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Faerie Wars (The Faerie Wars Chronicles #1)

by Herbie Brennan

3.60 · Rating Details · 11,108 Ratings · 434 Reviews

When Henry Atherton helps Mr. Fogarty clean up around his house, he expects to find a mess and a cranky old man; what he doesn't expect to find is Pyrgus Malvae, crown prince of the Faerie realm, who has escaped the treacherous Faeries of the Night by traveling to the human world through a portal powered by trapped lightning. An egomaniacal demon prince, greedy glue factor ...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published September 1st 2004 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens (first published January 1st 2003)

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Jan 10, 2010 Amelia, the pragmatic idealist rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series-books, ya-kids-teen, point-of-view-guy

Okay, I'm going to give my critique! I still am glassy-eyed from staying up *literally* all night to finish this book! When you cannot pry a book from your fingers, that means it's good, right? I certainly think so.
- To be fair: This is a down-the-line sci-fi/fantasy, IMO. As someone who has extremely little patience for and limited understanding of fiction technology, I could have done with less "science" but that's a person-to-person thing. My little brothers read this series and recommended Okay, I'm going to give my critique! I still am glassy-eyed from staying up *literally* all night to finish this book! When you cannot pry a book from your fingers, that means it's good, right? I certainly think so.
- To be fair: This is a down-the-line sci-fi/fantasy, IMO. As someone who has extremely little patience for and limited understanding of fiction technology, I could have done with less "science" but that's a person-to-person thing. My little brothers read this series and recommended it to me, and they both loved it for these aspects. I give the author props for just being so darn creative! Creativity, to me, should generally outweigh and outshine the more technical aspects of writing, like your "literary elements" and your actual writing style. This is most certainly a "third person omniscient" story in that you as the reader follow literally EVERY character. Most 3rd persons don't do this: they pick one or two characters to follow and you learn about other events through their subsequent discoveries. Sometimes I felt a bit overwhelmed by the back-and-forth coverage, but as the story progressed, it became very necessary to see the plot unfold from different directions. So bravo to that, Brennan! It just took me a few hundred pages to get used to!
- Characters: I tend to like "good" good guys and "bad" bad guys, so when I read other reviews that criticize Brennan for not being "complex enough," I dont give those much weight. Evil is very one-dimensional. The baddest villains are the ones that really have no complexity: they're just bad to be bad. And thank god, not every protagonist is Holden Caulfield. I found the main protagonist - Henry Atherton - very enjoyable and relatable, if not a little dorky. He reminds me of a modern Taran from (IMO the greatest childrens fantasy EVER) The Chronicles of Prydain in that he's sweet but maybe a tad dorky (girls, we all know boys like this!). I can certainly deal with the "lovable loser" character type.

**I feel like I do need to address this aspect of the story, as everybody does**
- Umm okay I found the series in the YA section, and to me that's a very appropriate place. This is a very action-packed series, and yeah there's conflict: and not wishy-washy glossed over conflict, either. These are bad guys who do bad things. I wouldn't use the word "pervasive," but there certainly are violent aspects of the story. To me, I didnt find the violence out of place or even unnaturally heightened...it had a purpose: to be contrasted with good. To make the reader think: "Wow, these dudes need to be stopped". I wouldnt recommend this series for anyone under middle-school (with the exception of the above-average-intelligence 5th grader).

CON:
- Really, there's only one definite negative I have to gripe about: This is FANTASY--I don't want to read about melodramatic, "Eastender-like" family drama! It is necessary to a point to set up the emotional characterization of Henry: we need to see a bit of his background in order to understand and relate to his situation. What we dont need is over-the-top melodrama, which IMO is what we are given. It seems as though it's not good enough for Brennan to present a relatively normal family problem: he has to write a rather specific and uncommon family situation that to me was just put in to be a "shock factor." There's no development, no substance, because that's not the point. So why bother?
Anyway, that's my beef.

Overall? Excellent. I will proceed to the next book in the series promptly! This is not exactly a well-known series in the US, though a few of my English friends have read the books and quite enjoyed them. If you are reading this review, give the FAERIE WARS CHRONICLES a try! ...more

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Feb 24, 2012 R rated it it was ok

Recommended to R by: a friend

Where to begin...
Ah! I have a question! IS THIS REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE A YOUNG ADULT STORY? It was more like something I would have read when I was 10. This book is classified as YA and the reviews hype it as, "The next Harry Potter!" I had high hopes for this book and they fell short; oh so short. I will not say it was poorly written grammatically or structurally. I would give it somewhere between a 3 and a 4 out of 5 in that respect. However, the story-line is a 2 out of 5 without a doubt—in so ...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Katherine rated it it was ok

Shelves: urban-fantasy, read-in-2011, young-adult

I think I would have liked this much better if I were under the age of 15, appreciated British humor, and was more interested in action & adventure instead of just science fiction/urban fantasy. It's a pretty good story, with a bit of silly humor and a bit of potty humor (boils on the bottom). The villains were laughable in their ridiculousness and the younger characters really took charge and made the important and adult decisions. Some scenes may be unsuitable for particularly sensitive ch ...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Arielle Walker rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites, fantasy-unusual, young-adult, kickass-heroine

God, it's been so long since I last read this but I adored the trilogy - and now I find it's not a trilogy! So it's time for another re-read...

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Jun 08, 2012 Melissa rated it liked it

I have to be honest... This book got off to a s-l-o-o-o-w start for me. I had probably read about a third of the book or more before things picked up. I can't say that Henry's backstory about his family situation added much to the book, either--it didn't seem very relevant to the plot, but rather a chance to introduce the idea of the possibility of having a parent who turns out to be a homosexual. And no, I am not suggesting there is something wrong with that, and I assume that Brennan gives us ...more

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Dec 19, 2008 Martha rated it liked it

I recently picked up several fantasy books in the young adult range, this one being the first. The book begins with our main hero, Henry, a young boy living in England. Henry is friends with a weird and highly paranoid old man, is saving up for an ipod, and just found out that his mother is having an affair with his father's secretary. A bit harsh for an opening, but there's certainly no doubt that Henry lives in the real, modern-day world.

Then there's Pyrgus, the other hero of the story. His wo I recently picked up several fantasy books in the young adult range, this one being the first. The book begins with our main hero, Henry, a young boy living in England. Henry is friends with a weird and highly paranoid old man, is saving up for an ipod, and just found out that his mother is having an affair with his father's secretary. A bit harsh for an opening, but there's certainly no doubt that Henry lives in the real, modern-day world.

Then there's Pyrgus, the other hero of the story. His world sounds a bit older, maybe 17th/18th century, and magic exists in this world. Pyrgus is also a prince, next in line for the emperor's throne. We like Pyrgus because he doesn't want to be emperor; he spends most of his time dressed incognito and rescuing (i.e. stealing) mistreated animals, including a basket of kittens (aww) from an evil glue factory. I know, a bit much, but the rescue part was very exciting.

How the two worlds come together is rather interesting, combining magic and science in a fairly coherent way. Pyrgus travels to Henry's world through a portal, as both worlds exist in different dimensions. But something goes wrong -- when Pyrgus gets through the gate, he's quite tiny and has grown a set of wings. Later it's discovered that this transformation is temporary, and that the denizens of Faerie (Pyrgus's world) don't normally have wings.

I have to admit that bothered me a bit. The Faerie world and it's people are not very different from the modern world, making the term Faerie a bit of a misnomer. In fact, the title Faerie Wars is pretty awful -- the book was much better than I expected by the title alone. But come on, these people aren't fairies. Faeries. Whatever, they're normal people in a fantasy world, but that's about it.

I found the book very engaging, and read it rather quickly. There are some wonderful characters and truly fabulous villains, and lots of descriptive yet succinct writing. I would have given this book 4 stars (I almost did), but I felt the book tried to do too much. In addition to the two worlds, a third comes into play about halfway through the book, the world of demons (called Hael in the book). Although fascinating, especially the Demon Prince, it just got to be too much. When the demons' 'true' forms were described as skinny gray aliens with big eyes, I thought, 'Right, this book is getting one less star for that.'

The book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, and I enjoyed the first one enough so I've picked up the second one already. ...more

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Mar 14, 2009 Barbara rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, fantasy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 01, 2009 Andrea rated it liked it

While this book was written for young adults....there are some things in this novel that I would not like my tween or even teen reading.
The book begins with Henry finding out his mother is having an affair with his fathers secretary. I found this totally irrelevant other than to leave Henry in a horrible situation. This could have been arranged by many other means.
Further more there is graphic discriptions of demon congering with the use of animal sacrifice. While the "demons" are really just i ...more

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Mar 10, 2016 Arsnoctis rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: breaking-the-habit

Pugnali affilati, grimori polverosi e un vecchio allampanato. Se almeno uno di questi elementi ti sconfinfera, allora questo libro può fare per te.

Adatto alla lettura ad alta voce e ai lettori più giovani che non temano la comparsa di un demone millenario nel buio della loro cameretta.

Ho letto questo volume due volte, la seconda è stata a Settembre '15, la prima approssimativamente dieci anni prima e mi è piaciuto in entrambe le occasioni.

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Oct 02, 2015 Frahorus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, letteratura-irlandese

Henry Atherton una mattina scopre che sua madre è lesbica ed ha una relazione con la segretaria di suo padre, Anais Ward. Sconcertato da questa notizia, si reca dal signor Alan Fogarty, vecchio eccentrico, ex-fisico nucleare ed ex-rapinatore di banche, per il quale Henry tiene in ordine la casa.
Pyrgus Malvae, un giovane Elfo della Luce, primogenito del Monarca Danaus Plexippus del Regno degli Elfi, si trova nei guai dopo aver commesso il furto di una preziosa fenice ai danni di Lord Cossus Rodil Henry Atherton una mattina scopre che sua madre è lesbica ed ha una relazione con la segretaria di suo padre, Anais Ward. Sconcertato da questa notizia, si reca dal signor Alan Fogarty, vecchio eccentrico, ex-fisico nucleare ed ex-rapinatore di banche, per il quale Henry tiene in ordine la casa.
Pyrgus Malvae, un giovane Elfo della Luce, primogenito del Monarca Danaus Plexippus del Regno degli Elfi, si trova nei guai dopo aver commesso il furto di una preziosa fenice ai danni di Lord Cossus Rodilegno, Elfo della Notte e zio del giovane ladro. Nel frattempo Sulfureo, Elfo della Notte, proprietario di una sinistra fabbrica di colla assieme al socio Bombix, trova il libro di Beleth, un prezioso manufatto demoniaco, in grado di evocare il principe Beleth, signore di Infera. Cattura dunque Pyrgus e cerca di sacrificare il ragazzo nel tentativo di evocare Beleth, un principe demone capace di esaudire qualsiasi desiderio, grazie al libro appena trovato. Pyrgus riesce però a fuggire dalle grinfie dei due soci grazie a suo padre, che manda le sue guardie a prenderlo. Dopo averlo riportato a Palazzo, Plexippus dice al figlio che non è al sicuro nel Regno, quindi prepara la sua traslazione in un mondo parallelo(il Mondo Analogo o il Regno della Terra) che si scoprirà essere il nostro. Giunge qui sotto forma di farfalla, ossia piccolo e con le ali, a causa di un sabotaggio del portale usato per arrivare al nostro mondo, incontra il signor Fogarty ed Henry. Questi, dopo aver salvato una creaturina alata dalle grinfie di un gatto, scoprono con sommo stupore che questa non è affatto una semplice farfalla, ma un elfo.

Peccato davvero, perché pensavo la storia migliorasse ma invece resti deluso già arrivato a metà romanzo. Peccato davvero, perché era un fantasy diverso, più reale (più o meno), dove l'autore ha tentato di trasformare le evocazioni magiche in spiegazioni scientifiche (vedi l'attivazione dei portali) ma non ha centrato il bersaglio. E poi il finale... delusione, ahimé! Non so se leggerò anche i seguiti, vediamo. Eppura la storia è ben costruita, ben amalgama di avventura e thriller con una buona dose di umorismo. Cavolo, autore, come puoi sbrigativamente eliminare in quel modo i nemici nel finale? Errore imperdonabile! ...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Jose Prado rated it it was amazing

Fearie Wars by Herbie Brenan is a wonderfull book filled with mystery, action, magic, science, and love. It all starts out with Henry who found out a magical faerei in the back yard of Mr.Fogarty, an old man who believes in faeries and aliens and thinks that the CIA is always after him. After a few days with the little Fearie boy (Pyrgus) they realize that he is actually a prince from another world sabotaged and nearly killed by many Nighters in his world.

With the faerie boy there Henry found a ...more

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Apr 21, 2009 Steph Su rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

After someone tries to kill Pyrgus, the Crown Prince of the faerie world, his father, the Purple Emperor, sends him off into the Analogue World (aka the world we humans live in) for safety from their political enemies, the Faeries of the Night. However, the translator they used to send Pyrgus into the other world has been sabotaged, sending Pyrgus drastically off course, landing him in the middle of present-day England, in the backyard of a paranoid old Mr. Fogarty. Mr. Fogarty enlists the help ...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Jodotha rated it it was ok

Shelves: paranormal, young-adult

This was a pretty decent book, though not something that gripped me from start to finish, even though I had hoped it would. It's difficult for me to write anything less than a stellar review, but in all fairness, I'll be honest. "Fairie Wars" was not written for me and mine. This book would fit very nicely on the shelf of a young guy - maybe a Tolkien fan who's looking to upgrade his geek standing (not that there's anything wrong with Tolkien, I'm just borrowing the stereotype here...).
It's an o This was a pretty decent book, though not something that gripped me from start to finish, even though I had hoped it would. It's difficult for me to write anything less than a stellar review, but in all fairness, I'll be honest. "Fairie Wars" was not written for me and mine. This book would fit very nicely on the shelf of a young guy - maybe a Tolkien fan who's looking to upgrade his geek standing (not that there's anything wrong with Tolkien, I'm just borrowing the stereotype here...).
It's an odd mix of fantasy and science fiction. Without giving away plot details it's hard to elaborate, but I will say this: We call them aliens, they identify them as demons. We have engineers, they have wizards.
Story-wise, it has a fairly solid mis-placed fairy prince idea, with a few subplots that more or less get tied in by the end. There is a bit with the MC henry (well, one of them) and his parents that seemed quite forced. Rather like Henry lacked depth, so an additional subplot, and a sister, was added. The other subplots seemed to take up a lot of space in the writing itself, and often came across as confusing. I found myself wondering "Why does this matter?" even as they technically came together toward the end. This problem was no doubt complicated by the many point-of-view changes throughout the story. The POV changed quite frequently, and there was no consistent MC to fall back on. Technically, I suppose Henry got more "screen time" than the others, but with the other characters each having a turn on the POV wheel, it was still dodgy, and often confused the story's timeline.
I do have to give the author props for his characterization of Henry - he is very much a young adolescent boy, and the glimpses into his mind are well-done (I wish there were more of them).
Again, this book, given to the right audience, will likely be very much enjoyed. It's success and continuing success (and sequels!) are proof enough of that. It would be very much at home in the library of a middle school, even high school - and it's probably well past time guys got to play around with this Fairy-fad. But keep in mind, although it LOOKS like it should fit in with "City of Bones" or "Tithe," it's a much different, oddly traditional take on science fiction and fantasy- heavy on the science, but not quite steampunk, either.
I think I'll give it to my brother.
PS: It's British - which is kind of fun, after you get over the weird punctuation... ;-) ...more

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Feb 19, 2016 Adam Duclos rated it it was ok

Boring. I read the first few chapters, and was subjected to a load of uninteresting set up culminating in some cat having caught a little fairy. Then it switched to some guy, human sized, but in a magic city, but then he's in a mine field. It just didn't keep my interest. Seriously, we finally see a fairy after all that time, and then switch back to boring? No war yet either. Definitely not a book that grabs your attention. Like so many others, it is merely a set up book for a series... Well, I ...more

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Feb 07, 2016 Carmine rated it liked it

Aprendo il ripostiglio dei ricordi, riecco spuntare Herbie Brennan.
Nel complesso è un libro fantasy discreto e senza grosse pretese.
Consigliato per chi volesse affacciarsi al genere senza andare incontro a qualcosa di impegnativo.

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Apr 30, 2009 Avory rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, spring-2009-challenge

This is a fun, light YA fantasy that moves back and forth between our world and an alternate dimension. Though it wasn't anything particularly spectacular to read, it was funny and the plot keeps you moving along. The only thing I really didn't like was the ludicrous "lesbian mom" plot, that was just treated quite badly and detracted from the actual fantasy part of the book. I understand wanting to give the kid a personal crisis in this dimension to contrast with what happens to him in the faeri ...more

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Feb 03, 2016 Brian rated it really liked it

A book completely revolved around fantasy, Herbie Brennan creates a book merging earth and another unimaginable world. This Faerie realm is ruled by many rulers, one to be soon be ruling. This young princess name is Pyrgus Malvae. Like every young prince who is heir to the throne, he is always causing trouble through out the kingdom but for a good cause. He puts animals first and goes through a lot of trouble to save them from the terrible rulers who mistreat their exotic beasts. Leaving trails ...more

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Dec 28, 2015 Crystal rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy

Faeries Wars by Herbie Brennan was an enjoyable enough impulse read. The characters are interesting and his plot is laid out nicely. My main issue with this book is I can't figure out who the target audience was when he wrote it.

Faerie Wars reads like a children's book in that the protagonist deals with whiny sisters, fussy and grumpy parents and blubbering and crying. But then it is filled with horrific details that kids under 16 might not be able to handle. It gets confusing as the book reads ...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Lydia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-and-ya

This book. (!!!!)

I read it when I was younger and I just absolutely loved it. I read it when I was about 13, and I liked that it was a little bit grittier, a little bit more serious than most fantasy books. The protagonist seemed to be making some quite serious decisions throughout the story, which I appreciated as well. There are quite a few 'mature' themes, but to be honest, it's fiction. I'm... more or less happy, as a teacher, when I see kids reading.

ANYWAY.

I loved Brennan's British/Irish w ...more

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Jun 16, 2015 Jess rated it did not like it

Shelves: never-ever-read-again

There are some books that you stop reading because you lose interest, and then there are the ones that you stop reading because it just crosses a line. I can handle a creepy book, and I can handle a book with horror. I can handle a book with murders and violence- just leave the animals out of it. I cannot handle it when a book has kittens boiled to death in glue in the opening part of the book. It wasn't a crazy person who threw a kitten in; it wasn't even an accidental thing. It was a crazy, cr ...more

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Mar 14, 2015 Mae rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, gothic, fantasy, read-texts

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I picked this up thinking it was a children's book, but lol nope. It's gruesome, and touches on a lot of mature themes such as mental illness, betrayal, murder, child and animal abuse... List goes on and on. Also contains reference to homosexuality and mild sexual content (voyeurism, caught-in-the act, nothing too graphic). Then, gasp ! Wrapped up with fantasy-meets-steampunk/science, this book blew me away with its constant plot twists. LIKE AT EVERY CORNER, I'd be given hints that are both mis I picked this up thinking it was a children's book, but lol nope. It's gruesome, and touches on a lot of mature themes such as mental illness, betrayal, murder, child and animal abuse... List goes on and on. Also contains reference to homosexuality and mild sexual content (voyeurism, caught-in-the act, nothing too graphic). Then, gasp ! Wrapped up with fantasy-meets-steampunk/science, this book blew me away with its constant plot twists. LIKE AT EVERY CORNER, I'd be given hints that are both misleading and true, then BAM I'm given what I was not expecting. Oh and the children are being treated as children, misunderstood by their respective parents, until they are forced to grow up and stand their ground. I recommend this for people who enjoyed the His Dark Material trilogy and I strongly think fans of Artemis Fowl might enjoy this one too. I enjoyed the science and magic aspect tremendously; and I had fun looking up the physic theories thrown in.

Now for the major spoilers: book starts with Henry, who's very observant and links the actions of people around him to their emotions. He kind of takes a back seat when Pyrgus appears on stage, though he's the crown prince. Also a red-head, but later becomes purple emperor lol. I think the history behind their realm will be further explained in later books, but for this book we are given the back story to the connection between their world and the analogue world. Oh and the demon world ! And I like that Holly Blue/Serenity gets lots of screen time (a.k.a. Chapters, paragraphs), she's very skilled and is uncredited despite her intelligence. On the side note, the step-brother is such a shifty character and I can't help but find him suspicious and "harmless for now until further notice", because he keeps popping up, but hasn't done anything yet. Plus when Tithe was arrested, he panicked before covering up with "oh yes, of course he was working alone!" something like that).
Wait, I must take moment to appreciate Pyrgus getting it together and becoming a man - a king. He was forced to grown up, especially during the time he spent in the underworld, but his passage also broke my heart - he has to become the man of the family and the kingdom, and also deal with the fact the person he trusted the most betrayed him. Obviously he had his resolved in his near-death situation, but wow what a transformation in behaviour, but glad to still see traces of his youth like when he whispers to Henry "of course we'll still call you just Henry" (something like that). Too bad we didn't get to witness his pain and anguish, and all the stages of grief that come with disillusionment, but that would probably be too melodramatic. The shock factor is the main focus (maybe?).
I'd also like to mention that I found Aisling's behaviour understandable and annoying; she's the example of what the other children/teenagers are not: naive, spoiled, immature. She's a bad example of what children should be I guess, so growing up is important, because when your perfect world is shattered, you have to defend yourself.
Anyways I really appreciated how things are tied up, but I didn't like how smoothly everything went once the climax was hit: Henry and Serenity summon Pyrgus from the underworld, meanwhile, once the captured prince disappeared, the dark prince who was cunning ends up painfully cliché, turning him into the idiot-bad-guy trope. Maybe it's because he wasn't the real monster (despite his fearsome power), it's the cruelty of humans which is far scarier. Or maybe I'm misreading it.
It was quite a short book, so the depth of the subject matter couldn't have been expanded any more than it does. ...more

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Feb 17, 2015 johanna rated it did not like it

Shelves: 201-50-books

I hadn’t heard anything about Faerie Wars until my sister gave it to me, and the blurb sounded interesting enough. Thanks to the blurb, I did have some expectations going into it. I thought it would be funny, a page-turner, and comparable even to Harry Potter (thanks, Goodreads reviewer *sigh*). Faerie Wars didn’t meet any of these expectations. (Then again, a comparison to Harry Potter does set a very high bar, at least for me.)

The book is written from a variety of third person limited perspect ...more

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Aug 26, 2014 Pauline rated it did not like it

Henry est un jeune garçon qui a une vie ordinaire... Jusqu'au jour où il apprend la séparation de ses parents et où il découvre un elfe dans le jardin du vieil homme chez qui il travaille ! S'ensuit alors une grande épopée, entre le monde des humains et celui des elfes, ce dernier étant en proie à une menace de guerre imminente...

Mon avis est très mitigé, voire même négatif, concernant ce roman. D'un côté, il est intéressant, la plume est fluide et il se lit très vite. Les personnages sont intér ...more

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Jan 10, 2015 Alexandria rated it did not like it

Shelves: terrible-books

Where do I EVEN begin?

MISOGYNY, AWFUL WRITING STYLE, TERRIBLE DEVELOPMENT, SEXUALIZATION OF A LITTLE GIRL, AWFUL PACING, BORING PLOT

This is hard to write without spoilers, but I will try.

There are a whopping total of 5 female characters in the whole book. FIVE WOMEN TOTAL. The only female given any real "screen time" is Holly Blue, and although she starts off as a formidable character in the beginning, she is later treated as a joke and then as a sex object. Did I mention this girl is supposed t Where do I EVEN begin?

MISOGYNY, AWFUL WRITING STYLE, TERRIBLE DEVELOPMENT, SEXUALIZATION OF A LITTLE GIRL, AWFUL PACING, BORING PLOT

This is hard to write without spoilers, but I will try.

There are a whopping total of 5 female characters in the whole book. FIVE WOMEN TOTAL. The only female given any real "screen time" is Holly Blue, and although she starts off as a formidable character in the beginning, she is later treated as a joke and then as a sex object. Did I mention this girl is supposed to be somewhere between TEN AND TWELVE?

The ending, which I will not give away, is an utter let down. The "climax" was a cop-out I was warned not to use when I was in fifth grade. The author's treatment of homosexuality is crass and borders VERY close on extremely offensive, and his writing style, in general, is simpler than that in "Charlie Bone", which was marketed to fourth graders.

The fairies in this books have ridiculous names. There is no development of their culture, but we are expected to believe that they are an ancient culture that has been visiting our world for centuries. All these "hairpin turns" that were in the review never came up, as everything in this book could be seen coming a mile off. The main characters are both terribly boring, and I can't pin down an age for either of them. 17? 14? 10? Brennan needs to make up his mind and, in the meantime, learn how to involve female characters.

And finally: Brennan sees fit to dumb down this book so much I would have been bored with it in second grade, but only at some points. At others he describes torture, death, and dead bodies in graphic detail. It's like he couldn't make up his mind on which age bracket he wanted to write for, and so just failed them all. And I was embarrassed to see Eoin Colfer's name on a review. "Seamless blend of magic and science" is a stretch for this pile of slop. One second we have "blasting wands" and the next we have "laser grenades" and yet the next we have someone summoning demons with a book bound in baby skin. It worked well in the Artemis Fowl, but just came across as slapdash and poorly thought-out in Faerie Wars.

Please do not ever compare this book to Harry Potter again. This is the Twilight of Fae-related books, and I mean that in the worst possible way. Shame on The New York Times, the ALA, and Mr. Colfer for promoting this piece of garbage. ...more

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Oct 23, 2012 Lori rated it did not like it

Shelves: do-not-read, fantasy, series, fiction

*Did not finish

So 70 pages in and not much is happening. The book had a strong start with interesting characters, but when it barely shifts focus to introduce the fantasy aspect, it, instead, switches scenes entirely to a different set of new characters with no hint that they're ever going to intersect with the first story being told. Baffling is the best description. The plot isn't bad; it isn't good; it's MIA.

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Mar 09, 2016 Dexter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy, faeries, magic, demons

I definitely enjoyed it. It was a very good mix of scifi, fantasy, and real life similar to Artemis Fowl but still different.

I was not expecting Henry's personal life problems, but they added so much more to the story. It made Henry very real. His return to real life at the end, with just a bit more confidence, is very nice as well.

Henry is my favorite character, but he spends a surprisingly small amount of time in the story. It's a little odd, since he is set up as the main character in the fir ...more

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Jun 07, 2010 Terry (Ter05 TwiMoms/ MundieMoms) rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: i-did-not-finish

I disliked this book to the point I did not finish it. It didn't take long to get to the part where they were throwing live kittens in the vat to make glue, a character took a goat dead for four days, skinned and gutted it and nailed the hide and then the guts to the wall in a particular pattern for a ritual.... Just not my thing. Maybe it got better but I had had enough.

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Jun 02, 2015 Malxox rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: library

2.5 stars

While this is put into the young adult section in the library, it's written for those of us whom are in their younger teen years. Had I read while I was a freshman or a sophmore than I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more, but alas. I'm eighteen now and while fairies and magic and other worldly things within the same sphere are great and all, this was fucking ridiculous. It started out with promise, but it ages to build, and then when it finally did the character's flopped and the ...more

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Jun 14, 2014 StoryTellerShannon rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, fantasy-scifi, books-reviewed

I gave this novel about 30 pages and found myself not engaged whatsoever. SPOILERS: The whole mother having an affair with the secretary was an interesting change as to why a child's parents break up but that wasn't enough to keep me going. Overall, I found it too slow for my tastes.

MY GRADE: C minus; WHEN READ: January 2012.

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Mar 03, 2014 Danielle rated it liked it

There's a lot of little details in this book that didn't fit right. Like at one point, a member of the faerie realm mentions "turkish delights". There are other mentions of Analogue things in the faerie world with no explanation. I'm sure that those people have never been outside their own world. To many odd coincidences.

Also, the end of the book was... awkward. It was abrupt with, what felt like, no discernible climax. When I finished it I was still waiting for something to happen. And then th ...more

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Dialogue	1	3	Nov 23, 2015 02:47PM
What's The Name o...: mainc character's name was Blue, there were fairies [s]	4	30	Jan 26, 2014 05:52PM
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Traitor(Spoilers if you havent Read the book)	1	7	Sep 22, 2011 02:57PM

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About Herbie Brennan

What you should know

Name: Herbie Brennan

Occupation: Author

Favourite book: The Crimson Petal and the White, by Michel Faber.

Favourite subjects: Esoteric matters, psychical research, anomalies, Mac computers, other people and cats.

Favourite journals: Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Mac Format.

Favourite holiday spot: Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland.

Number of books published: 108.

Total c ...more

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Other Books in the Series

The Faerie Wars Chronicles (5 books)

Books by Herbie Brennan

The Purple Emperor (The Faerie Wars Chronicles, #2)

Ruler of the Realm (The Faerie Wars Chronicles, #3)

Faerie Lord (The Faerie Wars Chronicles, #4)

The Faeman Quest (The Faerie Wars Chronicles, #5)

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“Brimstone: '...I shall smite thee with my fightful blasting wand so that thy teeth shall drop out, thy skin shall wrinkle, thou shalt have boils on thy bottom and be subject to night sweats, ringing in the ears, falling sickness, flaking dandruff, arthritis, lumbago, uncontrollable dribbling, deafness, runny nose, and ingrowing toenails. Amen.” — 16 likes

“He caught me stealing his golden phoenix.'
Tithonus closed his eyes briefly. 'Good grief!' He opened them again. 'I was half hoping it wasn't true. Have you any idea of the implications?'
'He was mistreating it!' Pyrgus protested.
'Of course he was mistreating it. This is Black Hairstreak we're talking about. He mistreats his own mother. I don't suppose you stole her as well?” — 9 likes

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