theladygonzalez's review
5.0
I had the pleasure of reviewing India's last book, Ordinary Angels and was instantly a fan. Her latest effort, Blood Faerie, makes an incredible impression as well. From the very first line, Drummond had me completely hooked into Eilidh's world.
I am not going to get into analyzing the story, because believe me, it is amazing. It's beyond creative; I have never read anything quite like this before. Drummond breathes new life into the tried-and-true faerie story with this adventurous and exciting story. What really stood out to me while reading Blood Fearie was the writing. In short, I thought it was beautiful. I must have flagged 20 different passages; some for humor, some for beauty and some just for the striking sentence construction. Take a look at some from the selection below, I managed to narrow it down to 12 - which took a great deal of effort.
The characters and settings are also unbelievably well done. It is impossible not to connect with Eilidh; even though she technically isn't even human. She is an outsider, who has been forsaken by her people - yet she remains a caring and loving individual. When she met and formed an unconventional friendship with a local police officer (Quinton Munro), I was practically jumping for joy. As a reader, you cannot deny these two; their scenes together are pure magic. Being a faerie, Eilidh is intelligent, yet naive when it comes to human interactions. This creates a number of hilarious scenes between human and faerie, including a mishap involving a shower.
Like I mentioned above, the settings that Drummond depicts are incredible. The story takes place in Scotland and features both bustling, modern cities and lush, spacious forests. I could picture each vivid detail while reading Blood Faerie, and was completely swept up in it.
Blood Faerie is an incredible effort by Drummond. It is undeniably creative, interesting, exciting and unique. The writing is beautifully done and Drummond constructs an unforgettable set of characters that you will easily fall for. I for one, adored Blood Faerie and cannot wait for the sequel to come out.
I am not going to get into analyzing the story, because believe me, it is amazing. It's beyond creative; I have never read anything quite like this before. Drummond breathes new life into the tried-and-true faerie story with this adventurous and exciting story. What really stood out to me while reading Blood Fearie was the writing. In short, I thought it was beautiful. I must have flagged 20 different passages; some for humor, some for beauty and some just for the striking sentence construction. Take a look at some from the selection below, I managed to narrow it down to 12 - which took a great deal of effort.
The characters and settings are also unbelievably well done. It is impossible not to connect with Eilidh; even though she technically isn't even human. She is an outsider, who has been forsaken by her people - yet she remains a caring and loving individual. When she met and formed an unconventional friendship with a local police officer (Quinton Munro), I was practically jumping for joy. As a reader, you cannot deny these two; their scenes together are pure magic. Being a faerie, Eilidh is intelligent, yet naive when it comes to human interactions. This creates a number of hilarious scenes between human and faerie, including a mishap involving a shower.
Like I mentioned above, the settings that Drummond depicts are incredible. The story takes place in Scotland and features both bustling, modern cities and lush, spacious forests. I could picture each vivid detail while reading Blood Faerie, and was completely swept up in it.
Blood Faerie is an incredible effort by Drummond. It is undeniably creative, interesting, exciting and unique. The writing is beautifully done and Drummond constructs an unforgettable set of characters that you will easily fall for. I for one, adored Blood Faerie and cannot wait for the sequel to come out.
ivy_skye's review
3.0
The book was a slow but steady pace. Nothing to romantic or gory. Kept it interesting enough to read the next book in the series but probably not much further
debmozingo's review
5.0
Plot Twisted!
I got this book for free, and tend not to expect too much from freebies, but I loved it. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series, as well as anything else by this author. Give it a go!
I got this book for free, and tend not to expect too much from freebies, but I loved it. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series, as well as anything else by this author. Give it a go!
saldragski's review
3.0
A fae creature gets involved with a policeman in trying to figure out who is killing people and taking their hearts. 2.75 stars because it was written well enough to keep me reading.
bibliophilicjester's review
3.0
2.5 stars!
Really enjoyable with tons of problematic things. A very quick read, though, which is always nice. I read in bed for a few hours last night when I had a bad stomachache, a wee bit this morning at breakfast, and finished after an hour and a half or so just now.
Things I enjoyed:
• The formatting! I hope it’s the whole series and not just a fluke. Each paragraph has a line break after it. I’ve recently found it’s easier to write my reviews like this so I can reread them quickly, and I really liked it on the kindle. I never once lost my place, which I don’t think has ever happened before. The chapters were also a nice length.
• I guess this is formatting too, but the pronunciation guide was at the beginning of the book!!!! I remember being SUPER pissed to learn that my favorite character in the throne of glass series was pronounced muh-NON, and not MAH-nin, which is what I thought the obvious way to pronounce Manon. I like Celtic stuff, and despite having an Irish last name, I’m AWFUL at pronouncing all names from that area (Scottish, welsh, Irish...I’m useless). I’m American, and we’re definitely known to destroy and Americanize all sorts of ethnic names. It’s incredibly upsetting but I blame my shit pronounciatikn on that -__- There’s absolutely no way I would’ve read Eilidh as AY-lee. Idk whose call that was (publisher? Author?), but it was much appreciated.
• A realistic Scottish setting! At least, that’s how it seems. I know everyone’s in love with outlander and all that, but I liked the urban fantasy angle of it all. I don’t read much of the genre (or, sub genre, I suppose), but I really like the idea of a hidden world sort of bordering the world we know. Very enticing.
• Interesting faeries. I’m not sure why so many books have fae love interests who end up being domineering males, but I liked that it wasn’t the case with this story. It could’ve been (Saor was awful), but Eilidh rejected him in an understandable way. I liked that she realized he was asking her to give up all she was to be with him, and she didn’t just say no - she considered his intentions, her past feelings for him. She thought carefully about this guy she’d grown up assuming she’d marry, and she cane to the conclusion that you shouldn’t change who you are in order to please someone else. It’s something most modern women and men choose immediately, but faeries are usually more traditional. I like imagining that the human world around her helped her reach this conclusion. Or, at the very least, her distance from other fae helped her evaluate what was best for her as an individual. Not an individual as part of a whole.
• Similarly, I liked that faeries have such a strong connection to elements and to their magic. Other fae books have characters who are perfect physical specimens, larger and stronger than any human, and they all have this alien sort of coldness. I liked experiencing Eilidh’s emotions and concerns, and it was interesting that she was considered “weak” because of her inability to use earth magic proficiently.
• The plot and the story itself was really interesting! Nothing spectacular or surprising necessarily, but it definitely held my interest. I thought for sure I’d read the first book and be done, but now I think I want to read the whole series! Or at least enough to learn that Eilidh’s mother was some sort of queen or super powerful faerie. Or a Druid? Idk. But she’s definitely not just some normal wronged fae girl. I’ll bite, lol.
Dislikes:
• Munro’s feelings for Eilidh. Yikes. Super instalove. He agrees to the bond not out of careful consideration for how his entire world will be forever changed...he does it for her. Because he’s drawn to her and doesn’t want to live without her. Ehhhhhhhh I don’t like it. I don’t dislike him as a character, but his weakness for a pretty girl is definitely irritating at best, problematic at worst.
• Cridhe. He performs this ritual, and suddenly he’s “mad”? What does that even mean? Is he hallucinating and seeing his father, or is it some sort of illusion he or someone else created? Why was he even set on this path? Was he in love with Jon? Aside from the issue of general madness being sort of glossed over (like, he’s evil AND crazy! Must be put down!), I just don’t understand him as a character. And now he’s dead? Why make him the main antagonist of a 6 book series if he’s so easily disposed of?
• All the characters felt really distant. I actually prefer third person POV because first person often feels like the reader is trapped with a character. Many books have been ruined for me because I was stuck inside the head of the first person narrative of a character I hated (like Monty from the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue, a book everyone but me seemed to adore 😑). Anyway, I think it’s just because the book was so short. I’m willing to work at getting to know these characters better in future books. But everything just felt really distant. That’s the best way I can describe it.
I think that’s all I have to say for now?! I flew through this book and I’m definitely interested in reading the next installment very soon!
Really enjoyable with tons of problematic things. A very quick read, though, which is always nice. I read in bed for a few hours last night when I had a bad stomachache, a wee bit this morning at breakfast, and finished after an hour and a half or so just now.
Things I enjoyed:
• The formatting! I hope it’s the whole series and not just a fluke. Each paragraph has a line break after it. I’ve recently found it’s easier to write my reviews like this so I can reread them quickly, and I really liked it on the kindle. I never once lost my place, which I don’t think has ever happened before. The chapters were also a nice length.
• I guess this is formatting too, but the pronunciation guide was at the beginning of the book!!!! I remember being SUPER pissed to learn that my favorite character in the throne of glass series was pronounced muh-NON, and not MAH-nin, which is what I thought the obvious way to pronounce Manon. I like Celtic stuff, and despite having an Irish last name, I’m AWFUL at pronouncing all names from that area (Scottish, welsh, Irish...I’m useless). I’m American, and we’re definitely known to destroy and Americanize all sorts of ethnic names. It’s incredibly upsetting but I blame my shit pronounciatikn on that -__- There’s absolutely no way I would’ve read Eilidh as AY-lee. Idk whose call that was (publisher? Author?), but it was much appreciated.
• A realistic Scottish setting! At least, that’s how it seems. I know everyone’s in love with outlander and all that, but I liked the urban fantasy angle of it all. I don’t read much of the genre (or, sub genre, I suppose), but I really like the idea of a hidden world sort of bordering the world we know. Very enticing.
• Interesting faeries. I’m not sure why so many books have fae love interests who end up being domineering males, but I liked that it wasn’t the case with this story. It could’ve been (Saor was awful), but Eilidh rejected him in an understandable way. I liked that she realized he was asking her to give up all she was to be with him, and she didn’t just say no - she considered his intentions, her past feelings for him. She thought carefully about this guy she’d grown up assuming she’d marry, and she cane to the conclusion that you shouldn’t change who you are in order to please someone else. It’s something most modern women and men choose immediately, but faeries are usually more traditional. I like imagining that the human world around her helped her reach this conclusion. Or, at the very least, her distance from other fae helped her evaluate what was best for her as an individual. Not an individual as part of a whole.
• Similarly, I liked that faeries have such a strong connection to elements and to their magic. Other fae books have characters who are perfect physical specimens, larger and stronger than any human, and they all have this alien sort of coldness. I liked experiencing Eilidh’s emotions and concerns, and it was interesting that she was considered “weak” because of her inability to use earth magic proficiently.
• The plot and the story itself was really interesting! Nothing spectacular or surprising necessarily, but it definitely held my interest. I thought for sure I’d read the first book and be done, but now I think I want to read the whole series! Or at least enough to learn that Eilidh’s mother was some sort of queen or super powerful faerie. Or a Druid? Idk. But she’s definitely not just some normal wronged fae girl. I’ll bite, lol.
Dislikes:
• Munro’s feelings for Eilidh. Yikes. Super instalove. He agrees to the bond not out of careful consideration for how his entire world will be forever changed...he does it for her. Because he’s drawn to her and doesn’t want to live without her. Ehhhhhhhh I don’t like it. I don’t dislike him as a character, but his weakness for a pretty girl is definitely irritating at best, problematic at worst.
• Cridhe. He performs this ritual, and suddenly he’s “mad”? What does that even mean? Is he hallucinating and seeing his father, or is it some sort of illusion he or someone else created? Why was he even set on this path? Was he in love with Jon? Aside from the issue of general madness being sort of glossed over (like, he’s evil AND crazy! Must be put down!), I just don’t understand him as a character. And now he’s dead? Why make him the main antagonist of a 6 book series if he’s so easily disposed of?
• All the characters felt really distant. I actually prefer third person POV because first person often feels like the reader is trapped with a character. Many books have been ruined for me because I was stuck inside the head of the first person narrative of a character I hated (like Monty from the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue, a book everyone but me seemed to adore 😑). Anyway, I think it’s just because the book was so short. I’m willing to work at getting to know these characters better in future books. But everything just felt really distant. That’s the best way I can describe it.
I think that’s all I have to say for now?! I flew through this book and I’m definitely interested in reading the next installment very soon!
see_sadie_read's review
3.0
This ok as a quick evening read, but it wasn't amazing. It had an interesting story idea and the writing was pretty good, but nothing felt particularly developed and I thought the evil was defeated far too easily, allowing for a pat happy ending. Essentially, I thought it started out well and grew progressively weaker as the story progressed.
More specifically, I didn't think the characters were particularly well developed, the men especially. I thought Munro's sudden love and dedication felt unfounded and out of nowhere (or magically manipulated). Saor was a bitter cardboard cutout that was conveniently disposed of by the author when he was no longer needed, and the bad guy (I'm not even gonna try with his elvish name) was bad just because he was bad, no depth greyscale to him at all. I did like Eilidh a lot, but thought that after 25 years in the human world her innocence and lack of knowledge about modern amenities and human customs was unbelievable and obviously played for laughs and weak sexual tension.
But like I said, as a quick read it's entertaining enough, even with these detractions. I'd read more of Drummond's writing.
More specifically, I didn't think the characters were particularly well developed, the men especially. I thought Munro's sudden love and dedication felt unfounded and out of nowhere (or magically manipulated). Saor was a bitter cardboard cutout that was conveniently disposed of by the author when he was no longer needed, and the bad guy (I'm not even gonna try with his elvish name) was bad just because he was bad, no depth greyscale to him at all. I did like Eilidh a lot, but thought that after 25 years in the human world her innocence and lack of knowledge about modern amenities and human customs was unbelievable and obviously played for laughs and weak sexual tension.
But like I said, as a quick read it's entertaining enough, even with these detractions. I'd read more of Drummond's writing.
mumblebee's review
5.0
Loved this book!! The story was gripping and I loved the way it slowly unfolded, one snippet of information at a time. I am in love with the way your perception of the fae kingdom changes as you're shown knew perspectives, along with the main character. I am definitely reading the next book!!
helenid's review
3.0
This was quite entertaining as a quick read. I may well read the next although it isn't a cliff-hanger.
laine37's review
2.0
DNF - about 70%.
*relatively spoiler free*
I stopped reading because I grew bored, and that may be quite a remarkable statement since recently the average page count of the novels I've read to completion is 600 pages. Though, the experience certainly wasn't terrible and the most decisive factor in my stopping felt like distraction rather than disapproval.
--- The Bad ---
The book's biggest problem was that it was rather meandering and by extension the plot feels ineffectively structured.
Furthermore, I felt the romance was somewhat weak and the attitudes of each character did not feel natural. Especially so in that each fae character was not supposed to have met the protagonist in over 100 years(iirc?), yet it felt like they had been separated for months instead.
The world building also felt a bit silly, concerning the present magic systems and how different factions react to them.
Some of the characters were a bit thinner than what they ought to have been.
The romance felt weird, being that the deuteragonist thinks his love interest looks like a child and it's weird that his feelings may or may have not been invoked via magic. It also felt a little childish at times.
--- The Middling ---
The prose is fine. It's above what the average person would type out, though I think writers should be held to higher standards. One of the things which dragged it down in my opinion was the apparent tendency of the author to mix segments of dialogue with lengthy descriptions of actions/thoughts.
2 examples are listed below.
She nodded. “As darkness falls, I will be able to see much better than you. Take my hand.” She offered her long, pale fingers, but he hesitated before accepting. When the skin of his palm engulfed hers, heat washed into her, racing up her arm. A wave of concern passed over her. Was he ill? She didn’t worry about contracting a disease from him. The fae did not succumb to human ailments, but she searched his eyes. He did seem slightly red in the face, but she had no time to worry for him. She could not be found here once darkness fell. “Come, I will guide you to the city.”
“All right then, pet. I’ll tell the doctor,” she said. In a quieter voice, as though speaking to someone on the other side of the room, she added, “‘Twisted,’ he said. His fever isn’t coming down.” She tutted, and Munro felt the curtained cubicle empty.
With that being said, my experience as is quite limited, so perhaps I'm jumping the gun on this criticism. I did, however, find that this segmentation made the reading experience slightly less comfortable.
--- The Good ---
There wasn't anything astoundingly good within these pages. The characters were consistent enough. The plot was largely fine, some world building issues aside. The magic systems were generally okay in and of themselves.
Probably the best thing about this book though was the fact that there wasn't anything terribly bad about it either.
--- Would I recommend ? ---
Yes. But only to people whom have an interest in both romance and fantasy, particularly romance. And only if they don't mind a slow plot with mild contrivances.
*relatively spoiler free*
I stopped reading because I grew bored, and that may be quite a remarkable statement since recently the average page count of the novels I've read to completion is 600 pages. Though, the experience certainly wasn't terrible and the most decisive factor in my stopping felt like distraction rather than disapproval.
--- The Bad ---
The book's biggest problem was that it was rather meandering and by extension the plot feels ineffectively structured.
Furthermore, I felt the romance was somewhat weak and the attitudes of each character did not feel natural. Especially so in that each fae character was not supposed to have met the protagonist in over 100 years(iirc?), yet it felt like they had been separated for months instead.
The world building also felt a bit silly, concerning the present magic systems and how different factions react to them.
Some of the characters were a bit thinner than what they ought to have been.
The romance felt weird, being that the deuteragonist thinks his love interest looks like a child and it's weird that his feelings may or may have not been invoked via magic. It also felt a little childish at times.
--- The Middling ---
The prose is fine. It's above what the average person would type out, though I think writers should be held to higher standards. One of the things which dragged it down in my opinion was the apparent tendency of the author to mix segments of dialogue with lengthy descriptions of actions/thoughts.
2 examples are listed below.
She nodded. “As darkness falls, I will be able to see much better than you. Take my hand.” She offered her long, pale fingers, but he hesitated before accepting. When the skin of his palm engulfed hers, heat washed into her, racing up her arm. A wave of concern passed over her. Was he ill? She didn’t worry about contracting a disease from him. The fae did not succumb to human ailments, but she searched his eyes. He did seem slightly red in the face, but she had no time to worry for him. She could not be found here once darkness fell. “Come, I will guide you to the city.”
“All right then, pet. I’ll tell the doctor,” she said. In a quieter voice, as though speaking to someone on the other side of the room, she added, “‘Twisted,’ he said. His fever isn’t coming down.” She tutted, and Munro felt the curtained cubicle empty.
With that being said, my experience as is quite limited, so perhaps I'm jumping the gun on this criticism. I did, however, find that this segmentation made the reading experience slightly less comfortable.
--- The Good ---
There wasn't anything astoundingly good within these pages. The characters were consistent enough. The plot was largely fine, some world building issues aside. The magic systems were generally okay in and of themselves.
Probably the best thing about this book though was the fact that there wasn't anything terribly bad about it either.
--- Would I recommend ? ---
Yes. But only to people whom have an interest in both romance and fantasy, particularly romance. And only if they don't mind a slow plot with mild contrivances.