The Dark Mirror

Bridei Trilogy #1

By: Juliet Marillier

Narrated by: Michael Page

Length: 24 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Bridei is a young nobleman, a fosterling of one of the most powerful druids in the land, Broichan. All of Bridei's earliest memories are of this dark and mysterious man he trusts above all others. Broichan seems to have plans for Bridei, seems to be training him for a special purpose the older man will not divulge.

One bitter Midwinter's Eve, everything changes when Bridei finds a child on their doorstep - a child abandoned by the Fair Folk.

It is the height of ill fortune to have truck with the Fair Folk, and all in the area counsel the babe's death. But Bridei sees an old and precious magic at work and, heedless of the danger, fights to save the child. Broichan is wary but relents, for Bridei must grow to be his own man and make his own decisions.

As Bridei comes to manhood, he watches the shy girl Tuala blossom into a beautiful woman, and feels things he didn't know were possible.

Broichan sees the same process and feels only danger, for Tuala could be a key part in Bridei's future...or could spell his doom.

Public Domain (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Great

Where does The Dark Mirror rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have more than 300 hrs of audio books and I've enjoyed this one as much or more than any so far

Story has interesting parts, but also lagged a bit

Listening to this story, I realized that most of the time I was "listening to a story" and had not "dived into another world." There is a good foundation here, and a good framework with interesting ideas. But, I kept wondering why I wasn't getting involved in the story.

After a while I decided that it was a lack of of both reminder and sensory descriptions. Reminder descriptions are the ones I find useful in a long book or one with many characters and sensory descriptions are great for enhancing the experience. There were some in this book, but not enough to fine tune the mental imagery.

A really good author that enhances the reader's experience with fantastic sensory descriptions is Larry Correia. Dark Mirror was lackluster at points and I had to sometimes back up the audio once I realized I had been thinking about other things while the book was playing. Since this book took so long to get to any points of intersecting plots, some enhanced sensory descriptions would have been great to help hold interest. The book waited until the last hour to pull together some action and meaning to the plot.

The main characters go through a lot of grief and it would have been nice to have some wit or humor interspersed liberally thoughout the story to give some balance.

I've already bought the second of the series due to a Sale, but hope the second book gets better in order to decide to purchase the third book of the trilogy.

Riveting, delicious, meaningful...

Can't wait to start #2 on the series. Well delineated characters, suspense, and resolutions. Love the detail of Druidic lore!

A surprising gem. sense of romance

I grabbed this book based on the recommendation of the top new audiobooks to check out, and I was not disappointed. I've gotten into fantasy books before, Romeo and Juliet vibe to it. recommended!

Great story, exceptional narrator!

I'm very fussy about narrators and this one is phenomenal. The book is well written and the characters are more interesting and complex than one usually finds in the fantasy genre. Very enjoyable - I just ordered book 2 in the series.

Very strong, comprehensive and spellbinding.

Love this story and its presentation. Combining mystique, intrigued, while maintaining ones desire to solve for who done it (who is the traitor) prior to the story unfolding was extremely captivating. Thanks

Exceptional

Story is 5 star fantasy. Narrator does an excellent job. I think this is one of the best fantasy books I've read.

Loved It

I have greatly enjoyed reading Juliet Marillier’s books such as dreamers pool and daughter of the forest. This is a great romp with a historical basis. The performance was excellent and kept me engaged all the way through. Looking forward to the next book.

Very boring

I’ve listened to many Juliet Marillier novels, and after awhile they do become quite repetitive but often have something that keeps them entertaining. This one, for me, was incredibly boring. Characters had less depth than normal and I couldn’t care less what happened to them.

Disappointed

I love Michael Page in other settings, and was thrilled to find him in this. The story, though, was achingly slow. I can't bring myself to finish this as nothing is resolving or progressing at a reasonable pace, and the parts I had hopes for aren't being elaborated or explored in a meaningful manner.