Book Review: Dreamer's Pool (Blackthorn & Grim #1)

 

Dreamer's Pool

Juliet Marillier

4/5

Blackthorn has been wrongly imprisoned for over a year, though it is finally time for her to receive a just trial it seems like the guards have other plans. She has basically come to terms with the fact that her death is imminent until a fae offers her the chance for freedom in exchange for seven years of service. She takes the deal and escapes with another prisoner, Grim, to finish her service in a faraway place. 

I think this book was super interesting just like the other books I've read by Juliet Marillier. She creates weird and provocative boundaries between normal and uncomfortable and really makes you wonder about morality. Blackthorn and Grim are characters that have suffered so much in life but understand each other so well. They might have their setbacks but they feel like such intrinsically good and honest characters. I think that it's such a perfect balance of the flaws that each of them have working together to make such a subtlety effective team. Not gonna call this a romance though, there might be the potential for romance but it's definitely purely platonic here.  

My issue with this book would be the portrayal of sexual abuse. I think that it's probably a pretty decent job, it's an extremely complicated issue that's obviously very difficult to write. But the false accusations hit a bad note with me. I understand how it was a manipulation of what Blackthorn was most set-off by, but it felt as though it was stepping back on the ultimate point of how often women are mistreated and how little power they had to change it. I also don't think the punishment was suitable, the girl was scared and had no selfish motivations for the initial problem. I hope that that point gets reopened later and that we can find some forgiveness for a crime not nearly as significant as the others mentioned throughout the book.

All in all though I think it was pretty enjoyable. Kind of high fantasy, a little disconnected from the actual characters in favor of a more omniscient perspective but in a manageable sort of way. If you like Julier Marillier's other books I think this is a fantastic addition.