Book 1 in the American Fairy Trilogy
AUTHOR: Sarah Zettel
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Faeries, historical fiction, adventure
PREMISE: Callie lives with her mother in Kansas during the great Dust Bowl. Her desperate mother tries to get help from her father when she is kidnapped and Callie learns that she is not quite human...
MY REVIEW: So this book was quite a bit of a high for me. It had everything I loved so I admit, this review is biased. I will say that perhaps the main character could be more developed and the ending is rather abrupt. But other then minor issues I loved the hell out of this book. It probably helped the author immensely that I read this after Hemlock which was so dull and unimaginative that this was like eating a gourmet meal after eating fast food constantly. So yeah, there are flaws but still, what a wonderfully imaginative book.
There's a lot in here that reminds me of Studio Ghibli movies as well as The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. While Callie may have been slightly underdeveloped she was developed enough that I got where she was coming from and she was actually likeable. You rooted for her and for Jack (who for once was a fun likeable male lead). But the real winner in this is just this great world that Zettel created. It may not be totally original but it's still darn fun and you want to spend time in it. Also can we appreciate how much diversity the author put in here despite it being the thirties? As well as the fact that the author did not glamourize the thirties for a change. One of the things that kind of makes it hard for me to enjoy the Flappers series or that Divas series is that they are so focused on the glamour of the flappers that there's barely a mention of how hard the Depression hit everyone including the flappers as they were the younger generation. They don't even touch on the deep racism and hatred of the poor that went on in that era. This books actually talks about it and doesn't sugarcoat the thirties.
If you want something different that's fun, I highly recomend this YA debut. I can't wait to read the rest of it. I think this may wind up rivaling Cinder for my favorite debut of the year.
WHO SHOULD READ: Historical fantasy fans, Gemma Doyle fans, Faerie fans, Iron Fey fans, Miyazaki fans
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five faerie courts
Enjoyed your review! I like different and fun, but to see that this might rival Cinder as your favorite book for 2012? Awesome!
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