Tue. May 13th, 2025
Review: Den of Wolves by Juliet MarillierDen of Wolves by Juliet Marillier
Series: Blackthorn & Grim #3
Also by this author: Dreamer's Pool, Tower of Thorns
on November 1st 2016
Pages: 448
Also in this series: Dreamer's Pool

Thanks to for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


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The “powerful and emotionally-charged” fantasy series from the author of the Sevenwaters novels continues, as Blackthorn and Grim face haunting secrets and old adversaries...
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Den of Wolves was a wonderful conclusion to the Blackthorn and Grim trilogy. If you read the first two, you can expect more of Marillier’s fluid prose, that quickly brings emotional connections to characters in a way that just feels simple and natural. The style of her writing just flows, and I honestly can’t pinpoint how it works so much better than other authors, but the end result is characters and events just feel like an honest folktale, and as I reader, I find myself engaged immediately.

In this book, we have a new character and plot that is central, and again, Blackthorn and Grim have their developing story ongoing as well. They have established a life in Winterfalls, Blackthorn treating people as a wise woman, Grim doing whatever needs doing, odd jobs, etc. A young girl, Cara, is sent to court and the princess of Dalriada requests Blackthorn to help the girl who has lived a rather simple and isolated life. At the same time, Grim is given a job to help build a structure for the girl’s father. It’s a very odd job in that the father requests secrecy about it and lays down many rules for Grim regarding not just how to build it, but also keeping everything about it private. Of course, this instantly raises a thousand questions as to the nature of the building, as well as about the one person he has employed who knows how to build it.

Now, I have to say, I don’t always like to pick favorites, but if I were pressed, I would have to admit that I don’t think this is my favorite of the series. There were certain things that just felt quite predictable, which isn’t necessarily bad, but does break suspense a bit, and also can be frustrating when the characters can’t see it coming. But its not a real complaint, just something that maybe makes me rate it slightly below the other two in the series. I felt like there was supposed to be some level of mystery around Cara, but I also felt like it was presented in a way that lead me to believe it should have been more of a mystery than I felt it was. Nothing that is much of a problem, just a nit-pick really. And partially since I felt like this was not as mysterious as I wanted it to be, I am hesitant to give any details in my review (for fear of further breaking any suspense/mystery).

Overall, though, this was a wonderful and enjoyable read with an ending that is incredibly well done. So, even if I nit-pick a tiny bit, I still highly recommend this book and series. I mean, it’s Blackthorn and Grim, how could I not. Reading these stories is just a joy.

And while this is the final ending of the trilogy with a nice clean ending, I heard a rumor there are plans for more Blackthorn & Grim books, which makes me very happy! I will always look forward to reading more about these two complex characters that manage to find goodness and hope despite being somewhat broken. It is hard to not feel good after reading their story.

Again, these are some of my favorite audiobooks. The narrators just absolutely nail the characters’ personalities and the general atmosphere of the story. Highly recommend the format for those that look for audiobooks.

10 thoughts on “Review: Den of Wolves by Juliet Marillier”
  1. I enjoyed it but the series just lived up to the first book for me. I did enjoy that I figured out a piece of the mystery early on yet it turned out not to be the main mystery.

  2. I’m really looking forward to this one (although I haven’t read the second yet). Both are on my shelves though which is nice – because they are such lovely books.
    Lynn 😀

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