Readers, I am having more difficulty than I realized focusing on reading, much less reviewing right now. As a result, I am postponing Book Uno indefinitely, but will do my best to continue with the book club. Reviews will still be very slow. I apologize, but hope for your patience and understanding in this.
Pitnochie is a busy, strange place, especially for young Bridei. Sent there by his parents at a very young age, Bridei is looked after by his foster father, Broichan—a humorless druid who leaves the care of his home and the boy (aside from his education) mostly in the hands of others; the housekeeper, cook, and a myriad of household assistants who warm to the boy with ease.
He is never quite sure what he’s meant to do with the education received at the small house and Broichan refuses to tell him more about his parents as Bridei grows older and his memories of them fade. But learn he does, about the different kinds of magic and of the Fae world the druid believes to be dangerous. It goes without saying, that any of the Fae kind are just as dangerous. When Bridei discovers a small bundle on the front step in the middle of a harsh winter, he doesn’t think such a small baby could do any harm at Pitnochie, Fae or not.
With lovely chapter heading illustrations, a wonderful little map, and the promise of an epic tale of Arthurian proportions, The Dark Mirror seemed like it would be a fresh new Fantasy story. In fact, the first few chapters reminded me so much of T. H. White’s The Sword in the Stone (which I absolutely love) that, despite the obvious setting up of Bridei’s mystical and powerful future and the tired obeisances to ethereal beings, such as the moon or different kinds of trees, I continued to read.
But the beginning turned into more than just 50 pages. The meandering prose gradually became saturated with something darker than White’s charming tale, which could only be a good thing as I found myself not wanting to compare the two. Anything to distinguish The Dark Mirror as its own solid work was encouraging and I was curious to see this tale gain solid footing in its own mysticism and grandeur. Unfortunately, I never quite found the balance I needed between the large focus on ritual, Bridei’s future, and the roles of the other characters to develop any kind of connection to the story, or an interest in where and how everyone else would be involved. I found myself setting the book aside without feeling any interest to continue several times. Eventually, I made the tough decision to stop reading. I did not finish The Dark Mirror.
From previous experience, I knew Marillier could lean toward the clichéd “show don’t tell,” but I did expect something different between Wildwood Dancing—a novel written for a younger audience—and The Dark Mirror—an adult Fantasy. As it was, I kept hoping I would be taken on Bridei’s curious didactic adventures in much the same way White did for a young Arthur. In that way, we learn to care for him and see how he develops the skills needed for ruling Camelot. We yearn for him to do well as he makes mistakes or struggles to grasp larger concepts or ideals, despite knowing that he will be king and that he will master these things. However, for Bridei and his story, the distance between Bridei in the moment and the Bridei everyone but him hopes he will become (for Bridei is too young yet to understand) was too great. There is far too much emphasis on where Bridei will go and not enough on Bridei as a boy who is learning, the protagonist this reader needed to connect with.
Even Tuala, the strange, yet fascinating little Fae girl began to feel like an instrument of long-winded ritual. She pines for Bridei after he leaves Pitnochie, but the few scenes of the two together as children did little in the way of developing their relationship as something convincingly worth pining over. Yes, Tuala was lonely and becomes ostracized at home without Bridei to stand up for her, which is very interesting. Discussions of Otherness and pre-conceived judgements based on fear, especially as related to the fantastical elements of this story, are something I thought would work well. But it was at this point that I realized it was better if I set the book aside. Even this, the most interesting aspect of the book, was not quite enough to encourage me to finish.
There are some positives, though. Tuala is an interesting female character and, had I read further, I am almost positive she would have grown into her own very well, if slowly. Her story is, after all, closely tied with Bridei’s future, or so we are constantly told. The potential complication she represents is not entirely clear in the first 200 or so pages. Marillier introduces readers to her magical abilities innate to her Fae heritage, curious in comparison to anything Bridei might be learning. The difference between the methods of Tuala’s magic and Bridei’s, the difference of where each comes from, in fact, seems to be key to where the story might lead. One, a child of careful planning and hope; the other, a wild unknown with a vested interest in unknowingly drawing the other away from the destiny others would have of him. Perhaps the ending would have brought some satisfaction to this curiosity. Perhaps not.
The world-building and secondary characters were less interesting, although some readers may enjoy the dynamic of the household and their superstitions. In the end, I find myself unable to define how these disparate elements failed to come together for me. Whether it was a disconnect between Bridei’s vague destiny and the boy he is for most of the first part of the book, the momentum I did not feel in the prose, or disbelief in the depth of Bridei and Tuala’s relationship, the book simply was not for me. That is not to say other readers will feel the same way. I encourage anyone who enjoys a slow burn Fantasy to give The Dark Mirror a try. It is the first in a series of books, titled after Bridei. As such, it’s unclear if Tuala plays a more pivotal role in future installments. There is, however, the promise of plenty of Bridei.
Release Date: June 2006
Reviewed Format: Trade paperback
Discussion
Rules
1. Expect spoilers.
2. Commenting is not necessary! Lurk if you like, but comments are very welcome.
3. Remember to act gracious and courteous toward fellow participants. Negative tones will only get you sent to the spam folder.
Links
Follow along with the other Women of Fantasy book club selections. Download a.PDF or visit the announcement post outlining the basics.
I’m so sorry you couldn’t finish the book! I have to agree that it got off to a very slow start, and I didn’t really like the first part about Bridei’s childhood. Once Bridei got older and started traveling away from Pitnochie, though, I thought the book picked up a lot, and I honestly ended up loving it!
As Bridei became a man and had to confront his destiny, I found him a compelling character. Tuala was a bit less interesting to me as an individual, but through her journey we get to see what life was like for women during that time, which I found fascinating. I also loved the secondary characters, at least the ones from the second half of the book! Faolan, Bridei’s bodyguard, was my absolute favorite, and I think subsequent books in the series will feature him, so I’ll definitely keep reading just for that! Overall, this is my favorite read for the Women of Fantasy club so far.
My full review is here: http://christina-reads.livejournal.com/150716.html.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! The only secondary characters I found interesting were the two older men who left and came back to Pitnochie. It’s good to hear there may have been others to enjoy, had I finished.
Tuala herself was less interesting without the sociopolitical commentary, if that makes any sense. I liked reading about her, but only as she grew older and suddenly had to deal with the household turning her away. It felt almost too sudden, but considering how superstitious everyone is, I guess I can’t be too surprised.
I did manage to finish this book, and upon closing it, I had a huge feeling of “meh”. I didn’t dislike, but I didn’t feel particularly fond of it either. As I’ve let it sit on my mind, and pondered about it for a bit, that feeling hasn’t dissipated.
The two main characters, Bridei and Tuala, were probably my biggest beef with the novel. I’m kind of impatient with characters that are precocious children because I tend to find them kind. There are exceptions of course, but Bridei was not one of them. It didn’t help that Bridei was such a perfect young lad either, being able to ride a horse with great skill, amazing with a bow, talks way above his years (and because of this, the whole chasteness almost came off as comical to me, like icing on the cake or something) etc etc.
My problem with Tuala lay mostly in the fact that she was so dependent on Bridei. Yeah, she got on all right when she was on her own, and put up with the discrimination she started facing at Pitnochie when Bridei left reasonably well, but she’s *constantly* pining for him. Things only start to look up when she’s finally reunited with him by the end of the novel.
Needless to say, the romance angle of the novel didn’t work all too well with me either. I know the leads are teenagers (though I think Bridei is what, 19-20 by the end of the book? … so maybe not so much a teenager, but a young adult), but there is sooo much angst in regards to their relationship. “I love Tuala so much, but I can’t be with her!! No one understands!! Why can’t anyone understand!?!” “I love Bridei ever so much, but I can’t get in the way of his destiny!! But I love him so!!” etc etc, and I felt like these sentiments were voiced by the characters ad nauseum. Drove me a little crazy.
I also have a problem with plots that rely on misinformation, or a lack of information to push events forward. Broichan, by not telling Bridei that Tuala was forced to go be a nun or whatever, lest she be married to a man she didn’t love, brought about all kinds of feelings of betrayal and more angst from Bridei than was necessary. I was kind of annoyed that Bridei would think Tuala would leave Pitnochie without having a whole lot of incentive, especially since he knew that Broichan had it in for Tuala from the beginning.
I *did* like some of the secondary characters quite a bit though. Foalan, who seems to be a bit of a favorite (from what I’ve gathered from other comments on reviews of this book) was a hit with me, as well as Ferada. I wish there had been more of them.
So, all in all, it was a very lukewarm experience at best, but I’m still interested in checking more of Marillier’s works, just not in this series.
I also have a problem with plots that rely on misinformation, or a lack of information to push events forward. Broichan, by not telling Bridei that Tuala was forced to go be a nun or whatever, lest she be married to a man she didn’t love, brought about all kinds of feelings of betrayal and more angst from Bridei than was necessary. I was kind of annoyed that Bridei would think Tuala would leave Pitnochie without having a whole lot of incentive, especially since he knew that Broichan had it in for Tuala from the beginning.
I stopped reading my copy shortly after that scene. I hate misinformation like nothing else, especially when the character being misinformed should KNOW BETTER and still goes along with it.
I’ve heard the second book in this series features Foalan heavily!
Erika, anyway you can edit the above comment. It looks liked my computer did something funny at the very bottom “I stooped”. Any chance you can edit that?
I take it you just wanted me to delete that phrase, right? If so, done!
Yes, thank you!
The romance angle did not work well for me either. From your description, it sounds like I made the a good decision for myself by stopping where I did.
I think you meant to say precocious children protagonists are something you find kind of boring or something else? I didn’t think you meant to stop at “kind.”
I did feel a bit bored with how good Bridei was at everything. A bit too cliché for me.
I’ve only other read Wildwood Dancing by Marillier, but I liked it. I’d recommend it if you enjoy fairy tale retellings.
Oops! I did mean to say “kind of boring” ahaha.
And yes, I would still like to check out Wildwood Dancing, and her Sevenwaters trilogy.
Well, I don’t feel quite as bad now about not finishing. How far did you make it in your copy? I was 200 pages away from finishing mine.
As I mentioned in my review, the problem was that I could never get a real grip on the direction of the book, and I cheated and saw the end and realized this was a romantic fantasy with Bridei and Tuala hooking up. I kept reading a while longer, realizing I just wasn’t invested in these characers (nor the kingdom) to keep reading to see them finally come together. I’m not against trying a different Marillier in the future, because I can tell she’s a good writer. This book just didn’t click with me.
My review: http://calicoreaction.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/marillier-juliet-the-dark-mirror/
BTW: I saw a stuffed Jawa at the store yesterday and thought of you!
Awww stuffed jawas are awesome.
I stopped at page 244. I realized I had no interest in the world or the characters, specially Bridei, to finish. At a certain point, I thought the book migh go in a different direction, but I had no desire to pick it up again and find out. Tuala’s pining became a bit too much for me.
I think I might give Marillier another try, but I won’t be finishing this trilogy.
I reviewed it here: http://tethyanbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-dark-mirror-by-juliet-marillier.html
I considered putting this book down a number of times, but I did end up reading to the end. I don’t think you missed much. There aren’t really any surprises. I wasn’t very fond of the misinformation-driven plot either (as Shara and Michelle mentioned), and I particularly disliked that the main characters became conveniently unable to reason whenever a misunderstanding was needed to complicate things. I was never invested in either of the main characters, but I did kind of like some of the side characters (such as Ferada, Ana, and Faolan).
Like others, I had trouble reading through this book, though I did (just!) finish it. My experience was that it’s best read in large chunks at a time, when you’ve got nothing else to do, so you can really sink in to the mood of the story.
Having read Marillier before (The Sevenwaters Trilogy) I expected not to like this book. That trilogy was, for me, also really slow going to get through and I sort of remember being dissatisfied with the end once I did get through it. So, with that background, I was actually surprised to find I enjoyed this book much better. I read The Dark Mirror with a sense of it being highly stylized writing – as in, not just set in a different era, but with a story and challenges borrowed from a different era. You have to buy in to the fact that Marillier seems to want to pull off a period drama with her story.
As for the misinformation bits that bothered others – what can I say? Normally that stuff bothers me too, but I found myself reflecting on how often it is that others don’t see the motivations behind what seems like it should be plainly obvious (especially young people and others with heightened emotions and/or a sense of isolation). For some reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I was much more tolerant of plot devices and characterization lacks that I am critical of elsewhere. Perhaps because I had such lowered expectations going in from my past experience? But I may actually continue this series – maybe not immediately, but I’m interested to find out what the next challenge will be; particularly if Bridei has to deal with the encroachment of Christianity. Even though we all know the way that goes, I’d like to see how Marillier handles that tale.
Late to the party, here, and on my first book in the WoF book club. My tardiness in finishing should show just how much I struggled with finishing this book. I echo the issues others have already mentioned: dislike of the precocious child device, dislike of the misinformation device to drive a wedge between Bridei and Tuala, the sudden development of the romance – just to name a few.
I finished this book while traveling through Scotland – through the very places written about in this book – and I still couldn’t get into it. I visited large cairns and Druid burial grounds – and the magic in those areas – well it just highlighted my disappointment in this story’s execution. If I couldn’t get excited about this book, surrounded by the evocative landscape where it was set…need I say more?
I found myself skimming large blocks of prose. In fact, I skimmed the entire ending. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t care about the characters nor their relationships. There was a lot of research into the minutiae of their lives and the history of these people, but the characters and their stories just fell flat.
I haven’t been able to bring myself to write a review, but I will try.
Okay, finally put up my review on my blog. FWIW, a month later!