Monday Book Recs--Leicht

Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

A young man is caught in two wars, one between the Catholics and the Protestants in 1975 Ireland, and one between the fallen and the fey. Liam is the half mortal child of a fey man and a mortal woman. He has the power to change into a huge wolf-like hound and a few other tricks. But he finds his own powers terrifying.Even in prison, when he is being tortured and the "monster" inside him escapes and kills, he is tormented by guilt over this. When he ends up killing a constable while on a raid for the IRA, he feels more guilt. But when his own wife is killed, he fights back.

At first, I found this novel a little dark for my tastes, but after the prison scene was over, I fell into it. The language is powerful and clean. There was enough detail to make me feel that I was there, but never so much that I felt like the author was trying to prove her credentials. This is one of those fantasies that does exactly what I think only fantasy can do. It makes us see ourselves and the world upside down, inside out, and yet just right. What is it that makes humans continually fight each other and be unable to make peace? It's the monster inside us.