Reviews

The Fairies of Sadieville by Alex Bledsoe

meg_wadlington's review

4.0

This is the last in the Tufa series. It is so hard when I try to describe this series. It takes place deep in the Appalachia mountains. Surrounding the lives and machinations of the “Tufa” people who are rumored to have been in the mountains before the Native Americans. They don’t mix well with others and when they do, things are unpredictable. Throughout all that they do, there is music threaded. Blue grass, folk, rock, country. Music is how the Tufa express their emotions, communicate, and produce their strongest magic...

lmwanak's review

3.0

Read my review at Lightspeed Magazine: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/book-reviews-february-2018/

hopejrc's review

5.0

I really didn't think any of the Tufa novels would have topped The Hum and the Shiver, but I think this one did and I'm declaring it my favorite of the series. I loved all the stories coming together, the history being shown, and the conclusion was perfect. The characters are all so distinct and well drawn and the setting is truly one of a kind. I'll miss Cloud County.

claudiuo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

leahtd's review

3.0

I wish I could give this like 3 1/2 stars and maybe it would be higher if I had read the books before this. But the premise of this book is super cool - there are these fairies living among us who were banished from their world by a vengeful queen. Two grad students find these people while working on a project to find the town Sadieville which mysteriously disappeared and no one can seem to remember. The book didn't totally get off the ground for me. I loved how the author switched between present day and historical Sadieville. The switching between time was really well done. I wanted to see what happened and the book did draw me in but I never really felt much tension and build up. When the book ended, it just kind of ended. I would be interested to see if there is more to this story, I would love to have more adventures with the fairies and such but I am not sure if there is enough set up for a second book or if the author is planning on it. If you like fantasy, I think this is worth the read. It is a cool modern fantasy with a neat premise it just didn't fully take off for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

drownedworld's review

4.0

A fitting end to one of my favorite series.

eloiseinparis's review

3.0

I hadn’t read any of the other books in the series, but that doesn’t matter because this is a stand alone novel. It’s an interesting take based on a actual culture of people. What if the melungeon people weren’t triracial, but fairies. Great premise. This book is the end of the series and supposedly answers all of the readers burning questions. To me that is where this failed. Justin and Veronica were cool characters, but not important to the story. Too much time was spent on them. While it is good they were fully developed characters, I could’ve done without all of their pop culture banter. Also based on their majors and areas of interest, it seems like it should’ve been Veronica doing the research and not Justin. His area of study didn’t actually align with them setting out on their adventure.

Appearances were made by characters from the other books, so I am sure readers were happy to see where their stories went after their respective HEA’s. It was also nice to learn how the fairies got here, and about their first encounters with humans. However I wish things still weren’t so vague. I get that the fairies forgot, but their memories were supposed to be in the process of being restored. So it would’ve been nice if it had been flat out said who was who and what was what. Also not enough time was spent in the fey realm. Their experiences there were brief and vague, almost dreamlike. If I had read all the books I would’ve been seriously disappointed, even as a new reader I was disappointed. This book didn’t inspire me to go back and read the previous installments in the series. But I would probably pick up whatever book this writer comes up with next.

suzjustsuz's review

5.0

4.5+ stars

What a wonderful story. Or, as a friend has said, a story within a story within a story. I always get to the end of these Tufa books and look back thinking "well, that was essentially just a slice of life story" but Bledsoe has a way of turning the ordinary and expected into surprisingly extraordinary, and with this final entry into the Tufa series he has exceeded himself.

I don't know if Mr. Bledsoe or his agent pays attention to Goodreads but I'd just like to say that I'd be happy to continue reading stories about the Tufa.

Also, Stefan Rudnicki is an exceptional narrator. His soothing, smooth, rich tones combined with his plethora of voices and character acting bring his stories to life. Tufa stories will, for me, forever sound like Rudnicki's voices.

elizabethd's review

2.0

Interesting premise - fairies in Appalachia. I read with enthusiasm. The pace is good, maybe a little too fast sometimes. It didn't get quite as deep as I'd hoped. But interesting nonetheless.

jameseckman's review

3.0

Three stories, one inside the other, and a final resolution for the Tufa. Can't really say much more without spoiling it. Start from this series one of the earlier books, this one won't make much sense without some background.