His unassuming and calm demeanor is a good balance to Blackthorn’s blunt and prickly manner. Choosing to follow and protect her at all costs-even when it brings out the demons front and center-is admirable, though. His character development has not reached the point of allowing me to understand the depth of his loyalty. His devotion to Blackthorn surprises me, I admit. Her companion, Grim, has yet to reveal his story at this point, but his demons are ever present and he can barely keep them at bay. The temptation to take matters into her own hands constantly prods her. Having to be around people and actually be nice and sociable is taxing. Her peaceful new life as wise woman and healer in the town of Winterfalls grates on her nerves, even though Prince Oran is a surprisingly wise and just ruler.

Even if it means breaking her oath to her benefactor. We know Blackthorn’s by now and her unrelenting desire to see justice and revenge achieved on behalf of her loved ones. Too much left to discover that I just had to keep going with Tower of Thorns.īlackthorn and Grim each have their own dark histories to tell. Blackthorn and Grim are an excellent pair of mysterious protagonists that I could not get enough of. Now, I’m not usually a fan of Marillier, but the synopsis of Dreamer’s Pool caught my interest, and it did not disappoint.

In the second book of the Blackthorn & Grim trilogy, we hunker down with the two main characters as they wait out the seven-year condition set by Blackthorn’s benefactor, Conmael, a fey who freed her from a death sentence in Dreamer’s Pool.

Tower of thorns by juliet marillier