The Well of Shades Paperback – 1 Nov 2008

I enjoyed this very much

Nachdem dieser dritte Teil der Bridei-Triologie nach zwei Jahren nicht auf Deutsch erschien, fragte ich beim Heyne-Verlag nach.Mir wurde mitgeteilt, dass die Übersetzerin leider überraschend gestorben war.Somit habe ich mir das englische Original gekauft, weil ich auf Faolans Schicksal mega-gespannt war. Ganz schnell bin ich in den Fluss der klaren englischen Sprache von Juliet Marillier gekommen. Juliet Marillier setzt hier spannend und folgerichtig fort, wie er das Schicksal seiner eigenen Familie mutig aufrollt und zum Frieden bringt.Gleichermaßen trifft er auf Eile, die Tochter von Deord. Diese lebt mit ihrer kleinen Tochter Saraid bei der Schwester von Deord und deren Mann. Es ist ein Leben in totaler Erniedrigung und Abhängigkeit. Die junge Frau ist äußerst mißtrauisch, aber Faolan nimmt sich der Beiden an. Juliet Marillier entwickelt hier genial die Geschichte von zwei Menschen, die sich beide in ihrem Leben als Einzelkämpfer sehen. Es entwickelt sich mit der Zeit der zu bestehenden Abenteuer eine innige tiefe Beziehung. In lebensbedrohlichen Situationen sind sie für einander da. Daraus erwächst für beide eine Lebenserfüllung, die keiner von Beiden für möglich gehalten hatte. Juliet Marillier versteht es hier wieder meisterhaft, die Spannung bis zuletzt aufrecht zu halten.Ein besonders tolles Buch!

Ich habe zunächst die beiden ersten Bände der "Bridei Chronicles" in deutsch gelesen und sehr genossen. Dementsprechend fand ich es ausgesprochen bedauerlich, daß es den dritten Band schlicht und ergreifend nicht in Deutsch gibt. Angeblich ist ja der Übersetzer gestorben ... verstehe ich jetzt nur eingeschränkt, warum sich der Verlag um keinen Ersatz bemüht!Weil ich natürlich wissen wollte, wie alles ausgeht, hab' ich das Buch halt in der Originalsprache gelesen. Keine Angst, das geht auch mit bloßem "Schul-Englisch" sehr gut!Die Autorin behält ihr hohes Niveau aus den ersten beiden Bänden bei und ich kann Band drei nur empfehlen. Wer die ersten beiden Bände mochte, sollte sich ruhig mal an's Fremdländische 'rantrauen ;o)

eine herausragende authorin. wunderschön gesponnene Märchen dieeinfach zum träumen einladen aber gleichzeitig voller spannung das man sie nichtwirklich gerne aus der hand gibt.

Brilliant book, by a great author.

Good

A great final book to the trilogy, though as always, I could definitely use more of this world!

Wenn man ihn nicht in deutscher Sprache bekommt, muss man flexibel sein, aber leider ist mein Englisch nicht so super, dass ich wirklich alle Emotionen verstehen konnte. Trotzdem echt besser als nichts und ne schöne Geschichte.

Fans of the series are likely to be well pleased with _The Well of Shades_. The most recent installment in Marillier's Bridei Chronicles is satisfying and uplifting. It's a story of growth and renewal; in it winter turns to spring, intolerance into tolerance, rejection into acceptance . . . and love conquers all. The ending is, perhaps, the happiest of any of her previous novels--things resolve not only for Faolan but for many other beloved characters too.The new characters are well drawn, including the villains. Interestingly, three of the most important new faces are womens', and all three have endured isolation and abuse. Two dedicate themselves to the acquisition of power; one is quite sociopathic, while the other seems more like a Machiavellian prince--amoral, but practical. The third, Eile, overcomes her circumstances in ways that will have the reader cheering.Overall this is an enjoyable read, but the book did have its flaws. The first half of the story was rushed. Faolan's homecoming happens offstage, which is maddening after so much foreshadowing. Eile's rescue of Faolan, which is a turning point in their relationship, is barely sketched out--told rather than shown. It ought to have been a scene to savor; instead it's over before it begins. In other places she has Faolan using whole paragraphs to describe, quite rationally, his psychological growth. It wouldn't sound convincing coming from anyone, really, but especially not the damaged assassin who has only begun to accept that he has feelings in the first place.Fortunately, these problems resolve by the middle of the novel. The latter half is well-paced and engrossing, and though we see the resolution coming miles away, there are enough twists and dangers to keep the journey enjoyable. By the end, you won't care a jot about the mishandled scenes at the beginning. And Marillier is so good at character and plot that it almost doesn't matter. If I were commenting on the hardback edition, I'd give this a solid four stars.However, the Kindle edition leaves a lot to be desired. It looks like a pdf of the original book, which is fine insofar as we get a nice typeface and what was, originally, a professional layout. I miss those things when I read Kindle books. THIS edition, though, was inexcusably sloppy: ink blots, slanting lines, misplaced lines, in other words, a mess. It's obvious no one proofed this. Unless desperate for reading material on your long foreign trip, I'd buy a paper copy instead.

THE WELL OF SHADES, the last and third volume of THE BRIDEI CHRONICLES by author Juliet Marillier again makes Faolan a chief player. This time his love interest is the fierce and fragile Elie, daughter of an Irish warrior who helped save Faolan’s life in Volume 2. As usual, Marillier takes the reader on quite an adventure, but this time it was more successful as both of her characters were flawed human beings who grow and change.Of all the volumes in this series, I enjoyed this one the best. Five stars.

IF YOU LIKE Marillier's books, continue on reading. this one does not disappoint. it is another example of her ability to take archetypal characters and mythic stories and make them relevant to our lives, something we need in the worst way as we reel from the day-to-day news from a Washington and President gone wacky and wackier and wackier.

The Bridei Chronicles are an acurate description of Ancient knowledge, in this case, Druidic Knowledge. Mrs. Marillier does an Excelente "job" describing it, using vocabulary of the time and simple words to name the "gods" Shining One and Flamekeeper, meaning Aether and Fire, two of the Earth Elementals. The druids had the knowledge of Physics, aquired by earlier generations, dating from the beginning of times,I did some research and those divination runes date back to 17.000 years ago,they were carved on bone and stone in France, and N.Portugal carved on a megalith. The writer writes Precise facts with an incredible kinda "magic" and intuition, like she was there. I do recomend her books to everyone, but not everyone is up to that reading.

Book III of the Bridei Chronicles from Juliet Marillier begins with the trusted bodyguard/assassin of White Hill--Faolan--already well on his journey into the land of the Gaels to reconcile with the family he fled more than a decade before, to carry a dead friend's final words to the next of kin, and to spy on the Christian leaders in that region for Bridei, the king of Fortriu. On the back cover of the novel, a marketing person has described the young lady that Faolan finds at his friend's "home" while on his threefold mission as "the lovely young woman Eile, whose beauty shines forth despite her tragic circumstances." I won't deny that Eile's circumstances are tragic, and the actions she takes to free herself of them gave her some worth in my eyes, but I never grew to like the snappish, churlish girl. I ended up rooting for her for Faolan's sake, as many of the characters do. Despite Eile's unlikeability (for me), this novel sang with both familiar and new characters to Bridei's main storyline.As I hint here, the May-December romance between the sixteen-year-old Eile and her father's friend Faolan is only one plotline that develops along the path to another plotline in The Well of Shades. Faolan gathers information for King Bridei while out and about, and brings back news of a Christian missionary's movements and influence. What readers may find most intriguing about this storyline is its foundation in historical fact. As with her first two novels in the series, Marillier pulls from the sparse history of the picts, weaving a fiction story among the bits of facts researchers know and "good guesses" scholars and writers can make. She mixes in a worried druid in search of answers and absolution; a toddler mage with powers neither he nor his parents truly know how to control; a devious, bored princess; and some settings in juxtaposition to each other (such as Eile's experience with the "noble" lady, Aine, at Blackthorn Rise in contrast to her experience with the queen, Tuala, at White Hill). What Marillier ends up with is a tale with many layers that feed into one another wonderfully. As with her first two novels in the series, her descriptions may seem tedious at times, but they give a reader a very deep feel for nuances of the world these characters live in. Something I did not notice in the first two novels, but found distracting in The Well of Shades, was Marillier's use of repetition. She reviewed material often enough that it stood out to me. It reminded me of later Terry Goodkind narratives.Overall I enjoyed The Well of Shades immensely and was pleased with the way Marillier brought families together, tied up the story of Tuala and her parentage, gave insidious characters their due, etc., but I feel I must give new readers a warning. While the relationship between Tuala and Bridei bordered on "unease" for me at first due to their close upbringing as almost brother and sister, it is something the reader can get past pretty easily. But in this third novel, the underlying theme of incest nagged at the back of my mind. Sensitive readers may be uncomfortable if they can't get past a sixteen-year-old girl being abused by her uncle, Bridei and Tuala having a second child, or Tuala sharing/reliving with her father a vision in which he performs the sexual act in which she was conceived. While none of the sex scenes in this novel are explicit, the "unconventional" ones could turn off sensitive readers. I would like to point out that Marillier's use of them is sparse and essential to the plot(s). Fantasy readers should be so delighted with her world and her fiction that the minor discomfort, if noticed at all, will be shortlived.From Sandy Lender, "Some days, you just want the dragon to win."

Like the others this one has a slow start but you really get drawn into the characters and want to know what happens with them.The growth of all of the characters seems real though sometimes quick. I’ll be glad to read more about these characters if another book comes out.

Last book in a great series, well written and with spectacular characters.

I love this author and have enjoyed other series of hers. She creates characters you care about and doesn't go so dark as some. She keeps a pace and style that pulls you in and keeps you wanting more. I recommend any Juliet Marillier book.