Marillier, Juliet: The Dark Mirror

The Dark Mirror (2004)
Written by: Juliet Marillier
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 351/573 (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: Book One of The Bridei Chronicles
Rating: 5 – It’s a Gamble (DNF)

Why I Read It: I’ll be honest: I would’ve never even attempted this book if it weren’t for Jawas Read, Too!’s Women of Fantasy book club. The premise doesn’t grab me, and I really don’t like the cover. But it was selected for June, so I nabbed a free copy from Paperback Swap and gave it a go.

The premise: ganked from BN.com: Bridei is a young nobleman, a fosterling of one of the most powerful druids in the land, Briochan. All of Bridei’s memories are of this dark and mysterious man who seems to be training him for a special purpose he will not divulge.

But, everything changes when on one bitter MidWinter Eve Bridei discovers a child on their doorstep—a child abandoned by the fairie folk. In order to avoid the bad luck that seems to come with fairie folk, all counsel the babe’s death. But, Bridei follows his instinct and, heedless of the danger, fights to save the child. Briochan, though wary, relents.

As Bridei comes to manhood, and the foundling Tuala blossoms into a beautiful young woman, he begins to feel things he didn’t know were possible.

Briochan sees this and feels only danger, for Tuala could be a key part in Bridei’s future . . . or could spell his doom.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. While in my mind, there’s nothing to spoil (after all, I didn’t finish), I still talk about my experience reading the book and what went into my decision to put it aside, part of which was learning where the book was going (aka, how it ends). So if you don’t want to be spoiled, please jump to “My Rating” and you’ll be fine. Everyone else, onward!

Discussion: I feel bad. Six months into JRT’s book club, and I’d already read all of the selections except for two of them, and those two I haven’t been able to finish once I started. Not sure what that says about me, or my taste in fantasy, or my patience with fantasy, or what, but I feel bad. Sorry Jawa!

I also think that this is a book that if I’d read it five or so years ago, I would’ve devoured it. It’s also a book that if I didn’t have more pressing reads vying for my attention, including my own book club pick for June, I might’ve finished at my leisure.

But I thought it was really telling that, when I finished watching HBO’s Game of Thrones first season finale, that I looked over to The Dark Mirror and my brain whimpered silently. Kind of like looking at a kick-ass car in the show room and then looking at your own clunker model, wishing your model was said kick-ass car.

So most of my putting this book down dealt with the fact that I’d rather be reading something else. That being said, Marillier’s writing style is very smooth and fluid, and oddly, given my Game of Thrones comparison, The Dark Mirror has quite a bit similar to Martin’s epic, especially when you consider there’s little magic in the world (that I saw in Marillier, anyway, despite the focus on a druid) and there’s a whole lot of political machinations, especially focused on who’s going to be the future king.

But before making that weak comparison, I thought perhaps that we were seeing an Arthurian story, a re-telling, or something that was perhaps meant to be the root of the mythology that’s sprung up every where, you know? Between the cover and Tuala’s early visions, I wondered if Tuala was meant to a Lady in the Lake/Morgaine-type character, banished to the sidelines while Bridei, aka Arthur, rose to his power and was loved by all. That sort of thing. But the trouble is this: I found out quickly that Marillier’s book is actual historical fantasy, but not an Arthurian myth. Which dampened my excitement a bit, and had me pondering.

On one hand, Bridei is a character who definitely isn’t well-known, so a historical fantasy could certainly ignite reader interest in the reality of Bridei’s time, right? On the other hand, why not make it a straight-up fantasy, not tied to the real-world at all? There’s no right answer here, I’m just throwing out questions, because the fact of the matter is that while reading, I really had no idea what direction this book was going toward, short of ensuring that Bridei would be crowned King, and that was boring me. And while it was obvious that Tuala and Bridei were clearly attached to each other, I wanted theirs to be some kind of doomed love (I know, I’m demented). Instead, the book is a historical romantic fantasy, and I discovered that Tuala and Bridei were meant to be together when I accidentally read part of the excerpt for The Well of Shades, and then I had to flip back to the end of The Dark Mirror and learn that indeed, Tuala becomes Bridei’s queen.

That’s it? That’s the story? Marillier no doubt takes her time to develop her story and her characters, but if the focus is a happily-ever-after, I’m not feeling it. Instead, there’s angst because the characters can’t be together, which is unfortunate, because Tuala transforms from an interesting character who could be acting in her own interest to a character who can’t exist without the hero, and I want more.

Granted, maybe if I finished reading, I would’ve gotten more. I don’t know. But I realized that ultimately, I was bored by what I was reading. I didn’t like getting part of Bridei’s action scenes as Tuala observing them through a mirror or being referred to in flashback. And since I’m not a fan of obvious manipulation of characters (therein the reader knows that another character is holding information back to manipulate the hero/heroine), and Broichan does that in spades due to his fears.

And while the book doesn’t break my personal rule of one POV per one hundred pages, I’m not fond of the two Good Folk POV after Tuala is initially found. And I’m not terribly fond of the POV we get from the inner circle people either. Come to think of it, with what I read, Marillier does break my personal rule, or at least comes close: you’ve got Bridei, Tuala, Broichan, The Good Folk, Ferada, and the inner circle’s various members. That’s treading close to 6 POVs in a book that’s only 575! Anyway, that’s just me nitpicking. But the point remains is when I get spread over too many characters, I tend to stop caring, especially when there isn’t enough to keep me invested in the main ones.

My Rating: 5 – It’s a Gamble (DNF)

Make no mistake: I’m not adverse to trying Marillier again in the future. But not this particular book. I read reviews on Amazon from fans of hers that state this isn’t her strongest work, and I’d much rather try something that fans feel is her best rather than something that has all the ingredients of her usual but doesn’t gel together. I stopped because I didn’t care, because it wasn’t the right time to read the book, because other books in my TBR pile were seducing me away. Yet if I’d read this book years ago, I would’ve gobbled it up. If I hadn’t had other pressing titles that needed to be finished by a certain date, I may have finished those final 200 pages. But the fact remains that even when I finished aforementioned titles and could read at my own leisure again, I really wasn’t interested in returning to this world. Oh, Marillier definitely paints a pretty picture with words, and I feel immersed to a point, but I’m not emotionally engaged or invested in the outcome. Perhaps another one of her titles will work for me; and perhaps, if you’re a bigger fan of romantic fantasy than I currently am, this book will be right up your alley. That’s why it’s a gamble.

Cover Commentary: Hate it. There’s nothing wrong with this art, mind you, but it’s a style that tends to have me backing away from books while warding myself away from them. I just don’t like the style. The artist’s portrayal of Tuala is not how I want to imagine her, and the cover makes me think so strongly of The Lady of the Lake (of Arthurian mythology) that while reading, that’s what I found I wanted. I just really don’t like this art. HOWEVER!!! I just noticed this on the image I’m using for this review: look in the water at Tuala’s reflection: now THAT’s interesting! The cover of my book blurs the hell out of this and you can’t see the detail. Pity…