Faerie Lord by Herbie Brennan: Old Norse Gods Protect the Destiny of a Fairy and her Mortal Companion

 

In this review, I will summarize what I loved the most and disliked from Faerie Lord, an epic adventure for all readers similar to Star Wars and Dune.

First of all, the writer was brave to begin a novel with a gloomy setting such as the Gatekeeper Mr. Fogarty’s imminent death by temporal fever. Temporal fever causes all fairies and humans to age rapidly and die. Moreover, temporal fever has the side effect of having visions about possible futures. In a way, it can be compared to real world pandemics like COVID-19. Next, the young hero of the story, Henry, is just a typical high school student who has worries like becoming a teacher, falling in love, and getting along with his authoritarian mother. Then, the novel changes into an epic adventure that could have been more complex. It is quite simple because characters like the blue boy Lorquin, similar to the Native American Tonto in the Lone Ranger, is just there to make sure Henry saves his love, Blue, Queen of Hael. The same happens with the bad guy, Lord Hairstreak, is just lucky to create a pandemonium in the Fairy Realm. Still, some things were good like to bring a cute giant hare, the charno, to help the hero and his captive princess. Particularly, the charno is described the same as Lopmon from Digimon Tamers. Furthermore, the hare has a secret weapon, a magical hammer: Just like the legendary sword Excalibur of King Arthur, the hammer is the only weapon that can kill a gigantic silver dragon / Midgard serpent that threatens Henry and Blue. Mysteriously, the hammer only works when Henry and Blue use it together having the same curse as the Sword in the Stone.

To conclude, it is a fun novel showing that a fantasy story can have dark themes and still be suitable for all readers. A fun way to see fairies and demons fight for power in different Realms while at the same time learning the moral lesson about the power of love, friendship and bravery.

Here is my favorite quote from the novel, I believe everyone can relate to Henry’s relationship with his mother and the future:

“Whatever university he ended up in, he’d plod through to a mediocre degree, then become a teacher, because that’s what his mother wanted. She was a teacher. Actually she was the headmistress of a girl’s school. She kept telling him teaching was great because of the extended holidays, as if the measure of a good job was how long you could stay way from it.”(p. 10)