Book Review: The Fairies of Sadieville (Tufa #6) by Alex Bledsoe

Tor Books
Published April 10, 2018
368 Pages

“This is real.” Three small words on a film canister found by graduate students Justin and Veronica, who discover a long-lost silent movie from more than a century ago. The startlingly realistic footage shows a young girl transforming into a winged being. Looking for proof behind this claim, they travel to the rural foothills of Tennessee to find Sadieville, where it had been filmed.

Soon, their journey takes them to Needsville, whose residents are hesitant about their investigation, but Justin and Veronica are helped by Tucker Carding, who seems to have his own ulterior motives. When the two students unearth a secret long hidden, everyone in the Tufa community must answer the most important question of their entire lives — what would they be willing to sacrifice in order to return to their fabled homeland of Tir na nOg?- Goodreads

I would like to put it out there that I have not read the other 5 books in the series. But when I was reading this, I didn’t feel as if I was missing something or that I had to know more. Once it began, it felt a standalone and once I ended it, I didn’t have a desire to go back to the previous books.

This is not to say that this was a good a book because it was. This was a slow read but it was good none the less. You are sucked into the world and it is mainly because of Justin and Veronica even though their parts seem so small compared to the main story. The Tufa community is a complicated one that the author touches upon their contentment and happiness in the land they call their home and the idea of going back to their place of origins. What I liked about this was the author was able to touch upon the reality of what if they don’t want to go? What are the consequences if you do go back? The author made this world realistic and most importantly human. Which was a key component to why I enjoyed the book so much.

However, this book was slow. No matter how much you are sucked into the words and want to know what happens next, you can’t forget how slow the book is and how nothing really happens. There is a lot of talk and a lot of background history. Because of how long you invest in the book, the ending disappoints. When something happens, you think to yourself… that’s it? Granted this could be because I didn’t read the first 5 books but because there is so much flash backs, that it is isn’t needed.

Overall, I did like this book much more than I thought I would. It was a realistic interpenetration of faeries living in the human world and I really liked that.

3 Pickles

Book Review: Faerie After (Bones of Faerie #3) by Janni Lee Simner

Faerie After (Bones of Faerie #3) by Janni Lee Simner

Random House Books

Published: May 28, 2013

Genre: Young Adult

What a series!  This is the final book in the Bones of Faerie series and it was a perfect way to end it.

Faerie After by Janni Lee Simner (goodreads)

After fighting the Queen of Faerie, Liza needs a break. The communication with her mother is still weak, she is still training to better her magic and on top of that she hasn’t seen her boyfriend in 5 months (She’s not complaining because she just isn’t that type of girl).

But now there is a new issue. Piles of dust of former creatures and humans are being found in the forest. Although Liza was able to call back the trees in her world, the Faerie realm is slowly dying and turning to dust.  Liza, Matthew, and Allie must risk everything they have and everything they don’t have in order to save the world . . . again.

What I loved loved about this book was the fact romance was the last thing on Matthew and Liza’s mind. Granted if they were allowed to go further maybe they would have but they something always stopped them from moving on from one passionate kiss. Liza and Matthew didn’t allow their feelings for each other to distract themselves from the bigger picture which is a breath of fresh air considering that almost every young adult book with fairies there is some kind of romance or implied sex.

I also loved the how the author made it clear that the sacrifices Liza, Matthew and Allie were making was much more than a normal life. Between dying, watching someone they love die and going through crazy emotional and physical pain these teens gave up their life for everyone to live safely. There was a true passion for life in this book and all thanks goes to the author.

I can’t say that there was something I disliked about the book. Some things needed to happen and it did slow the book down but it was a slow down I approved of.

Over all, the book was a good read and if you don’t believe me you can check out its page on goodreads.com. The series was a great read and it was different. I appreciated the fact that the author didn’t want to make the faerie realm as magical as all other faerie books in the young adult genre. This book definitely deserves attention and recognition for being different.

Book gets 9 out of 10.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 

Tania Lasenburg is a communications major with dreams of owning /working for a publishing company as a high end corporate. In her spare time, she is working to make Motif Ink a house hold name. Follow her on twitter @mrztanyapickles

Book Review: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

goodreads.com

Laurel is a fifteen year old girl that has moved to a new town with her adoptive parents. There is no bad blood between her and her parents; nothing but warm love. Although Laurel has some weird eating habits and has yet to . . . develop in a woman, she is a normal girl . . . to the eye.

One day she gets a bump on her back. That bump grows and turns into a flower which turns into wings.

Now . . . when I initially saw this book I had zero interest. I picked it up because this series is quite popular. But I didn’t like it. The book was slow and the characters seem to be one dimensional. I understand that in a series book two or three answers questions but to be honest there was no questions that really needed to be answered but why was Laurel with the human world.

Although there was a bit of an action scene that involves the human boy Laurel is not sure if she just want to be friends with (-.-) and the fairy who was not only her best friend before she left but was someone that loves/loved her. Laurel has feelings for her human friend but also cannot deny the connection between her fairy. Although at the end of the book she chooses the human . . . you don’t need to read the next two books to know how it boils down.

I feel that the author tried to make Laurel’s story exciting but the fire wasn’t there. This book gets a 6 out of 10. The potential was there and it was frustrating that the author wasn’t able to follow through.