A review by bellatora
Of Blood and Honey: A Book of the Fey and the Fallen by Stina Leicht
3.0
At first I was super excited that this book was set during the Troubles. It’s a fascinating and dreadful time of history and a good way to remember that not all terrorists are Islamic Arabs and that a Western country has been under terrorism and military siege in the recent past. But then. The tragedy never ended. And there was barely any fantasy.
Whoever wrote the description for this book obviously never read it, because I kept waiting for the war between the Fey and the Fallen to become the main plot and for the supernatural element to take over. Nope, never happened.
Liam shapechanges into a black dog with increasing frequency and he is a wicked driver akin to taking someone on a “Wild Ride” and his father (the fey) shows up sometimes to talk to people (this book is 95% talking, 5% magic), and there’s an order of demon-hunting priests and there’s a Redcap (fey) who thinks he’s Liam’s half-brother (but is he?) and is out to destroy Liam. And that all sounds very interesting but this is MOSTLY about the brutality of the British and the Loyalists and how much it sucked to be Irish and Catholic.
Liam goes to prison camp twice (and the first time gets raped by an evil guard), Liam gets involved with the IRA, Liam’s wife gets brutally raped by Protestants (encouraged by the Redcap), Liam is (rightfully) sad a lot. But practically no magic, no fey, and no fallen. Mostly just one horrendous thing that humans do to each other after another. What are the fairy courts like in this? What are the Fallen (besides being generally demons) and what do they want? What is the magic like? These are not questions explored in this book. Instead it is one grinding, grim reminder of the brutality of humanity after another.
I would categorize this as a "quiet" fantasy (like [b:Among Others|8706185|Among Others|Jo Walton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317792367s/8706185.jpg|6449955]) except it's not quiet - it is restless and angry. This is about TRAGEDY, not magic. Magic is a weird hook into the emotional devastation of the Troubles.
Whoever wrote the description for this book obviously never read it, because I kept waiting for the war between the Fey and the Fallen to become the main plot and for the supernatural element to take over. Nope, never happened.
Liam shapechanges into a black dog with increasing frequency and he is a wicked driver akin to taking someone on a “Wild Ride” and his father (the fey) shows up sometimes to talk to people (this book is 95% talking, 5% magic), and there’s an order of demon-hunting priests and there’s a Redcap (fey) who thinks he’s Liam’s half-brother (but is he?) and is out to destroy Liam. And that all sounds very interesting but this is MOSTLY about the brutality of the British and the Loyalists and how much it sucked to be Irish and Catholic.
Liam goes to prison camp twice (and the first time gets raped by an evil guard), Liam gets involved with the IRA, Liam’s wife gets brutally raped
Spoiler
and murderedI would categorize this as a "quiet" fantasy (like [b:Among Others|8706185|Among Others|Jo Walton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317792367s/8706185.jpg|6449955]) except it's not quiet - it is restless and angry. This is about TRAGEDY, not magic. Magic is a weird hook into the emotional devastation of the Troubles.