Welcome to rachelspineapples’s Bookish Blurbs! This section is literally me discussing and reviewing books that I’ve recently finished, and recommending them with a rating between zero and ten pineapples. The focus of this section of rachelspineapples isn’t to give you a detailed summary of the book and all that jazz. It’s merely to share what I thought of the book and how it made me feel. This isn’t for someone who’s wondering whether or not they should read it, but rather for those who already have. If you ARE trying to decide if this book is worth your time and you put any stock in my literary judgment (no particular reason that you should, I might add), simply scroll to the bottom of this entry and see my pineapple rating in the last sentence, allowing you to skip all the spoilers and inevitable boredom from not knowing what I’m talking about.
My first entry is over The Well of Shades (Book Three of The Bridei Chronicles) by Juliet Marillier. First of all, Juliet Marillier is arguably my favorite author of all time. I’ve read all but one or two of her novels (most multiple times) and have enjoyed every single moment I’ve spent in the worlds she creates. I highly recommend her as a brilliant author to try in general, because she writes books that have complex plots, characters, and there is ALWAYS a happy ending. I’m a BIG happy ending person. She also chooses incredibly interesting time periods and geographical settings, which she blends with that region’s brand of legends, folklore, and religion.
…unfortunately I think Faolan looks nothing like that at all, but you’ve gotta give the artist props for doing well on everything else, I suppose…
WARNING! NOTHING BUT SPOILERS PRETTY MUCH FROM HERE ON OUT! I was completely blown away by this book. It focused almost entirely on Faolan, which is great because he’s my favorite character of Marillier’s making. I got to watch him go from a heartless spy with only his wit and killer instinct to keep his soul company, to steadfast friend, passionate lover, loving father, and long-lost (but now forgiven) brother and son. It’s been quite the rollercoaster ride to see his story unfold from The Dark Mirror (focused on Bridei), on through The Blade of Fortriu (focused on Faolan, Ana, and Drustan), and brought to the stunning finish in The Well of Shades. The “bad guy”, Breda, was completely terrifying because, though she wasn’t brutish or strong physically, she was cunning and devastatingly deadly. Also, the terror for me came directly from the fact that she was border line INSANE. We’re talking strait-jacket-insanity. Murdering people out of misplaced, illogical, unprovoked jealousy. Injuring and harming innocent people because they dared to associate with others of a class above or below themselves. The fact that Breda is Ana’s sister just further made the crazy aspect of Breda’s temper even more unsettling. I about died laughing when Faolan tried to kill her. I was literally saying out loud to myself “Evil b**ch better run for her life!”… “Oh my Lord… Faolan’s really gonna kill her!” I can’t say I blame him in the slightest and I’m really glad that she died in the end, even though it wasn’t by Faolan’s hands. We can’t forget the attention that was paid to other main characters (and minor ones) but there’s a fairly large cast of characters so I won’t go into all that. Needless to say, Broichan, Bridei, Tuala, their children, and other maids, bodyguards, and religious and political leaders came together to play monumental parts of the story as well. NO CHARACTERS LEFT BEHIND! Lastly, we need to talk a little bit more about Faolan. He’s very intoxicating and exciting just from the immense complexity he exhibits (even when he was a very minor character, this was the case). On top of that, Marillier has succeeded in making him unbelievably sexy and masculine and he is up there with my top literary crushes. By the way, those range everywhere from Mr. Knightley (Emma) and Mr. Darcy (Pride & Prejudice) to Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings) and Bender (The Breakfast Club)…. Okay… I’m fully aware that The Breakfast Club is about as far away from “literary” as I could possibly get, but holy smokes, have you SEEN Bender? I’ve always had a crush on that guy and I always will (no apologies future-husband, you’ll just have to learn to deal with that).
Back to The Well of Shades… I definitely recommend this book to ANYONE because it was amazing. I do recommend that you read these books in order (I recommend that with almost every series though) because the scope of the story and the hard-earned character development won’t amount to as much if you read it all out of sequence.
Just in case you’re interested, here is Juliet Marillier’s website.
http://www.julietmarillier.com
A fellow reader’s idea of what Eile and Squirrel look like. A tad too glamorous if you ask me, but beautiful to the extreme all the same. =D Perhaps this is after they’ve been at court for awhile. Lovely picture.
I GIVE THIS BOOK 10 OUT OF 10 PINEAPPLES!
rachelspineapples 