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Swift (Swift #1)

by R.J. Anderson (Goodreads Author)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 231 ratings · 31 reviews

Ivy sensed the stone hurtling towards her and rolled - too late. Heat scored across her back in a blaze of dazzling pain. The ground spiralled to meet her, and she knew it would only be seconds before she hit...

Ivy is a determined young faery, living in an abandoned tin mine with her clan. In a cruel twist of fate she was born without wings, and she longs to fly like the o...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published March 1st 2012 by Orchard Books

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MARCH 2012 YA Releases

23rd out of 60 books — 77 voters

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Mar 10, 2012 Rosamund Hodge added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

The more I read of R. J. Anderson's faery books, the more impressed I am by how effortlessly she blends genres: urban fantasy, English garden fantasy, folklore, mythology both real and imagined, even bits of theology. They all come together to form a coherent world that doesn't feel at all piecemeal. The books are cross-age too: they've been marketed as both middle-grade and YA, and are quite capable of appealing to adults like myself and my mother. I think a big part of it--aside from how they'...more The more I read of R. J. Anderson's faery books, the more impressed I am by how effortlessly she blends genres: urban fantasy, English garden fantasy, folklore, mythology both real and imagined, even bits of theology. They all come together to form a coherent world that doesn't feel at all piecemeal. The books are cross-age too: they've been marketed as both middle-grade and YA, and are quite capable of appealing to adults like myself and my mother. I think a big part of it--aside from how they're just awesome stories--is that Anderson has nailed the technique of touching on complex issues in fairly simple stories, with the disturbing content as much implied as shown, so that readers can experience the story in a way that corresponds to their maturity.

Swift shifts to a new kind of faery: the piskeys, who live in a mine, confined by their fear of deceitful faeries and monstrous spriggans. The heroine is Ivy, a sickly young piskey who never developed wings. She's grown up hating the spriggans: after all, they kidnapped and presumably ate her mother. When she finds out that some of her fellow piskeys don't even believe in the spriggans, she's horrified. But then--after another young piskey disappears--the piskeys actually capture a spriggan, and she thinks she's been vindicated.

Then the spriggan claims he has a message from her mother.

There are dark elements in this story: lies and murder and self-deception, on several different scales. Ivy has to face the fallibility of her own judgements, not just once but again and again. And there's the painful awareness that sometimes you don't ever get to find out what was really going on with someone.

There's also magic and beauty and loyalty. Birds and the lure of the wind. And an ending that's really a beginning. I am really, really excited to see where this new set of faery novels go.

(view spoiler)(less)

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Dec 16, 2012 Brandy Painter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, middle-grade, young-adult, favorites

Originally posted here.

R.J. Anderson's Swift was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012.
Anderson is an auto-buy author for me, so much so that if her books (like this one) aren't going to be foreseeably available in the US I order them from the UK. Swift did not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations for it. Anderson brought the story that began in to a brilliant conclusion with Arrow. Swift takes place in Cornwall and deals with an entirely different group of magical beings, Piskies. While...more Originally posted here.

R.J. Anderson's Swift was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012.
Anderson is an auto-buy author for me, so much so that if her books (like this one) aren't going to be foreseeably available in the US I order them from the UK. Swift did not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations for it. Anderson brought the story that began in to a brilliant conclusion with Arrow. Swift takes place in Cornwall and deals with an entirely different group of magical beings, Piskies. While there is a definite overlap between the first trilogy and this book you can read Swift without reading the others. (Though why would you want to? And if you don't read them first you will definitely want to once you have finished this.)

Ivy is a Cornish piskey living with her family and people in an old mine. Ivy is different from the other female piskies. She is smaller and more fail and, most devastating to her, born without wings. Being different hasn't been easy on Ivy nor has the disappearance of her mother, presumably snatched by spriggans, her people's fearsome enemy. When a strange creature, presumably a spriggan, is taken captive by her people and Ivy stumbles upon his cell she makes a dangerous bargain with him. If she helps free him he can take her to her mother and teach her how to fly. This sets Ivy off on an adventure that will forever alter the way she sees herself and the world she grew up in.

What I consistently impresses me about these books is that each heroine is very different from the ones who have come before her. They all share a similar spirit, but their personalities and how they go about achieving their goals is quite different. Ivy is, to me, the most interesting one yet. She has a confidence in herself that is mixed with fears of inferiority. She is stubborn and strong willed, but also willing to explore new ideas and entertain the notion that she may be wrong about things and need to rethink them. Having been sheltered all her life, completely shut off from the outside world, she has much to learn and yet she has a real sense of adventure and is not afraid of the unknown.

The mysterious captive who offers Ivy the bargain for her heart's desire is as fascinating as they come too. Ivy calls him Richard, but that is not his name. When she discovers him for the first time he is alone in the dark and is despondent. What is he doing in his despondency? Quoting Shakespeare. You should have seen the smile on my face when I reached that page. I admit I was excited and extremely happy to find they had captured a Shakespeare quoting magical being. I was kind of hoping we would get more of a certain character who fit that description.

The story itself is an interesting one full of intrigue and a lot of action. As always, the themes Anderson explores through the plot are just as engaging as the plot itself. There is a blood feud that shows what a cruel face justice can have when it is used as a mask for revenge. There is the danger of what happens when we allow the stories we tell about our pasts to become the truth we believe about ourselves and our history. There is the fine line that exists between protecting those we love for their good and enslaving them for our own. Good food for thought and excellent execution all around.

While the book has a definite end it leaves the door open for more which I am anticipating. There is still a lot left to explore both individually for Ivy and "Richard" and with their connection to each other. (Whether it turns out to be a romantic one or not. There was no romance in this story though there was definitely potential for that to develop. Yet there is also potential for things to develop in a completely different fashion. I'm interested to see where Anderson might go with all that.)(less)

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May 23, 2012 Isa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, owned, cozy, worth-re-reading, read-2012

Can R.J. Anderson write a bad book? It seems not.

Swift was as charming as the Faery Rebels books, and I am so glad, because it's such a wonderful world, I would hate to have to leave it.
There were some very interesting issues in this book, about the role of women in society and the relationships between parents and children but, as always in R.J. Anderson's books, none of it was ever preachy and, more importantly, it flowed seamlessly into the plot.

Honestly, these books are so lovely, I'm reall...more

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Sep 14, 2012 Angela Oliver rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: action-adventure, childrens, faeries, fantasy, urban-fantasy, young-adult

I am really enjoying the world of faeries and their ilk that R.J Anderson has created. And "Swift" is no exception. Leaving the fairies behind, for now, we delve into the world of the Piskies, a race with many similarities to their fairy kin, but many differences too. Ivy is a teenage pisky, born without wings, who has adapted to life in a world where males cannot fly, but all the other female can. Despite her physical limitations, and perceived weakness, Ivy is a strong character - who is perha...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Larissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

There were only a couple of times a year when the piskeys ventures out of the Delve and into the world above, only a couple of times of year when it was made safe for piskeys to leave their underground home. With all the spells and wards in place no one expected danger to find them, but when Ivy's mother disappears there can be only one explanation, the spriggans have caught her.

Five years later and the impossible happens, the spriggans have returned. But as only Ivy alone has seen the creature...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Chimene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of fairy stories/fantasy

Recommended to Chimene by: Mum-in-law

Shelves: favourite, borrowed, faery, fantasy

My mum-in-law passed a copy this way and I am sooooo glad she did. I was a bit doubtful to begin with but I read this very quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The book first introduces us to Ivy, a young Piskey born without wings who is about to participate in her first, annual Lighting celebration. It will be the first time when she will leave the Delve, her home deep in an abandoned mine; but things don't end well when their mother vanishes. It is beleived that she has been taken by thin, wispy...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Marina rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book whenever I had the time, as soon as I was finished doing everything I needed to do my head stuck in it, breathing R J Anderson magical tale about faeries and piskies.
So, what are piskies, you may ask? Well, they're very much like faeries, only they have very different types of magic and the group we're introduced to lives underground.
The main character, Ivy, is a wingless piskie who has a big brother and a little sister. I do too, so I found it easy to relate (apart from the fac...more

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Oct 24, 2012 R.j. rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

I hope you understand I'm always going to give my books five stars. Not because I think they're flawless and that everybody should adore them unconditionally, but because I personally love them and am proud of the way they turned out, or I wouldn't have let them be published in the first place.
Also, this book has saffron cake and Cornish pasties, and underground tunnels full of mysterious beauties and hidden dangers, and dancing and quoting Shakespeare, and issues of disability and prejudice and...more

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2012 Kat marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: series-i-will-finish

Ok, so...is the Knife sequence going to reach a conclusion? In my copy of Arrow it said this was the final book...I am well and truly confuzzled.

1 like · like · see review

Oct 01, 2012 Max rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So good! Thats all I can say :O that it was good! But I loved how it was a bit creepy without the story intending to make it a bit creepy. The creepy part was the clay scene- I bet if it was put into a movie people would be hiding behind the sofa. Imagine it- some crazy fairy causing people to freeze into gnome statues to be put in shops. Its really quite twisted in a cool way.
The writing style was nice and simple and I really enjoyed it! I can't wait till the next book. Oh, and the cover art...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Anne Hamilton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, secret-names, ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I so so liked this book but it is an enormously difficult one to assess objectively.

How well it stands up as an independent story, I really can’t tell. From the start, it’s a transparent secret (at least to anyone acquainted with the rest of the series — Knife, Rebel and especially Arrow) that the prisoner of the piskeys is the fugitive faery Martin.

He is on the run after the events of Arrow. However, his identity is not revealed until the last page.

He’s been captured by the piskeys who believ...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Karlie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book pretty much in one sitting, lounging in a patch of early Spring sunlight. It was a very easy book to read and to get lost in. I find that about everything R J Anderson writes: it's just like a familiar cosy blanket that you can pick up and snuggle into, knowing that you'll feel happy and content for a while. (I feel I've demonstrated this in my previous review of Anderson's work, Arrow) I think it's the author's skill at world building that creates this effect. You can tell tha...more I read this book pretty much in one sitting, lounging in a patch of early Spring sunlight. It was a very easy book to read and to get lost in. I find that about everything R J Anderson writes: it's just like a familiar cosy blanket that you can pick up and snuggle into, knowing that you'll feel happy and content for a while. (I feel I've demonstrated this in my previous review of Anderson's work, Arrow) I think it's the author's skill at world building that creates this effect. You can tell that she does her research to make the world we're reading about fit comfortably in our own. The places that she describes are so clear to the reader that parts of it feel like a travel guide. I almost want to make notes of places I want to visit, both faerie and human.

From the beginning of this story, I felt I was thrown into Ivy's everyday life. Getting to know her world was enjoyable right from the start, because she had such a unique voice learning about her world felt natural. Her family and her community, her feelings about herself and her place all provoked the reader's interest, particularly when right at the end of the prologue her mother disappears, leaving only a blood stained scarf behind.

Ivy is a very likeable character; she is brave, very loyal to her family and in spite of being told her limitations she refuses to believe them and craves more. You can't help but feel sympathy for her character when the thing she desires most, flight, has been denied her by a cruel fate that caused her to be born a Piskey without wings. Ivy is put through a lot in this book, her love for her family means she faces betraying her community more than once and throughout everything she shows strength and bravery. Even though she is aware she faces punishment from the only home she has ever known it is up to her to face multiple threats to the community that raised her, both from the outside and from within.

It's been a while since I've read Arrow, so I'm sure I missed some of the hints to this book's relation to the previous series, but I did really enjoy the ones I managed to pick up. After completing Swift, I'm left with the temptation to start reading the books from the beginning again. These are worlds that I can't wait to explore and fall into and I'm left anticipating what could happen to these characters next.

I won't divulge too many further details of the story as there are a few spoilers that are worth finding out for yourself. Overall, Swift was a thoroughly enjoyable, immersive read I would recommend to anyone who loves a reading experience based around exploring fantastic worlds and for whom the scenery and the backdrop are as important as the events and the characters therein.

Read more of my reviews Here (less)

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Apr 17, 2012 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, twas-good, middle-grade

One day in junior high school, right out of the blue, a good friend of mine gave me a fairy poster by the talented Amy Brown.

She had this love for fairies and pixies and all that shimmers and flies, and it was from her my own fascination of these little creatures grew.

When I first saw Swift, the cover art took me right back to those wonderful high school years (yes, I enjoyed those years), and reminded me so strongly of my old friend, who I unfortunately lost touch of, that I just had to read...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Sally rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairies-and-similar, country-england, ya, adventure, family, series-fairy-rebels

I found this a little slower to start with than the three previous books, and it was also like I was suddenly being hit with a lot of new lore all at once which isn't usually a thing I'm a fan of. However, the book massively picked up about halfway through and from there on out I couldn't put it down :D

It's been ages since I read Knife, Rebel and Arrow, so there were some things that were vaguely familiar but I wasn't sure why or how they might have fitted in, or if it was just a general feel. I...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Miss Clark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, brambleberry-library, fairytale-fantasy-sci-fi-mythology, favorites, year-end-picks

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved it, but no 5 star because it was so open-ended. And so very delighted to know that their story will be continuing in Nomad!

So, it would appear that Peri and Paul's story, as well as that of the Empress's reign, has ended. And while I would still like to see a cameo of them (still want to know if they were ever able to have kids for one), I am quite glad to see what new friends this set of stories brings.

So, this one is all about a piskey, Ivy, born without wings and terribly sickly. Thes...more I loved it, but no 5 star because it was so open-ended. And so very delighted to know that their story will be continuing in Nomad!

So, it would appear that Peri and Paul's story, as well as that of the Empress's reign, has ended. And while I would still like to see a cameo of them (still want to know if they were ever able to have kids for one), I am quite glad to see what new friends this set of stories brings.

So, this one is all about a piskey, Ivy, born without wings and terribly sickly. These new faeries that we meet live underground, in mines, exiled from the sunshine and open fields by their desire to avoid the attention of faeries and the spriggans, bogeyman and monster rolled into one. All of Ivy's life she has been taught to fear the world above ground and to hate faeries and spriggans. Which is not hard to do since childhood she has believed that it was the spriggans that abducted and fed upon her mother. But she quickly begins to see that many things she has believed were lies, possibly even the existence of spriggans. Her own brother is certain their mother simply left them. But then people start to disappear again and her fellow piskeys capture a spriggan.

And that spriggan suddenly says that he came here only to deliver a message to Ivy from her mother...

There is a lot going on here and it ties in on the fringes to the bigger war that was just waged in ARROW and the overthrow of the empress's reign. A surprise identity for one character. The idea of learning to trust, opening up to someone who should be your enemy. Lies and truth. Murder. Betrayal, especially from those in authority and who should be able to be trusted. The forging of a frail and fluttering connection between two individuals who need something from the other but which burgeons into something more. Something that drives two people to risk themselves and to risk what they thought they wanted most for something that just might be what saves them. Ivy is forced to come to terms with the fact that her view of the world and even of people she knows and loves is flawed and must change as she learns painful, jarring truths. She has to accept the frailty of her mother's love and understand she is not who she thought she was and her expectations cannot be met. It is not the perfect, happy ending she was hoping for. Her father dies, after ignoring her for years. Her brother has mistreated her for years and never seems to really feel any remorse over that. Her own people turn on her and even if she is vindicated, it will never be the same. Her life is changed forever and in so many ways there is no going home for Ivy. Luckily, she has the option to embark on a journey with a friend.

There is also the beauty of loyalty and faith, hope and the glorious freedom of life. Wind and sunshine, open fields and flight. Finding out the strength you have inside and discovering real friends. And so begins a new set of novels in the faery world that Anderson has created and keeps expanding, much to my delight.

Richard to Ivy:"But it appears that all the magic I put into healing you makes us kinfolk of a sort after all. There is a precedent, but I won't embarrass you with the details." What was the precedent? Why would it embarrass, pray tell?

Yes, I ship Richard/Ivy so much. What of it? They are quite prefect together and I really hope that their relationship is developed and explored in NOMAD and I look forward to some good moments and conversations.

Oh, the one thing that bothered me. If Ivy was being poisoned, and even faster because of her strong faery heritage, why is that mentioned so little? Why does she not seem to struggle or be in pain before her healing? We should really have seen that more. Esp. since that is why that first healing did not take since it was trying to heal the poison that was killing her. Oh, well.

Recommended.(less)

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Apr 15, 2013 Naomi Bowen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 02, 2013 Harriet Day rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The last in the 'Knife series' It was OK, not as good as the first three, more of a side book than a series. Slow-moving for some bits, hard to get into, but the plot is interesting. I liked it because I had read the other three books before it, but did not match the standard of the other three.

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Jul 12, 2012 Naomi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another great faery story from a fantastic author! The characters were fab but I especially liked Molly. She was adorable. The story itself was very interesting & I read it in a day!

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Feb 04, 2013 Cara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I felt like I was reading a children's movie. Not a bad thing, but the characters had more potential than that.

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Apr 24, 2012 Ariadne Baltazar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Born with no wings, her mother gone, and her father left wandering aimlessly, Ivy leads a difficult life as a piskey. When a faery is captured by her people, it offers her a bargain that is very tempting for Ivy. Will Ivy take this bargain? What'll be the consequences if she does?

Each book of the Faery Rebels series still lures me into its breathtaking world. Full of magic, love and adventure. The Faery Rebels will set your heart pummping

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Mar 05, 2012 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2012

This much anticipated book was filled with so much action and so much excitement that it had me glued to the page! I love RJ Anderson's writing style and this book never failed to enchant me. Her characters are always so strong and individual and I love the way she's linked the books together. I cannot wait to read more!!

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Aug 11, 2012 Josie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens-fiction

Disappointed that Ivy never wears the armour that's mentioned on the second page, despite the cover!

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Jul 14, 2012 Hallie added it · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, fantasy, ya

Kept losing partially written write-ups. This just might be my favourite of Anderson's Faery books, which can be read alone or (preferably, to my mind) after the other three. Wonderful setting and back-story, and the characters are fabulous.

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Oct 29, 2012 Helli rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

After I really started to read this book, I just got observed in it and couldn't stop. I had a hard time figuring out who the bad person was, because I truly believed that Marigold was the evil one.

I can't wait for the second book.

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Aug 28, 2012 Molly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved it! It was a whirl of excitment and at some times, frightened about what was going to happen next. I now need to read Renegade, which I think is what happened before Swift. This is a MUST READ!!

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Mar 25, 2012 Pippa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Took a while to get into this one but enjoyed it and the extra story at the end was worth reading as that linked in with the previous trilogy and reminded me of what I had read before.

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Apr 24, 2012 Alysse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An ok fairy/pixie story... could have been better... but a quick read.

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Jun 11, 2012 Maggie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fairy-faery, fantasy, part-of-a-series, books-for-challenges

1 and 1/2 stars.
Suitable for young teen readers only.

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Apr 22, 2012 Cat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, faeries, fantasy, ya, uk-edition

RJ Anderson does it again. Her imagination is my crack.

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Jul 28, 2012 jo mo marked it as dropped · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy, middle-grade

from the author of ultraviolet. need i say more?

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About R.J. Anderson

R.J. (Rebecca) Anderson was born in Uganda, raised in Ontario, went to school in New Jersey, and has spent much of her life dreaming (and writing) of other worlds entirely.

*** ABOUT MY BOOK RATINGS ***
5 stars means that I loved the book so much that I foresee myself reading it again and again -- I reserve this for beloved classics and others that really knocked my socks off.

4 stars means that I re...more

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Swift (Swift #1)

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