Tough Traveling: Fae

Hosted by Fantasy Review Barn

Each Thursday, inspired by ‘The Tough Guide to Fantasyland’ we have in hand, we shall tour the mystical countryside looking for adventure and fun (and tropes) from all over fantasy.

This week’s topic is FAE

Surprisingly not in the Tough Guide.  How can this be?  Fairies are a constant in the fantasy world and it is time they get their own week.  Give us your Fae, be they sweet or nasty.

This is a weekly post that I often see over on Stephanie's blog, and I've been meaning to join in for AGES.  And this week is Fae, which is MY THING, so how could I not do this one?  (Pictures link to the books' Goodreads pages!)


I'm very picky about my Fae. They aren't magical cute beings - they are nasty, tricky, completely inhuman, and have intricate long plotted power plays. And generally think mortals are toys.  So it's clear who fills the most obvious and who I think absolutely nails this the best:

 

Holly Black is the absolute monarch among Fae stories.  Her character nail the brutality of the fae.  I hold all my other faerie tales up to this standard, and while many have come almost up to this level, I still haven't found anyone who's bested this series for it.  (Incidentally my rules for vampires are generally on the same principle as my fair folk*, and Holly Black has written one of the only vampire books that qualifies for this. I also haven't read many vampire books, so there's that.)

*It depends how the world is set up.  Vampire Academy books for example are built on a completely different mythology than normal, and The Finishing series is also not supposed to be that way.  But traditional vampires as we've come to think of? I don't want de-teethed vampires. They need to be bad. (I'm not opposed to the occasional swoon. But only if they're still bad.)

That being said, there are still plenty of Faerie books I've loved.

This book was totally not what I was expecting! I thought it was going to be fluffy fun times...but this book takes the Fair Folk seriously. As they should be taken.  So I was pleasantly surprised (but of course had my heart stomped on too...) when I started this one.

I'm pretty sure Fae show up in all of Marillier's book at least to a small extent.  These fae aren't brutal the same way Holly Black's are, (Or what I've seen of Kerstin Hamilton's) but they are impassive to humans and far-thinking. And they play a bigger role in the later Sevenwaters books.  

Ok, admittedly I actually didn't like this book. That ending PISSED. ME. OFF.  That being said...Brom SUPER nails the brutality and child-like cruelty that I picture my Fae having.  I mean solidly nails it. Which is why it's on this list even though I didn't like it.  In fact, these Fae are right up there with Holly Black's ... I just got angry enough at this that I refuse to include on my list of...pretty much just Holly Black. Or really, definitely just Holly Black haha!'

Ok, technically it's been so long since I reread this one that I can't remember what the Fair Folk were like in it. But since I've loved it since I was a child, my guess is that they are just as tricksy as I like...but perhaps not as brutal. Being a children's book and all.  Though you never know, they very well might be - children's books are often not all fun and games, and this one definitely deals with some STUFF.

Ok another disclaimer - I read the first three books of this in high school and some how have exactly 0% recollection of this. Except that I'm pretty sure I really, really liked it.  So statistically speaking...it's likely this had Faeries I like? It definitely has faeries, but if I included every book I read with them, this list would never end.

Honorable Mentions

The Raven Boys - So technically this doesn't have any Fair Folk.  But there are certain aspects of the mythology (I don't want to say much because SPOILERS. So. Yeah.) that definitely feel like a book with the Fair Folk.

Neverwhere - Gaiman doesn't have what I would traditionally consider Fae in his books...but they all have characters that are very, very similar.  This one definitely comes the closest to what I'd call Fae. Actually I probably would call them Fae. But I've already put it down here, so it's going to stay down here.

A Great and Terrible Beauty - The way magic works and what you find in the other world definitely feels Fae. This might actually also technically belong not on the honourable mentions.  WHATEVER I'VE BEEN UP SINCE 5 AM. I can put these wherever I want them!