Dreamer's Pool (original 2014; edição 2015)

Not crazy about one of the twists at the end, but otherwise I really enjoyed this. I've always had a hard time getting into JM's books, but not this trilogy. I went out of my way to read the next one RIGHT AWAY. ( )

Loved this medieval detective mystery!!! Hit the spot!!! ( )

Loved this medieval detective mystery!!! Hit the spot!!! ( )

This was a gentle Fantasy with all the traditional, read archetypal, side-characters, but it's real strength is in being a great character-driven novel.

I consider Orlan and Flidais to be side characters in this story, with Blackthorn and Grim being the true gift from the author. With Blackthorn and Grim, this shouldn't be much of a stretch to see, despite Orlan's PoV time, because that guy was just too idealistic and good-natured and romantic a prince to make it as anything other than the subject of the novel and not the real meat. :)

Flidais was much worse: being the put-upon trope princess who serves as a backdrop and not a real mover. Which is a shame, because her real role (Sans Spoilers) did have quite a few more opportunities for fun and mayhem, but alas, this would not have served, likely even supplanting, the true tale of Blackthorn and Grim.

I've spent all this time on the side characters, but what's all the hullabaloo?

Think a revenge-filled wise-woman with a hulk of a devoted man watching over her, forced into service under the Fae to do good in a small little land, and you've got just the tip of the ice-burg. The novel was complete unto itself, with a good take on an old, old celtic trope, missing almost all of the tripe twists that are expected on such an old tale, resting all of its strengths on characterization, depth of world-building, and serious attention to detail.

I fully enjoyed the novel. It was such a nice change of pace from all the war-driven fantasies I've plowed through, recently, returning to the roots of Fantasy, as in Fairy Tales.

There's a lot of plot-drive about men and women, the nature of justice with rape, with perceptions and misunderstanding, as well as truly good-hearted people being wrapped up in the whole mess. (And bad ones, too.)

What can I say? I think this is no way a flashy novel or ranking up there as anything I'd peg as the standard, but as a very good novel with great characters, I think it's damn sweet. :) ( )

I picked this up because I got received book 2 to review and several people who had also received the book 2 that I follow on Goodreads were super excited about it and raved about book 1. The book starts with Blackthorn given a choice of working as a healer and helping anyone who asked for the next seven years or be ready to die before she can see the parole board for a crime she didn’t commit. She takes the seven years of debt to an unknown stranger who just might be one of the Fey and heads north to the town he tells her to settle into. Along the way she teams up with Grim, another prisoner that escaped during the jail break and he tags along helping her even though she doesn’t seem that excited to be burdened with any human company. Blackthorn chafes at the restrictions of her deal since all she wants to do is get even with her evil former lord that that had her imprisoned the last year. The rest of the story is set up more like a mystery and the plotting is very good. I enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to dive into the next one. ( )