Tower of Thorns

Blackthorn the healer and her travelling companion (and former cellmate) Grim return to solve another fairy-tale mystery in this second installment of the Blackthorn and Grim series from Juliet Marillier (The Dreamer's Pool).

Irascible Blackthorn continues to fulfill her seven-years geas (a magically imposed obligation) and serves the people of Dalraida while not seeking vengeance against Mathuin, the chieftain who killed her husband and baby before wrongfully imprisoning her. Stoic Grim remains her devoted helpmeet. When beautiful, mysterious Lady Geiléis from the northern border begs their prince for help banishing a plague on her land, Blackthorn and Grim travel to her holding to perform a cleansing ritual.

Joining them is Flannan, a friend Blackthorn had thought dead. Although Geiléis honestly reported the source of her land's distress--a wailing monster trapped in an island tower encircled by poisonous thorn bushes--Blackthorn and Grim sense more to the story when they meet small fairy people who warn them to go home. Blackthorn soon comes to wonder how Geiléis knows so much about the ritual to banish the monster when she claims to know nothing about its origins or why it is haunting her people. However, Flannan's efforts to convince Blackthorn to come home with him and call Mathuin to justice distract her, especially since following the impulse would mean leaving Grim.

The spotlight shifts to Grim's tragic past in this volume, and fans will find his story worth the wait. Marillier again successfully layers the mystery and fantasy genres, this time contemplating the sacrifices inherent in true love. An exquisite story about loyalty and resilience. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

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