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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
i hate to do it..., January 8, 2007
I, too, have fallen victim to Marillier's brilliant first trilogy. While I tried very hard to love this book and the first book in the Bridei Chronicles neither book has done it for me like Daughter of the Forest, etc. did. There's just no living up to it.
There is no doubt in my mind that Marillier is a fantastic writer and storyteller however, I'm not sure what genre she is trying to join. With this series she is reaching towards romance and I hate to say it, but sometimes Ana's blind devotion to a man she literally does not even know is just plain silly.
Ana is a vastly annoying character, for some reason I just had a lot of problems with her. She seemed to me prudish, prim and stuck up. I also had a very hard time with the love story between her and Drustan. So, I'm expected to believe she falls deeply and passionately in love with a man she sees for five seconds in the woods? It seems to me that Ms. Marillier has forsaken the slow, careful and beautiful storytelling of the Sevenwaters Trilogy for a formulaic, trite and conventional. I do like the way she handled the villain, Alipn. It was clear from the moment his character appeared that he was going to be the bad guy, there was no doubt about it but Marillier did manage to preserve some of his background and make you wonder what exactly his backstory was whereas with other villains, Lord Richard in Daughter of the Forest for instance, they were just bad and that was it.
Something that got on my nerves was the jumping around in the story. This is something Marillier did in both Wolfskin and especially Foxmask. The difference between those two books and the story jumping in this book is that I actually cared about all the plot lines in the latter. In The Blade of Fortriu I found myself rolling my eyes whenever the story jumped back to Bridei and Tuala and the war but then I didn't particularly care for that story when it was in its own book either. She does handle historical detail wonderfully, that's one of the reasons I finished the book. Marillier blends fantasy and fact very well and it helps that she writes about a time about which little is known.
I have high hopes for the last book in the series as Faolan was the most interesting character in this series so far. He seems to me to be the kind of hero Marillier writes best, the stoic, guarded and mysterious man who redeems himself through the love of a good woman. Hopefully in the upcoming Well of Shades, Marillier will get back to what devoted fans like myself have fallen in love with.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It doesn't seem like enough..., September 26, 2006
I'm a Marillier addict. I own every one of her books and have read each one at least 4 or 5 times over [Son of Shadows I've read at least 10 times]. My account of Blade of Fortriu contains much of the story, so I apologize if you haven't read the book yet and I'm spoiling it for you.
Anyway...
Blade of Fortriu follows the story of Ana, the hostage princess that Bridei keeps in Fortriu. Bridei must use her status as a princess to marry her off to Alpin, a Caitte king. The problem is that no one knows anything of this man and sending the fragile princess off makes everyone uneasy. Not only that, but because the decision to send Ana was quick and no one knows if Alpin will reject Ana for his bride upon meeting her. Faolan is sent with her to make sure the negotiations go accurately, as he happens to be Bridei's right hand man, along with some companions. There is danger that meets them along the way- after all they are traveling in unknown territory with many enemies.
Upon finally getting to Alpin's land, there is trouble with the king himself. His actions and manner border on offensive. There's no question of him wanting Ana, he makes that known, but whether she can abide him is the question. Add to that Alpin's "crazy" brother, Drustan. He has been locked up due to his unnaturalness which caused him to kill Alpin's first wife and child. However, the more Ana gets glimpses of Drustan, the more she falls in love with him. Meanwhile, Faolan has gotten himself into trouble by starting to fall in love himself. It doesn't help that Ana named him her bard, which begins to open up the past for Faolan. It's interesting how each character- Ana, Faolan, Drustan, Alpin- fights for something different.
While I'd still read Marillier over any other author, I find myself a little disappointed by Blade of Fortriu. Maybe I've been spoiled by the lush detail and heart-wrenching poetry of the first trilogy. There is excitement, of course, but I didn't really get anything that stuck after the last page had been finished. Certain parts of the book were really great- Ana's realization of how she loves not one, but two men, Faolan's history, Broichan's weakness. These moments shine through with classic Marillier style but other parts of the book are more rushed or not interesting at all.
Regardless of anything, read the book for yourself and write your own review.
:) Happy reading.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking, February 12, 2007
Juliet Marillier has an amazing ability to weave the most haunting, poignant tales, and "Blade of Fortriu" is no exception. In fact, I enjoyed it even more than its predecessor. The story follows Ana of the Light Isles, who is finally deployed by Bridei as part of a strategic marriage alliance. She is accompanied by Faolan, Bridei's trusted but darkly mysterious right-hand man.
The portrayal of such conflicted characters as Faolan is yet another of Marillier's strengths, and in my opinion, this one character steals the book. It's amazing to see Faolan's progression through the novel. He begins much as we left him in "The Dark Mirror": stoic, practical, elusive; but on the journey to deliver Ana to Alpin of Briar Wood, he forms a geniune respect for the royal bride and eventually comes to love her. He struggles with this newfound emotion, which is pitted against his loyalty to Bridei and his desire to complete the mission successfully. In his guise as a bard, readers begin to see more chinks in his impentrable armor, which towards the end culminates in the revelation of his shocking and moving past. The final scenes between Bridei and Faolan left me misty-eyed.
This is not to say that the other characters were not fascinating in their own rights. Ana herself proves to be a strong heroine: she is intelligent, resourceful, and capable of handling herself with poise and dignity in even the toughest circumstances. Her relationship with Drustan, while it did seem rushed, was nonetheless beautifully scripted. Bridei and Tuala are more side-characters in this book, but their struggle with the knowledge of the impending war, and in Bridei's case, the inevitable loss of life, is written very sympathetically. Broichan and Tuala, as well, have a small breakthrough that was refreshing to read, and a twist towards the end that I hope will be explored more in the next book. The villain of the piece is also provided with a backstory that, although predictable, serves to add some dimemsion to the character.
The plot itself is not so complicated, but that is far from a complaint. It's the story of people facing duty, people who make choices that ripple in ways they could not imagine, and people who find and fight for love. The tale is lyrically told, written in vivid detail, with several powerfully haunting scenes that I'll admit I read and re-read several times. "Blade of Fortriu" had me thoroughly entranced. It's an excellent novel, and I highly recommend it.
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