Faerie Winter

by Janni Lee Simner

Random House. Young Adult, Mystery, Fantasy. Paperback RRP $18.95

Reviewer – Barbara Brown

I had just finished reading Simner’s Bones of Faerie when I found the sequel, Faerie Winter, so I was excited to continue on with Liza’s plight of humans versus faerie and the plight of the children that were born after the war would become. Sometimes sequels can be a bit disappointing but Faerie Winter was so good I read it in just over a few hours. I couldn’t put it down.

Liza has returned to her village with her friend Matthew and Tara, her mother who they rescued from the world of Faerie. Life in the village is as normal as it can be when every child has a magical gift. However, when a young boy enters the village the trouble begins.

Ethan is a firestarter. He doesn’t seem to be able to control his power and Liza and Tara end up with a burnt house and the townsfolk demanding Ethan leave. But Ethan is only young and badly injured, so he is given a reprieve of three days to prove he is not a threat. Matthew sets out, in his wolf form, to get help from Faerie friends in another village to tend to Ethan’s injuries. The evil trees are dying now but a new danger lurks in the forests.

Liza ends up with a lot more than she expected when she brought Ethan to her home and it isn’t good. How can she help others when she has no control over her own powers and thoughts?

If you have never read a fantasy tale before then I recommend you read both Bones of Faerie and Faerie Winter. Loved them! And would it be wonderful to see on the big screen?

The Reading Stack reviewed Bones of Faerie this month.

http://www.simner.com/

Bones of faerie

by Janni Lee Simner

Random House. Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery. Paperback RRP $18.95

I hesitated before picking up Bones of faerie. There are so many “fairy” and mystical beings books around that I could not possibly see how this one could be anything new. Luckily I was wrong.

A war between humans and Faeries has occurred. Most of the world has been devastated and now people live in small communities surrounded by myth and fantasy and the dangerous world of magic. It isn’t just Faeries that are to be watched but now the plants have tasted blood and thrive on attacking humans who venture too far from their well-tended paths. Once you have been caught by a tree do not expect to live.

Liza has watched her father protect their town by destroying anything that holds magic. When her own baby sister who is born with faerie-pale hair, clear as glass, is left to die on the hillside, Liza is scared. Her mother disappears into the forest without a word and Liza is left with her father and his draconian beliefs and punishments.

When Liza discovers that she may possess magic and sees a vision of her mother she decides to escape from her father and seek her mother, even though she knows she could not have survived outside the town after dark. But her visions show her the past and the future and the present and her mother, she feels, is alive. Somewhere. But where?

Liza’s journey takes her into the realm of Faerie and back again and her powers may enable both world of Faerie and human to heal.

Bones of faerie was an incredible journey that I now want to continue with the second recently published Faerie Winter.

http://www.simner.com/