Grim trilogy as Star Trek: TNG is to Star Trek TOS. This is literally the next generation in this world, and it's exploring the lives of Blackthorn and Grim's children, both bioloigcal and adopted. What is absolutely wild to me is that where Blackthorn and Grim felt like more traditional, older-style historical fantasy (think like, 1980s Tamora Pierce or Mercedes Lackey) despite being published from 2014 to 2016, the Warrior Bard books feel very modern and very much what I would expect for historical fantasy published from 2019 to 2021. And yet despite the style changes, both series still manage to sound like Juliet Marillier. Let's talk Warrior Bards.
The Harp of Kings introduces us to Swan Island, a training ground for freelance spy/mercenaries, and main characters Liobhan, Brocc, and Dau. Brocc and Liobhan are Blackthorn and Grimm's children, and they are in training on Swan Island. This book follows them on what is technically a training mission, but it's a very, very live mission. You can't crown a king without a magic harp, after all. Dau and Liobhan are set up for their rivals to lovers arc throughout the trilogy, and Brocc is very, very clearly set up to end up on an intertwined but related path to his sister--there are fae involved.
A Dance with Fate has been mentioned on this blog before, in the very first post. It has a very complicated relationship with disability and the magical cure trope, which I won't go into too much depth here; the TLDR is that on principle, I hate the magical cure trope (seriously, disability is not a life-ender. You can live and live well with a disability, it does not HAVE to be cured), but this book does some interesting work with the grief that can come with acquiring a disability and the absolute fuckery that acquiring a disability can throw your relationships (of all kinds, but especially family ones) into. The previous book wasn't not character driven, but this book is CHARACTER DRIVEN, and I love that about it. It makes the stakes higher and the actiony, plot-y sequences weightier.
This book also really divides its time between Dau and Liobhan and Brocc, who is off in a Fae stronghold and very much on his own romantic journey that has some tragic-feeling tendrils woven through. Brocc is not my favorite part of this trilogy, but he is central to it in a way that, while reading, I was never mad about spending some time with him, especially because while he is geographically separate from Dau and Liobhan, they're deeply connected in terms of in-world geopolitics and plot. It's just beautifully balanced.
A Song of Flight takes all the threads that have been worked through the first two books and opens with a kidnapped prince, who's bodyguard is Brocc and Liobhan's elder brother, Galen. Swan Island turns out to find the prince, and Dau, Brocc, Liobhan, and Galen have to save both the magical and mundane worlds.
This trilogy is excellent, and does not require reading the Blackthorn and Grimm books before reading, and if you don't discover Juliet Marillier through the Wildwood books, I would actually recommend starting with this trilogy (unless you are a massive classical fantasy fan, then Blackthorn and Grimm might be a better place to start; your mileage may vary).
For anyone interested in Juliet Marillier’s historical fantasy world of medieval Celtic Ireland, I’m writing a fanfic about a grown-up Niamh as a sequel to the Warrior Bards trilogy
Giving a guy (pov character) a marriage and divorce arc with a fairy in a historical Celtic setting is one of the most unexpected things I’ve read recently.
Granted even from the first book I was wondering where it was going because it was like watching a friend get into a bad relationship but not THAT bad, so it’s not like you can say anything. And then by the end you are relieved by the divorce because it never really got any better, but it still stinks it happened at all.
I finished reading the Warrior Bard trilogy a couple days ago, and I have some thoughts that I want to share about the books.
I'm putting this under a read-more because spoilers.
What I liked:
The spy missions. I really enjoyed seeing the Swan Island teams in action and the suspense of not knowing whether they were going to be found out.
Brocc being forced to create a Crow Folk army for Sciath, and his secret plan to deceive her and help the Crow Folk fly home instead. Also Brocc fixing the Crow Folk problem by trying to communicate with and understand the Crow Folk. It reminds me of Finbar's words in Daughter of the Forest, about how they should seek to understand their enemy instead of always fighting them. I do think Finbar would be proud of Brocc and what he achieved.
Brocc and Eirne's baby Niamh, and how much Brocc loves her. :') Also love Conmael's reaction to seeing Niamh (who is potentially his granddaughter) for the first time.
The Sevenwaters references -- I love that Inis Eala is still going strong. I love how Bran's Blade is a thing and how Bran is revered as a strong and compassionate leader long after his death. Also Brocc going into the seer's cave and seeing a reflection that's not his in the water is also a reference that I really love. :')
One thing I thought was strange though was that there was no reference to the Sevenwaters family or the Sevenwaters forest. I get that Juliet Marillier probably wanted Blackthorn and Grim and Warrior Bards to be its own thing separate from the Sevenwaters series, but it's weird that these two trilogies are set in the same world as Sevenwaters and yet Sevenwaters is never mentioned.
What I didn't like:
After book 1, it felt like Liobhan was less proactive in the main plot. Book 2 had her just acting as a bondservant and Dau's personal nurse, and in Book 3 she stays on Swan Island until she and Elka saw that vision in the seer's cave and Liobhan decided to 'break the rules' to rescue Brocc. It was disappointing -- I really liked Liobhan's central role in Book 1 and I'd hoped that she would be given similar focus in the other two books.
There are no lasting consequences. Dau loses his eyesight in Book 2? Don't worry, he gets it back via magic cure by the end of the novel and gets to go back to Swan Island with Liobhan. Liobhan doesn't have to complete the year of bondservice she agreed to because Dau is no longer blind. Liobhan breaks the rules again in Book 3? Don't worry, she's not kicked off the Island because she's too valuable to Swan Island (though she does get a slap on the wrist).
Swan Island's rules. I hate how restrictive they are, and how they limited Liobhan and Dau's potential as characters. Especially the "you must exercise restraint" rule. There were many times in Books 2 and 3 when I wished Liobhan would act out and stop restraining herself so much. Also I wished Liobhan and Dau would leave Swan Island by the end of the trilogy because of the rules and was disappointed when they stayed there.
I hated Eirne a lot. She was such a bitch and treated Brocc badly and it's sad that it took so long for Brocc to see how awful she was. I was so happy when he finally left Eirne's Realm.
Questions I have:
What happened to Sevenwaters? Is the family and keep still around or were they destroyed at some point?
Do the Swan Island community remember Liadan? She isn't mentioned at all when Liobhan is thinking about the history of Bran's Blade and how Swan Island was founded.
When exactly are these books (and the Blackthorn and Grim books) set? How many centuries after the Sevenwaters series? I've tried to come up with a rough timeline based on the kingdoms shown in the books but I haven't been able to figure it out yet.
