This book is AMAZING. Like I went to the bookstore the other day 'cause I got bored and found three books and was trying to talk myself out of getting them, except I could not put this back or even wait to order it online or ask for it for my birthday or whatever. Had to get.
Isobel* lives in Whimsy, a summer enchanted land on the edge of the Summerlands where humans live and frequently provide goods to the fair folk who live adjacent to them. The most notable and goddamn mindblowing thing about fairies in this book is that while they can do enchantments, they literally can't do any form of Craft (yes, capitalized). They can't write a note, they can't cook a meal**, they literally can't do anything to produce anything and if they try, they die. So fairies are fascinated by the things humans make and patronize them for what they can't get otherwise.
- not her real name, because folks in Whimsy don't disclose their real names and always secretly carry iron even though it's banned. They ain't dumb.
- You're wondering how they eat? Well...the book gets to that.
Isobel is an extremely gifted portrait artist and is a huge hit among fairies. When her oldest and most frequent patron, Gadfly, tells her the prince of autumn (they have seasonal lands but winter keeps to themselves) wants a portrait, Isobel is taken aback. But Rook, the autumn prince, is a very decent guy for a fairy and Isobel starts falling for him. She's having issues getting it right, but realizes on the last day of doing his portrait that he's actually experienced the human emotion of loss and ends up clearly painting that into his eyes in the work. But when Rook, having not seen the portrait totally finished first, unveils it to his court, they all think it makes him look weak for having an emotion and that might mean he loses it all. Rook gets all riled up and kidnaps Isobel to drag her to court for a trial, thinking this was a deliberate act on her part. However, as the two travel together and get attacked by various beasties/the Wild Hunt, they end up helping and relying on each other and...yeah, it ends up being mutual.
But the king of all fairies, the summer ruler known as the Alder King, has forbidden this sort of thing. If there's interracial love, either they both die or the human has to drink from the Green Well and become a fairy. However, only the most talented at Craft are allowed to do this* and if they become a fairy, they lose all ability to Craft. Isobel considers this to be a nightmare because Crafting is who she is, and ain't no way she's doing that. And when she meets someone who has drunk from the Green Well, not knowing what would happen, she's even more horrified. What are they gonna do?
- why, I don't know, seems to defeat the purpose. It might be like in the Parasol Protectorate universe where only those with an excess of soul/artistic talent can survive to become a supernatural?
I really liked this. The concept of fairies only being able to craft enchantments and nothing else blew my tiny little mind. I was trying to talk myself out of buying books yesterday and it did not work, because this was so good and horrifying as a concept that it made me tear up. I'm not Isobel and I'm probably not Born to Craft even though I like, knit all freaking day and whatnot, but oh my god, how bored would you be if you couldn't make stuff or even write a note? There are more revelations about fairy life when Isobel gets an idea to solve Rook's political problem by offering to paint at the spring court that were also amazingly sad, to the point where I just want to sit around and think of how to hack this situation so it's not quite so either/or for everyone. But I'll get into that below the spoiler cut. And also, one character turns out to be secretly ah....I guess I'll spoiler cut this, but I was impressed and I want to know what is going on with that one.
If there's anything that isn't totally awesome, I do concur with other reviews that the ending is pretty rushed and a bit out of the blue in one respect. And I am also disappointed that there's no sequel plans. I'm not saying you'd need to revisit these particular characters/situation again even though I am really wondering about some things, but this Craft issue, and that one character, makes me want to see more.
So, four and a half stars. Near epic, great concept, good characters, some manipulation, massive respect for art, what's not to love?
And now to the spoiler cut.
Spoiler space
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Where do I begin?
- Gadfly: Wow. Secretly a prince (oh, I didn't mention that? Nope, you did not!), psychic enough to see the different paths people might take, and Isobel figures out he's been manipulating her all along to get this result. Damn, dude. Machiavelli much? Very intriguing. I want more of this guy. I want him as a main figure in a sequel. What's his goal? Why does he want the Alder King out? (Other than dude is a jerk anyway, I guess) Dude is crafty in his own right even if he can't even write a note.
- Fairies and illusions: How sad is it when you find out that the fairies are all eating spoiled rotting food (where are they getting this? Human dumpsters?) and are fine with it as long as it looks good via illusion? These folks are just so SAD. They're so bored. They're beautiful due to illusions, they're immortalish, they eat trash, they can buy/reeenchant dresses but can't change them and they occasionally turn people into animals because they're bored. (Note: Isobel has two adopted sisters who were originally their GOATS until some fairy transformed them. They are a running joke about how they are barely toilet trained and constantly eat any ol' thing and still live. I was never sure what to make of that.) If you knew what being a fairy really is like, you wouldn't wanna. I feel incredibly sorry for these people. Which leads me to...
- Oh, Aster. Can't remember what her Craft used to be, clearly regrets her choice which she made without any real knowing of what she was getting herself into and is too numb to be able to really process that. Wow. I liked how her character was handled big time. Good ending there.
- The end: Like I said, it's a little rushed. The idea of killing the Alder King is a good one. Isobel's idea of doing a painting of him as a whopping distraction is a good one. Secret stabbing? I'm down (and then amused that when fairies die, they turn into something in nature so now there's a giant tree in the parlor). However, when they're all, "Well, you killed the king so now it means YOU are the fairy queen," I was all wait, what? That's valid if a human does it? This is partly why I want a sequel, because how's it going to work when a mortal is queen? Yeah, so they'll just have Isobel and Rook get married and I guess that solves it, but yeah, how well will fairies deal with that? Especially the winter court, which we don't really see but they sure do seem anti mortal?
I'm really fascinated at the tradeoffs between the fairies vs. the mortals, as it were. It makes me wonder where fairies came from. Were they once human (since with the Green Well, one can convert)? Because think of it:
- Fairies: immortal, heal on their own, don't get sick, live on indefinitely, have whopping magic for enchantments, beautifying, and illusions out the wazoo. However, they can't make anything or do much of anything useful. They have a loooooooooong amount of time to do...what, play ball on the lawn?
- Humans: mortal, time is limited, they can't just magic up whatever so they have to make it for their own survival (no eating raw rabbit), creative and artistic. Everything is real. They have a short period of time to get stuff done and that's it.
- Humans can make and craft because they have to for their own short lived survival. Fairies don't have to do it to survive, but why does it kill them to even try?
- Fairies can craft enchantments, humans can't.
- You get the feeling that humans can make and craft because they have to. Because being mortal is a heavy motivation to get shit down.
- But: can fairies only create enchantments because they are unchanging? Is that a requirement of being able to do magic and have powers? HMMMMMMMMMMMM.
- Oh, ever wonder why fairies can't technically lie with their voices but are constantly illusions? HMMMMMMMMMM I WONDER WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. Seems contradictory, no? Are they not allowed to lie vocally because everything else they DO is a lie? HMMMMMMMMM.
I really wanna discuss this with somebody and that's not gonna happen, darn it.
Last night when trying to sleep I kept picturing myself trying to talk to Gadfly about the problem and if there was some way to hack this all out. I doubt it, but I'm so intrigued at the idea. It's such an opposite for both sides, it makes the fairies dependent on humans (though humans may not be unless they're impressed by immortality and pretty), it makes the fairies a very sad people. Is there anything that can be done for them? Some kind of compromise?
Like I said: wish there'd be a sequel that talks about this. I wish I wish I wish.
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