Sophie Reads YA: Elizabeth May

2017 Flights of Fantasy Challenge

ARC Review: The Fallen Kingdom (The Falconer #3) by Elizabeth May

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The Fallen Kingdom
Series: The Falconer #3
Author: Elizabeth May
Published June 15th 2017 by Gollancz

Goodreads Synopsis
My name is Lady Aileana Kameron.

First the fae murdered my mother. Then they destroyed my world.

Then one of them killed me.

Now I'm fighting for more than revenge.

The long-awaited final book in the Falconer trilogy is an imaginative tour-de-force that will thrill fans of the series.
Aileana Kameron, resurrected by ancient fae magic, returns to the world she once knew with no memory of her past and with dangerous powers she struggles to control. Desperate to break the curse that pits two factions of the fae against, her only hope is hidden in an ancient book guarded by the legendary Morrigan, a faery of immense power and cruelty. To save the world and the people she loves, Aileana must learn to harness her dark new powers even as they are slowly destroying her.

Packed with immersive detail, action, romance, and fae lore, The Fallen Kingdom brings the Falconer's story to an epic and unforgettable conclusion.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

This series will always be a favourite of mine, and for some reason I've put off reviewing the final book, even though I devoured it when my copy arrived. Well, here goes. Now that Aileana has been reborn, and has powers, she needs to learn to rediscover her true self, and overcome her power, before it destroys her and the world around her. For most of the final instalment in the series, we see Aileana's internal battle between her past and her future. Her own struggles were nothing compared to the fight between Kiaran and Kadamach, between the light and the darkness. These two are one of my OTP's and I loved to see both sides to each character. No one in this series is can be described in the case of black or white, there are a lot of grey areas that we definitely see explored in this book. Derrick was as fantastic as always, and he will always improve the books, if that's even needed.

The plot was extremely fast paced in this book, which helped me fly through reading it, but sometimes my head seemed a bit battered all over the place with how fast it was. Even so, this was the best ending/finale to this series I could ever ask for, and whenever I go to Edinburgh, I always have an urge to revisit these books, so I definitely won't be parting from them any time soon. If you're a fanasty/fae book lover, and you haven't started this series yet, get a copy asap!

Dates Read:

June 15-19, 2017

Rating
5 Stars

Elizabeth May

Waiting on Wednesday: The Fallen Kingdom (The Falconer #3) by Elizabeth May

10:00

5 Stars

ARC Review: The Vanishing Throne (The Falconer #2) by Elizabeth May

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The Vanishing Throne
Series: The Falconer #2
Author: Elizabeth May
Published November 19th 2015 by Gollancz

Goodreads Synopsis
My name is Lady Aileana Kameron.

First the fae murdered my mother. Then they destroyed my world.

Now I’m fighting for more than revenge.

Aileana took a stand against the Wild Hunt, and she lost everything: her home, her family and her friends. Held captive by her enemy, and tormenting herself over her failure, escape seems like only the faintest possibility. But when she gets her chance, she seizes it . . . to rejoin a world devastated by war.

The future is bleak. Hunted by the fae, running for her life, Aileana has only a few options left. Trying to become part of a society scarred by – and hiding from – the Wild Hunt; trusting that a fragile alliance with the fae will save her; or walking the most dangerous path at all: coming in to her own powers as the last of the Falconers...
Goodreads

Review
Also see my review of The Falconer.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

When I found out The Vanishing Throne was up on NetGalley, I was ready to scream in the middle of a lecture. When I got the email that I'd been approved, I honestly could not concentrate. Even with me having an essay and presentation due asap, I started this book as soon as I downloaded it on my iPad.

The Vanishing Throne starts immediately after the awful cliffhanger of The Falconer. Aileana is stuck in the faerie kingdom, at the mercy of Lonnarch. She is being tortured on a daily basis for information about a magical item hidden in the human world that can unite the Seelie and Unseelie kingdoms. Just as she's about to lose hope, she finds herself rescued by Kiaran's sister, Aithinne. However, the rescue isn't all it's cracked up to be. Edinburgh, and the rest of the human world is lying in ruins, and Aileana blames herself for every death, every injury, basically, she blames herself for everything. As she starts to come to terms with her loss, she discovers her origins as a Falconer, and what her role in the fight ultimately is. We learn so much in this book, that it was sort of a whirlwind getting my head around all the new information, especially when so much affected Aileana, but she took it like a trooper.

Now, Aileana is just as amazing as I remembered from The Falconer. She's obviously feeling a lot of guilt for failing to close the lock on the faerie world, but she is still her strong, spunky self inside. It felt like torture seeing her trapped in the faerie world at Lonnrach's control, but I was glad that we got to see this more vulnerable side to her. Even after she escaped, she still had vulnerable moments, which, honestly, made her a lot more human. She definitely came into her own in this books, vis-a-vis her powers, and I can't wait to see this even more in book 3.

The romance that had killed be in book 1, was well worth the wait. Now that the awkward first kiss stage is out of the way, the romance is full speed ahead. I'd forgotten how much I loved Kiaran, but he was the swooniest person ever here! Every moment between him and Aileana, even the bog standard ones without any romantic interact at all, made my heart flutter. They just have the best chemistry I've seen in a long time, and I seriously need them to have this relationship ever. OTP!!

The new, and old characters, were wonderful too. I loved seeing the characters from book 1 who hadn't died - no spoilers who - and their interactions with Aileana were as lovely as I remembered. One of the new characters I disliked was Daniel, but that mainly due to his first impression. He did sort of redeem himself towards the end. Aithinne, though, was crazy, and barmy, but so endearing at the same time. Her and Kiaran's banter was how I'd imagine a sibling relationship to be.

After the awful cliffhanger in The Falconer, I never though The Vanishing Throne could have one as bad, but I was proved wrong. I'm gutted that book 3's release date isn't until 2017, because honestly, I don't know how I'll cope. May has created truly awesome characters, and I'm both a little in love with them, and a little jealous I'm not them. If you were a fan of The Falconer, you will be in love with The Vanishing Throne. This one definitely did not suffer from the sophomore slump, like so many others do, and I'm in awe with how intense and involved this storyline is. I can't recommend this enough, and thank you so, so much, Gollancz, for letting me read this book early!

Dates Read:
November 10-12, 2015

Rating
5 Stars

Elizabeth May

Waiting on Wednesday: The Vanishing Throne (The Falconer #2) by Elizabeth May

10:00

5 Stars

ARC Review: The Falconer (The Falconer #1) by Elizabeth May

10:00

The Falconer
Series: The Falconer #1
Author: Elizabeth May
Published September 19th 2013 by Gollancz

Goodreads Synopsis
One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale
She's a stunner.
Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.
She's a liar.
But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.
She's a murderer.
Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.
She's a Falconer.
The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.
The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Now, I read this book way back in early 2014, but couldn't really remember much about it. I knew I'd have to re-read it soon, seeing as The Vanishing Throne is coming out in November, and when I saw a copy available on NetGalley to review, I just had to request it.

All I could remember was:
- It's set in 19th century Edinburgh, but there's loads of technological inventions that shouldn't be there - basically, it's steampunk.
- Aileana is the daughter of some high aristocrat, who saw her mother killed by an evil faerie, and since then she's been killing other faeries on basically a nightly basis.
- She has a friendly little faerie living in her closet, and is being trained by another, Kiaran, who kills his own kind for some reason.
- I also remembered a load of stuff about Aileana and Gavin, but spoilers, so I won't talk about that here.
- Something really big happens at the end, and there is a massive cliffhanger, which made the wait to November even longer.

I think I'd done pretty well with all of what I remembered. Basically, the story is that Aileana discovered her mother's dead body on the night of her debut into society, and saw the evil faerie standing over the body. Since then, she's gone out to kill faeries in a hope to find the one who murdered her mother, and have her vengeance. On the way, she is found by Kiaran, a faerie, who helps to train her, and fights alongside her against the nasty faeries. Another nice faerie, a pixie, called Derrick, lives in her dressing room, and mends her ruined clothes in return for bowls of honey. When the book starts, Aileana is 18, and just returned into society after a year of mourning. Her father, the Marquess of Douglas, tells her she needs to get her act together, and will be married by the end of the Season. She no longer cares of marriage or children, rather all she thinks about is enacting her vengeance on the faerie who murdered her mother, taking down as many others as she can along the way.

Aileana is a heroine who I love! She's strong and feisty, but also has a vulnerable side that comes out from time to time. She knows she;'s no longer the perfect nineteenth century lady, but she keeps up that facade for the sake of her family's reputation. Inside, she has a blood lust with you don't really see that often, and her fighting and innovation skills are unparalleled. Basically, she was born in the wrong time. She built her own ornihopter, kind of like a helicopter, and invents her own weapons to include the thistle that is deadly to Fae.

Though she is impatient with her faerie friends at time, she cares for them deeply, and the feeling is reciprocated. Derrick and Kiaran are both steadfastly protective of Aileana, even with each other, and their depths of feelings for her was wonderful to see. Aileana has to hide a lot of herself from her human friends and family, and having someone to share her true self with was something she desperately needed. When she learns what being a Falconer actually means, she accepts her fate with a strong face.

The romance in this book was so slow that it almost hurt, but at the same time, it was well worth the wait. That was another thing I remembered from my previous read of the book, but it felt I was reading it all over again for the very first time. It was also not without it's angst. I know that book 2 will be heartbreaking to read, and I'm expecting some truly heart wrenching scenes when you consider the cliffhanger. To talk about the cliffhanger, it was abrupt. I remember how much I wanted more, and that is something still present. It just ends in the middle of a really important action sequence, and you're left with tons of questions of what is to happen next. I'm glad November isn't that far away now, and I just hope The Vanishing Throne doesn't end with an even worst cliffhanger.

Basically, this book was wonderful, and a perfect addition to the genres of YA, fantasy, steampunk, history, UKYA, etc. The writing style was exactly how I'd expect it to be for that time, and I love to hear more about Scottish myths in the sequels. I can't recommend this enough, and, considering the book was first published in September 2013, you should have read it by now.

Dates Read:
July 27-28, 2015

Rating
5 Stars