Tough Traveling: Fae
The Thursday feature “Tough Traveling” is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information.
This week’s tour topic is: Fae
Surprisingly not in the Tough Guide. How can this be? Fairies are a constant in the fantasy world and it is time they get their own week. Give us your Fae, be they sweet or nasty.
Mogsy’s Pick:
We’re all over the board today with the Fae, and I’m kicking ass and taking names! (Okay, mostly I have my Goodreads tagged “Fae” shelf to thank for that.)
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
Mac was sitting by the poolside when she got the news that her sister has been murdered. Before she died, she left a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone. Mac travels to Ireland to find answers and discovers she possesses a gift that allows her to see beyond the our world into the Fae realm, and learns that an alpha sex Fae may have something to do with her sister’s death. You heard me. Alpha sex Fae.
John Golden: Freelance Debugger by Django Wexler
If you ever find your computer or networks bogged down by gremlins, sprites, or any form of pesky fairies, John Golden’s your guy. In this world, the fae live in the “Wildernet”, and its denizens wreck havoc on our servers and systems by infesting them with their nasty “burrows”. As a debugger, it’s John’s job to get them out.
House of the Rising Sun by Kristen Painter
New Orleans is the perfect haven for paranormal beings like the Fae, of which there are dozens of different varieties, all categorized by their type of power. Augustine loves partying it up in the city, where the human women find his Fae heritage (as well as his horns) irresistible.
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter Grant travels into the English countryside to investigate the disappearance of two young girls and finds himself tangling with Faeries, invisible carnivorous unicorns, and skeptical locals. What more can you ask for?
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Peace at Sevenwaters is shattered when Sorcha’s widower father is seduced into marriage by an evil enchantress. The witch curses them all, turning Sorcha’s brothers into swans and banishing Sorcha into the forest. it’s up to Sorcha to lift the spell, but first she has to complete a long and difficult quest for the Fae.
The fae reside in the Nevernever and in our world. They are grouped into the Winter and Summer courts. The nobility, known as the Sidhe, are the most powerful of them all. Fae of all kinds love to make bargains, which is how Harry manages to get himself pressed into service of Mab, Winter Queen of the Winter Court,
Meet Celeste Ritsuko and Janus Mikani, a detective team for the Criminal Investigation Department. She’s the first female detective in her division; he’s a magical expert and brings his own uncanny Ferisher (just another fancy name for the Fae here) powers to the case.
The Waking Engine by David Edison
This wasn’t really my kind of book: too strange, with a protagonist I couldn’t quite relate to. It’s not helped by Cooper’s, er, unique situation. Over the course of this novel, he gets dragged across the metaverse by a goddess, kidnapped by faeries, drugged by Cleopatra, engulfed by a machine-flesh creature, and pursued by undead monsters and evil elf beings.
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
The Fae were long thought to have been extinct from Erilea, but in the old days they ruled the forests, rivers and mountains. Queen Elena Havilliard was a half-fae, and former princess of Terrasen. She appears throughout the series as a kind of ghost, helping Celaena by giving her advice.
The world of The Barrow is one filled with dark magics, shady politics, and disreputable characters. Scoundrels and perverts lurk at every corner, and if you’re really unlucky, you might even run afoul of demonic horrors and nasty fae sorcery.
It is Scotland and the year is 1844. A year has passed since Aileana Kameron was found standing over the dead body of her mother, covered in blood. Everyone thinks she has something to do with it, but Aileana knows the truth. It was a faery who killed her mother and ripped out her heart.
The fae almost took over the city six months ago with their plot to make rich society women trade in their natural faces for beautiful, fae-charmed ones. Society is still recovering from the aftermath but it’s too late for Helen, who has already made the switch. Now she has to wear an iron mask to protect herself and her identity from being possessed and erased.
Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
Mercy encounters fae quite frequently over the course of the series. Her mechanic mentor Zee is a rare kind of fae who can handle and work metal of all kinds. Mercy also has a fairy walking stick that has a tendency to follow her around at all times.
The BiblioSanctum 
Yay for the Fae
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The Peter Grant series also has unicorns? What the hell have I been missing out on?! Juliet Marillier and Patricia Briggs are classic Fae picks. Sweet list!
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Yep, just that one book though. And don’t forget, they’re CARNIVOROUS INVISIBLE unicorns! Awesome, eh? 😀
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FAERIES. Mogsy, you’re trying to add to my list of Faerie books to read, aren’t you? *lol*
I already have the Connolly and Marillier titles on my wishlist, but the other ones are new to me. Well, not Heir Of Fire, but I haven’t read Throne Of Glass yet, so I’ll have to see how the first book goes before I decide to forge onward with that series. But I’ll definitely check out the synopses and some reviews of the other books and see which ones I might want to read.
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You love faeries too, eh? 🙂
I’ve actually only read that one book of Connolly’s, I know there’s a first book and also a third book. I might have to go back to read Ironskin, and I have Silverblind waiting for me when I’m done.
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It’s more like I’m trying to catch up on fantasy novels featuring fairy characters. That way, if people ever ask how my story’s fairies differs from so-so’s fairies, I won’t sound like an idiot. *blushes* But honestly, a few of the books I’ve been recommended sound pretty good, so I’m looking forward to reading them.
Yes, Ironskin is the first of Connolly’s Fae books. I’ve heard lots of positive things about it, so it’s on my list. We’ll have to compare notes once we’ve both read it!
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D’oh! I totally forgot about Heir of Fire!! (How is that even possible for me to do?!) And The Dresden Files also totally qualify. But hey, at least I remembered Daughter of the Forest!
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I’d tagged Heir of Fire with “Fae” on my Goodreads shelves, but I did have to look up the wiki to remind myself why, so don’t feel too bad! LOL 🙂
And welcome to Tough Travels!
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Now THAT’S what you call a list! Impressive, Mogsy. 😀
I haven’t read a single one of these authors, though the Maas, May, Butcher and Aaronovitch series’ are on my wishlist/TBR. 🙂
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Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant series is amazing! 🙂
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I so love fae stories so that’s true that I have read many of the list but some are still new to me though.
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Ha, I forgot about Mercy and her stick, such a great pick! 🙂 I only read book 1 of the Dresden Files so I only know about the fairy whom Harry bribes with food in exchange for info…
Oooh, Darkfever sounds right up my alley.
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Haha, later on in Dresden he gets more and more entangled with the Fae…it gets so complicated that I started to forget the lesser fae, like Harry’s pizza sprites!
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OMG I think I’m in love with Juliet Marillier after reading Dreamer’s Pool – can’t wait to pick up Daughter of the Forest – is it as good??
I’ve got the Karen MM book but haven’t picked it up yet!
And the Falconer – forgot to add that – fae murderers and brownies – was it a brownie who lived in the closet and tidied up?? I could do with a tidying up brownie in my bedroom (and kitchen) particularly if it just wants a bit of honey in return 😀
Lynn 😀
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Yes! I LOVED Daughter of the Forest. Be careful though, once you read it, she’ll ruin fairy tale retellings for you forever. It’ll be hard to find any as good 😉
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WOW, you seriously did kick ass! You’re adding quite a few to my TBR – The Falconer, Copperhead and Bronze Gods all look very intriguing. Considering how fascinated I am with faeries I haven’t really read many books that feature them which considering there are enough for you to have a fae shelf on goodreads is a crying shame!
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Haha, I do appear to have a lot of fae books. I don’t think my Fae shelf is as big as my Shapeshifters and Vampires shelves on GR though 🙂
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Applauds. You did good, Mogsy. You did good. You have definitely shown me up these past two weeks.
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Thanks, hope you’ll join in for Bards next week 🙂 I don’t think I can find near as many, lol.
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