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A review by zabacitanovine
Faye and the Ether by Nicole Bailey
3.0
This book really had a lot of potential, but sadly, the execution wasn't all that good.
The story is told through voices of Faye and Daron and we follow them through their adventures in Ether, a land where all the mythical creatures dwell.
Now, first 50% of the book were really enjoyable - Faye discovers that she is of the Ether and she goes to the new land with Daron on a mission to stop/win the war that endangers both Ether and the human world.
The problems with the plot start when the LGBT relationship is brought in the picture.
Honestly, I have nothing against LGBT relationships in books, but I have a lot against them when they change the course of the whole book. And I also have a problem with them when they are introduced out of nowhere.
We haven't had a single hint or a scene where the two characters might show any interest in each other. And then, all of a sudden, they can't live without each other and they are, excuse ME, destined for each other or whatever.
Okay, I could swallow that, no problem. People fall in love out of nowhere all of the time.
But then their relationship takes the stage and becomes the main point of the book. The war (that we know very little about; I can safely say that I'm not even sure what the whole war was about and I'm not sure the author knew it either) is completely forgotten, and now we have something like a civil war just because a leader's child couldn't mate with another person of high status, or whatever.
And THEN, the previous war is somehow mixed with this stupid Revenge of the Rejected, but if you ask me how the hell Faye turned it all around, how did the good guys win, or what happened to the bad guys - I can't tell you. It was all just so, SO sloppy and mixed up, and just so rushed.
I have no intention of sounding rude, narrow-minded, or like I want to exclude anyone or anything but this could have been such a good book if the LGBT relationship wasn't added just for the sake of having one in the book.
ACTUALLY, it might have been so much better if it was added just for the sake of having one in the book without giving it a place in the front row.
Also, I am certain that the author had no intention of being racist or anything, and the mess could have been avoided with just one more read on the author's side (or more attention on the editor's side), but there is a thing that was just beyond horrible.
Somewhere in the first part of the book Faye asks one of her fellow warriors what is her type. And the fellow companion says that it is rude to ask one's type, because types in Ether are just like races in the human world, and we know that it is not polite to ask someone "Excuse me, what race are you?"
BUT THEN, when the two characters admit their love for each other and they talk about it, we have this sentence:
"... a bird type raised me and I'm in love with a bird type, as far as I'm concerned, this is forever for me..."
Which would be almost like "my parents are Caucasians, and so I can love only a Caucasian person"
WTF Nicole!???
There are several more inconsistencies, but I'm too tired of them to point them all out.
As for the writing style, it was okay (pretty nice, even) until it all got so jumbled up towards the end.
However, I didn't see the point of own voices in this story because we learned nothing of neither Daron nor Faye's inner world from that. Additionally, one chapter is told by Daron, the second one by Faye, the third one by Daron again, and so on. This pre-established idea of who should tell the story next got in the way of story itself. Many chapters were told by Faye when it was clearly Daron's story to tell and vice versa. It made no sense.
Finally, the additional chapter was beyond useless and I really didn't see the point behind in apart from getting subscribers to the mailing list. Which is just not good quality work.
Also, who the fuck arranges a date in 3 weeks!?!??
I won't lie, I liked this book for the most part. But the ending was just so rushed and messy, and I'm giving this book 3 stars just because I think it has potential. I'm not sure if this is Nicole's first book, but if it is, I am sure that she will only get better because the story was engaging and the writing style was solid. It just needed a little more time and a few more revisions.
The story is told through voices of Faye and Daron and we follow them through their adventures in Ether, a land where all the mythical creatures dwell.
Now, first 50% of the book were really enjoyable - Faye discovers that she is of the Ether and she goes to the new land with Daron on a mission to stop/win the war that endangers both Ether and the human world.
The problems with the plot start when the LGBT relationship is brought in the picture.
Honestly, I have nothing against LGBT relationships in books, but I have a lot against them when they change the course of the whole book. And I also have a problem with them when they are introduced out of nowhere.
We haven't had a single hint or a scene where the two characters might show any interest in each other. And then, all of a sudden, they can't live without each other and they are, excuse ME, destined for each other or whatever.
Okay, I could swallow that, no problem. People fall in love out of nowhere all of the time.
But then their relationship takes the stage and becomes the main point of the book. The war (that we know very little about; I can safely say that I'm not even sure what the whole war was about and I'm not sure the author knew it either) is completely forgotten, and now we have something like a civil war just because a leader's child couldn't mate with another person of high status, or whatever.
And THEN, the previous war is somehow mixed with this stupid Revenge of the Rejected, but if you ask me how the hell Faye turned it all around, how did the good guys win, or what happened to the bad guys - I can't tell you. It was all just so, SO sloppy and mixed up, and just so rushed.
I have no intention of sounding rude, narrow-minded, or like I want to exclude anyone or anything but this could have been such a good book if the LGBT relationship wasn't added just for the sake of having one in the book.
ACTUALLY, it might have been so much better if it was added just for the sake of having one in the book without giving it a place in the front row.
Also, I am certain that the author had no intention of being racist or anything, and the mess could have been avoided with just one more read on the author's side (or more attention on the editor's side), but there is a thing that was just beyond horrible.
Somewhere in the first part of the book Faye asks one of her fellow warriors what is her type. And the fellow companion says that it is rude to ask one's type, because types in Ether are just like races in the human world, and we know that it is not polite to ask someone "Excuse me, what race are you?"
BUT THEN, when the two characters admit their love for each other and they talk about it, we have this sentence:
"... a bird type raised me and I'm in love with a bird type, as far as I'm concerned, this is forever for me..."
Which would be almost like "my parents are Caucasians, and so I can love only a Caucasian person"
WTF Nicole!???
There are several more inconsistencies, but I'm too tired of them to point them all out.
As for the writing style, it was okay (pretty nice, even) until it all got so jumbled up towards the end.
However, I didn't see the point of own voices in this story because we learned nothing of neither Daron nor Faye's inner world from that. Additionally, one chapter is told by Daron, the second one by Faye, the third one by Daron again, and so on. This pre-established idea of who should tell the story next got in the way of story itself. Many chapters were told by Faye when it was clearly Daron's story to tell and vice versa. It made no sense.
Finally, the additional chapter was beyond useless and I really didn't see the point behind in apart from getting subscribers to the mailing list. Which is just not good quality work.
Also, who the fuck arranges a date in 3 weeks!?!??
I won't lie, I liked this book for the most part. But the ending was just so rushed and messy, and I'm giving this book 3 stars just because I think it has potential. I'm not sure if this is Nicole's first book, but if it is, I am sure that she will only get better because the story was engaging and the writing style was solid. It just needed a little more time and a few more revisions.