Not Just a Feyse

Over my almost three years as a book blogger, I've read all kinds of YA. Despite pushing beyond my own reading comfort zone on occasion, I gravitate to those stories involving the paranormal or the supernatural, in other words, books that often involve creatures or magic of some kind.

When I began diving into YA, I thought, knowing that I loved vampires and magic, that reading novels involving the fey, fairies, sprites, forest-dwelling magical creatures, and the like, would be right up my alley.

(click on a book's cover to be taken to its Goodreads page)

Turns out, I was mostly wrong.

I started with books like Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, Tithe by Holly Black, and Need by Carrie Jones. All three are fey books, but pretty different from each other as well. While there were good things about each, none of them really grabbed me and I was quite surprised with my reaction to them. It wasn't just that I came away not really feeling the books, but I was honestly put off.

But I kept trying. I read Wings by Aprilynne Pike, which was a nice read but the fey aspect was removed enough from the traditional fairy scenario that it didn't feel like a fey book to me as much as the others, more like fey-lite. Glimmerglass by Jenna Black came after that, but again, they fey did not do it for me.

Still, I kept trying, choosing next The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. And here is where things changed: I loved it. Absolutely adored it. Now, I know that the fey being the focus of these books does not make all things equal (as there are a lot of factors that go into whether or not I like and enjoy a book), but here is the odd part: after reading and loving The Iron King, I have read two more books that center on the fey and really enjoyed them both.

The first was The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black, a book of short stories. Not every story focuses on the fey, but of the ones that did, I loved them way more than I liked Tithe. Same author, different reaction.

Next I read Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement. Not only did this novel have much the same feel to me as Holly Black's work, but I was enthralled. Was this change of opinion due to reading a fey book that I loved? Maybe. But does that mean that a book like The Replacement gets the highest rating that I can give a novel? No.

After examining my experience with these books, here is what I have determined: I like well-written, action-packed, fantastical stories that involve the fey. But if the fey are too twisty, too dark, or just too much in general, I can't love the book. I can't love something that either grosses or creeps me out too much. The Replacement is the only fey book of that type that has come close.

So what does this mean going forward? Well, I'm not ruling out fey novels. I'm going to try to be open and hope I pick one up that really captures my interest and attention, but I'm also going to do a little research before diving in to give myself the best chance of an enjoyable read.

What do you think of YA fey novels? Have you read any that I mentioned? Got any recommendations?

Review: Wings

by Aprilynne Pike
publisher: HarperCollins
date published: April 5, 2011 (first published May 1, 2009)
format: NOOK ebook
pages: 240
source: free download from B&N
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N
challenges: Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge; 2011 YA Reading Challenge; 2011 E-Book Reading Challenge

From Goodreads:

Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

What I Thought

I'll be honest: it took me a few chapters to warm up to this book. The first several pages were mostly about Laurel's first week in public school and her eating habits. The latter does eventually come into play as one of the differences between fairies and humans, but it is pretty dull, at first. I also just couldn't get too worked up about where Laurel chose to take her lunch breaks. However, once Laurel starts to undergo changes, things picked up considerably. As her blossom begins to grow, it wasn't quite so hard to get into the story. I spent a lot of time pondering how she was going to hide it and whether or not she would be discovered.

The characters were okay for me. I just could not connect with Laurel, though. It was akin to listening to someone else talk about a person you've never seen before. I just could not picture her, nor could I truly get into her head, so to speak. David and Tamani were a bit easier to like, though. However, not too much time is given to the latter in overall story. I know little more about him than I did before starting to read this book. The villain did exude a certain creepiness, though, and I kept wondering what his story was and what his motivations were.

I did like the way in which fairies were described in this book. It is a unique view on them and I found the biological component in which David figures out how Laurel "works" to be interesting. Something I didn't like was how long it took for the real problem to arise. For a while, I wasn't even sure that there would be any problems greater than Laurel hiding her blossom from her family and schoolmates. By the time the menace did come up, I was already resigned to the book being mostly about Laurel trying to keep a secret.

While I may not have been turning cartwheels over this book, it was a pretty interesting read and left enough of an impression upon me to make me want to read the second book in the series, Spells. The series has great potential and I hope that Spells will answer to my hopes for more action. I give Wings 3 hoots.