Tag Archives: Fae

Blood Faerie

Book Review of Blood Faerie (Caledonia Fae, #1) by India Drummond

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Blood FairieI’m three days away from having owned India Drummond‘s Blood Faerie for four years. It took me that long to get around to reading it. It’s a perma-freebie on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Sentenced to death, Eilidh ran—away from faerie lands, to the streets of Perth, Scotland. Just as she has grown accustomed to exile, local police discover a mutilated body outside the abandoned church where she lives. Recognising the murder as the work of one of her own kind, Eilidh must choose: flee, or learn to tap into the forbidden magic that cost her everything.

Review:
This ok as a quick evening read, but it wasn’t amazing. It had an interesting story idea and the writing was pretty good, but nothing felt particularly developed and I thought the evil was defeated far too easily, allowing for a pat happy ending. Essentially, I thought it started out well and grew progressively weaker as the story progressed.

More specifically, I didn’t think the characters were particularly well developed, the men especially. I thought Munro’s sudden love and dedication felt unfounded and out of nowhere (or magically manipulated). Saor was a bitter cardboard cutout that was conveniently disposed of by the author when he was no longer needed, and the bad guy (I’m not even gonna try with his elvish name) was bad just because he was bad, no depth greyscale to him at all. I did like Eilidh a lot, but thought that after 25 years in the human world her innocence and lack of knowledge about modern amenities and human customs was unbelievable and obviously played for laughs and weak sexual tension.

But like I said, as a quick read it’s entertaining enough, even with these detractions. I’d read more of Drummond’s writing.

Trailer Park Fae

Book Review Trailer Park Fae (Gallow and Ragged #1), by Lilith Saintcrow

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Trailer Park FaeI borrowed Trailer Park Fae (by Lilith Saintcrow) from my library, mostly just because of the cover is so pretty.

Description from Goodreads:
Jeremy Gallow is just another construction worker, and that’s the way he likes it. He’s left his past behind, but some things cannot be erased. Like the tattoos on his arms that transform into a weapon, or that he was once closer to the Queen of Summer than any half-human should be. Now the half-sidhe all in Summer once feared is dragged back into the world of enchantment, danger, and fickle fae—by a woman who looks uncannily like his dead wife. Her name is Robin, and her secrets are more than enough to get them both killed. A plague has come, the fullborn-fae are dying, and the dark answer to Summer’s Court is breaking loose.

Review:
So, this was not what I expected. I was expecting a light urban fantasy. It was, instead, a fairly dark read, which to be fair is kind of the more traditional Sidhe kind of story.

I’d still have been cool with a dark tale, though. I like gritty things. But this was just so darned slow. I mean, things happened. People died. There was a whole coup even. But it was all narrated in such a plodding, overly verbose, flowery, ho-hum kind of way that it felt dull. Plus, I wasn’t really feeling the lack of pay-off in the end. I liked the characters and it’s an interesting plot, so I can’t say I didn’t like the book. But I’n not sad to be finished with it either.

Tina Connolly

Book Review of Ironskin, by Tina Connolly

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IronskinI borrowed Ironskin, by Tina Connolly, from the library.

Description from Goodreads:
Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a “delicate situation”—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio…and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.

Review:

So much potential in this plot, all reduced to, “Wah, wah poor me. I’m not pretty.” And “Oh, woe is me, I’ve been cursed with rage…or, well, at least mild irritation.” (I certainly never sensed any more than that.) With a romance that boiled down to “Mr. Rochart is never here. I wish he was here because it makes his daughter happy when he is. Oh, I love Mr. Rochart.” It came out of nowhere! Not least because Mr. Rochart was completely flat as a character. Jane was a bit better, but not by much.

Sure the book has a creepy atmosphere. And it really is an interesting premise. Unfortunately, I think all that potential was just smothered under all the self-absorbed angst. I’m afraid being a retelling of Jane Eyre was enough to salvage this. I’ll not be bothering with the sequels.