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A review by sleeping_while_awake
The Falconer by Elizabeth May
2.0
The Falconer didn't have that spark in the characters nor the plot. It felt lifeless to me, and was strung together by a bunch of worn-out tropes.
The Falconer takes placed in 19th century steampunk Scotland. Aileana, an 18 year old of the upper class, is dealing with the tragic loss of her mother. Since she was found over her mother's body, there are rumors she was responsible, and her strange behavior isn't helping. Her father is distant and cold, and wants to marry her off promptly.
She's been trained by a rogue faerie, Kiaran, who has taught her how to hunt and kill other dangerous faeries. A seal is weakening and letting all the bad faeries loose, and Aileana vows to stop them.
She's also joined by a pixie, Derrick, who provides comic relief, and Gavin, her grown-up childhood friend that is a Seer (can see faeries) and is interested in her romantically.
Yes, Gavin is blonde-haired and friendly, Kiaran is dark-haired and moody. The love triangle is a bit sloppy because Gavin's character is not fully realized with agency into the plot. He helps Aileana in one scene but other than that he's just hanging about.
The setting is interesting, but the story barely has any historical references at all, which is always a red flag to me. It might as well have been in another world, and probably would have been served better by it. Not one mention about a clan or kilt in a story that takes place in 1844 Scotland?!
The steampunk isn't featured too much either. Makes me think there wasn't a lot of effort in world-building.
Aileana represents the chosen one trope. Not only has she become a fighting machine in a year, she's a brilliant inventor. She does have a crazed blood-thirstiness about her when it comes to the faeries, but it waxes and wanes over different scenes. I would have preferred her to have constant blood-lust and be completely insane, hiding in the corners of the ballroom and stitching a jacket of faery skins.
I liked the bloodlust side of Aileana and that made parts of the book enjoyable.
Instead she has this schizophrenic like personality. One minute she craves blood, the next she's worrying about being married. Maybe it was the plot that couldn't figure out what it wanted to be...a historical romance mashed up with urban fantasy.
Her character never interested me, and I think part of it was her dialogue. She sounded like a Bruce Willis action character most of the time. Not like a character dealing with all the emotions of a teenager.
The writing style also verged on middle grade at times. It was really strange, because the content definitely is not. It read younger than typical ya, and I don't really understand why. Maybe an error on the editor/publisher for the targeted reading market?
The Falconer takes placed in 19th century steampunk Scotland. Aileana, an 18 year old of the upper class, is dealing with the tragic loss of her mother. Since she was found over her mother's body, there are rumors she was responsible, and her strange behavior isn't helping. Her father is distant and cold, and wants to marry her off promptly.
She's been trained by a rogue faerie, Kiaran, who has taught her how to hunt and kill other dangerous faeries. A seal is weakening and letting all the bad faeries loose, and Aileana vows to stop them.
She's also joined by a pixie, Derrick, who provides comic relief, and Gavin, her grown-up childhood friend that is a Seer (can see faeries) and is interested in her romantically.
Yes, Gavin is blonde-haired and friendly, Kiaran is dark-haired and moody. The love triangle is a bit sloppy because Gavin's character is not fully realized with agency into the plot. He helps Aileana in one scene but other than that he's just hanging about.
The setting is interesting, but the story barely has any historical references at all, which is always a red flag to me. It might as well have been in another world, and probably would have been served better by it. Not one mention about a clan or kilt in a story that takes place in 1844 Scotland?!
The steampunk isn't featured too much either. Makes me think there wasn't a lot of effort in world-building.
Aileana represents the chosen one trope. Not only has she become a fighting machine in a year, she's a brilliant inventor. She does have a crazed blood-thirstiness about her when it comes to the faeries, but it waxes and wanes over different scenes. I would have preferred her to have constant blood-lust and be completely insane, hiding in the corners of the ballroom and stitching a jacket of faery skins.
I liked the bloodlust side of Aileana and that made parts of the book enjoyable.
Instead she has this schizophrenic like personality. One minute she craves blood, the next she's worrying about being married. Maybe it was the plot that couldn't figure out what it wanted to be...a historical romance mashed up with urban fantasy.
Her character never interested me, and I think part of it was her dialogue. She sounded like a Bruce Willis action character most of the time. Not like a character dealing with all the emotions of a teenager.
The writing style also verged on middle grade at times. It was really strange, because the content definitely is not. It read younger than typical ya, and I don't really understand why. Maybe an error on the editor/publisher for the targeted reading market?