Blackthorn & Grim is a young adult high fantasy series written by Juliet Marillier.  She is one of my favorite high fantasy authors even though I've yet to read all of her work.  Mainly, her writing is beautiful and magical.

Den of Wolves, the last book in this trilogy, was published and made available this week, and so I thought, what better way to celebrate than squee about how pretty the covers for all three books are.  Fantasy novels tend to have a lot of really good cover illustrations, and the Blackthorn & Grim trilogy is no different.  And while I've always liked most of the covers for Juliet Marillier books, I can't say that any have ever actually stood out as much to me.

But the three of these covers, from the illustration to the type setting, it's all just so pretty that I can't stop looking at them.  Specifically Den of Wolves--it was the one that drew my attention the fastest, more than likely because of the bold red background.

The last time I started a Juliet Marillier fantasy trilogy, I breezed through one book after another and had the entire series finished in no time.  So this time, I decided that I would patiently wait out the publication of the last book before even trying to get a hold of the first.

I feel I've become quite impatient in my old age to wait around to finish an ongoing story, and this whole trilogy thing that's been going on is a bit frustrating sometimes.

I reckon that one day, Grim will be finished with that god damn roof, -_-

I loved this book. Loved loved. It's a young adult novel It's set in the Ireland of early Christianity, when the old ways and the new ways occasionally clashed and occasionally worked together. 

And it's also a true love story, and it really warmed my heart.

And it's a book where all the main characters are suffering from some form of PTSD, and much of the story is about how having the right support group and/or people around you can make a huge difference.

The book is narrated by three different voices: Blackthorn, Grim and Geiléis. This quite often doesn't work, but it does here very well. The author writes the voices very distinctively, and I was never confused about who was narrating, even when I put the book down, then pickéd it up ion the middle of a chapter without remembering.

It's the second book in the Blackthorn/Grim trilogy I haven't read the first, but it didn't at all detract from my enjoyment, and I shall definitely read it, and the next book.

Here's the blurb:

After the strange events of last autumn, healer Blackthorn and her companion Grim have settled back into their everyday life at Winterfalls. But trouble has a way of seeking these two out.

Lady Geiléis of Bann, a noblewoman from the western border, petitions Prince Oran for help. A creature has taken up residence in an old tower on her land. Its constant howling scrambles the thoughts and threatens the sanity of all who live nearby. With the tower situated on an island in the river and surrounded by an impenetrable hedge of thorns, there is no easy solution. The prince asks Blackthorn for advice.

Blackthorn is reluctant to offer practical assistance, since travel to the border could be dangerous for her. But the unexpected arrival of an old friend changes her mind. In company with the scholar Flannan, Blackthorn and Grim accompany Lady Geiléis to Bann.

At the Tower of Thorns, Blackthorn and Grim find a puzzle with many parts. It seems the story Geiléis has told them may not be the whole truth. But the local people are curiously reluctant to talk. While Blackthorn wrestles with the personal dilemma Flannan has brought with him, Grim finds himself face to face with the demons of the past. As they start to put the pieces together, the quest becomes a life and death struggle – a struggle in which even the closest of friends can find themselves on opposite sides.

Highly recommended if you like that sort of thing :)

Lightning Review:

- Liked this one better than the first book.

- As in the first book, Grim and Blackthorne are what makes this book work. But Grim really became the MVP of this book. And if I liked him a lot in the previous book, I loved him in this one.

- Kinda tickled that these books feel like they are shaping up to be a weird sort of fae mystery series with G&B as partners who find themselves called upon to right wrongs and solve magical mysteries.

- Outside of the character development of G& B there are two parallel stories happening. One is the mystery of the Tower and how to defeat the monster in it. The other is a little more aligned with Blackthorne's past and once again her temptation to defy the conditions of her deal with Fey and seek her revenge.

- Unlike the previous book where I didn't really start to enjoy the 'mystery' piece until the second half of the book, the mystery of the Tower gripped me right away.

- Did I say I loved Grim? His quiet, unyielding loyalty to Blackthorn is a thing of beauty.

- The climatic chapters/ending made me tear up a little, sigh a little and smile a little.

Very curious to see how G&B's relationship develops after this now.

Good series.

I raced through this book, and now I'm feeling melancholy, from the story and the fact that I don't have any more of it to read now.  

The characters in this series are so vivid and complex.  Blackthorn and Grim's backgrounds are so incredibly tragic, and it really does explain well who they are and they they act in the ways that they do.  They both seem so different, to me, from the main characters of any of her other books, which I also loved, but these characters are quite a bit darker.

The story of the tower of thorns felt so much like a dark fairy tale.  I loved every detail of it, which I don't want to spoil.  There is a curse, and a heart-breaking love story.  Anybody who has read this author before already knows that the latter there is her specialty, and the reason I can't get enough of her books.  The way things worked out felt right, but were also very sad.  

I had hoped to see a little bit more of Oran and Flidais, particularly at the end.  Also, I am very intrigued by Conmael, and while I enjoyed him when he was present in here, I wished I could see more of him.  I really want to know more about him, period.

I have a theory regarding the boy from Blackthorn's past.  That I will not share, in case I'm correct.  I am eager to find out if I am.