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The Good Fairies of New York
Morag and Heather, two eighteen-inch fairies with swords, green kilts and badly dyed hair fly through the window of the worst violinist in New York, an overweight and antisocial type named Dinnie, and vomit on his carpet. Who they are, how they came to New York and what this has to do with the lovely Kerry - who lives across the street, and has Crohn's Disease, and is making a flower alphabet - and what this has to do with the other fairies (of all nationalities) of New York, not to mention the poor repressed fairies of Britain, is the subject of this book. It has a war in it, and a most unusual production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Johnny Thunders' New York Dolls guitar solos. What more could anyone desire from a book?
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First published January 1, 1992
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About the author
Martin Millar
50 books514 followersMartin Millar is a critically acclaimed Scottish writer from Glasgow, now resident in London. He also writes the Thraxas series of fantasy novels under the pseudonym Martin Scott.
The novels he writes as Martin Millar dwell on urban decay and British sub-cultures, and the impact this has on a range of characters, both realistic and supernatural. There are elements of magical realism, and the feeling that the boundary between real life and the supernatural is not very thick. Most of them are set in Brixton, Millar's one-time place of residence. Many are at least semi-autobiographical, and Love and Peace with Melody Paradise and Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me both feature Millar himself as a character.
As Martin Scott his Thraxas novels are a fusion of traditional high fantasy and pulp noir thrillers.
In 2000, he won the World Fantasy Award for best novel for Thraxas.
The novels he writes as Martin Millar dwell on urban decay and British sub-cultures, and the impact this has on a range of characters, both realistic and supernatural. There are elements of magical realism, and the feeling that the boundary between real life and the supernatural is not very thick. Most of them are set in Brixton, Millar's one-time place of residence. Many are at least semi-autobiographical, and Love and Peace with Melody Paradise and Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me both feature Millar himself as a character.
As Martin Scott his Thraxas novels are a fusion of traditional high fantasy and pulp noir thrillers.
In 2000, he won the World Fantasy Award for best novel for Thraxas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 715 reviews
September 21, 2011
That anyone bothers surfing the internet on their own time is absurd. When you are not at work you could be eating, drinking, writing, playing baseball, taking karate, licking someone’s neck, looking at stars, getting into fights or cutting down cell phone towers. What the hell good is sitting down to a high-jacked internet connection if all you are going to do is read Pitchfork the entire night? Get serious about your time, and use those well-paid, or well, paid company hours at your job like the living economic cancer you are and look for great new writers, music, movies, and games. Start researching New Media Economic theory when you are supposed to be collating those reports and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Then go out there and find books like Martin Millar’s The Good Fairies of New York. It is one of those great rewards for using company time to surf the web and one of the best pieces of punk-styled, hard-drinking, fairy-tale to come out in a long time.
“Dinnie, an overweight enemy of humanity, was the worst violinist in New York, but was practicing gamely when two cute little fairies stumbled through his fourth-floor window and vomited on the carpet.” Now as first lines go you will need to accept, or at least acknowledge, how perfect that is, and one day you will realize that to be pure literary gold.
And perhaps it is simply nostalgia, perhaps it is just a predilection for allusion, reference, and pop-cultural sensibility, but the book is just fun to read. Really. Peaceful diplomatic missions escalate quickly into brawls and artistically minded individuals do battle over a neighborhood arts competition. If there is one prerequisite to a good story, it’s people being passionate about their life because the last thing anyone wants is some inactive, paragonic Rand-ian slug wandering a mall somewhere when he has no money. People need to be doing things, and in The Good Fairies, they do stuff. Oh how they do stuff. The stuff they do, oh my.
Over the course of the book you’ll get a super-powered street-woman well versed in roman warfare, the rise of fae industrialism, fae post-industrialism, and fae communist rebellion. You will witness the exploits of the pair of aforementioned sprites as they incite every hard-luck tramp in New York to heights of fury, revenge, class struggle, and love. The combination of real-world and made up world, those illusions Millar splices to his allusions, are sewn seamlessly into the story, and the flight of fantasy that is armed insurrection against an imperial capitalist model is all more rewarding for his efforts on our behalf.
By the end we even get Johnny Thunders, late guitarist for the New York Dolls returning to earth from his place in heaven. Hell, even the nameless tramps who succumb to poverty and shuffle from the mortal coil are passionately lamented in these pages. If that isn’t an upbeat, positive message, well what is? But don’t take my word for it, take Neil Gaiman’s, he wrote the introduction, and then maybe you try reading the book.
“Dinnie, an overweight enemy of humanity, was the worst violinist in New York, but was practicing gamely when two cute little fairies stumbled through his fourth-floor window and vomited on the carpet.” Now as first lines go you will need to accept, or at least acknowledge, how perfect that is, and one day you will realize that to be pure literary gold.
And perhaps it is simply nostalgia, perhaps it is just a predilection for allusion, reference, and pop-cultural sensibility, but the book is just fun to read. Really. Peaceful diplomatic missions escalate quickly into brawls and artistically minded individuals do battle over a neighborhood arts competition. If there is one prerequisite to a good story, it’s people being passionate about their life because the last thing anyone wants is some inactive, paragonic Rand-ian slug wandering a mall somewhere when he has no money. People need to be doing things, and in The Good Fairies, they do stuff. Oh how they do stuff. The stuff they do, oh my.
Over the course of the book you’ll get a super-powered street-woman well versed in roman warfare, the rise of fae industrialism, fae post-industrialism, and fae communist rebellion. You will witness the exploits of the pair of aforementioned sprites as they incite every hard-luck tramp in New York to heights of fury, revenge, class struggle, and love. The combination of real-world and made up world, those illusions Millar splices to his allusions, are sewn seamlessly into the story, and the flight of fantasy that is armed insurrection against an imperial capitalist model is all more rewarding for his efforts on our behalf.
By the end we even get Johnny Thunders, late guitarist for the New York Dolls returning to earth from his place in heaven. Hell, even the nameless tramps who succumb to poverty and shuffle from the mortal coil are passionately lamented in these pages. If that isn’t an upbeat, positive message, well what is? But don’t take my word for it, take Neil Gaiman’s, he wrote the introduction, and then maybe you try reading the book.
December 11, 2008
It's not often I stop reading a book, even ones that I end up giving a 1-star to, but I gave up on this one about halfway through. The Good Fairies is just, plain and simply, not well-written. It reminded me of something written by a 14-year-old who has some fun ideas but no concept of how to put them together into a compelling story.
Millar likes to jump between different characters and subplots far more often than is healthy - often he'll introduce a couple of new characters, then two paragraphs later jump back to the previous ones. Then three paragraphs later, new characters. One paragraph later, back to the second set of characters. This went on for the entire book, or at least the portion I read (and for what it's worth, I skipped to the end and read that as well before stopping, just in case I was missing some incredible ending where it all comes together - I wasn't, and it didn't). Reading this book was like trying to watch seven TV shows at the same time by rapidly flipping between them, and it gave me a headache.
There are a number of other bad things about the book - shallow characters, amazingly repetitive sequences and dialogues given how short the book actually is, awkward segues that combined with the ambiguously-named fairies to make you wonder who the hell is who. By the time I stopped reading, like several of the other reviewers here, I found myself wondering if Gaiman and I had been looking at two entirely different books.
Millar likes to jump between different characters and subplots far more often than is healthy - often he'll introduce a couple of new characters, then two paragraphs later jump back to the previous ones. Then three paragraphs later, new characters. One paragraph later, back to the second set of characters. This went on for the entire book, or at least the portion I read (and for what it's worth, I skipped to the end and read that as well before stopping, just in case I was missing some incredible ending where it all comes together - I wasn't, and it didn't). Reading this book was like trying to watch seven TV shows at the same time by rapidly flipping between them, and it gave me a headache.
There are a number of other bad things about the book - shallow characters, amazingly repetitive sequences and dialogues given how short the book actually is, awkward segues that combined with the ambiguously-named fairies to make you wonder who the hell is who. By the time I stopped reading, like several of the other reviewers here, I found myself wondering if Gaiman and I had been looking at two entirely different books.
May 3, 2023
A good elfish idea completely wasted in the big city.
Many deficits and just some highlights
I can´t put the finger on what is strange about this average novel, it´s a bit wooden, varying in quality, and quite loses control over the logic of plotlines, but it still has something special, although it plays with readers' expectations and disappoints towards the end.
There are some similar funny fantasy authors, but he is the only one too close to reality with not enough fantasy, and everything is kind of written monotone and not really fascinating. It´s also kind of unreliable, there are some strong, well written moments, but then there are combinations of multi fails, bad dialogues, bad characterizations, no dynamic unfolding, etc.
Unfantastic realism
I mean, he puts fantastic realism onto his Goodreads profile page, I am allergic to this stuff, so it might be that I am a bit subjective here too, but this was really one of the most unsatisfying fantasy reads ever and I don´t get why some seem to like this stuff and what they see in it.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Many deficits and just some highlights
I can´t put the finger on what is strange about this average novel, it´s a bit wooden, varying in quality, and quite loses control over the logic of plotlines, but it still has something special, although it plays with readers' expectations and disappoints towards the end.
There are some similar funny fantasy authors, but he is the only one too close to reality with not enough fantasy, and everything is kind of written monotone and not really fascinating. It´s also kind of unreliable, there are some strong, well written moments, but then there are combinations of multi fails, bad dialogues, bad characterizations, no dynamic unfolding, etc.
Unfantastic realism
I mean, he puts fantastic realism onto his Goodreads profile page, I am allergic to this stuff, so it might be that I am a bit subjective here too, but this was really one of the most unsatisfying fantasy reads ever and I don´t get why some seem to like this stuff and what they see in it.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
November 30, 2010
Current editions of The Good Fairies of New York feature an incandescently fluorescent blurb from Neil Gaiman. Every subsequent Millar publication features this same quote. It's a lifetime ticket. He can be trusted (unless it's nostalgia based. I'll save those musings for another time, perhaps). There are things that nostalgia will do to perspective and all that (I despise the '90s while other freakazoids somehow miss it). Trusting reviews at all is tricky. I didn't even have the decency to write Coraline. Things one should know before trusting me: A) I could care less about the editing. I've read complaints about this. I didn't even notice. (Schoolhouse Rock and the public school system are to blame!) B) I'm a fangirl. The happiest day I had all year was getting Millar's Curse of the Wolf Girl. I'm prone to excessive love and hugging when it comes to this man. I could be seen from space my glowing happiness shone so brightly. I might up the ante and you'll go, "Well, it wasn't THAT good..." and hate me for the rest of your days. Please don't hate me. ('Fairies' isn't as good as the Kalix books. Don't set your bar to outer space! The John F. Kennedy Space camp will do.)
If I were to write the book blurb it'd say something like:
"I cried until I laughed. I laughed until I cried." - says Mariel, fairy hag. (My quote will be under 340343kxkp in Flint, Michigan but above Butt, Montana's website.)
It was the right side of walking underneath a rain cloud, Murphy's law, Peanuts gang luck. Depression is my usual state. The depression is mixed in with finding all kinds of stupid shit to be really funny. I'm back and forth between enjoying the stupidity and really hating myself for being stupid. 'Fairies' is that kind of book. The wonderful fairies fuck up constantly and I knew exactly how they felt. It suited me down to the ground (the ground that I was staring at as I moped along Charlie Brown style). Displacement, fighting, ego, more fighting, unrequited love, best friends, crazy times... It all works out for them in the end. That made me feel really good. It would have been all right anyway 'cause I got to be with them. I wish things were all right 'cause I was there.
It is hard to describe humor. Laying it all out there like you would when drunk 'cause there's nothing else left to do. The going in fighting funny. Millar is no self-satisfied prick. He'd be fun to hang out with.
And Johnny Thunders is there for guitar tips! Eddie Van Halen always turns his back when I try to ask HIM for advice. So does Stuart Sutcliffe, for that matter. Between you and me, I suspect that he might not be able to really play the guitar...
In Johnny we trust.
If I were to write the book blurb it'd say something like:
"I cried until I laughed. I laughed until I cried." - says Mariel, fairy hag. (My quote will be under 340343kxkp in Flint, Michigan but above Butt, Montana's website.)
It was the right side of walking underneath a rain cloud, Murphy's law, Peanuts gang luck. Depression is my usual state. The depression is mixed in with finding all kinds of stupid shit to be really funny. I'm back and forth between enjoying the stupidity and really hating myself for being stupid. 'Fairies' is that kind of book. The wonderful fairies fuck up constantly and I knew exactly how they felt. It suited me down to the ground (the ground that I was staring at as I moped along Charlie Brown style). Displacement, fighting, ego, more fighting, unrequited love, best friends, crazy times... It all works out for them in the end. That made me feel really good. It would have been all right anyway 'cause I got to be with them. I wish things were all right 'cause I was there.
It is hard to describe humor. Laying it all out there like you would when drunk 'cause there's nothing else left to do. The going in fighting funny. Millar is no self-satisfied prick. He'd be fun to hang out with.
And Johnny Thunders is there for guitar tips! Eddie Van Halen always turns his back when I try to ask HIM for advice. So does Stuart Sutcliffe, for that matter. Between you and me, I suspect that he might not be able to really play the guitar...
In Johnny we trust.
November 19, 2007
Don't judge a book by it's cover. Although I usually do and it's worked out before with random finds that turn out to be amazing, not so in this instance.
Great cover, great introduction by Neil Gaiman, Staff Pick at a great independent somehow does not equal a good book. I thought it'd be cool but it's pretty much just about some Scottish fairies in New York City. I really didn't like the style, which I didn't find particularly skillful. It could have been a lot better. The main thing I got out of it was the introduction made me want to read American Gods. Luckily I finished the whole thing waiting for a delayed plane so it didn't take up too much of my life to read it. Also, there were a lot of typesetting errors and copy errors. Maybe Soft Skull wants to hire me as a proofer?
Great cover, great introduction by Neil Gaiman, Staff Pick at a great independent somehow does not equal a good book. I thought it'd be cool but it's pretty much just about some Scottish fairies in New York City. I really didn't like the style, which I didn't find particularly skillful. It could have been a lot better. The main thing I got out of it was the introduction made me want to read American Gods. Luckily I finished the whole thing waiting for a delayed plane so it didn't take up too much of my life to read it. Also, there were a lot of typesetting errors and copy errors. Maybe Soft Skull wants to hire me as a proofer?
March 29, 2008
What a disappointing read. Firstly, the text is huge, so it didn't even give me the benefit at least being a distraction. I finished it in about 4 hours. The characters never evolved and I didn't even like any of them to begin with. Everything just sort of exists in this book, and the reading of it just felt like a snapshot of the world, but it was like a snapshot of someone else's living room with no context. Completely boring because I don't care about that room, I know nothing about it, and it has no barring on my life.
The introduction probably spoiled it for me. Neil Gaiman's intro was glowing about how great the book is. In it, he asks why Martin Millar isn't as rich as Terry Pratchett or as famous as Douglas Adams. I can answer that. It's because he's not as good as they are. Anyway, I went in there expecting to just love the book and there was nothing there. I really have nothing good to say about it.
The introduction probably spoiled it for me. Neil Gaiman's intro was glowing about how great the book is. In it, he asks why Martin Millar isn't as rich as Terry Pratchett or as famous as Douglas Adams. I can answer that. It's because he's not as good as they are. Anyway, I went in there expecting to just love the book and there was nothing there. I really have nothing good to say about it.
April 14, 2013
I finished Martin Millar's The Good Fairies of New York early this afternoon (well, yesterday I guess, since it'll be at least Sunday by the time I post this. Wait. Let's start over.)
I finished Martin Millar's The Good Fairies of New York early SATURDAY afternoon, and turned the last page with a huge smile on my face.
I can't remember the last time a book gave me as many belly laughs as this one did. Like, the kinds of laughs that would cause my husband to remove his headphones while he's playing Call of Duty at night after all the kids are in bed, to ask me if I was okay.
I was more than okay, I was thrilled. I am a huge sucker for well-told faerie stories, and this one hit ALL of my buttons. Every single one of them.
It's rare to find a book lately that deals with the fae in the manner I remember reading about them as a child. Lately they're all ethereal and helpful and goodygoody, blahblahblah. I think Jim Butcher might be as close as I can think of to getting it right.
But, y'know - the fae aren't where it's at. LET'S WRITE MORE ABOUT SEXYVAMPIRESANGELSDEMONS!
I"m getting off track. Sorry.
Heather and Morag (the two Scottish faeries we follow in this book) are a couple of fuckups. They like to spend their days drinking whisky and covering Ramones tunes on their fiddles, which has not necessarily endeared them to their respective clans. Well, the whisky is okay, but DON'T YOU DARE PLAY PUNK ROCK ON THAT FIDDLE, KIDS! They're on the run (after being kicked out for wanting to start a radical fairy punk band AND for defiling a neighbouring clan's relic), take up with some English faeries who are ALSO on the run; everyone gets really drunk and they wake up in New York City where Heather and Morag split off from the rest of the group and have their own adventures.
This book is only slightly about their adventures, though.
It's also about Dinnie, an overweight, sex-line-commercial-watching worthless sack of meat who doesn't have a kind word for anyone and is always just about to get evicted.
It's also about Kerry, a kleptomaniac, Crohn's suffering, punk-rock-listening hippy with flowers in her hair and a special project she's hoping to finish...if she can just find and hold onto that last [REDACTED].
It's also about Magenta, the homeless woman that believes she's an ancient Greek general and drinks a mixture of herbs, denatured alcohol and boot polish...and Joshua, whose recipe for Fitzroy cocktail Magenta has stolen.
It's also about the late Johnny Thunders...who just wants his guitar back.
It's even about the perils of industrialization.
(Don't worry, this isn't really spoilery - all this stuff happens in the first 10-15 pages.)
I've been looking at the reviews for this book since I finished, and mostly they just make me sad. I guess a lot of people were sucked into (or suckered into, if you believe what they say) buying/reading this book because of the Neil Gaiman blurb the recent editions carry. They feel like they were let down by their favourite author.
Listen. Don't read this book cos Neil Gaiman says it's worth your time.
Read it because it's funny and it doesn't take itself too seriously (except when it does, and then it might just make you feel things).
Read it if you're interested in a fairly early example of Urban Fantasy (before everything was done to death [and done poorly in many instances]).
Read it if the thought of drunken faeries wandering the streets of Manhattan causing all kinds of faerie turf wars sounds like it might just be your thing.
It was totally mine.
So much so that the few homophone errors and incorrect tartan colours (yes, I know this shit) didn't even bother me as much as they would have normally.
I am so looking forward to Millar's Lonely Werewolf Girl, which I'm told is EVEN BETTER than this. Watch this space for my thoughts on that, I'm hoping to get to it later this month.
Originally posted here.
I finished Martin Millar's The Good Fairies of New York early SATURDAY afternoon, and turned the last page with a huge smile on my face.
I can't remember the last time a book gave me as many belly laughs as this one did. Like, the kinds of laughs that would cause my husband to remove his headphones while he's playing Call of Duty at night after all the kids are in bed, to ask me if I was okay.
I was more than okay, I was thrilled. I am a huge sucker for well-told faerie stories, and this one hit ALL of my buttons. Every single one of them.
It's rare to find a book lately that deals with the fae in the manner I remember reading about them as a child. Lately they're all ethereal and helpful and goodygoody, blahblahblah. I think Jim Butcher might be as close as I can think of to getting it right.
But, y'know - the fae aren't where it's at. LET'S WRITE MORE ABOUT SEXYVAMPIRESANGELSDEMONS!
I"m getting off track. Sorry.
Heather and Morag (the two Scottish faeries we follow in this book) are a couple of fuckups. They like to spend their days drinking whisky and covering Ramones tunes on their fiddles, which has not necessarily endeared them to their respective clans. Well, the whisky is okay, but DON'T YOU DARE PLAY PUNK ROCK ON THAT FIDDLE, KIDS! They're on the run (after being kicked out for wanting to start a radical fairy punk band AND for defiling a neighbouring clan's relic), take up with some English faeries who are ALSO on the run; everyone gets really drunk and they wake up in New York City where Heather and Morag split off from the rest of the group and have their own adventures.
This book is only slightly about their adventures, though.
It's also about Dinnie, an overweight, sex-line-commercial-watching worthless sack of meat who doesn't have a kind word for anyone and is always just about to get evicted.
It's also about Kerry, a kleptomaniac, Crohn's suffering, punk-rock-listening hippy with flowers in her hair and a special project she's hoping to finish...if she can just find and hold onto that last [REDACTED].
It's also about Magenta, the homeless woman that believes she's an ancient Greek general and drinks a mixture of herbs, denatured alcohol and boot polish...and Joshua, whose recipe for Fitzroy cocktail Magenta has stolen.
It's also about the late Johnny Thunders...who just wants his guitar back.
It's even about the perils of industrialization.
(Don't worry, this isn't really spoilery - all this stuff happens in the first 10-15 pages.)
I've been looking at the reviews for this book since I finished, and mostly they just make me sad. I guess a lot of people were sucked into (or suckered into, if you believe what they say) buying/reading this book because of the Neil Gaiman blurb the recent editions carry. They feel like they were let down by their favourite author.
Listen. Don't read this book cos Neil Gaiman says it's worth your time.
Read it because it's funny and it doesn't take itself too seriously (except when it does, and then it might just make you feel things).
Read it if you're interested in a fairly early example of Urban Fantasy (before everything was done to death [and done poorly in many instances]).
Read it if the thought of drunken faeries wandering the streets of Manhattan causing all kinds of faerie turf wars sounds like it might just be your thing.
It was totally mine.
So much so that the few homophone errors and incorrect tartan colours (yes, I know this shit) didn't even bother me as much as they would have normally.
I am so looking forward to Millar's Lonely Werewolf Girl, which I'm told is EVEN BETTER than this. Watch this space for my thoughts on that, I'm hoping to get to it later this month.
Originally posted here.
January 14, 2018
I don't even remember putting this book on my TBR list but I was so happy that I read it!
The Good Fairies of New York was hilarious. I loved every second of it - I honestly couldn't put it down! If you're like me and you love a good laugh now and then (or every second of every day) then you should get this book. Pretty sure I started crying at one point from all of the laughing I did.
Now I don't want to spoil this book at all but it is such a good blend of different genres, like: fantasy, sci-fi, humor, drama, and so much more. However, I will mention that this book does provide you with very choppy writing. There's also a crap ton of repetitiveness. BUT I really enjoyed it even with those flaws because it was hilarious. I don't really have anything bad to say about this book. I'm super happy that I found this book and that I found time to sit down and laugh.
The Good Fairies of New York was hilarious. I loved every second of it - I honestly couldn't put it down! If you're like me and you love a good laugh now and then (or every second of every day) then you should get this book. Pretty sure I started crying at one point from all of the laughing I did.
Now I don't want to spoil this book at all but it is such a good blend of different genres, like: fantasy, sci-fi, humor, drama, and so much more. However, I will mention that this book does provide you with very choppy writing. There's also a crap ton of repetitiveness. BUT I really enjoyed it even with those flaws because it was hilarious. I don't really have anything bad to say about this book. I'm super happy that I found this book and that I found time to sit down and laugh.
September 18, 2008
Make no mistake, this is getting two stars because Millar was fortunate enough to have Neil Gaiman write his introduction...which, by the end of the book, is the best piece of writing in the whole thing. This is a shame, because I received this book as a present from a really good friend, and was completely ready for a hilarious, light-hearted sort of novel. I really, really tried to like it, and forced myself to sit through the whole thing, sixth-grade writing style and all, despite numerous moments when I wanted to toss it aside for the other books beckoning from my shelves. It was no good. There were a few promising moments, but my interest was never held for very long. The plot had too many running gags that weren't funny after about fifty pages, and quite a few of the characters seemed to have the same speech patterns. I couldn't really get attached enough to even one charater enough to care what happend to them.
In the end, I would only recommend this book to people with exceedingly short attention spans, because the chapters are mere pages, and the sections within chapters sometimes dwindle to a paragraph.
In the end, I would only recommend this book to people with exceedingly short attention spans, because the chapters are mere pages, and the sections within chapters sometimes dwindle to a paragraph.
June 22, 2008
While not quite as life-changingingly awesome as
Lonely Werewolf Girl
, this is still a ripsnortingly fun read.
Updated to add: One of the reasons this book didn't completely work for me is that, even though it is set in New York and two of the main characters are supposedly Americans if not New Yorkers, all of the characters seemed British to me. Millar avoided any really obvious faults in vocabulary, but the tone of the dialogue wasn't quite right for New Yorkers.
Updated to add, second iteration: Now that I've thought about it some more, I can't think of a way in which making the New Yorkers more realistic would have helped this book, which is essentially escapist and non-realist, and is in no way a "gritty urban fantasy." Introducing more gritty or realistic elements would probably have destroyed what Millar was going for, if I can even pretend to know what his intentions were.
Updated to add: One of the reasons this book didn't completely work for me is that, even though it is set in New York and two of the main characters are supposedly Americans if not New Yorkers, all of the characters seemed British to me. Millar avoided any really obvious faults in vocabulary, but the tone of the dialogue wasn't quite right for New Yorkers.
Updated to add, second iteration: Now that I've thought about it some more, I can't think of a way in which making the New Yorkers more realistic would have helped this book, which is essentially escapist and non-realist, and is in no way a "gritty urban fantasy." Introducing more gritty or realistic elements would probably have destroyed what Millar was going for, if I can even pretend to know what his intentions were.
November 11, 2015
The Good Fairies of New York isn't your 'run-of-the-mill' fairy tale. I laughed at the antics of Morag and Heather, two Scottish thistle fairies who can't live with or without each other. They fight about who's the best fiddler, the best drinker, the best teacher, the best lover... if there's a contest involved, these two are fighting about it. Millar's characters are so very funny, but I didn't really care for the way that he writes. The story moves very quickly but sporadically forward. Every two or three paragraphs, he moves from one part of his world to the next so that the reader is constantly changing places, people, and situations. I could see this making an excellent graphic novel, where each page would be a different story line. In novel form though, it wasn't so good.
Some of my favorite bits:
They're about to be attacked by the Cornish fairies and they're bemoaning the fact that they haven't "studied tactical warfare." "Neither had any of them. When it came right down to it, what the good Scottish fairies liked doing best was sitting with pleasant company in pleasant surroundings, playing music and drinking heather ale and whiskey." pg 224 I might make a rather good Scottish fairy if I put my mind to it.
Or Heather's plan to get the fiddle from Dinnie if she can convince Kerry to be his girlfriend. "Heather had told Dinnie that to all practical purposes he could presume that Kerry was in love with him when she took him in her arms and kissed him passionately, without being asked. This seemed to her a reasonable yardstick and Dinnie, for want of anything better, agreed." pg 163-164 I agree that is a "fairly reasonable yardstick" for deciding if someone fancies you. A bit heavy handed perhaps, but, I've heard, that in matters of the heart, subtlety simply doesn't do.
I wouldn't recommend this read for the young adults who love fantasy because it contains some pretty hardcore phone sex commercials. (Which does eventually have a point in the story, but some readers may not be mature enough for that sort of content.) If you enjoyed The Good Fairies of New York, you may also like In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1) by Catherynne Valente (similar in that both weave stories within stories, Night Garden does it better) or Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4) by Terry Pratchett (contains an interesting interpretation of fairies like this book, but his is suitable for younger audiences).
Some of my favorite bits:
They're about to be attacked by the Cornish fairies and they're bemoaning the fact that they haven't "studied tactical warfare." "Neither had any of them. When it came right down to it, what the good Scottish fairies liked doing best was sitting with pleasant company in pleasant surroundings, playing music and drinking heather ale and whiskey." pg 224 I might make a rather good Scottish fairy if I put my mind to it.
Or Heather's plan to get the fiddle from Dinnie if she can convince Kerry to be his girlfriend. "Heather had told Dinnie that to all practical purposes he could presume that Kerry was in love with him when she took him in her arms and kissed him passionately, without being asked. This seemed to her a reasonable yardstick and Dinnie, for want of anything better, agreed." pg 163-164 I agree that is a "fairly reasonable yardstick" for deciding if someone fancies you. A bit heavy handed perhaps, but, I've heard, that in matters of the heart, subtlety simply doesn't do.
I wouldn't recommend this read for the young adults who love fantasy because it contains some pretty hardcore phone sex commercials. (Which does eventually have a point in the story, but some readers may not be mature enough for that sort of content.) If you enjoyed The Good Fairies of New York, you may also like In the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1) by Catherynne Valente (similar in that both weave stories within stories, Night Garden does it better) or Lords and Ladies (Discworld, #14; Witches #4) by Terry Pratchett (contains an interesting interpretation of fairies like this book, but his is suitable for younger audiences).
March 4, 2008
Boy.
Did i have to force myself through this one.
I have to wonder if Neil Gaiman and I were reading the same book. The storyline was completely all over the place. Within a chapter the author bounces from one group of characters to the next, leading me to wonder why he had numbered chapters at all..
The book goes something like this:
Two scottish fairies land in NYC, get drunk, play the fiddle, fight amongst each other and wreak havoc among the lives of Dinnie (A fat cranky man who has no money and cannot play the violin) and Kerry (a hippy chick suffering from chrons disease and who is desperately trying to create a flower alphabet). Other fairies keep popping up, of whom the two Scottish ones frequently upset, one of Kerrys flowers pass through almost every fairy or homeless persons hands, and an all out war between the fairies break out. ta-da. No need to read the novel.
Save yourself the money and time.
I've wasted enough for the both of us.
Did i have to force myself through this one.
I have to wonder if Neil Gaiman and I were reading the same book. The storyline was completely all over the place. Within a chapter the author bounces from one group of characters to the next, leading me to wonder why he had numbered chapters at all..
The book goes something like this:
Two scottish fairies land in NYC, get drunk, play the fiddle, fight amongst each other and wreak havoc among the lives of Dinnie (A fat cranky man who has no money and cannot play the violin) and Kerry (a hippy chick suffering from chrons disease and who is desperately trying to create a flower alphabet). Other fairies keep popping up, of whom the two Scottish ones frequently upset, one of Kerrys flowers pass through almost every fairy or homeless persons hands, and an all out war between the fairies break out. ta-da. No need to read the novel.
Save yourself the money and time.
I've wasted enough for the both of us.
February 10, 2023
Original and funny. I really enjoyed Martin Millar's writing style and plan to read more of his work.
January 30, 2010
I can't help but feel a bit betrayed. Neil Gaimen himself wrote a glowing introduction to the book, and promised me that it would be funny and engaging and wonderful. It was not.
The style was disjointed and haphazard, jumping from scene to scene that were sometimes as short as a few sentences. Doing so occasionally can sometimes be quite effective, but when the entire book is like that, it leaves me feeling like I've just read a long string of teasers, and the book itself had no meat. I also felt rather bereft of any character worth caring for. Don't get me wrong: I love flawed characters. However, I should say that I love flawed, likable characters. Kerry, the female lead, was the least-engaging Manic Pixie Dream Girl ever, complete with eccentric, girly wardrobe, kleptomania (that only happens once, and only when it is essential to the plot that a small knickknack gets stolen), kindness to the less fortunate which emerges in a predilction towards handing out postcards of artwork rather than money to the homeless in the hopes that it will uplift their spirits, and chronic illness that makes her Very Tragic. Her essential motivation is to achieve an act of vengeance on an ex-boyfriend, and anything that happens to her along the way (including the male lead) is barely paid attention to.
The male lead, on the other hand, has absolutely no redeeming characteristics at all. He's abrasive, self-absorbed, rude, and obnoxious. He does not change, except that he pretends to be nicer so that people will like him more. Inwardly, he remains the abrasive, self-absorbed, rude, obnoxious man he was when he started.
The two main fairies are also obnoxious. They are constantly drunk, constantly bickering, constantly creating problems through their narcissism and senses of entitlement, and constantly being surprised and offended when people get angry at them for it.
I could not find one character that I didn't find actively irritating, except perhaps for Johnny Thunders' ghost, who only manages not to be irritating by virture of his innate blandness.
I was left highly unsatisfied. It was a very long piece of fluff about horrible people and horrible fairies doing horrible things to each other and getting offended when called out for it. Not my cup of tea.
The style was disjointed and haphazard, jumping from scene to scene that were sometimes as short as a few sentences. Doing so occasionally can sometimes be quite effective, but when the entire book is like that, it leaves me feeling like I've just read a long string of teasers, and the book itself had no meat. I also felt rather bereft of any character worth caring for. Don't get me wrong: I love flawed characters. However, I should say that I love flawed, likable characters. Kerry, the female lead, was the least-engaging Manic Pixie Dream Girl ever, complete with eccentric, girly wardrobe, kleptomania (that only happens once, and only when it is essential to the plot that a small knickknack gets stolen), kindness to the less fortunate which emerges in a predilction towards handing out postcards of artwork rather than money to the homeless in the hopes that it will uplift their spirits, and chronic illness that makes her Very Tragic. Her essential motivation is to achieve an act of vengeance on an ex-boyfriend, and anything that happens to her along the way (including the male lead) is barely paid attention to.
The male lead, on the other hand, has absolutely no redeeming characteristics at all. He's abrasive, self-absorbed, rude, and obnoxious. He does not change, except that he pretends to be nicer so that people will like him more. Inwardly, he remains the abrasive, self-absorbed, rude, obnoxious man he was when he started.
The two main fairies are also obnoxious. They are constantly drunk, constantly bickering, constantly creating problems through their narcissism and senses of entitlement, and constantly being surprised and offended when people get angry at them for it.
I could not find one character that I didn't find actively irritating, except perhaps for Johnny Thunders' ghost, who only manages not to be irritating by virture of his innate blandness.
I was left highly unsatisfied. It was a very long piece of fluff about horrible people and horrible fairies doing horrible things to each other and getting offended when called out for it. Not my cup of tea.
November 17, 2018
Aspiring punk-rock Scottish fairies, Heather and Morag, crash the New York city-scape and disrupt the lives of Dinnie and Kerry. These two fistle fairies drink too much, they are promiscuous, and they are always ready to fight, often one another. They are rabble-rousers have a penchant for getting into trouble, but even for them starting race riots in the New York streets and an intercontinental fairy war seems a little over the top. With the best of intentions, well at least not down right bad intentions, they careen through this new environment and eventually come hurdling back to a conclusion, but will it be one they will live through? Will they be permitted back in their homeland? Will Dinnie learn to play his fiddle serviceably well? And, can they just get that blasted three-bloom poppy back for Kerry? Answers to these delightful questions, and much more await you between the covers.
I kept thinking of Terry Pratchett in the style of silliness or maybe Douglas Adams, but there is a saltiness to Millar that both lends a bit of realness to the fantasy, as well as, his own wry humor. While this is a page-turning fun read, it's also intelligent, but never overdone.
I kept thinking of Terry Pratchett in the style of silliness or maybe Douglas Adams, but there is a saltiness to Millar that both lends a bit of realness to the fantasy, as well as, his own wry humor. While this is a page-turning fun read, it's also intelligent, but never overdone.
September 1, 2017
I've known about this book forever, and for some reason always assumed I wouldn't like it.
I was wrong.
*************
(ETA now that I see how love-hate most of the reviews are.)
The writing style is really disjointed and choppy and sometimes repetitive. The random facts you get when first introduced to characters might not necessarily be the most important ones (or maybe they are), and so when the BIG facts are dropped it can really twist your gut. I guess maybe if you like linear narrative, that could be distracting. There are a lot of random British-isms given that two of the main characters are New Yorkers, but that didn't distract me overly much. There are a jillion characters, some of them are fairies, some of them are people, some of them are insane, and some of them are dead. A LOT happens in 242 pages. It happens fast and it happens without a lot of introspection. And I loved it and now want to read everything Martin Millar has ever written.
(Niel Gaimen compared his style to Kurt Vonnegut in his intro, and I think that's a pretty valid description.)
I was wrong.
*************
(ETA now that I see how love-hate most of the reviews are.)
The writing style is really disjointed and choppy and sometimes repetitive. The random facts you get when first introduced to characters might not necessarily be the most important ones (or maybe they are), and so when the BIG facts are dropped it can really twist your gut. I guess maybe if you like linear narrative, that could be distracting. There are a lot of random British-isms given that two of the main characters are New Yorkers, but that didn't distract me overly much. There are a jillion characters, some of them are fairies, some of them are people, some of them are insane, and some of them are dead. A LOT happens in 242 pages. It happens fast and it happens without a lot of introspection. And I loved it and now want to read everything Martin Millar has ever written.
(Niel Gaimen compared his style to Kurt Vonnegut in his intro, and I think that's a pretty valid description.)
August 28, 2011
I'm of two minds about this book.
On one hand, the book is a cocktail of JRRT, Shakespeare, Fairy Lore, West Side Story, and a slew of other things. This I liked.
On the other hand, none of the human characters are totally likable and the jumping around is a bit annoying.
Actually, Kerry is likable but Millar uses a diesase as a cheap trick to get the reader to like her and to prove a point about another character.
So amusing, funny, worth reading but not great.
On one hand, the book is a cocktail of JRRT, Shakespeare, Fairy Lore, West Side Story, and a slew of other things. This I liked.
On the other hand, none of the human characters are totally likable and the jumping around is a bit annoying.
Actually, Kerry is likable but Millar uses a diesase as a cheap trick to get the reader to like her and to prove a point about another character.
So amusing, funny, worth reading but not great.
Read
June 25, 2007The Good Fairies of New York finds two Scottish thimble fairies transported to lower Manhattan. Morag and Heather, who didn't completely fit in back in the old country, are a bit bewildered by their new surroundings, but make do as best they can. They're not entirely alone-as it turns out, New York is heavily populated by fairies, including Italian, Chinese, and black ones.
They glomp onto some humans; Morag joins Kerry, who suffers from Crohns disease (complete with colostomy bag), while Heather hooks up with the asocial (and unmusical) Dinnie. The humans aren't entirely enthralled by the fairies, with Dinnie telling Heather: "I've decided not to believe in you in the hope you'll disappear." His efforts are, of course, ineffective.
Some of the other fairies aren't too enthusiastic about the new foreign presences intruding on their turf either-and then there are the fairies back home, too... Whimsically and precisely, with a fun plot that turns corners on a dime, all sorts of delicious mayhem ensue.
These fairies enjoy drinking, eating magic mushrooms and passing out but they still manage to help a couple of humans to get their lives together along the way. Moreover, inhabited by a fascinating range of human ccharacters who are self centered and hedonistic but at the same time incredibly kind and loyal, Good Fairies is probably the only book out there in which race riots and Crohn's Disease are treated with lightness and good-tempered humor.
If you've ever wanted Johnny Thunders of The New York Dolls to come back from heaven to find his lost guitar, or if you've ever wondered why reels can be so tricky on the fiddle, or if you've tired of some of the more traditional types of fantasies, this book's for you.
They glomp onto some humans; Morag joins Kerry, who suffers from Crohns disease (complete with colostomy bag), while Heather hooks up with the asocial (and unmusical) Dinnie. The humans aren't entirely enthralled by the fairies, with Dinnie telling Heather: "I've decided not to believe in you in the hope you'll disappear." His efforts are, of course, ineffective.
Some of the other fairies aren't too enthusiastic about the new foreign presences intruding on their turf either-and then there are the fairies back home, too... Whimsically and precisely, with a fun plot that turns corners on a dime, all sorts of delicious mayhem ensue.
These fairies enjoy drinking, eating magic mushrooms and passing out but they still manage to help a couple of humans to get their lives together along the way. Moreover, inhabited by a fascinating range of human ccharacters who are self centered and hedonistic but at the same time incredibly kind and loyal, Good Fairies is probably the only book out there in which race riots and Crohn's Disease are treated with lightness and good-tempered humor.
If you've ever wanted Johnny Thunders of The New York Dolls to come back from heaven to find his lost guitar, or if you've ever wondered why reels can be so tricky on the fiddle, or if you've tired of some of the more traditional types of fantasies, this book's for you.
December 26, 2017
Great idea, terrible writing.
I remember actually liking this book when I first read it - it was the German translation and I'm pretty sure unlike most of the time an English text gets translated into German, in this case the story benefitted enormously from the process.
Re-reading "The Good Fairies of New York" turned out to be a big disappointment. Or perhaps that's too strong a word, because for me the main characteristic of Millar's novel is that it leaves you completely cold and uninterested.
The characters are barely developed and very superficial. They have theoretically grave problems (chronic illness, homelessness and mental illness / alcoholism, a fairy feud, money trouble...), not that the tone of the novel ever manages to get that across, it all floates at the surface - in fact, those characters should be miserable and it's actually very depressing.
But did I care? No.
Because Millar never manages to make his reader indentify with at least one of the characters, they always stay behind a glass-wall of uninspired prose and endless jumping between point of views.
This book is being advertised as being original and very funny. It isn't. It's best being described as the bland execution of an interesting premise.
I agree with the other reviewers who wondered what the h*** Gaiman read before he wrote his glowing review / foreword for "The Good Fairies of New York". It hardly seems to be the same book I read.
I remember actually liking this book when I first read it - it was the German translation and I'm pretty sure unlike most of the time an English text gets translated into German, in this case the story benefitted enormously from the process.
Re-reading "The Good Fairies of New York" turned out to be a big disappointment. Or perhaps that's too strong a word, because for me the main characteristic of Millar's novel is that it leaves you completely cold and uninterested.
The characters are barely developed and very superficial. They have theoretically grave problems (chronic illness, homelessness and mental illness / alcoholism, a fairy feud, money trouble...), not that the tone of the novel ever manages to get that across, it all floates at the surface - in fact, those characters should be miserable and it's actually very depressing.
But did I care? No.
Because Millar never manages to make his reader indentify with at least one of the characters, they always stay behind a glass-wall of uninspired prose and endless jumping between point of views.
This book is being advertised as being original and very funny. It isn't. It's best being described as the bland execution of an interesting premise.
I agree with the other reviewers who wondered what the h*** Gaiman read before he wrote his glowing review / foreword for "The Good Fairies of New York". It hardly seems to be the same book I read.
March 27, 2011
‘The Good Fairies of New York’ tells the dreamy tale of a fairy troupe who converge on a terrible New York violinist named Dinnie. Heather and Morag, along with their winged-friends Brannoc, Maeve, Padraig, Petal and Tulip have a plan for Dinnie and his across-the-way neighbour, Kerry. These eighteen-inch fairies pack quite the punch and have a cunning strategy for war that would put Sun Tzu to shame . . .
‘The Good Fairies of New York’ was actually published in 1992, but has been re-released this year. Apparently Martin Millar was one impressive author who flew under the radar for a while, until his 2007 novel ‘Lonely Werewolf Girl’ put him on the map. He became a literary darling, and the novels of his backlist became rare and costly (people on Amazon forums talk about forking out upwards of $100 for battered copies!). So this new edition of ‘The Good Fairies of New York’, another Millar novel in the paranormal vain, is a fantastic re-release for new and old fans.
This edition comes with an introduction by Neil Gaiman, and his words very aptly applied to me. In this intro, Gaiman admits he had ‘Good Fairies’ sitting on his shelf for five years before he actually got around to reading and falling in love with it . . . I too have been remiss with the works of Martin Millar. I have had his ‘Lonely Werewolf Girl’ sitting on my shelf since 2007, and I've ever bought ‘Curse of the Werewolf’ girl . . . but I haven’t read either of them. And now I am truly ashamed, because Millar is an extraordinary voice in paranormal literature, and ‘The Good Fairies’ is an incredible feat of city fantasy.
New York City becomes an eclectic setting for these pint-sized fae. The city has always been touted as a cultural melting-pot, never more than when these faeries come to town. Reading about New York from an eighteen-inch high perspective is both grimy and brilliant, particularly when these faeries munch on magic mushrooms and swill whiskey with abandon.
“Right you two,” said Dinnie, stomping back into the room. “Get out of here immediately and don’t come back.”
“What is the matter with you?” demanded Heather, shaking her golden hair. “Humans are supposed to be pleased, delighted and honoured when they meet a fairy. They jump about going ‘A fairy, a fairy!’ and laugh with pleasure. They don’t demand they get out of their room immediately and don’t come back.”
“Well, welcome to New York,” snarled Dinnie. “Now beat it.”
The story has real heart, above all else. Dinnie is an atrocious violinist, and his neighbour, Kerry, suffers from Crohn’s disease and was recently dumped for having a colostomy bag. The story is all about how eighteen-inch fairy-cupids work to bring these two unlikely’s together, while also working to defeat the King of the Cornish Faeries.
Bibliophiles may scoff and scorn fantasy as being a ‘popular genre’ with no real substance. To those cynics, I would direct you to Martin Millar and his awesome blend of paranormal punk. He writes with unrepentant abandon and unsurpassed wit. His story is off-beat and quirky, but it’s also a tale with a beating pulse and moral warmth. Martin Millar is an incredible addition to the paranormal scene – he dirties the genre, roughs it up and screams a story that rings in your ears long after the last page.
‘The Good Fairies of New York’ was actually published in 1992, but has been re-released this year. Apparently Martin Millar was one impressive author who flew under the radar for a while, until his 2007 novel ‘Lonely Werewolf Girl’ put him on the map. He became a literary darling, and the novels of his backlist became rare and costly (people on Amazon forums talk about forking out upwards of $100 for battered copies!). So this new edition of ‘The Good Fairies of New York’, another Millar novel in the paranormal vain, is a fantastic re-release for new and old fans.
This edition comes with an introduction by Neil Gaiman, and his words very aptly applied to me. In this intro, Gaiman admits he had ‘Good Fairies’ sitting on his shelf for five years before he actually got around to reading and falling in love with it . . . I too have been remiss with the works of Martin Millar. I have had his ‘Lonely Werewolf Girl’ sitting on my shelf since 2007, and I've ever bought ‘Curse of the Werewolf’ girl . . . but I haven’t read either of them. And now I am truly ashamed, because Millar is an extraordinary voice in paranormal literature, and ‘The Good Fairies’ is an incredible feat of city fantasy.
New York City becomes an eclectic setting for these pint-sized fae. The city has always been touted as a cultural melting-pot, never more than when these faeries come to town. Reading about New York from an eighteen-inch high perspective is both grimy and brilliant, particularly when these faeries munch on magic mushrooms and swill whiskey with abandon.
“Right you two,” said Dinnie, stomping back into the room. “Get out of here immediately and don’t come back.”
“What is the matter with you?” demanded Heather, shaking her golden hair. “Humans are supposed to be pleased, delighted and honoured when they meet a fairy. They jump about going ‘A fairy, a fairy!’ and laugh with pleasure. They don’t demand they get out of their room immediately and don’t come back.”
“Well, welcome to New York,” snarled Dinnie. “Now beat it.”
The story has real heart, above all else. Dinnie is an atrocious violinist, and his neighbour, Kerry, suffers from Crohn’s disease and was recently dumped for having a colostomy bag. The story is all about how eighteen-inch fairy-cupids work to bring these two unlikely’s together, while also working to defeat the King of the Cornish Faeries.
Bibliophiles may scoff and scorn fantasy as being a ‘popular genre’ with no real substance. To those cynics, I would direct you to Martin Millar and his awesome blend of paranormal punk. He writes with unrepentant abandon and unsurpassed wit. His story is off-beat and quirky, but it’s also a tale with a beating pulse and moral warmth. Martin Millar is an incredible addition to the paranormal scene – he dirties the genre, roughs it up and screams a story that rings in your ears long after the last page.
November 22, 2010
I really enjoyed this story; apparently more than the editors did, however.
I had a great time getting sucked into Millar's New York, and the overlapping stories of the various fairies of the city. I wish that the editor had the same appreciation for Millar's characters that I did.
It appears that the editor enjoyed the first half of the novel, but, maybe relied on spell check for the second half. I am speaking from my personal experience when I say, the invention of spellcheck is both a wonderful blessing, and a horrible curse. It is embarrassing to present a document to students full of errors, knowing that my overreliance on spellcheck is to blame...
But, it is entirely on me; I did not read the paper, or assignment, or report, or presentation, before putting it into other peoples' hands or displaying it for all to see with each error enlarged and projected onto a screen.
I feel for the author, however, because I think, and I may be wrong here, but I think the publisher hires an editor, to read through the novel, and to catch the errors, among other things. The first half of the novel is much more enjoyable than the second; not because it is better written, or because you are more intrigued by where the characters may go, than where they actually go; instead, the second half of the novel is less enjoyable, because there are too many times when the reader is tripping over themselves to make sense of the sentence, only to realize that the wrong word was inserted in the sentence; a word correctly spelled, but not, the correct word, for the sentence.
Trust me, I have been there, I am not criticizing something I don;t do myself, on a daily basis-or even in this review-I am just saying, I wish someone would have done a better job of proofreading, before putting this novel to press.
or, perhaps I am mistaken, and somehow Heather and Morag got into another scuffle that offset some typesetting ;)
either way, I hope you do give this one a try, as the story itself is quite enjoyable. I won't bore you here with details from the plot summary-or give you my impression of the themes of growth, friendship, love, understanding, misunderstanding, and , of course, what it means to be a good fairy :)
Instead, I will let you decide as I did, whether to read this one, based entirely on a title, and cover, that were enough to intrigue me. And, if that isn't enough....there is also a great intro by neil gaiman...
I had a great time getting sucked into Millar's New York, and the overlapping stories of the various fairies of the city. I wish that the editor had the same appreciation for Millar's characters that I did.
It appears that the editor enjoyed the first half of the novel, but, maybe relied on spell check for the second half. I am speaking from my personal experience when I say, the invention of spellcheck is both a wonderful blessing, and a horrible curse. It is embarrassing to present a document to students full of errors, knowing that my overreliance on spellcheck is to blame...
But, it is entirely on me; I did not read the paper, or assignment, or report, or presentation, before putting it into other peoples' hands or displaying it for all to see with each error enlarged and projected onto a screen.
I feel for the author, however, because I think, and I may be wrong here, but I think the publisher hires an editor, to read through the novel, and to catch the errors, among other things. The first half of the novel is much more enjoyable than the second; not because it is better written, or because you are more intrigued by where the characters may go, than where they actually go; instead, the second half of the novel is less enjoyable, because there are too many times when the reader is tripping over themselves to make sense of the sentence, only to realize that the wrong word was inserted in the sentence; a word correctly spelled, but not, the correct word, for the sentence.
Trust me, I have been there, I am not criticizing something I don;t do myself, on a daily basis-or even in this review-I am just saying, I wish someone would have done a better job of proofreading, before putting this novel to press.
or, perhaps I am mistaken, and somehow Heather and Morag got into another scuffle that offset some typesetting ;)
either way, I hope you do give this one a try, as the story itself is quite enjoyable. I won't bore you here with details from the plot summary-or give you my impression of the themes of growth, friendship, love, understanding, misunderstanding, and , of course, what it means to be a good fairy :)
Instead, I will let you decide as I did, whether to read this one, based entirely on a title, and cover, that were enough to intrigue me. And, if that isn't enough....there is also a great intro by neil gaiman...
June 30, 2016
2.5
I'm not really sure what to say about this story. It's cute and fairly enjoyable, but the writing style was both simplistic and sort of herky-jerky.
It read almost more like a TV treatment, giving a sketch outline of scenes and characters, instead of ever really delving into anything. It jumped from character to character, and a lot of times the action would happen off-page and be related from one character to another later.
It's also fairly forgettable. I mean, it's been a little over a week since I finished it, but I had to read other reviews to jog my memory about what the story was even about. The two main fairies annoyed me with their constant bickering, I found the love story unbelievable, and the names kind of confusingly interchangeable.
But, I mean, like I said, it was cute. (It was also kind of refreshing to see a story where sexuality is treated as healthy and normal and not fetishized.)
I'm not sorry I read it or anything, but I'm not really fussed about picking up anything else by this author, either.
I'm not really sure what to say about this story. It's cute and fairly enjoyable, but the writing style was both simplistic and sort of herky-jerky.
It read almost more like a TV treatment, giving a sketch outline of scenes and characters, instead of ever really delving into anything. It jumped from character to character, and a lot of times the action would happen off-page and be related from one character to another later.
It's also fairly forgettable. I mean, it's been a little over a week since I finished it, but I had to read other reviews to jog my memory about what the story was even about. The two main fairies annoyed me with their constant bickering, I found the love story unbelievable, and the names kind of confusingly interchangeable.
But, I mean, like I said, it was cute. (It was also kind of refreshing to see a story where sexuality is treated as healthy and normal and not fetishized.)
I'm not sorry I read it or anything, but I'm not really fussed about picking up anything else by this author, either.
May 16, 2025
truly just so fun to read once all the stories start wildly intersecting. love the new york setting, love the fairies, love it all. no laugh out loud moments but lots of smiling. just too cutesie.
November 2, 2012
Se penso alle fate la prima immagine che mi viene in mente è Trilli, la fatina di Peter Pan, un po' dispettosa, sicuramente gelosa e invidiosa, ma soprattutto piccola piccola.
Ed è proprio così che Martin Millar descrive le fate Morag e Heather, cacciate dalla Scozia e finite, non si sa come, a New York dove "non si può neanche trovare un goccio di vero whisky al malto"!
Sì perché non solo le nostre fatine sono spesso ubriache, ma prediligono anche i funghetti magici!
Ah, dimenticavo, vogliono anche creare un gruppo punk-rock celtico!! Dei tipetti veramente particolari!
La storia è carina anche se un po' confusionaria.
I troppi punti di vista che si alternavano anche all'interno di un unico capitolo mi hanno fatto girare la testa!
Ovviamente c'è Heather e Morag, poi una barbona di nome Magenta che crede di essere Senofonte (e vi giuro che quando c'era il suo punto di vista ero realmente tentata a mettere giù il libro!!) e che beve un cocktail fatto con lucido da scarpe (!!!!), alcool denaturato e spezie varie, poi si passa in Cornovaglia alla corte del re Tala, ed ancora a Central Park, dove Petalo e Tulipano (i figli di re Tala, fratello e sorella) si sono rifugiati insieme ad alcuni amici, infine, verso gli ultimi capitoli, giacchè non c'erano abbastanza punti di vista, è stato introdotto anche quello del capo dei ribelli, innamorato perdutamente della figliastra del re Tala.
Non vi pare che già così ci sia un po' troppa confusione? e che ancora non ho scritto tutti i nomi delle fate e dei personaggi che compaiono in questa storia, troppi per essere riportati, ma anche solo per essere ricordati..
Insomma, in mezzo a tutta questa confusione, abbastanza tipica quando si ha a che fare con le fate, si delinea una storia piacevole, a tratti interessante.
In questo libro ho notato che spazio e tempo a volte si confondono, non viene usata una linearità nel racconto e spesso leggendo, credevo che fossero passate solo poche ore quando in realtà, dopo più pagine, mi rendevo conto (perché veniva specificato) che erano trascorse settimane.
Il continuo cambiamento di punti di vista, mi ha reso impossibile immedesimarmi in uno qualsiasi dei personaggi (a mio parere decisamente troppi) e devo anche aggiungere che non ho provato alcuna emozione leggendo questo libro, una storia carina, ma nulla più.
Il titolo, la copertina, tutto mi ispirava a leggere questo libro, ma ora che l'ho finito, non so, mi aspettavo di più..
Ed è proprio così che Martin Millar descrive le fate Morag e Heather, cacciate dalla Scozia e finite, non si sa come, a New York dove "non si può neanche trovare un goccio di vero whisky al malto"!
Sì perché non solo le nostre fatine sono spesso ubriache, ma prediligono anche i funghetti magici!
Ah, dimenticavo, vogliono anche creare un gruppo punk-rock celtico!! Dei tipetti veramente particolari!
La storia è carina anche se un po' confusionaria.
I troppi punti di vista che si alternavano anche all'interno di un unico capitolo mi hanno fatto girare la testa!
Ovviamente c'è Heather e Morag, poi una barbona di nome Magenta che crede di essere Senofonte (e vi giuro che quando c'era il suo punto di vista ero realmente tentata a mettere giù il libro!!) e che beve un cocktail fatto con lucido da scarpe (!!!!), alcool denaturato e spezie varie, poi si passa in Cornovaglia alla corte del re Tala, ed ancora a Central Park, dove Petalo e Tulipano (i figli di re Tala, fratello e sorella) si sono rifugiati insieme ad alcuni amici, infine, verso gli ultimi capitoli, giacchè non c'erano abbastanza punti di vista, è stato introdotto anche quello del capo dei ribelli, innamorato perdutamente della figliastra del re Tala.
Non vi pare che già così ci sia un po' troppa confusione? e che ancora non ho scritto tutti i nomi delle fate e dei personaggi che compaiono in questa storia, troppi per essere riportati, ma anche solo per essere ricordati..
Insomma, in mezzo a tutta questa confusione, abbastanza tipica quando si ha a che fare con le fate, si delinea una storia piacevole, a tratti interessante.
In questo libro ho notato che spazio e tempo a volte si confondono, non viene usata una linearità nel racconto e spesso leggendo, credevo che fossero passate solo poche ore quando in realtà, dopo più pagine, mi rendevo conto (perché veniva specificato) che erano trascorse settimane.
Il continuo cambiamento di punti di vista, mi ha reso impossibile immedesimarmi in uno qualsiasi dei personaggi (a mio parere decisamente troppi) e devo anche aggiungere che non ho provato alcuna emozione leggendo questo libro, una storia carina, ma nulla più.
Il titolo, la copertina, tutto mi ispirava a leggere questo libro, ma ora che l'ho finito, non so, mi aspettavo di più..
June 1, 2009
I bought this on a whim because it was sitting on a table at Barnes and Noble and it had an introduction by Neil Gaiman. I would say I am an incredibly avid fan of Neil Gaiman, so into my collection it went.
I wasn't totally disappointed. It was a fun read, and the characters were memorable (especially Dinnie and Kerry), but I felt like some of the storytelling choices the author made were very awkward. You never really read about anything happening, you just heard about it later. You were never present during any of the fights or kisses or thievings... you were just told about it later during a conversation. It became a little frustrating. The running gag with the Welsh poppy was the best part of the book, though by the time Kerry got it back even I was rolling my eyes a little bit. (I was irked that I never found out exactly what the importance of a Celtic flower alphabet was. Looking it up, I was even more irked to discover that it's not a real thing, so now I will have to crack open Martin Millar's head like a coconut to find out what it is.)
Nevertheless, it was a fun read, though not terribly like Neil Gaiman-- it was Neil Gaiman Super Lite.
"Meanwhile, back on Fourth Street, Dinnie swallowed a mouthful of Mexican beer, scratched his plump chin and strode confidently into his room, convinced that he had imagined the whole thing.
"Two fairies were sleeping peacefully on his bed. Dinnie was immediately depressed. He knew that he did not have enough money to see a therapist."
I wasn't totally disappointed. It was a fun read, and the characters were memorable (especially Dinnie and Kerry), but I felt like some of the storytelling choices the author made were very awkward. You never really read about anything happening, you just heard about it later. You were never present during any of the fights or kisses or thievings... you were just told about it later during a conversation. It became a little frustrating. The running gag with the Welsh poppy was the best part of the book, though by the time Kerry got it back even I was rolling my eyes a little bit. (I was irked that I never found out exactly what the importance of a Celtic flower alphabet was. Looking it up, I was even more irked to discover that it's not a real thing, so now I will have to crack open Martin Millar's head like a coconut to find out what it is.)
Nevertheless, it was a fun read, though not terribly like Neil Gaiman-- it was Neil Gaiman Super Lite.
"Meanwhile, back on Fourth Street, Dinnie swallowed a mouthful of Mexican beer, scratched his plump chin and strode confidently into his room, convinced that he had imagined the whole thing.
"Two fairies were sleeping peacefully on his bed. Dinnie was immediately depressed. He knew that he did not have enough money to see a therapist."
June 28, 2011
This one touched the right buttons for me. It's a fairy tale tale for the new kids on the block : irreverent, subversive, sexually liberated, rich in pop culture references. It should also come with it's own soundtrack albums - one for New York punk bands and one for traditional Scottish tunes. I am tempted to take notes and hunt for the records mentioned here when I get around to re-reading the book.
The general tone is one of carnival parade / commedia dell' arte with colourful characters intersecting their storylines on the streets of Manhattan. A more serious approach dealing with specific New York issues like homeless people, rude people, sick people, racist people, is used to balance the humorous passages. There are also references to A Midsummer Night Dream, but since I am not very familiar with the play, they probably passed by me.
The two human protagonists, Dinnie and Kerry, work well in contre-point to the two fairy hellraisers, Morag and Heather.
I wish Millar / Scott would get better exposure. I liked also his Thraxas novels and Lonely Werewolf Girl.
The general tone is one of carnival parade / commedia dell' arte with colourful characters intersecting their storylines on the streets of Manhattan. A more serious approach dealing with specific New York issues like homeless people, rude people, sick people, racist people, is used to balance the humorous passages. There are also references to A Midsummer Night Dream, but since I am not very familiar with the play, they probably passed by me.
The two human protagonists, Dinnie and Kerry, work well in contre-point to the two fairy hellraisers, Morag and Heather.
I wish Millar / Scott would get better exposure. I liked also his Thraxas novels and Lonely Werewolf Girl.
March 23, 2017
You will love it or hate it, I am in the former category. What to expect? lack of chapters, abrupt changes in PoV, crazy characters and crazier ones, a consistent thought that a guiding hand has a role in everything, R rated humor, and lots of drunk fairies. If you don't think you can handle that, don't bother.
But I love this book. Punk rock is better with fiddles, the streets of New York probably resemble a Greek battleground more than most of us know, and entire societies shouldn't be completely industrialized in one generation.
Ill never be able to explain what happens, even after my third reread. But hey, it has a introduction by Neil Gaiman, so that should be good enough for you. Just imagine American Gods with humor, crazy chapter structure, more drunken fairies, and half the length.
But I love this book. Punk rock is better with fiddles, the streets of New York probably resemble a Greek battleground more than most of us know, and entire societies shouldn't be completely industrialized in one generation.
Ill never be able to explain what happens, even after my third reread. But hey, it has a introduction by Neil Gaiman, so that should be good enough for you. Just imagine American Gods with humor, crazy chapter structure, more drunken fairies, and half the length.
September 2, 2008
The writing style was light and easy to read. This made it a quick read but also left the story very shallow. There were a larger than average number of characters and the story rapidly switched between them. Each time I picked the book up again I had trouble remembering what was happening with all of the characters.
The premise of the book seemed very funny, fairies running amok in New York City, but the delivery was only mildly humorous and overly crass in places. The characters themselves lacked depth and their conflicts were not very interesting, in the end I didn't really care what happened to the characters.
The premise of the book seemed very funny, fairies running amok in New York City, but the delivery was only mildly humorous and overly crass in places. The characters themselves lacked depth and their conflicts were not very interesting, in the end I didn't really care what happened to the characters.
February 22, 2016
Great fun and very funny in places. Marred only by referring to Chinese people as yellow-skinned (albeit in a context where the fairies could not understand why human beings thought colour was important). I was surprised at this in a book dating only from 1992. Otherwise an excellent, humorous romp.
September 27, 2022
Too many intercrossing plot lines, hard to keep track of. Clearly well thought out, but with only one read, hard to fully understand. Couple of typos here and there which I found quite noticeable. I feel this book could make a decent short on tv but as a book, hard to follow. Couldn’t bring myself to care for the characters and the book was overall just hard to get through. Started off strong, finished weaker. #Magentastanforlife
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