Book Review: Saving the Faerie Prince

 Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales, by Heather Fawcett (Del Rey)

I’m an unabashed fan of Heather Fawcett’s “Emily Wilde” series. Falling loosely in the genre of “Victorian lady scholar-adventurer” tales, these stories combine the best of the intrepid, self-reliant heroine who falls in love despite her better judgment with a passion for academic inquiry and a penchant for getting into trouble. Emily Wilde is a professor of dryadology, that is, the study of all things Fae, which in this world are real if often misunderstood and hidden. In previous adventures, she butted heads with fellow scholar, dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, who turned out to be a Faerie prince in exile.  Discovering Wendell’s identity wasn’t enough, however. Emily found herself called upon to rescue him from poisoning by his evil stepmother and then to help restore him to his magical realm. Now she’s finally agreed to his marriage proposal despite all the folkloric warnings about how inconstant and lethal the courtly faw can be. She doesn’t know if she can truly trust him to remain himself once he’s back on the throne. But she trusts her own heart and the truths that underlie the stories whose study is her life’s work. None of this has prepared her for Wendell’s kingdom or the role she must soon play as its queen. As transcendently beautiful as this realm is, darkness stirs in the form of the stepmother’s parting revenge. The only way to save the realm and its people is for Wendell to sacrifice himself—which Emily refuses to consider as an option. Wendell may have other ideas.

This third volume in the series is every bit as captivating as the earlier ones, but it seemed to me that the characters were deeper and more complex, their inner conflicts more finely drawn. The questions have shifted from “Will he/won’t he?” and “Will she/won’t she?” to “What will he give to save his world and how will she save him from his better nature?” As before, the answer lies in the depths of folklore, the resonant truths that make these stories told again and again over generations. Those depths speak as powerfully to modern readers of Fawcett’s books as they do to the folk inhabiting them.

Truly a joy to read and savor.

 

Short Book Reviews: A Lady Adventurer-Scholar Takes on Faerie

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (Book One of the Emily Wilde Series), by Heather Fawcett (Del Rey)

In many ways, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett reminded me of Marie Brennan’s best-selling A Natural History of Dragons and the “Amelia Peabody” mysteries by Ellis Peters: the Victorian lady adventurer-scholar genre. In all of these, the narrative voice (that is, the personality of the l adventurer-scholar) grabs my interest and keeps it for page after page. The stories are as much about the protagonist’s inner emotional journey from adamantly self-reliant spinster to emotionally awakened, relationship-literate partner as they are about external action. Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries fits neatly into this model with a delightful array of plot and character twists. In this case, Cambridge professor Emily Wilde takes her sabbatical in the far North (Norway?) to complete her magnum opus on all things Faerie, particularly the “Hidden Ones,” what we would call high elves. Her tone-deaf social skills alienate the villagers upon whom she must depend not only for the folk tales that will form the heart of her treatise but for sustenance and rescue. She has no idea what she’s done wrong or how she’s going to cope with her insufferably handsome academic rival, Wendell Bambleby, who arrives unexpectedly and manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and alternately bewilder and frustrate her.

This book is familiar enough to relax into and enjoy the ride, and a fresh enough rendering to surprise and delight me with the original, often whimsical elements. Footnotes and references perfectly enhance the “scholarly” voice. If there were moments when Wendell felt tempted to grab Emily and shake some sense into her before kissing her, I was right there with him.

The bottom line: Marvelous fun!

Book Review: A New Shapeshifter Novel from Samaire Wynne

 Awakening Fae: A Fated Mates ~ Wolf Shifter Magical Adventure (The Meridian Pack Book 1) by Samaire Wynne (Black Raven Books)

“It’s good to read outside one’s familiarity zone” is oft-quoted advice. Usually, it means to try something darker, grimmer, and grittier than usual. But when I’d had my fill of dark/grim/gritty/depressing tales about sociopaths I really didn’t care about, I happily agreed to take a look at Samaire Wynne’s new wolf shifter novel. I dove into it without preconceptions and soon found it to be not only romantic in the best sense but also delicately layered.

Cameron, a foster kid about to age out of the system, is thrown into the world beyond the mundane when a puppy falls from the sky. I know what I’d do—everything I could to save it! In Cameron’s case, although it takes her a while to realize how she’s done it, this involves reaching out with a magical talent she had no previous idea she possessed.

Despite being forced to grow up too quickly when faced with an uncertain future, Cameron is still half a child. She has some, but by no means all, of the skills she’ll need to survive in the outer world. She’s got the grades but not the money for college; her foster parents do their loving best but cannot afford to keep her once she passes the age cutoff. The author perfectly captured Cameron’s loneliness and insecurity about the future and transforms it into loving protectiveness. In bonding with the puppy, Cameron places the welfare of another before her own, an essential step in growing up.

As Cameron encounters the puppy’s wolf shifter pack and her first terrifying encounter with the Nightmare Fae that are now stalking her, she embarks upon a journey into a new world of reincarnating wolf shape-shifters and magic. Much of what she learns comes from the wolf shifter pack. She struggles to define and understand her place among them. Often, their unqualified acceptance of her is puzzling, as are the gaps in their explanations. Later, it’s revealed that the shifter pack recognizes Cameron as a rare, immensely powerful Moon Fae, which is why they treat her with reverence and take on the responsibility of her education. Like a reader faced with too much exposition, Cameron is handicapped in her ability to understand it all at once, but even more so to put together the new relationships with her changing abilities—and her rapidly evolving identity. Being a normal human teenager is difficult enough, not knowing who you’ll be or what you’ll feel from one day to the next (thank you, hormones!). Added to that, Cameron as a Moon Fae is changing—awakening, as the title indicates. As the story progresses, Cameron matures in her understanding of her new world and herself.

Underlying the supernatural elements and slow-burn romance is a beautifully rendered portrait of a family-of-the-heart, and I think this is what gives this story its emotional depth. As Cameron herself puts it:

Me, who had fleeting connections to a dozen foster parents; me, who had never had a real family; me, who had just two black trash bags to hold every last bit of my life and belongings when I moved from foster family to foster family. I had finally found a family that cared about me. And the monsters had risen up, camouflaged in the most devious, deceptive way, and had descended on us and ravaged them.

The world of the Meridian Pack is an interesting blend of wolf shifters, fae, reincarnation, fated mates, teenage sexuality, nightmare menaces, action, and rational discussion. The author draws a distinction between wolf shifters, shapeshifters who transform into the form of a large wolf, as opposed to werewolves (as in the Underworld movies) and which appear in Book 2 of The Meridian Pack series. One of the more fascinating aspects of wolf shifter lore is the rate of aging; handsome Asher appears to be in his 20s, a little older than Cameron, but is in fact only much younger, with predictable and sometimes humorous consequences.

Although there’s plenty of dramatic (and romantic) tension, Awakening Fae: A Fated Mates often has an almost cozy quality. There was plenty to keep me turning pages but not enough to compel me to stay up all night. As I was puzzling this over, I attended a webinar about what keeps readers engaged. One thing that stood out for me was the importance of how the author makes you feel. That is based in the consistency and reliability of the reading experience, conveyed through the implied contract between author and reader. The author says, in effect, “In exchange for your time (and your trust), I promise this kind of story.” Part of this offer is conveyed through authorial voice, but pacing, character development, and more subtle aspects of story-telling are just as important. In order to repay the reader’s trust, the author had better come through. Wynne’s strong, sure command of these elements means the reader can relax into the story journey, knowing that whatever the ups and downs of dramatic tension and plot twists, the reading experience will unfold as promised, consistent and true.

Fans of Wynne’s other urban fantasies will love this one. It’s also a great place to start, especially if wolf shifters, fae, and coming-of-age stories are your jam. It's available now here and on Kindle Unlimited.

Samaire Wynne is a Puerto Rican author of over 20 novels in various genres, including horror and urban fantasy. She is Editor in Chief of Black Raven Books. She has been writing professionally for over 11 years.

A longtime Californian, you can find her skulking about in southern Virginia. If you were to visit her at twilight, she might serve you flower tea or butter whiskey on her back deck. If she excused herself and strolled into the forest, you might be tempted to wander after her. Past a stream, you’d see a stone well at the edge of her property, and you might hear voices coming from deep inside.

If you were to trip and tumble down the embankment, you might be stolen away by faeries keen to offer you a cookie or a bit of mead in a flower cup.

And if you were to drink it, you’d awake to find that a hundred years had passed...

Next Monday, I'll be interviewing Samaire here on my blog. Don't miss it!

 

Short Book Reviews: Heroic Hackers Save the Fae

Phaethon, by Rachel Sharp (Pandamoon)

When a new tech company releases a smartphone that’s light-years beyond previous models, customers line up to be the first to own it. Jack and Rose, hackers par excellence, join the throng with the purpose of cracking the tech, stealing the code, and making it all available online in a sort of underground people’s tech empowerment. The Phaethon phone does things no device has ever been capable of. Not only does it make and receive phone calls, take photos, search the internet on voice command, but it interacts creatively with its owner – and it flies. The puzzle deepens as Jack digs into the primitive, outdated code and Rose opens the case to find junk parts that shouldn’t be able to do anything, let alone do the incredible things it can. What gives? As they delve deeper into the mystery, they stumble upon Phaethon’s incredible secret; the phone is powered remotely by a tiny magical creature. Soon they’re drawn into a world of mythical beings, friend and foe alike, and must take sides in a war not only for the control of fae but the future of the human race.

I loved it. I loved Jack and Rosie, both as quirky nerdish individuals and as a long-established loving couple. I loved their friends. I loved the way the mystery unfolded, step by page-turning step. It’s intelligent, compassionate, and just plain fun.

                          

Short Book Reviews: Gods and Monsters in a Kansas City Pub

Nectar and Ambrosia (An Amaranthine Inheritance Novel) by E. M. Hamill

Gods and monsters meeting for a drink in a Kansas City pub – how great is that as a premise? Callie stumbles on the place, which apparently only those gifted with rare abilities can see, and into a world of mythology come to life. Soon she’s working as the new server, fending off lustful Pan, matching wits with Puck, managing a lugubriously drunk Zeus, and using her Classics major knowledge to sort everything out. There’s a love interest, the pub owner Florian, sentenced to the confines of the place, and the slow burn attraction has the flavor of romance without dominating the plot.

The book’s strengths are the originality of its premise and plot twists, plus a likeable and capable heroine. For me, these more than overcame its shortcomings and kept me reading. I found it to be at times overwritten, burdened by repetition and belaboring things that I had already figured out. The blend of action-driven plot with romance sensibilities such as long, repeated descriptions of the physical reactions of Callie and Florian to one another, without the centerpiece of their relationship, was at times uneasy. On the whole, however, I found it a quick and enjoyable read.

Short Book Reviews: Mercenary Spies Track Down a Missing Harp

The Harp of Kings, by Juliet Marillier (Ace)

The Swan Island super-elite mercenaries/spies have figured in previous stories by Juliet Marillier. This tale begins in the training school with three talented students, Liobhan and her adopted brother, Brocc, and the gorgeous but conceited young nobleman, Dau. The three are recruited as part of a party hired to recover the missing Harp of Kings, essential for the coronation of the next king of Breifne. Brocc and Liobhan, talented musicians both, go underground as members of a performing troupe, while Dau masquerades as a mute farrier’s assistant. Despite all their training and motivation, they each find it nigh impossible to maintain their disguises. All is not well in Breifne; the crown prince is arrogant, self-centered, and violently antagonistic to anything eldritch, including the fae Overworld that has traditionally co-existed with the human world to the peace and prosperity of both.

Marillier has grown from a talented new voice to a consummately skillful pro with exquisite control of narrative, character development, and plot. From the first page, I found myself relaxing and immersing myself in the story. Along the way, I noticed that instead of bashing me over the head with exposition, Marillier inserts subtle clues about each character’s inner turmoil, hopes, and relationships, in addition to important details in other characters and settings. This deepening of the story is brilliantly handled, and adds to the emotional satisfaction of every step of the journey. I’ve long been a fan of Marillier’s work, but The Harp of Kings clinches it!

Short Book Reviews: A Steampunk Detective, with Centaurs

The Clockwork Detective, by R.A. McCandless (Ellysian)

The last couple of years have brought a slew of wonderful steampunk adventures with resourceful, kick-ass heroines, and this one by McCandless is a worthy addition. Aubrey Hartmann is a veteran of recent war, having lost the lower part of one leg, and now works as a constable. Her prosthetic is a clockwork device that needs to be rewound regularly and isn’t a perfect fit but does keep her mobile, if in pain. As a result, she’s become addicted to laudanum (opium). Her current assignment involves investigating the murder of a druwyd (druid, local witch-doctor holy man) in a little town near the Fae-ruled Dark Wood. Here is where the world-building of The Clockwork Detective sharply deviates from the usual Victorian gears-and-whistles steampunk. Magic is not only real, it’s part of everyday life, and the human wars are overshadowed by the possibility of a terrible conflict with the Fae.

Aubrey’s research leads her into the Dark Wood to question the denizens there, those being centaurs, who are not only fierce fighters but wonderfully oblique and weird. The blending of Victorian mechanistic steampunk, mythology, and magic is seamless and believable. The story moves from murder mystery to international thriller to magical encounters of the terrifying kind. Aubrey herself is a wonderful combination of vulnerable addiction, resourcefulness, keen intelligence, and general all-around bloody-mindedness. I look forward to reading her further adventures!

The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to praise it. Although chocolates and fine imported tea are always welcome.