Originally released as a young-adult novel in February 2003, Faerie Wars, by Herbie Brennan, was re-released this month as an adult title.

Then: And now:

Overall, Faerie Wars is easy reading. It’s firmly in the category of pure entertainment: the book has no literary pretensions beyond the fantasy genre. However, Brennan is a talented writer with a pleasing style and certainly understands how to engage his audience, easily convincing the reader from the beginning that this will not be a run-of-the-mill fantasy adventure.

At first glance, the protagonist, Henry Atherton, is not the sort of boy to whom adventures happen, seeming fairly staid and set in his ways. Add to that the fact that he’s trying to deal with his mother cheating on his father with another woman (I trust I’m not giving too much away by revealing that) – the first few chapters of FW could pass for a standard slice-of-life, coming-of-age story. Until Henry finds a fairy.

When the story switches to the fairy’s – Pyrgus Malvae’s – perspective, readers find themselves in the midst of an adventure, only again, the author announces that this isn’t a common adventure: when Pyrgus finds himself in a doorway of an alley, trying to escape soldiers, he mulls about how heroes in traditional adventures usually find alley doors unlocked, and beautiful wenches beyond, ready to hide strangers and tell pursuers that no one passed that way. But of course, since this is a non-traditional adventure, Pyrgus finds no such accommodating door. His adventure continues, and ridiculous events ensue, dotted with slightly stereotypical, but still enjoyable characters.

The story plays with the concept of parallel worlds, called Analog Worlds. Our world, Earth, is the analog of the faerie realm. Natural portals between their world and ours are the explanation for fairies, aliens, UFOs, and alien abductions (but demons are responsible for the abductions, not the fairies). Magic isn’t really magic so much as faith-based technology. And of course, there’s an exacting divide between good and evil – there are Faeries of the Light (good, obviously) and Faeries of the Night (evil, duh!).

Pyrgus is a Faerie of the Light, crown prince of the Faerie realm. From the moment he’s introduced, he’s on the run, and he continues running throughout the book – from soldiers, thugs, a homicidal summoner, political intrigue, human giants, and demons. His life intersects with Henry’s when the royal portal delivers him, suffering from a slight height reduction problem, not to an abandoned tropical island, but to old man Fogarty’s backyard. The book might as well have been titled, Where in the World is Pyrgus Malvae? The book flip-flops between the worlds of Earth and Faerie as Pyrgus tries to get home and both his family and myriad villains try to be the first to locate him. War is imminent, while a traitor lurks in the household of the royal family. Throughout it all, the reader is treated to a familiar, yet strange world, and crazy odd scenes and characters. Henry’s main real-life problem rears its head now and then, but like any good adventure, the shenanigans involved with the fairy, Pyrgus, push his worries to the background.

The book’s plot is fairly solid, and most of the protagonists are believably rendered. While a few of the antagonists are fairly well-fleshed out, most are rather two-dimensional, but not enough to detract from the overall quality of storytelling. The one problem with this book is that even though it keeps up a fairly good pace throughout, it seems to lose steam towards the end. The climax feels anticlimactic. The biggest villain, Beleth, Prince of Demons, by the end of the book, is a bit too clichéd and weak to be convincing. Of course, that could be the very reason that Brennan kills him off with such pat irony. But after all the stress and worrying and the panic fueled by the invading demon army, only to end with the premature death of the leader, it feels like Brennan got me all hot and bothered, finished himself off, and left.

The minor loose ends were tied up fairly well, with Pyrgus returned to Faerie and reunited with his family (though it is not a wholly happy reunion). While originally intended for a younger audience, it successfully achieves its cross-over to the adult world. The book has several sequels, and despite its downfalls, I’m intrigued enough to search out the rest of the series. Maybe the villains in the next book will be more nightmare-worthy.

Posted in Books, Fantasy |