This page lists Juliet Marillier's published and in-progress books and contains links to their reviews, excerpts, and whatever other information I can find. :) The information on this page is a work in progress, so please don't forget to check back in from time to time.

Latest published novel:

Well of Shades -book three of the Bridei Chronicles.

Currently in progress:

Heart's Blood - A stand-alone novel set in fourteenth century Ireland.
Kybele's Gift - second book in the Wildwood Dancing series. Young adult fiction.
The Double Throne - a follow-up to the Bridei Chronicles set one generation after The Well of Shades.

The Bridei Chronicles

The Dark Mirror

Description: When the child Bridei is sent by his parents to live with the druid Broichan, he knows only that he has left his home and family to learn to be a warrior and scholar, strategist and sage. He is not aware that in the divided and wartorn kingdom of Fortriu a secret council of elders, including Broichan, has long been making plans for the future of their homeland: with Bridei himself central to their strategy. As the only child in Broichan’s remote household, Bridei learns early to deal with fear and loneliness. So when he awakes one freezing midwinter’s night to find a baby on the doorstep, he thanks the gods for their precious gift of a companion and takes her in – and with her arrival Broichan’s master plan gains a dangerously unpredictable new element.

As the foundling Tuala grows from fey child to beguiling young woman, and Bridei moves ever closer to his grand destiny, Broichan anticipates a perilous complication to his long-laid plans. As well, powerful forces both close to home and in other lands are ranged against the secret council, enemies who will employ whatever means they can to stop the druid from bringing his plan to fruition, even if they must endanger Bridei’s life.

Further Info:
Chapter Sample
Historical Notes
Further books in this series:
- Blade of Fortriu
- The Well of Shades (this is the working title, the book is still in the making)

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Blade of Fortriu

Description: The kingdom of Fortriu has enjoyed five years of peace since Bridei came to the throne. Now the king is preparing for the long-awaited war that he hopes will see the Gaelic invaders driven from the west forever. The princess Ana, a hostage of Fortriu since childhood, is sent north to make a strategic marriage with a chieftain she has never met, and with it gain an ally on whom Bridei's victory relies. Her escort is led by a man she despises: the enigmatic Faolan, Bridei's assassin and spy.

The expedition is ill-fated, and when Ana arrives at the chieftain Alpin's stronghold in mysterious Briar Wood, she is uneasy. This is a place full of secrets. When Ana discovers a prisoner kept within the bleakest of confinements, she is met with a conspiracy of silence. Meanwhile Faolan walks a delicate path between loyalty and betrayal.

Bridei's forces march into battle. But it is revealed to those left behind that their king heads not only towards defeat, but certain death. There is only one messenger who can reach him in time. To enlist his services will endanger what has become dearest to Ana's heart.

Further Info:
First published in Australia by Pan Macmillan, September 1 2005. Available in UK 17 March 2006 and America autumn 2006
Winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2005
Chapter Sample
Historical Notes

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Well of Shades

Description: Sent home to Ireland on a secret mission for King Bridei of Fortriu, Faolan must first deliver the news of a brave warrior's death. Unexpectedly, Bridei's chief assassin and spy also finds himself facing the demons of his family's dark past. By the time he tracks down the powerful Christian cleric who may be a threat to Bridei's pagan kingdom, Faolan has become responsible for a child, a dog and Eile, a troubled, volatile young woman.

For Eile, the journey to Fortriu is confronting. Accustomed to a life of deprivation and struggle, she finds herself facing an unfamiliar world, full of new lessons. For her, the hardest challenge of all will be learning to trust.

At Bridei's court in White Hill, disturbing news from the neighbouring kingdom of Circinn prompts the king to call his chieftains to council. But after the disappearance of Bridei's closest adviser and the tragic death of a young maid, the threat posed by the encroaching influence of Christianity appears to be the least of the dangers at hand ...

Further Info:
Published in Australia by Pan Macmillan, September 2006. Available in UK spring 2007 and America autumn 2007

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The Double Throne - a follow-up to The Bridei Chronicles set one generation after The Well of Shades.

Foxmask

Description: Fail to cross the Fool's Tide while the strange midsummer calm lulls the roiling currents, and the sea will have you if the enemy does not...

At his coming of age, Thorvald learns a devastating secret, and steals away on a perilous voyage in search of the father he has never known. His loyal shadow, Creidhe, daughter of a Wolfskin warrior and a wise woman, was never meant to be part of this desperate journey. But Thorvald has underestimated her.

The Long Knife people of the Lost Isles are not what the weary travellers were expecting. Suspicioud, frightened and ruled by a cruel tyrant, they will not explain why Creidhe must hide her golden hair from sight, or why there are so few children amongst them...

But then a baby is born, and Creidhe discovers the horrific truth of the curse the vengeful Unspoken have placed on the Long Knife people - and the only possible solution. For the future of the islands depends on a visionary child: the powerful seer of the Unspoken, Foxmask. Snatched away in infancy, the boy is held on the forbidding Isle of Clouds, protected by ancient forces of nature. To return him to the Unspoken and restore peace to the islands, the Long Knife people must endure the annual ritual of the hunt.

But there are deeper secrets in this battle for survival, and another way - an unthinkable way - to lift the curse. One that the newcomers discover when it may be too late...

Further Info:
Review from computercrowsnest.com

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Description: All young Eyvind ever wanted was to become a great Viking warrior---a Wolfskin---and carry honor out in the name of his fathergod, Thor. He can think of no future more glorious. The chance to make it happen is his when his chieftain, Ulf, is brought the tale of a magical land across the sea, a place where men with courage can go to conquer a land and bring glory to themselves. They set out to find this fabled land and discover a windswept and barren place, but one filled with unexpected beauty and hidden treasures... and a people who are willing to share their bounty.

Ulf's new settlement begins in harmony with the natives of the isles led by the gentle king Engus. And Eyvind finds a treasure of his own in the young Nessa, niece of the king, seer and princess. His life will change forever as she claims his heart for her own.

But someone has come along to this new land who is not what he seems. Somerled, the strange and lonely boy that Eyvind befriended long ago, has a secret---and his own plans for the future. The blood oath that they swore in childhood binds them in lifelong loyalty, and Somerled is calling in the debt of honor. What he asks of Eyvind might just doom him to kill the only thing that Evyind has ever truly loved.

Will the price of honor create the destruction of all that Eyvind holds dear?

Further Info:
Viking History into Fantasy Wolfskin review from January Magazine (Sep 2004)

Child of the Prophecy

Description: Magic is fading... and the ways of Man are driving the Old Ones to the West, beyond the ken of humankind. The ancient groves are being destroyed, and if nothing is done, Ireland will lose its essential mystic core.

The prophecies of long ago have foretold a way to prevent this horror, and it is the Sevenwaters clan that the Spirits of Eire look to for salvation. They are a family bound into the lifeblood of the land, and their promise to preserve the magic has been the cause of great joy to them... as well as great sorrow.

It is up to Fianne, daughter of Niamh, the lost sister of Sevenwaters, to solve the riddles of power. She is the shy child of a reclusive sorcerer, and her way is hard, for her father is the son of the wicked sorceress Oonagh, who has emerged from the shadows and seeks to destroy all that Sevenwaters has striven for. Oonagh will use her granddaughter Fianne most cruelly to accomplish her ends, and stops at nothing to see her will done.

Will Fianne be strong enough to battle this evil and save those she has come to love?

Further Info:
Chapter Sample

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Description:Beautiful Sorcha is the courageous young woman who risked all to save her family from a wicked curse and whose love shattered generations of hate and bridged two cultures. It was by her sacrifice that the spell was broken and her brothers were finally brought home to Sevenwaters. But not all her brothers were able to escape the spell that transformed them into swans, and even those who did were more-and less-than they were before the change.

It is left to Sorcha's daughter, Liadan, to fulfill the destiny of the Sevenwaters clan. Beloved child and dutiful daughter, she embarks on a journey that opens her eyes to the wonders of the world around her . . . and shows her just how hard-won was the peace that there are forces far darker than anyone could have guessed and ancient powers conspiring to destroy this family's peace-and their world.

She will need all of her strength to stand up to those she loves best, for in the finding of her own true love, Liadan's course may doom them all... or may be their salvation.

Further Info:
Book Review from bookloons.com

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Description Lord Colum of Sevenwaters is blessed with seven children but it is Sorcha, the youngest child and only daughter, who alone is destined to defend her family and protect her land from the Britons. For her father has been bewitched by Lady Oonagh and her brothers bound by a spell only Sorcha can lift. Exiled from Sevenwaters and cast out into the forest, Sorcha falls into the hands of the enemy. Now she is torn between a life she has always known and a love that only comes once.

Young Adult Fiction

Wildwood Dancing
Description: There are many mysteries within the wildwood. Jena and her sisters share the biggest of all, a fantastic secret that enables them to escape the confines of their everyday life in rural Transylvania. They have kept it hidden for nine long years.

When their father falls ill and must leave their forest home over the winter, Jena and her oldest sister Tati are left in charge. All goes well until a tragic accident allows their over bearing cousin Cezar to take control. The appearance of a mysterious young man in a black coat divides sister from sister, and suddenly Jena finds herself fighting to save all she holds dear. With her constant companion Gogu by her side, she must venture to realms dark and perilous in her quest to preserve, not just those she loves, but her own independence as well.

Information: Published in Australia in July 2006. Available in the UK, December 2006 and North America in January 2007.
The second book in the series, Kybele's Gift is due to be published in Australia in 2007.

Short Fiction

Otherling
Information: Published in Realms of Fantasy magazine and again in Issue 7 (June 2003) of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

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