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kristid's review against another edition
4.0
Henry returns to the Faerie Realm after a visit from Pyrgus, an elder Pyrgus. A disease has hit the realm, temporal fever. It causes the host to fall into a coma, living years of their life within the trance, and waking up visibly older. Henry returns to the realm at the request of Mr. Fogarty, who has contracted the fever and doesn’t have much time left.
Upon his arrival Henry is transported to the desert, by Madame Cardui, without a viable reason! In the meantime the usual villains, Chalkhill, Brimstone, and Hairstreak are up to now good. Calling up mythical creatures trying to overthrow the Queen, the usual.
Queen Blue herself, distraught with Henry’s predicament sets out to rescue him, and finds out the truth of his sudden transport. Will she be able to save Henry and the realm before the plague ravages them all!
The Faerie Lord is the fourth book in The Faerie War Chronicles. This was an excellent final installment! The multiple plots weave together to form a story full of suspense and action! I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Although the story seemed predicable at times, I never saw the ending coming! I was happy to finally see some closure between Henry and Blue, it wouldn’t be a faerie tale without a happy ending!
Upon his arrival Henry is transported to the desert, by Madame Cardui, without a viable reason! In the meantime the usual villains, Chalkhill, Brimstone, and Hairstreak are up to now good. Calling up mythical creatures trying to overthrow the Queen, the usual.
Queen Blue herself, distraught with Henry’s predicament sets out to rescue him, and finds out the truth of his sudden transport. Will she be able to save Henry and the realm before the plague ravages them all!
The Faerie Lord is the fourth book in The Faerie War Chronicles. This was an excellent final installment! The multiple plots weave together to form a story full of suspense and action! I couldn’t stop turning the pages. Although the story seemed predicable at times, I never saw the ending coming! I was happy to finally see some closure between Henry and Blue, it wouldn’t be a faerie tale without a happy ending!
boureemusique's review against another edition
4.0
I'd like to give this book a 3.something, because I thought it was pretty good... and much better than some other stuff out there. As usual for the series, this book had some boring parts, some down time. The characterizations of the characters, especially read by a narrator, got repetitive. But the plot was interesting, and my favorite part of the novel is its self-awareness. In one scene, the author and the characters are aware of their participation in a very contrived hero trope, and that was sort of cool. I'm glad I put in the time for this series. Herbie's characters came alive in my little Honda Fit for several months, and I'll miss them.
soulfulsin's review against another edition
An interesting, well plotted book with a good, quick pace and good character development, but the similarities between it and another book I've read were too numerous to ignore. Also, while the characters developed and were strengthened, I felt the same detachment toward them as I had in earlier books. The book was intriguing, yes, but the characters were flat and lifeless to me.
merseymermaid's review
3.0
Didn't enjoy it as much as earlier titles in the series to begin with, but I suppose, as I found with all of Brennan's books, the beginning is kind of slow, then the last third of the book is quite pow-pow-pow with the action parts and cliffhangers, and you don't want to put it down. I also think my reluctance at the beginning might have been caused by not having read them for a while, it took me a bit of time to remember what everything was - not the characters as much as the names for objects in the faerie realm. I was kind of like 'cannot remember what an endolg is, or an ouklo, every though I remember the word'. So yeah, slowed me down a bit and stopped me being as 'into' the story.
I am also not a fan of the way Brennan has whole chapters the follow the villians of the piece. I don't know why, but I just don't like them. I don't care about those characters, no matter how much you try to get me to find them endearing, or want me to hate them. They just seem kind of unrealistic attitudes for major villians to have. I want to skip them and go back to the protanganists, but can't because I'm afraid I'll miss something important. After reading it, I'm not too sure I would have to be honest.
One last thing that bugs me, and has been mentioned by another reviewer, is that the characters seem to act younger than their ages in parts, or say and think things that are quite immature, usally in reference to the romantic side of the story. I know the characters are quite young, but in all other aspects of life they have a mature, we-can-run-an-entire-realm-with-relative-ease attitude, so the way they approach romance seems unrealistic and kind of silly at times.
All gripes aside, I did enjoy it, and for the last third of the book or so I didn't want to put it down. Perhaps I was just finding the holes that I wouldn't have noticed if I'd read it when I was a bit younger.
I am also not a fan of the way Brennan has whole chapters the follow the villians of the piece. I don't know why, but I just don't like them. I don't care about those characters, no matter how much you try to get me to find them endearing, or want me to hate them. They just seem kind of unrealistic attitudes for major villians to have. I want to skip them and go back to the protanganists, but can't because I'm afraid I'll miss something important. After reading it, I'm not too sure I would have to be honest.
One last thing that bugs me, and has been mentioned by another reviewer, is that the characters seem to act younger than their ages in parts, or say and think things that are quite immature, usally in reference to the romantic side of the story. I know the characters are quite young, but in all other aspects of life they have a mature, we-can-run-an-entire-realm-with-relative-ease attitude, so the way they approach romance seems unrealistic and kind of silly at times.
All gripes aside, I did enjoy it, and for the last third of the book or so I didn't want to put it down. Perhaps I was just finding the holes that I wouldn't have noticed if I'd read it when I was a bit younger.
mackle13's review against another edition
4.0
3 3/4
I liked the book because it was fast and fun and I did want to keep reading to find out what was happening. That said, it felt a little weird - it didn't quite feel like the same as the other books. I would say, in a lot of ways, the arc concluded in book 3 and this was a sort of disjointed continuation. And disjointed is the word for it.
I agree with a lot of the complaints in Martha's review here, but I rated it higher because, despite my complaints, I did enjoy it.
But...
There's a lot of set-up that doesn't really seem to manifest into anything. I would've liked a more satisfying conclusion to both Brimstone and Hairstreak. (Brimstone could've gotten eaten by the serpent - that woulda been good.)
There was also a lot that happened "off-stage" that we only hear about, which would've been better to see.
And too much time is spent going over Henry's thoughts of inadequecy and both his and Blue's looping trains of thoughts. They were too repetitive.
I would've liked to have seen more about the monastery guys. What were their motivations. What happened to them afterwards? I would've liked to have seen Blue confront them after everything happened, and maybe learn some answers - like what sort of bargain did they have with Loki. Why would Loki - he who is destined to bring about Ragnarok in Norse mythology - want to help Henry and Blue save the world? What would he care about their "happily-ever-after"?
What happened to Lorquin and his people? I assume he just went home, but it's like the story just jumps ahead and doesn't really feel to resolve anything. Oh, sure, the plague disappears - though I would've liked to have seen more of that, too. Something with the angel. Ooh - it woulda been nice if the angel took some sort of revenge on Hairstreak instead of the way that happened. It's not really fitting in with his character for it to go down the way it did, I don't think. It just seemed an easy-out to be done with him.
I also grew a little tired of the digs at religion - and this is coming from someone who isn't religious and tends to make her own digs at the Church. I just found it sort of out of place, and forced at times.
Lastly, I couldn't entirely get into the happily-ever-after. Maybe it's just my old, jaded self, but 17 year old marriages just don't seem like a good idea to me. Yes, they love each other and have been through a lot together but, ya know, just Henry staying and them developing their relationship would've worked just as well. Maybe I just worry that younger people are going to read this and rush into marriages of their own. Maybe that's silly... but it just seemed sort of forced to me, instead of arriving naturally.
All that said - I did enjoy the adventure of the story, and it did keep me involved and interested and entertained... so I guess I should stop griping.
I liked the book because it was fast and fun and I did want to keep reading to find out what was happening. That said, it felt a little weird - it didn't quite feel like the same as the other books. I would say, in a lot of ways, the arc concluded in book 3 and this was a sort of disjointed continuation. And disjointed is the word for it.
I agree with a lot of the complaints in Martha's review here, but I rated it higher because, despite my complaints, I did enjoy it.
But...
There's a lot of set-up that doesn't really seem to manifest into anything. I would've liked a more satisfying conclusion to both Brimstone and Hairstreak. (Brimstone could've gotten eaten by the serpent - that woulda been good.)
There was also a lot that happened "off-stage" that we only hear about, which would've been better to see.
And too much time is spent going over Henry's thoughts of inadequecy and both his and Blue's looping trains of thoughts. They were too repetitive.
I would've liked to have seen more about the monastery guys. What were their motivations. What happened to them afterwards? I would've liked to have seen Blue confront them after everything happened, and maybe learn some answers - like what sort of bargain did they have with Loki. Why would Loki - he who is destined to bring about Ragnarok in Norse mythology - want to help Henry and Blue save the world? What would he care about their "happily-ever-after"?
What happened to Lorquin and his people? I assume he just went home, but it's like the story just jumps ahead and doesn't really feel to resolve anything. Oh, sure, the plague disappears - though I would've liked to have seen more of that, too. Something with the angel. Ooh - it woulda been nice if the angel took some sort of revenge on Hairstreak instead of the way that happened. It's not really fitting in with his character for it to go down the way it did, I don't think. It just seemed an easy-out to be done with him.
I also grew a little tired of the digs at religion - and this is coming from someone who isn't religious and tends to make her own digs at the Church. I just found it sort of out of place, and forced at times.
Lastly, I couldn't entirely get into the happily-ever-after. Maybe it's just my old, jaded self, but 17 year old marriages just don't seem like a good idea to me. Yes, they love each other and have been through a lot together but, ya know, just Henry staying and them developing their relationship would've worked just as well. Maybe I just worry that younger people are going to read this and rush into marriages of their own. Maybe that's silly... but it just seemed sort of forced to me, instead of arriving naturally.
All that said - I did enjoy the adventure of the story, and it did keep me involved and interested and entertained... so I guess I should stop griping.
amalyndb's review against another edition
4.0
The fourth Faerie War Chronicles young adult novel. A mysteries time fever plague is spreading among the faeries of Light and Night, spreading through unknown means. The time fever ages the faeries years into the future in the span of days or weeks they have been in fever, sometimes giving them glimpses of the future. Henry is transported into the deep desert to try to fulfill a vision Mr Fogarty had while under the fever.
Full of strange myths and legends, this was more interesting than past volumes, in that it was not the typical setup of faction versus faction and edging toward civil war.
Full of strange myths and legends, this was more interesting than past volumes, in that it was not the typical setup of faction versus faction and edging toward civil war.
ariereads's review against another edition
3.0
A little disappointing. I've always adored this series (which I thought was a trilogy) so was excited to get the chance to continue it, but now I honestly think it didn't need continuing. The plot was interesting but felt blurry somehow, as though parts were missing and didn't fit. I actually think it may have been better as a standalone story, with different characters perhaps - Blue and Henry were so obviously together at the end of the last book that this just all felt unnecessary.Still, it hooked me in a bit near the middle, which is why I feel justified in giving three stars rather than two.
absurtiddy's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
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