Review: The Faerie Ring

Title: The Faerie Ring

Author: Kiki Hamilton

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5 

Part of a Series?: First in series

Goodreads Summary:

Debut novelist Kiki Hamilton takes readers from the gritty slums and glittering ballrooms of Victorian London to the beguiling but menacing Otherworld of the Fey in this spellbinding tale of romance, suspense, and danger. 


The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood—Tiki’s blood.

Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched—and protected—by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen’s son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist.
Prince, pauper, and thief—all must work together to secure the treaty

 

Review: 

2.5 stars

I feel like I might be a just a little harsh in reviewing this book. But when a book like The Faerie Ring takes itself as seriously as it does, I like it when my historical fiction actually feels like historical fiction. I admit that the description of London in this book is fairly impressive, but the way the characters speak, think, act, etc., you wouldn't know they live in Victorian England. Everything remotely interesting about that period in time has been watered down by the author to satiate the blind tastes of the masses. As a history buff, I was incredibly disappointed. 

First of all, I really, really don't like Kiki. I didn't like her from page one when I realized the author was self projecting herself into Kiki's character. When authors do that (e.g. Stephanie Meyer), the characters end up a mess--in other words, they end up trying to hard to be likeable. Take Kiki--I MEAN Tiki's character. Tiki is the maternal figure to her family of street urchins in Victorian London. She has this darn tragic past, and now she struggles to make a living because she has to sacrifice her day's pickings to get money for Clara. She's actually beautiful and intelligent despite her situation, and she's loyal to the bone. Gosh, she's just so perfect. She's a model citizen. And I want to facepalm. It's just this lack of any personality flaws that makes a nerve pop in my forehead. And yet, despite being so intelligent, Tiki is just so stupid sometimes. She doesn't believe Rieker could actually be helpful. It takes her more than half the book to even believe that he's not trying to scam her, let alone allow him to help her. Even when Rieker protects her TWICE from vicious faeries, Tiki doesn't even thank him. So let me revise my previous statement. Tiki is so perfect except for the fact that her judgment is crap. 

My second main disappointment with this book is the mixture of supernatural aspects into the story line. Actually, I wish that The Faerie Ring was just The Ring. For the first time ever, I wish that this was just a historical fiction story...not a historical fantasy. The concept of the faerie truce was cheap and weakly written. We mostly learn from it via Rieker's info dumps and a few scenes in the later half of the story. The faeries are not a major or necessary part to the story. I have this fantasy about what the book could have been if it was just a crime-heist-mixed-with-Victorian-England--think 19th century Oceans Eleven. But alas, Hamilton has failed my expectations. 

This could've been a great book. Maybe if Hamilton hadn't tried so hard...oh well.

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Review: The Taker

Title: The Taker

Author: Alma Katsu

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Part of a Series?: Individual

Goodreads Summary:
On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her . . . despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.

Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption. 

Review:  

I thought this was a pretty good book. There were definitely places it could've been improved, but I don't think I've ever read something quite like this. The Taker is a fascinating fusion of historical fiction and fantasy. Katsu parallels the present day story line with the 19th century story line, and the result is a puzzlingly, addictive book.

Lanny's story is the most obvious highlight of the book. It takes up 80% of the story. And I was pleasantly surprised by Katsu's effort to keep the story as historically accurate as possible. History buffs will enjoy this story for the author's honest attempts to stay as true to Puritanical Maine as possible. But there is also this unique aspect of fantasy. Lanny is an immortal, and her story is a lot about how she came to be that way. But the fantasy isn't like the vampires and werewolf kind of fantasy of YA fiction. The fantasy of The Taker has this touch of realism. There are no flashy battles between good or evil or stories of forbidden, interspecies love. Moreover, I just enjoyed the plot progression in general, with emphasis on the character development. Both Lanny and Jonathan grow into unique and mature characters. This is an adult novel, so the characters, while teenagers, aren't juvenile. They don't whine or mope around--I partially attribute this to the fact that both Lanny and Jonathan were raised with the "Puritan work ethic." Anyway, it was truly amazing to read how effortlessly Katsu wove Lanny's past with Luke in the present. Just because the focus was on how Lanny eventually came to where she is, I still wanted to know more about Luke. He had a past that I wanted to know more about.

And that's where I think the story faltered. While Katsu did an excellent job in giving each character depth, she teased us with details that could've been explained more. For instance, Luke has an ex-wife and two kids. I didn't get why Lanny could have entire chapters dedicated to her life when Luke barely got a paragraph about his family. Furthermore, specific story lines seemed to drop off into nowhere. I don't know if I wasn't reading carefully or what, but Katsu ended some plots too abruptly for my taste, leaving me with endless questions. How exactly did Lanny figure out Adair's secret? What happened to Adair? What happened to Alejandro, Dona, and Tilde? Who were the men Lanny "married" in her lifetime? Why does Lanny think the curse will "break" just because she's trying to make amends for her sins? And finally, my last frustration with this book was the copious amounts of passages on sex. Sex took up half the book. Adair is a sadistic sex-addict, granted, but Lanny, IMO, is all too willing to play along. I got really frustrated because Lanny took all of Adair's "punishments" without actually fighting back. Sure, she had these internal monologues where she said how much she deeply hated Adair. Yet in the end, she was all too willing to play along. And between Lanny and Jonathan, the sex just seemed like an excuse to put more sex into the story. I mean, seriously. I'm usually okay with a few sex scenes as long as it doesn't take up the entire story. But this book tested my patience...

Oh, and thank you to Alma Katsu, her publishers, and Goodreads for providing me with a free copy. 

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