It’s time to bid adieu to Blackthorn and Grim. What a journey it has been. I am glad to have read this series and to have read it mostly one book after another. Den Of Wolves by Juliet Marillier wraps up a trilogy that feels different from typical fantasy. After all, there isn’t immediate romance between the two main characters. Blackthorn is a bit older – she’s absolutely not in her early twenties. Grim does not come across as boisterous or in your face clever. Instead, he seems big and dull but as we come to know, that’s not the case.

Den Of Wolves is a trilogy that concludes with a story that involves a child stolen many years ago, a house that will confer blessings upon it’s owner and finally with justice that will be done. Blackthorn and Grim are separated for much of this book as Grim goes to work on building a house in Wolves Glen. Blackthorn is helping with Cara who is staying at Prince Oran’s household. Cara keeps wanting to go back to Wolves Glen, but for some reason her father does not want her there during the building of the house. It’s about to get real tense.

Now that I have finished up this trilogy, I do have to say I appreciate Marillier’s slow build. I liked how the morsels she doled out through the other two books culminated in answers in Den Of Wolves. These books need to be read in order and read together. And, ugh, how it all plays out is just so perfect and lovely. There were times when I felt like the pacing was slow, but eventually there was payoff there. The healing and growth experienced by both Blackthorn and Grim is inspiring. I really appreciate it and that these aren’t the typical normal fantasy characters – there’s not really any fighting or ass kicking scenes. It’s just thoughtfulness and collaboration and problem solving. Read these books if you are someone who goes in for character development.

This is such a good book and such a good series. I will post a review soon.

Juliet Marillier is a marvel; she makes deep, complex, compelling stories read in an effortless fashion. And it doesn’t matter where in a series you pick up a book; they all read as if they are stand-alone novels, with the story being part of a larger world. I love that her characters have past histories and how those histories affect them – and how they either go on to be victims or manage to transcend what has happened to them to shape their own lives. Although I’d read Marillier’s early work, this was my first foray into the adventures of Blackthorn, wounded healer, and her friend Grim, her comrade during the darkest time of her life. Now, for the first time, she has the chance to bring the sadistic tyrant who tortured her and many others to justice. But her life has become entangled with others, including Cara, a lord’s daughter sent to court under mystifying circumstances. Together Grim and Blackthorn unfold Cara’s secret and learn her true identity. In the end, Blackthorn has to make a choice between old revenge and the new life she has created for herself. The two story lines are woven together seamlessly, with dramatic tension beautifully balanced with character development and the daily rhythms of a non-industrialized sort-of mythic Ireland. I enjoyed the sense of spaciousness within the tale; nothing seems hurried, even when the action is intense. There’s a great sense of a world beyond the pages, and even minor characters have their own lives, motives, and sorrows. If you have not yet had the pleasure of exploring Marillier’s worlds, come on in. Sit down, have a cup of brew and listen to a tale or two. You’ll want to stay for a long while.

Juliet Marillier can do no wrong - I've yet to read a book by her I haven't liked.  What I love about this series is that the characters are older, more experienced and more flawed that those in some of her previous books.

I'm not sure where to begin with this book, the last in the trilogy about Grim and Blackthorn, two people who were given the short end of the stick and just wanted to move on and reclaim their lives after seeing justice done. It’s been a couple years, and several brushes with magic and tragedy, since the pair moved to Winterfall. Now with Prince Oran and his wife, the Lady Flidais, settled in marriage and parenthood a new threat to the happiness and security of everyone comes from an old foe, shaking the peace that Blackthorn thought to savor.

Marillier's books in general have always been a source of comfort and wonder to me. DAUGHTER OF THE FOREST remains one of my most beloved books and helped me such a dark time in my life I thought I’d not recover. Blackthorn has been at turns abrasive, rude, cruel and a shrew. She bristles when complimented and doesn’t look at anything on face value. Through the books her softer side has shown, but equally so new betrayals have hardened her. And Grim, considered a bit slow by folk because he doesn’t rush to judgement or explanation, has more than proven his worth.

This book tested them both to the limits of their breaking points. Separated for long periods, sworn to secrecy and desperate to find answers to their many puzzles, this book could have taken a much darker path than it did. At times it seemed to. Previous books dealt with ambition and envy, love and obsession, but this book was all those things in one. I don’t doubt that what was done was done from love. I also don’t doubt that it was done from envy. 

This was a wonderful conclusion to the trilogy. I wish there would be more tales, but at the same time Blackthorn and Grim have struggled for the peace they have at the end of this. They deserve some time to relearn what it means to be free of the past and make a new future for themselves. Though as Blackthorn observes, neither of them are particularly good at the peaceful life are they?

The big twist I saw coming very early on. That didn't detract at all from the story though. Especially as I wasn't sure of the why or the how. We also finally get confirmation about why Conmael has been helping Blackthorn.

I loved the song/rhyme that's given in bits and pieces and then finally in full in the book. I usually skip over that sort of thing, but it really resonated and stuck in my head. I also liked the story of the Heartwood House, and how we got to see different versions of it, both good and bad.

I didn't care for Cara's father at all, he seemed way too cold and strict to have had a daughter as dreamy and connected to the forest as Cara was. I liked how the secrets were uncovered, and how they interlinked with each other, even when some didn't seem like they would fit.

A lot of things were tied up with this book, some major plot lines from the previous books, as well as the ones from this book. But there are enough loose threads that another book could easily  fit in.

If you like a lot of mystery and twists with your fantasy, you should read this series.

The following review was posted on 12/19/2016  in my ongoing review post for the Blackthorn and Grimm series--at this URL: http://fangfiction.blogspot.com/search?q=marillier
In addition, on that same date, I posted an "Update" notice at this URL:
http://fangfiction.blogspot.com/2016/12/update-juliet-marillier-blackthorn-grim.html

MY REVIEW: 
     The bulk of the story sets Blackthorn and Grim the task of working at separate ends of a mystery while being physically separated in the process. At the core of this tale is Cara, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the wealthy landowner, Tóla. In fact, the book begins with a description of Cara's situation, and we don't even look in on Blackthorn and Grim until the third chapter.

      Cara has an almost mystical attachment to nature, particularly to the birds and trees of her father's lands—the forests of Wolf Glen. She can often be found high up in a tree with birds sitting on her shoulders and in her hair. Secretly, Cara speaks to the trees and the birds, and they answer her: "I will protect you. I will guard you." Cara knows better than to let her father or her aunt in on her secret conversations. Both of them want her to be more "normal," to become more sociable, to make small talk, and to make herself ready for a marriage that will be arranged by her father. Unlike Tóla and Aunt Della, Cara believes that, "It was so much easier to talk to trees than people." She would rather sit by herself creating intricate carvings of birds from pieces of wood from the forest. Cara's only friends are her maid, Alba, and her father's forester, Gormán. 

     One day, while Cara is sitting up in her favorite tree, she looks down and sees a scary man standing below her perch. "He was wild-looking, filthy, with matted hair halfway down his back, a bristling beard and crazy eyes, and he was staring at the scattered remnants of the heartwood house." The heartwood house is also at the center of the plot. Fifteen years ago, Tóla hired a local builder to construct a heartwood house to bring luck to his family. The building of the house is based on an old, local folktale, and it must be built according to excruciatingly exact specifications, which the builder claims to know. Unfortunately, halfway through the project, the builder ran off one night and never returned. The heartwood house is now a ruin, falling apart and being overgrown by the forest. Cara is terrified when the man looks up and sees her, and she shouts out for her maid to bring Gormán to rescue her from the wild man. Immediately, Gormán whisks Cara away to the house, and the next morning, her father takes her to Prince Oran's castle at Winterfalls, where he drops her off and never returns—not even for a brief visit.

     Now, how do Blackthorn and Grim get involved with Tóla and Cara? Cara is extremely unhappy at Winterfalls and won't speak to anyone, so Lady Flidais asks Blackthorn to try to help her to settle in at the castle. Meanwhile, Grim gets a request from Tóla to come to Wolf Glen to rebuild the heartwood house under the direction of the wild man, who (Surprise!) is the original builder who has now returned from his run-away travels. His name is Bardán , and he has some deep, dark secrets.

     As usual, the chapters move back and forth between Cara's third-person perspective and the first-person voices of Blackthorn and Grim. Naturally, fey magic is involved in the plot, as well as human vindictiveness and cruelty. What is unusual about this book is that Blackthorn and Grim spend most of it far away from one another because Grim has to promise Tóla to work from dawn to dusk on the heartwood house until it is completed. He leaves every day before sunrise and returns—exhausted—to quickly eat supper and fall into bed. This is the first time the two have been apart for an extended period, and each misses the other terribly.

     Back at Winterfalls, Prince Oran receives news that Lord Mathuin of Laois—bitter enemy of Blackthorn and Grim—has invaded the territory of Lady Flidais' father, forcing her parents to take refuge in a neighboring kingdom. Suddenly, large numbers of strange, fierce warriors—called the Swan Island Men—begin to arrive at Winterfalls. The men's faces are heavily tattooed—each showing the distinctive features of an animal (e.g., dog, wolf, hawk). Blackthorn meets two of them after a mysterious scuffle in the woods near her cottage, and they tell her that they are at Winterfalls at the behest of Prince Oran. (Later, Blackthorn will learn more about that mysterious incident in Dreaming Woods and how it directly affects her.)

     So...back and forth we go, with Grim trying to figure out Bardán's story and Blackthorn trying to help Cara learn to speak up for herself. Each night before Grim falls asleep in exhaustion, he and Blackthorn exchange information about what they have learned. Soon, the reader can draw some conclusions as to the real story of what went on at Wolf Glen fifteen years ago, although it takes Grim and Blackthorn a bit longer. Remember, we have the luxury of seeing the whole picture, while Grim and Blackthorn have to put the puzzle together a piece at a time, each gathering clues from a separate source. 

     A side effect of the separation is that both Blackthorn and Grim learn the depth of their feelings for one another and finally get up enough nerve to communicate them—first in writing, then in spoken words...and FINALLY in actions. (Yea!)

     Near the end of the story, Blackthorn's will power is gravely tested. Back in book one, Conmael, the fey lord who rescued them from Lord Mathuin's prison, forced Blackthorn to agree to remain in the cottage by the Dreaming Woods and to help anyone who asks for her help. She is not allowed to seek revenge on Mathuin, even though he murdered her husband and child and threw her into his filthy prison. In the previous two books, Blackthorn had a very difficult time keeping that promise, and in this book, she has to make the hardest decision of her lifetime. 

     The themes of the book involve the importance of truth, the damage done by deceit and treachery, the satisfaction that comes from well-applied justice, and the dangers of blind vengeance. This series has always been about the importance of being governed by love, trust, and compassion rather than by rage, hatred, and bitterness, and that conflict is resolved once and for all as this series ends. One might quibble that the final conflict is resolved very quickly, but I think that's the whole point. Blackthorn has to learn the lesson that Conmael has been trying to teach her, and this is the best way to show that she finally does. My advice is to trust Marillier, because she knows exactly what she's doing here.

     This is most likely the final novel in this series, although Marillier doesn't explicitly state that in the book or on her web site. I have enjoyed all three of these novels because of Marillier's masterful story-telling skills, her creative world-building, her quirky characters, and her fantastic hero and heroine—both of them so courageous and good-hearted, yet flawed in such truly human ways. This is a terrific series that I recommend without reservation.

     Click HERE to read or listen to an excerpt from Den of Wolves on the novel's Amazon.com page by clicking on the cover art for print or the "Listen" icon for audio.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My review of xx is based on an electronic advance reading copy (ARC) of the book that I received from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I received no promotional or monetary rewards, and the opinions in this review are entirely my own.

Sorry I haven’t posted this. I actually only received two replies from contributors for the list, and was really hoping to get more. Three books (including mine) just didn’t feel like enough. I have been swamped, maybe if I had followed up more, I would have received more responses, but as it stands, it is what it is.  I really appreciate you taking the time to write this up, and maybe we will still manage to get a post out there. I am going to send an email out to the group.