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!
View all my reviews
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!
View all my reviews
