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Unseelie
The darkness tasted like bitter bark and earth, sharp berries, and cold water. I could not feel it as it came over me but I could smell it, taste it, hear it . . . When Alfhild was a little girl, her grandmother called her a fairy princess and told her all of her favorite tales. She'd never imagined they were real. Anxious to avoid the swarming reporters and ghoulish souvenir hunters who won't leave her alone when her brother Gulliver is tried and acquitted for multiple murders he almost certainly committed, a grown up Alfhild changes her name to Lorelei and flees Louisiana to the sanctuary she inherited from her grandmother, the ancestral home in England. All is well until she wakes one morning to find a naked man in her rosebush. And the games begin . . . Lorelei's inauspicious introduction to Cadfael, the seductively beautiful Unseelie prince, does not prepare her for becoming a pawn between the ancient queens of the faerie courts, Iseult and Mabd. Her big mouth and smartass attitude turn tension into war between the faerie clans: the Seelie, hiding behind golden lies and their resplendent beauty; and the Unseelie, long considered the fearsome things that go bump in the night. Her brother works for the Seelie queen. The man she loves is in line to inherit the Unseelie throne. And both of them are determined to have Lorelei on their side. The real world thinks she's been murdered, her house has been turned into a crime scene, and there are creatures on both sides of the war who call her a traitor. She doesn't want to know what they do to traitors. Too bad the excitement didn't end at a naked man in her rosebush. Things are a lot weirder now.
338 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 10, 2016
If I had been AlfhildLorelei and I found a naked guy in my bush that happened to be hot, I'm not sure I would have reacted the same way. Weird, yes. But being a child of fantasy I would have immediately jumped to the conclusion that Big Major Adventure now awaits me. Like Alfhild ne` Lorelei I would have probably freaked out. I found it amusing that throughout the book she remarks about how typical heroines do this or that (depending on the genre), but she refuses to fall into that pattern. She does, sometimes, but then she admonishes herself to be more practical.
While I enjoyed Unseelie a lot, I felt at times that it should have been broken up into two or three books. A lot happens in Unseelie, but at the same time you aren't given time to digest what happened before when something new occurs. The e-book runs at 400 pages (roughly) there's plenty of Big Happenings, but the book could have benefited from focusing on one Big Happening and then writing another book about the Next Big Happening and so forth, to flesh out some characters (and motivations) and give the reader time to adjust to the changes.
I loved the interaction between Cadfael and Lorelei. The two of them sparked, giggled, fought and irritated the living daylights out of each other, but their conversations were always fun. Du, a cait-sith (a feline fae as it were, not related to the Sith of Star Wars thank you), is an amusing a quirky character. He was a little abrasive at first, but I grew to like him a lot by the end.
There's some assumption made that the reader will at least recognize some of the inhabitants of the Unseelie and Seelie Courts without too much prompting from the characters within. This was fine for me, since I grew up on these stories, but for those not really attuned to the Celtic lore confusion might abound until someone (usually Du or Cadfael) takes the time to remind Lorelei that she's being thick-headed and should remember things better.
Overall I enjoyed Unseelie a lot. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fantasy read that's both humorous but with dark touches or who found themselves wanting to know a little more about the creatures after reading other Fae related books.
While I enjoyed Unseelie a lot, I felt at times that it should have been broken up into two or three books. A lot happens in Unseelie, but at the same time you aren't given time to digest what happened before when something new occurs. The e-book runs at 400 pages (roughly) there's plenty of Big Happenings, but the book could have benefited from focusing on one Big Happening and then writing another book about the Next Big Happening and so forth, to flesh out some characters (and motivations) and give the reader time to adjust to the changes.
I loved the interaction between Cadfael and Lorelei. The two of them sparked, giggled, fought and irritated the living daylights out of each other, but their conversations were always fun. Du, a cait-sith (a feline fae as it were, not related to the Sith of Star Wars thank you), is an amusing a quirky character. He was a little abrasive at first, but I grew to like him a lot by the end.
There's some assumption made that the reader will at least recognize some of the inhabitants of the Unseelie and Seelie Courts without too much prompting from the characters within. This was fine for me, since I grew up on these stories, but for those not really attuned to the Celtic lore confusion might abound until someone (usually Du or Cadfael) takes the time to remind Lorelei that she's being thick-headed and should remember things better.
Overall I enjoyed Unseelie a lot. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fantasy read that's both humorous but with dark touches or who found themselves wanting to know a little more about the creatures after reading other Fae related books.
May 16, 2009
When Alfhild was a little girl, her grandmother called her a fairy princess and told her all of her favorite tales. She'd never imagined they were real.
Now as a grown-up, Alfhild has changed her name and fled Louisiana, and the paparazzi that's been haunting her since her half-brother's murder accusations. She's now taken up residence in her grandmother's ancestral home in England, where all is well until the morning she awakens to find a naked man in her rosebush: a faerie prince by the name of Cadfael. And then the games begin....
All of a sudden, Alfhild is unwittingly drawn into the Faerie realm, becoming a pawn between the sparring Seelie and Unseelie Courts. And it seems her half-brother Gulliver is here too, playing for the other team....
Like me, you're probably thinking, oh no, not another faerie book! Aren't all these faerie realm books beginning to sound the same: young girl gets sucked into the realm, discovers her faerie prince, yada yada yada, and when all is said and done, lives happily ever after. This is what I was afraid of when I first started reading. But fortunately, this story had a few different things going for it to distinguish it from the standard "faerie tale" setup, and unlike many of the other faerie-based stories out there, this isn't a young adult book. For starters, we have Alfhild's half-brother, Gulliver, and her best friend, Jackie, both characters in the story who follow Alfhild from the human realm into the faerie realm. There are also several other interesting species besides human and fey, and several mythical beings from the old legends such as Jack of the Green and Jenny Greenteeth. Some very interesting characters to be sure! The unconventional methods by which Alfhild attempts to bring victory to the Unseelie Court in their never-ending battle with the Seelie is quite entertaining (she's such a ditz! LOL) and didn't follow any of the preconceived formulas of other stories I've read.
According to an online interview with Meredith, this book started it's life as a NaNoWriMo project which grew into three separate self-published novels. These three novels were then later combined to become the single book it is now. During my reading, I actually did find myself thinking this seemed to be quite a long book, though reading on my Kindle I couldn't quite give a specific page count. If I were to hedge a guess though, I'd have to say it would probably be over 400 print pages. The finished product could have done with a bit more editing before being released however as there were some incidents of bad grammar and awkward sentence structure, and even a few conflicting facts within the story itself which, for an obsessive reader like me, detracted a bit from the enjoyability of the reading. For future books, I'd like to see a bit more foreshadowing, allowing the reader to speculate a bit. Instead, it often seemed the facts were laid down as they happened, leaving little room for such speculation. But I truly believe some of these skills will come with more experience as a writer. And despite these minor drawbacks, I did enjoy the story overall, particularly for the differences cited above which allowed it to stand out from the crowd.
If you enjoy a good faerie story, you should enjoy this as well, and can pick up a copy for your Kindle from Amazon, or directly from Drollerie Press in one of several other ebook formats.
August 9, 2009
I got hooked on this story the moment I read the excerpt and blurb available on the Drollerie Press website. The company caught my eye with their gorgeous design, great array of stories featuring fairy tales and fantasy and I even got a chance to chat with the authors and publisher in a recent gathering. The talk went from vampires to Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal and it was just a blast.
I decided to scoot Unseelie up on my list recently after buying it this month. This book by author Meredith Holmes is a gem. I love the world building of the fairies and the myths used to bring the world to life. I especially liked the switch of the Seelie and Unseelie courts and how they tied into the heroine's fate. There was an interesting twist early on as to how her half brother ties into everything that I was eager to see unravel.
It was a fun read with a handsome faerie prince I couldn't get enough, a strong yet soft hearted Cait Sidhe companion and some colorful characters in both courts. Ms. Holmes has a wonderful imagination for making the world of the fae come to life.
The only downside I felt was the main character herself which kind of brought the story down a few notches for me. I was eager to dive into the world and really get lost in it but the heroine's snide remarks and rebellious antics kind of put me off a bit. I felt a bit sorry for the prince and Cait Sidhe who had to teach her!
Besides that I really loved this world and the mythology behind it. Great battle scenes and beautiful visual descriptions of the world make this a world I wouldn't mind escaping to again!
I decided to scoot Unseelie up on my list recently after buying it this month. This book by author Meredith Holmes is a gem. I love the world building of the fairies and the myths used to bring the world to life. I especially liked the switch of the Seelie and Unseelie courts and how they tied into the heroine's fate. There was an interesting twist early on as to how her half brother ties into everything that I was eager to see unravel.
It was a fun read with a handsome faerie prince I couldn't get enough, a strong yet soft hearted Cait Sidhe companion and some colorful characters in both courts. Ms. Holmes has a wonderful imagination for making the world of the fae come to life.
The only downside I felt was the main character herself which kind of brought the story down a few notches for me. I was eager to dive into the world and really get lost in it but the heroine's snide remarks and rebellious antics kind of put me off a bit. I felt a bit sorry for the prince and Cait Sidhe who had to teach her!
Besides that I really loved this world and the mythology behind it. Great battle scenes and beautiful visual descriptions of the world make this a world I wouldn't mind escaping to again!
August 11, 2009
It should surprise none of you that with Faerie Blood under my belt, I’m a bit of a sucker for any book that involves the Unseelie Court. Meredith’s book gives ‘em a bit more of a traditionalist touch than I do. Come for the subverting of which Court is the good guys and which one the bad (a trick Jim Butcher fans will certainly recognize), and stay for the complicated Court intrigue and why, exactly, all these people are going berserk for Alfhild of the Seven Snows. Three stars.
October 25, 2010
I wanted to like this but I couldn't get through it because the writing style seemed a little too young. The style seemed targeted at young adults but the story isn't classed as YA so I was a bit disappointed. Between the style and the slow start I couldn't get into it.
May 16, 2018
Wow. I have no (other) words.
March 29, 2011
Amazon's Blurb on the book: The darkness tasted like bitter bark and earth, sharp berries, and cold water. I could not feel it as it came over me but I could smell it, taste it, hear it . . . When Alfhild was a little girl, her grandmother called her a fairy princess and told her all of her favorite tales. She’d never imagined they were real. Anxious to avoid the swarming reporters and ghoulish souvenir hunters who won’t leave her alone when her brother Gulliver is tried and acquitted for multiple murders he almost certainly committed, a grown up Alfhild changes her name to Lorelei and flees Louisiana to the sanctuary she inherited from her grandmother, the ancestral home in England. All is well until she wakes one morning to find a naked man in her rosebush. And the games begin . . . Lorelei’s inauspicious introduction to Cadfael, the seductively beautiful Unseelie prince, does not prepare her for becoming a pawn between the ancient queens of the faerie courts, Iseult and Mabd. Her big mouth and smartass attitude turn tension into war between the faerie clans: the Seelie, hiding behind golden lies and their resplendent beauty; and the Unseelie, long considered the fearsome things that go bump in the night. Her brother works for the Seelie queen. The man she loves is in line to inherit the Unseelie throne. And both of them are determined to have Lorelei on their side. The real world thinks she's been murdered, her house has been turned into a crime scene, and there are creatures on both sides of the war who call her a traitor. She doesn't want to know what they do to traitors. Too bad the excitement didn't end at a naked man in her rosebush. Things are a lot weirder now.
hmmm...how to review this...I really had no expectations going in as I had randomly come across the book on Amazon looking for something new to read. It was a very interesting story and it was very different in that the Unseelie are almost painted as the "good guys" while the Seelie are the bad guys...most stories about the Fae tend be "Seelie good" "Unseelie bad" so it was interesting to read the reverse. I really liked Lorelei/Alfhild even though a few times I thought she behaved like an idiot...and while I liked Cadfael I wish he had just told Lorelei everything in the beginning....although that would probably take away a lot of the story. All in all it was a good story and a fun read.
hmmm...how to review this...I really had no expectations going in as I had randomly come across the book on Amazon looking for something new to read. It was a very interesting story and it was very different in that the Unseelie are almost painted as the "good guys" while the Seelie are the bad guys...most stories about the Fae tend be "Seelie good" "Unseelie bad" so it was interesting to read the reverse. I really liked Lorelei/Alfhild even though a few times I thought she behaved like an idiot...and while I liked Cadfael I wish he had just told Lorelei everything in the beginning....although that would probably take away a lot of the story. All in all it was a good story and a fun read.
January 31, 2011
The summary is the only cohesive and compelling part of this book. The narrative is incredibly disjointed and the characters immature. As a teen book I might have given this two stars, and I'm sure there may be some teens who will enjoy this, but I was severely disappointed.
March 15, 2013
Loved it, loved it, loved it... and then loved it some more, and I'm really picky when it comes to the Sidhe. When is 'Seelie' coming out?
March 12, 2009
I liked this book a lot, it is very beautifully written, but the end is a little abrupt.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews