As this week's final Mark This Book Monday review, I have another review of an ARC copy. This one was a big surprise, cause I was approved for it on Edelweiss, and I get very few approvals there, so a big big thank you to Chronicle Books for giving me the chance to read this book!
This one is part of my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and also part of ARC April!
The Falconer by Elizabeth May
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I first heard about The Falconer I was super intrigued, even if I'm not the biggest fan of books about the faeries. So when I was approved on Edelweiss for an ARC of it, I was so very happy about it!
Aileana is an aristocratic young lady with a secret and with scars, both physical and emotional, and all of them very well hidden. After a very traumatic night when she saw her mother being murdered by one of them she has spent her nights hunting the Faery. But she has to keep her proper lady image as much as possible after high society seem to blame her for her own mother's murder. I loved how she was both driven by revenge and trying to keep appearances up, while at the same time learning more about who she really is.
I loved how this world is a mix of fantasy, steampunk and a bit of historical fiction! Aileana always seems to be tweaking some invention or other, and since her mother's murder she's been working on new weapons to fight & destroy the faeries. She's even managed to build a flying device (also known as ornithopters)! There's dances and meetings for elevensies and proper society with expectations for women to marry and stay at home (very much Victorian/Edwardian society). And then we get all the tiny glimpses at the faeries, first mostly from Aileana's hunts, and then we learn more about them at the same time that she does.
As far as the rest of the characters goes, all are quite well developed and some are simply adorable! Derrick, Aileana's pixie is both funny and slightly annoying on occasion, but I loved him when he got all protective of Aileana. Kiaran McKay is Aileana's mentor and so much more... He's one of the most powerful faeries but he also hunts his own people. There's so much we don't know about him and we keep on learning more about him at the same time that Aileana does. Their relationship is fantastic and it's the kind of romance that you want to continue to progress and once some of the burning happens, you just want more flames! Catherine is Aileana's friend and despite knowing she's being kept in the dark, she's loyal and tries to help Aileana in every way she can. Gavin, Catherine's brother and Aileana's old crush, returns from England with some secrets of his own and soon gets mixed into the battle.
There isn't exactly a love triangle, but Gavin and Kiaran both are a big part of Aileana's life and get even more involved the more the story progresses. Even the fact that both seem to be part of Aileana's life managed to not bother me, which is quite saying something, since most hints of any triangulation irks me to no end!
The ending was quite abrupt and very much cliffhangery, which left me all "nooooo, you can't end it like that there!", so now I'm bitting my nails to get my hands on the next books and see what happens next! Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!
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This one is part of my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and also part of ARC April!
The Falconer by Elizabeth MayMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
When I first heard about The Falconer I was super intrigued, even if I'm not the biggest fan of books about the faeries. So when I was approved on Edelweiss for an ARC of it, I was so very happy about it!
Aileana is an aristocratic young lady with a secret and with scars, both physical and emotional, and all of them very well hidden. After a very traumatic night when she saw her mother being murdered by one of them she has spent her nights hunting the Faery. But she has to keep her proper lady image as much as possible after high society seem to blame her for her own mother's murder. I loved how she was both driven by revenge and trying to keep appearances up, while at the same time learning more about who she really is.
I loved how this world is a mix of fantasy, steampunk and a bit of historical fiction! Aileana always seems to be tweaking some invention or other, and since her mother's murder she's been working on new weapons to fight & destroy the faeries. She's even managed to build a flying device (also known as ornithopters)! There's dances and meetings for elevensies and proper society with expectations for women to marry and stay at home (very much Victorian/Edwardian society). And then we get all the tiny glimpses at the faeries, first mostly from Aileana's hunts, and then we learn more about them at the same time that she does.
As far as the rest of the characters goes, all are quite well developed and some are simply adorable! Derrick, Aileana's pixie is both funny and slightly annoying on occasion, but I loved him when he got all protective of Aileana. Kiaran McKay is Aileana's mentor and so much more... He's one of the most powerful faeries but he also hunts his own people. There's so much we don't know about him and we keep on learning more about him at the same time that Aileana does. Their relationship is fantastic and it's the kind of romance that you want to continue to progress and once some of the burning happens, you just want more flames! Catherine is Aileana's friend and despite knowing she's being kept in the dark, she's loyal and tries to help Aileana in every way she can. Gavin, Catherine's brother and Aileana's old crush, returns from England with some secrets of his own and soon gets mixed into the battle.
There isn't exactly a love triangle, but Gavin and Kiaran both are a big part of Aileana's life and get even more involved the more the story progresses. Even the fact that both seem to be part of Aileana's life managed to not bother me, which is quite saying something, since most hints of any triangulation irks me to no end!
The ending was quite abrupt and very much cliffhangery, which left me all "nooooo, you can't end it like that there!", so now I'm bitting my nails to get my hands on the next books and see what happens next! Very well deserved 4 to 4.5 stars!
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YAAAAAAAAAY!!!! I was so hoping you'd love this one Pili! I absolutely ADORED it, particularly the romance between Aileana and Kiaran:) Those slow burn romances are brutal but I love them so much. And I agree completely, I didn't mind that Gavin was in her life because he didn't seem like a genuine romantic threat, and fingers crossed that continues with book two! Lovely review:)
ReplyDeleteI agree Jenny! I'm hoping the love triangle won't become a proper love triangle in book 2, and YES! I absolutely loved it! I was loving the world and all that we were discovering of the Fae world all the time!
DeleteThanks a lot, Jenny!
I was not a fan of the romance in this one, but there was a lot of action and that cliffhanger was pretty exciting!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics
The cliffhanger was such a killer!! Cannot wait for book 2!
DeleteThanks for visiting, Jen!
Amazing review my love. <3 I really, really loved this book as well. It was AWESOME :D So good. And yessss. That ending was EVIL. How could it end like that? Sobs. I need book two, hih. <3 :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, sweetie! I totally agree, the damned ending was so eeeeeviiiiiiil!!! I agree, I need book 2 now!!
DeleteYay! So happy we all loved this one. I so hope that May will be able to write a novella for us. I need more now! I really loved the characters and can't wait to see where the next book goes. I'm with you about the ending being a bit too abrupt.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the ending about killed me, I need more! We should be tweet bombing the publisher asking for the novella to happen! ;)
DeleteHuh this sounds intriguing and I like the mix of steampunk elements in it which I always - or often - find compelling. I also like this pixie character!! I hadn't read up much on this one before but it sounds like a pretty good read especially that there's no cliché triangle! Good to know about the ending though those kind of endings are dangerous to the life of my ereader! >.<
ReplyDeleteYeah, the ending is one I feel people need to be warned about! But yeah, a fantastic book and the steampunk elements are super fun!
DeleteI really loved this book! I want sure what to expect when I started it, but I ended up having a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteKate @ Ex Libris
Yeah, it was a great book!! I was super happy I decided to read it, despite being about the Fae!
DeleteI looove books about faeries and this sounds like a great one! I love how it appears to have a bit of a steampunk vibe to it, which I certainly haven't read enough of, but would like to. Now I'm curious about this not really love triangle. I love love triangles, even when they're not quite there yet. :D
ReplyDeleteAngie @ Pinkindle
Then Angie, I think you really really need to read this one!
DeleteEveryone seems to love this one a lot. I've yet to read this one, though, and I can't wait to get to it as soon as I can. Also, I'm glad this one has a bit of everything. It's so hard to mesh so many genres together, that most books usually screw it up; this one seems to have done it just right. Great review!
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato Reviews
I was very excited to read it, even if I was a bit wary of the mix of historical ficiton + fantasy + steampunk, but it was done great! Hope you'll like it when you read it, Faye!
Delete