Blade of Fortriu: Book Two of The Bridei Chronicles

This is one of the most frustrating reads I've had in a long time. First, let me say that I *love* Marillier and highly recommend any of her books. This book was well written, well paced, and had all the classic great elements of Marillier's writing.

For me, the problem came in the plotting. Marillier's main characters tend to have a lot of substance to them. They seem real and they seem well drawn and intriguing. Ana started out as a quiet and unassuming girl. She was dedicated to her mission, which was to marry Alpin and form an important military alliance. Marillier made a huge mistake, in my opinion, in letting the readers believe that she was setting Ana and Faolan up for a romance. To have that *almost* happen, and to encourage the reader to believe it was going to happen, and then throw Drustan in the way was a bad idea. Ana acted completely out of character when she instantly fell madly, head over heels in love with Drustan upon first sight. Marillier's writing is so rich, I felt completely cheated that one of her characters would behave as though she were in a Harlequin Romance. Drustan was a completely uninteresting character, despite his ability to change forms. His human form had nothing going for it. So what if he's good looking...he's boring and tedious. A little like Ana, so perhaps in that they were well-suited. I am glad that Faolan is going to get his own story in the third installment, but I think this story would have been so much better if there had been no setting up for Faolan to get his heart broken.

I am looking forward to the next book to learn the truth about Broichan and Tuala. That should be interesting.

Overall, this was an okay book, and a necessary stepping stone between book one and three. I just wish it had been plotted differently, and that Ana and Drustan had been more realistic, more interesting, and that their romance had been based less on looks than substance.

Blade of Fortriu is the middle volume of Juliet Marillier's The Bridei Chronicles about a Priteni king, Bridei, striving to unite his people under one rule and reestablish the old faith, which has been supplanted by Christianity in some regions. In an interesting twist, Marillier relegates heroes Bridei and his wife Tuala to supporting roles and elevates Faolan and Ana as primary characters. At first, I liked the twist, since Faolan seemed to be the most complex character in the series, especially compared to saint Bridei. However, this complexity turns out to be an illusion.

At its core, Blade of Fortriu revolves around a love triangle, one of the oldest plot points. In fact, if you account for Alpin's lust, it contains a love rectangle, perhaps the first novel I have read with such geometry. Unfortunately, the romance emasculates Faolaon when it should strengthen him. Numerous times in the book, he contemplates performing selfish acts but restrains himself: Why? If he were more selfish, making a mess of things that he then has to repair, the novel would have been more engaging.

The Dark Mirror worked because Marillier made me care about Bridei and Tuala despite a predictable story. This approach is less effective in Blade of Fortriu because Faolan is different than Bridei, but Marillier does not embrace these differences. Instead, she portrays Faolan as a mostly good man who has been forced to make terrible choices in his past. In my opinion, a character has to act controversially in the present, on the page, to be complicated, and not in the past, where he can be excused for such actions. Making a character's history provocative is expositional and lazy, whereas making his present provocative is far more enriching. Faolan is a spy and an assassin who should take objectionable actions within the story to achieve his goals. He does not kill or deceive anyone who does not deserve it, and I believe this shortchanges his character.

This issue of character complexity also extends to the villain, who is completely despicable. The best villains have some redeemable qualities or at least understandable agendas. You won't find a sympathetic villain in this series.

The climactic showdown takes up all of a paragraph, with the villain admitting to his lies and plot just like in an Austin Powers movie. On one hand, I understand the quick climactic clash because this series does not focus on action. On the other hand, I would have liked a more substantial climax, if only so I could revel in the resolution. In general, Marillier glosses over the combat, relying on exposition to tell us how the war between Fortriu and Dalraida pans out. Marillier focuses on character and emotion instead of war and action, and while I regret the omission of vivid, visceral warfare, I cannot fault the author for abiding by her nature as a writer.

I found "Blade of Fortriu" predictable.
The only surprise was the sudden love of Ana for Drustan.
Ana is not very likable and the changes from the "Dark Mirror" are such that it doesn't feel like is the same character. Why Faolan falls for her,seems to me, the only true unexplained mystery,in a book full of very predictable ones.
Interesting characters, like Ferada, never fulfill the potential they seemed to have in the first book
Of all the books of Marillier, i must say this is the only one that disappointed me and is probably due to the fact that my expectations were quite high.
Also i did not like the cover.

I love ALL of Marillier's work, every time. I enjoy her style, her voice, the beautiful way she blends magic, history, and cultures is beyond belief. Book two in the Bridei chronicles was less than I expected, it seemed a bit of a different focus from first book. It was more about the personal feelings and romances of the characters than the larger events going on. Also, I really REALLY like a specific character who gets a wee but jilted at the end and that makes me sad. (Ha!) The ending left me bereft, where as most of her other books have left me happy and excited. It does still make me want to read the third, perhaps with more vigor so as I can see how she fixes it! It's a good book, it really is. Excellent, even. It is better than most you could ever pick up and by. It is simply less than I expected from Marillier.

It's really too bad that Marillier had to return to her old ways. The Dark Mirror was so brilliant compared to the Blade of Fortriu.

This book is about two characters, mainly. That's Ana and Faolan. We really wished to see what happened to the kind, sweet Ana, and make sure that she's treated properly after such displacement in the first book.

Ana is almost a different person, and she doesn't seem to be near as innocent as she was in the first book. She is strong in such peril, but she's also so annoying now...
Then there's Faolan. The *only* hope of reminding men that they are filled with testosterone. Alas, she seems to screw that up too. Suddenly he's a total wimp who has to confess his every deep dark secret.
There is a good chunk after the climax of the book (like USUAL; Marillier loves to do this in her books--feeds you way more information than you needed to know and leaves you with no imagination or even an afterthought)--anyway, there's a good chunk of the book after the climax that you'd probably wish she didn't write. It's like reading somebody's life story, and it's not very convincing when you hear someone psycho-analyze themselves.
Other than that, wow, I loved it. It's worth the read, but those few pages after the climax... are not. I wish I never read them :(

Excellent author who knows how to keep you hanging on edge in this wonderful fantasy with some romance. This is the first book I've read by this author. I'll read the last book in the series, I'm sure. However, why, oh, why didn't Ana go with Faolan? He is the best thing out of the book. I loved Marillier's character development of this guy. He is wonderful, and deserved a better life. I wonder what will happen to him in the third of the series.

After finding The Dark Mirror somewhat lacking, it took me awhile to get around to reading its sequel, Blade of Fortriu, but I wasn't disappointed; surprisingly, this middle book is actually the best of the trilogy. It begins five years after Bridei's rise to kingship, just as he's about to go to war with the Gaelic kingdom of Dalriada because... well, because they're Gaels and therefore should go back to Ireland. He sends off the hostage princess Ana as a bribe for the mysterious chieftain Alpin of Briar Wood, and with her his Gaelic bodyguard Faolan, chiefly because he's causing King Bridei cognitive dissonance (see: reasons for war). This book follows both sets of characters, alternating between the adventures of Ana, Faolan, Alpin, and Alpin's brother Drustan, and the military situation with Bridei, in addition to a couple of subplots.

Blade of Fortriu starts off amazingly well; for the first 200 pages or so, it was my new favorite Marillier book. The plot is compelling, and Ana and Faolan make much more interesting characters than Bridei and Tuala did in the last book... for that matter, Bridei and Tuala have improved, as his struggles with the reality of war and hers with her frighteningly precocious toddler make it easier to relate. The problem is that the story doesn't quite follow through on its promises as it progresses. Alpin begins as a rather intriguing character with some complexity, only to devolve into a one-dimensional villain; Ana's love life is interesting at first, only to be glossed over in the second half of the book, as if even the author thought she'd chosen the wrong man. Ana and Faolan's story is by far the more interesting for most of the book, but when it starts to lose intensity, the slack is only partially picked up by Bridei's plot, which is action-oriented but predictable.

Still, this is an enjoyable read, and if you liked The Dark Mirror (or your reasons for not liking it included Bridei's annoying perfection or the lack of action inherent in watching children grow up), you'll probably like this one. Blade of Fortriu could probably be read as a standalone; the setting and most of the characters are introduced in its predecessor, but the plot is new. Be warned, though: the end of this one screams "sequel!!" so loudly that you might as well just get The Well of Shades too.

Blade of Fortriu continues the story of Bridei and Tuala. It is five years later and Bridei is the young king of Fortriu faced with difficult choices. In order to win a battle against Dalriada, he must make alliances with the Caitt, a mysterious and sometimes hostile tribe of the Priteni. He sees no other way but to wed Ana to the Caitt king.

The romance thread in this book involves Ana, the Light Isle hostage from The Dark Mirror. It is her story that takes precedence as she is thrust into danger at the hands of the ruthless Priteni king of the Caitt. Faolan, the assassin from the first book (The Dark Mirror) also has a story to tell. His shady past comes to life when the memories he tried to forget come rushing back. Ana and Faolan must trust one another in order to survive in the dangerous land in which they are held prisoner. For Bridei and Fortriu, they will do anything, even if it means sacrificing their own lives.

Ms. Marillier has a gift for telling stories with multiple points of views without confusing the reader. All of the main characters were given enough of the spotlight so that I was able to feel what they were experiencing. Faolan came to be my favorite because of his tormented past, which I felt was convincingly portrayed by the author. Drustan was an interesting addition to the story, his mysterious background compelling. Along with the cast of well-drawn characters, the vivid, poetic descriptions of the Scottish highlands pulled me right into the story.

I would recommend Blade of Fortriu to readers who like romance, fantasy, history and/or magic.

Am excited to begin this book. The first one was super

I am bedridden and enjoyed the escape to all the books .I am bedridden and enjoyed the escape to all the books of Sevenwaters. all her series are enjoyable and I will read them all.