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A review by ik0nik
Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist
4.0
A relatively wealthy family moves away from the big city into a rural home that is surrounded by fabled mysteries and ancient history. I've picked this book up and started to read it many times throughout the years, but for some reason have never finished it. Recently I decided to pick it up again and make it through the whole thing. It checks all of the boxes that I normally enjoy in a book with a few small faults that dock it down a star.
For starters, I really enjoyed the smooth transition from creepy into fantasy/secret society themes. The book is a clever combination of horror, dark fantasy, and thrills. We get creepy visitors in the night, but there is A LOT going on behind the scenes that we don't fully understand until later in the novel. I like how something much bigger is teased by watchful eyes in the edge of the woods or from under the troll bridge. All of the characters are quite likeable and the country/small town setting was perfect for the plot. Mark & Gary (the researchers), Jack, Gabbie, and Sean are all extremely likeable. When the story truly ramps up a little over halfway through after a secret room is discovered in the basement, the action and fantasy sequences are really enthralling and the novel is hard to put down. We get spirits, changelings, ghouls, and we also get queens, fairies, and mystical settings. When Sean goes underground Feist's descriptions of the settings really pull you into the fantasy world. It's an outstanding mix if real world and fantasy. In the last few chapters the story fires on all cylinders with time running out and major conflicts taking place. The ending throws a lot at you but it's a satisfying conclusion.
From there I'll lead into my main fault: this one is a slow burn. The book starts out very slow and takes a long while to ramp up. We learn more about the plot as we approach the halfway mark and start to see interactions between the humans and fae. On the back end the story crams a lot (and I mean A LOT) of lore, backstory, and action sequences into the final 1/4 of the book. Overall the pacing could have definitely been better. I realized why I put the book down as a DNF so many times when I was younger and it's because it starts off so painfully slow. I really wish we had the backstory on the secret society and Mark's research earlier in the novel instead of Feist just putting everything off until the last 2-3 chapters before ending the story abruptly. A couple of other minor quirks I'll mention are early in the novel I felt like there were hints that Jack knew more about the fae than the novel ever revealed and that was never fleshed out. I also feel like the ending of the novel was setting up for a sequel that never came, but that's okay because the book stands just fine on its own.
Overall I'll log this novel as a slow burn but a great read. The story is definitely worth the time and it's a book I'm glad I finally read after all of these years. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror, fantasy, or good fiction.
For starters, I really enjoyed the smooth transition from creepy into fantasy/secret society themes. The book is a clever combination of horror, dark fantasy, and thrills. We get creepy visitors in the night, but there is A LOT going on behind the scenes that we don't fully understand until later in the novel. I like how something much bigger is teased by watchful eyes in the edge of the woods or from under the troll bridge. All of the characters are quite likeable and the country/small town setting was perfect for the plot. Mark & Gary (the researchers), Jack, Gabbie, and Sean are all extremely likeable. When the story truly ramps up a little over halfway through after a secret room is discovered in the basement, the action and fantasy sequences are really enthralling and the novel is hard to put down. We get spirits, changelings, ghouls, and we also get queens, fairies, and mystical settings. When Sean goes underground Feist's descriptions of the settings really pull you into the fantasy world. It's an outstanding mix if real world and fantasy. In the last few chapters the story fires on all cylinders with time running out and major conflicts taking place. The ending throws a lot at you but it's a satisfying conclusion.
From there I'll lead into my main fault: this one is a slow burn. The book starts out very slow and takes a long while to ramp up. We learn more about the plot as we approach the halfway mark and start to see interactions between the humans and fae. On the back end the story crams a lot (and I mean A LOT) of lore, backstory, and action sequences into the final 1/4 of the book. Overall the pacing could have definitely been better. I realized why I put the book down as a DNF so many times when I was younger and it's because it starts off so painfully slow. I really wish we had the backstory on the secret society and Mark's research earlier in the novel instead of Feist just putting everything off until the last 2-3 chapters before ending the story abruptly. A couple of other minor quirks I'll mention are early in the novel I felt like there were hints that Jack knew more about the fae than the novel ever revealed and that was never fleshed out. I also feel like the ending of the novel was setting up for a sequel that never came, but that's okay because the book stands just fine on its own.
Overall I'll log this novel as a slow burn but a great read. The story is definitely worth the time and it's a book I'm glad I finally read after all of these years. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is a fan of horror, fantasy, or good fiction.