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Faerie Wars

Faerie Wars

List Price: $17.95
Your Price: $12.21
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Crossing the borders.
Review: Henry Atherton is a fairly ordinary English boy, whose youthful optimism is shaken by a parent's infidelity and impending separation. Pyrgus Malvae seems to be a fairly typical disaffected fairy prince, impulsively making up the rules as he goes along -- until his fondness for kittens and, it seems, all creatures great and small forces the reader to reconsider his motivations.

These two characters collide when a portal from Pyrgus's world lands him in the backyard garden of Mr. Fogarty, Henry's elderly, somewhat paranoid employer with a genius for invention and a surprisingly shady past.

There are plots worth pursuing in both worlds, but those from mundane England are given short shrift here. Instead, Irish author Herbie Brennan focuses on Pyrgus's plight in both worlds and the various dark and demonic forces that threaten the peace of his fairyland home and his family's safety. In fact, it is sometimes hard to be sure who the real protagonist here is -- Henry, Pyrgus or Pyrgus's sister, Blue.

There will be plenty of time to sort all that out in the inevitable sequel. Meantime, Faerie Wars is a fine introduction to Brennan's dual world and opens many intriguing possibilities for future stories. Targeted for young adult fans of fantasy and contemporary fantasy, it will appeal equally to adult readers.

My only complaints are a too-neat resolution to one aspect of the story -- too much hinges on a convenient stumble at just the right moment -- and the feeling that we still know too little about Pyrgus's world by book's end. That, too, I imagine will be addressed in the sequel, and I urge fantasy buffs to pick up this series from the start.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All About farie wars
Review: Hey you! if you're reading this you oveously like the same books as me so I'll give you my rating of the book...........I't was ABSOLUTLY WONDERFUL! I loved this book a lot.
"Farie Wars" is about a boy who's parents are getting a divorce. (because of the mom's affair with his fathers seratary). Not only does he have to battle with this new obstacle, but he has to battle his mind too. While working in an old mans back yard he finds a fairy, yep a farie. He now has to convince himself that hell is real (in a matter of speaking) but also to go into an alternet dimension and save the throne and life of his "farie" friend.
This book was totally awsome and I would recomend it to anyone...

Other books you might enjoy
--The artimas fowl series
--His dark materials triology-Phillip Pullman
--All of Ann Mccoffery's books
--Hary Potter
--Eragon
----thanks for reading my review I hope it was helpfull

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FAERIE WARS - no age is too old to enjoy this book.
Review: I don't think this book is strictly for grades 6-8...I am 16, and just recently read it. And I am not an immature 16, I read A LOT. I'd say this book is enjoyable from sixth grade all the way up to twelfth...if not higher. Even adults who love fantasy will be engrossed in this witty and compelling book. I fell in love with the characters almost at once; the moment I openned the book and read the first few lines, I was hooked. I read it in 2 days. It would have been less, but I read it at Borders, and I was only there for a few hourse each day. I wont get into the characters, although they were just awesome, because you already have reviews talking about the story. I meerly wanted to point out that this book can be enjoyed by those older than eighth grade, as the way it is written is by no means simple, and the story is a real winner. Take it from a sixteen year old female voracious reader. :-D Thanks for reading this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow
Review: I just finished reading this book for the second time, and it is still awesome. The story follows both Henry Atherton and Pyrgus Malvae as the plot develops. Henry is working for Mr. Forgarty when he and Forgarty learn about the analogue world from a real fairy prince! The book switches from one of the many characters' points of view to another's very abruptly, making it a little difficult to understand at some parts. This factor also makes the beginning move a bit slow, as it takes a while for the characters' backgrounds to all come together. A lot of thought must have gone into the plot of this story, with all of its twists and turns, and it is enjoyable. I didn't mind the slow beginning or slightly confusing plot, though others may, but I'd reccommend this book to anyone, whether they are fantasy readers or not!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Can't Wait For Next Installment!!
Review: I just finished this book last night for my children's literature class and it was better than I thought. I am a huge Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings fan and this book ranks right up there with them. I can't wait for the next installment.
The book details the adventures of Pyrgus Malvae, crown prince of the Faerie Realm. The boy has quite the knack for getting himself into trouble or at least trouble always seems to find him. Meanwhile in the Analogue World, otherwise planet Earth, a young boy named Henry must deal with family problems that he believes will tear his world apart. The unlikely meeting of these two boys triggers a fight against the Faeries of the Night. I won't go into anymore detail, but the book is really quite addicting. A simple assignment turned into a mad dash for the finish line. I plowed right through the book and I loved every moment of it.
If you are considering a Christmas present this holiday season for a loved one who shares an addiction for Harry Potter and various others, you should def. get them this book. It was great to have something of this caliber while I await another Harry Potter installment. Herbie Brennan has done well with this novel. Look forward to the continuation.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Adult fantasy in a young-adult book cover
Review: I just hate it when publishers put hopelessly misleading blurbs on the cover. This book is NOT for the kind of reader who would buy a book because it's "like Harry Potter." This book is for the kind of person who loves Harry Potter, but would rather take a nap than read a book that imitated Rowling's fantasy series.

Brennan is an original, and this book is very, very good. But it deals with dark things, and when the modern young hero finds out that his parents are splitting up because his mother is having an affair with his father's (female) secretary - well, I guess we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

But that's not what the book is about. It's actually as much about a young thief in a magical world that is parallel to our own - a thief who, when he passes over into our world, sprouts wings and becomes a you-know-what.

There's a good deal of humor, but it's not tongue-in-cheek; the overwhelming tenor of the book is the shadow of grim, banal evil that threatens both heroes.

I wouldn't hand this to any kid that I didn't want to have The Conversation with, right now. But for any kid who's ready for it - and a lot of adults hungry for good fantasy as well - I recommend it heartily.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Skip It
Review: I love fantasy stories but this one was disappointing and a lot of work to get through. The main plot was somewhere in there and it had a lot of potential but was hidden behind lots of unnecessary twists, turns and ostensibly "shocking" or "gross" bits thrown in that didn't really have much to do with anything. Trying just a little too hard and subsequently "off" and contrived feeling. I'm sorry, I just wouldn't recommend it unless you've read every other fantasy thing out there. The one thing I DO find interesting about this book is that the only "helpful" reviews are the ones praising it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't be fooled by the catchiness on the cover
Review: I never did get a chance to finish this book because I just couldn't get past the first 100 pages without being intimidated by the sad lesbian case going on here. I just couldn't get into this book and don't reccomend it to anyone who's used to reading about straight people with children!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awsome for Fantasy Lovers
Review: I picked this book up when I was in Canada. If you like fantasy, you will certainly love this book. I read it in two days and found it quite exceptional. Its about a boy named Henry who eventually meets a faerie named Pyrgus, and has to help the faerie back to his own world where the threat of war is stirring. This book held me entranced, and I especially loved all the charactors in the book because they were very interesting and had strong personalities. I absolutly recomend this book to those who liked Harry Potter and tales of faeries.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The R-rated Potter/Bartimaeus
Review: I picked this up because it was advertised as a good choice for Potter fans "who don't know what to read next." But criminy, it's not for Potter fans who can't go to R-rated movies on their own. The style and subject matter are far too mature for younger Potter fans: the human hero, Henry Atherton, is alienated from his family by the fact that his mother is having an affair....with his father's female secretary. The fairy hero Pyrrgus is captured by a sadistic glue-factory owner who kills and conducts medical experiments for sport. Towards the end of the book, someone's face gets entirely blown off, the results described in bloody detail.

Now, for mature audiences, hey it's up to you whether that sort of thing is worth reading. But even if you like the subject matter, stylistically author Herbie Brennan pales beside his competitors Rowling (Potter books) or Stroud (Bartimaeus books). First, a lot of his plotting is highly derivative (the scenes in which demons are summoned are VERY close in style to Bartimaeus; his heroine is Holly, which may remind you of the Artemis Fowl books). Second, the villains are WAY over the top (the secret ingredient in the glue made by the villains? Baby kittens!). Finally, the various plot lines take practically forever to come together - Henry and Pyrgus don't show up in the same chapter until page 92 of the book.

So, 3 stars for mature teens ONLY and 1 star for anyone younger - definitely not for most of the Potter crowd!


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