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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 2.5/5
Started: 22 April 2022
Finished: 24 April 2022
Summary:
Kaye has always been the weird kid, the kid with faeries as imaginary friends. Though relentless moves and practically parenting her mom have resulted in a talent at hiding lying, she's never forgotten the faeries. But they aren't imaginary--in the small town where her grandma lives, there really are fairies.
When she and her mom return to her grandma's house, the faeries quickly find her, and ask her to help them with a scheme: if she pretends to be sacrificed to the Unseelie Court, and reveals her true identity at the last minute, she can free her friends from seven years of servitude. With the help of a mysterious faerie knight and her friend's brother, Corny, Kaye hunts for the truth about her world--and herself.
Thoughts:
All of the things that happened in this book were interesting, but it wasn't done well. Something about the pacing and the emotion, I think, made the whole book feel off. I liked the world building, obviously--Holly Black's Fae Courts are such a cool system, with all the different kinds of faeries, the royalty system, and the horrific excess and gore. It feels like the glamorous version of an archaic fairytale, without taking away from any of the violence and unsettling imagery. I also liked the characters. The protagonist was interesting, since she fit the "parented my mother" archetype but also had a sort of chaotic energy that made her significantly more interesting than a fae Rory Gilmore. Roiben, the fae knight, was dark and dangerous and pretty and complicated, so basically perfect.
I will say, though, that the whole situation with Corny confused the hell out of me.
He's the best friend's brother.
Okay, so he's the romantic interest?
No, he's gay.
The gay best friend/sidekick, then. I don't like that. That's a harmful stereotype and so boring.
Well, kind of. Except his story arc involves being abandoned in fairyland, bewitched, sexually assaulted, psychologically tormented into committing murder, and then unceremoniously returned to his status quo.
Oh. Um. Okay.
So confusing, and really just unnecessary and weird. Unfortunately, this situation wasn't much different from the character arcs of the other characters. The romances felt really weird and assault-ish. I guess Holly Black was going for the same kind of situation as Jude and Cardan, but it felt confusing and forced rather than two people manipulating each other while falling in love.
The pacing was super off, too. I kept getting confused because things would happen so fast without any connection between. I was also skipping lots of lines, not because I was trying to read fast, but just because that's what the book was having me do.
Unless I get pretty bored, I probably won't finish this series. It was interesting, but too confusing to really be worth it. Maybe I'll try one of Holly Black's other genres instead.
Words:
Albumen (n) egg white
Spoor (n) the track or scent of an animal
Thrall (n) a slave or serf (in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age)
Claret (n) a dark pink red wine from Bordeuax; a deep purplish red color
Diaphanous (adj) of a fabric: light, delicate, and translucent
Surfeit (n) an excessive or nauseating amount of something