Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Falconer by Elizabeth May - OPTIONAL

May, Elizabeth The Falconer, 373 p. Chronicle Books, 2014.  Violence: PG-13 (fairly bloody fight scenes); Language: R (81 swears, 0 ‘f’), Mature Content: G.  

A year ago Aileanna was a debutante leading the perfect life in Scotland.  Then her mother was brutally murdered by a  far creature right in front of her and Aileanna was helpless to stop it.  Now she has been training, with a fae, to revenge her mother.  But things are even worse than Aileanna could have know.  After two thousand years, the seal meant to keep the worst of the fae locked safely away is breaking and Aileanna is the only human who has any chance of stopping them.  Caught between duty to her father and duty to her mother’s legacy, Aileanna really has no choice at all.  

As much as I sat down read this almost non-stop from cover to cover, I was irked by some things, besides the swearing.  First, the typical love triangle set up: no need for that - there is plenty of heart-pounding action, we don’t need a love triangle.  Second, the end:  could the fact that this is the beginning of a series be more obvious when we are dropped out right in the middle of the action - it might as well have “To be continued” written right on the last page.  That’s a cheap TV. trick.  Neither of those things should stop teens from reading, especially since it is a Scottish, steampunk, fairy mashup that works quite well.  

HS - OPTIONAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

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