Promise in Merry Gentry?

[raging-muse.livejournal.com]

Hi guys!

The recent posts I've seen about the new Merry book Swallowing Darkness has got me thinking on an old disappointment.  I remember when i first read the first Merry book. I admit somewhat embaressingly now that I liked the first book, it had promise and I liked it alot better then the Anita series which I'd been reading through at the time.  I remember thinking that more then the ANita series, the Merry one had alot of promise and looked to be a really good series.

Back when I first read it there weren't any other books around about Faeries, bar a few young adult/teen aimed ones.  Not sure if any of you can remember any Faerie based books out at the same time but please advise me if you know of any. SO to me Laurell was the first author i got to to do Faeries in the way she's done them - the 2 courts and all. I keep thinking ot myself that under the hands of a different author that whole series could be been really well done. The idea of the 2 seperate courts  of Unseelie and Seelie wasn't new but 2 mad monarchs at the helm and the problem of a dying race due ot infertility was interesting. But alas like the Anita series it bombed and died a horrible death as all the sex and bad writing got in the way. Does anyone else think under a different author or if Laurell had done it right it could ahve gone on to be quite good? And does anyone know of any really good Faerie books? The ones i find these days are all the awful paranormal type ones and i find myself insulted to see powerful Faeries treated as sex toys.

 

Comments

Holly Black

[ladyairy.livejournal.com]

On the subject of good faerie books, have you read Holly Black, by any chance? (Tithe, Valiant, Ironside) She is aimed at YA, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially since it results in more plot and less sex.

[merchendiver.livejournal.com]

Charles De Lint is an awesome writer. I adored Moonheart. He is one of the best Urban fantasy writers out there in MHO.

[skyekissed.livejournal.com]

<3 I love Charles de Lint!!

[marumae.livejournal.com]

I do as well. I third the De Lint nomination. You want books about fey, try his Newford series and a good portion of what he's wrote. He does the fey right. He wrote a book in the Retold Fairy Tales series called "Jack of Kinrowan" or "Jack the Giant Killer" as it was called here in America. It's about a woman (and I mean woman not a teenager or a horny woman child) named Jacky Rowan who becomes the savor of the Seelie courts by killing a giant. Set in modern day Ottawa, it's a great novel. The sequel I'm not so terribly fond of, but it does have it's share of well portrayed fey. Really I can't not recommend him enough he's in my mind the true quintessential urban fantasy author.

[shanrina.livejournal.com]

Raymond E Feist's Faerie Tale is fairly old, but IMO it's really good. If you're looking for faeries as good guys, though, it's not the book for you.

[bluemoonbaby.livejournal.com]

I really liked Emma Bull's War for the Oaks. It was written in the late 80's I think?

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

War for the Oaks is the best book about the Seelie and Unseelie Courts ever.

[vlredreign.livejournal.com]

Wow, I've never read that, and I've been looking for some good faerie stuff, too. Thanks for the rec!!

[skyekissed.livejournal.com]

Agreed! It's wonderful.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

You might try The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Faeries (the book spelling) show up in various degrees in the books (sometimes just visits from dewdrop faeries). However, in the third book, Grave Peril, Harry Dresden's faerie godmother figures prominently. (She's the Leanansidhe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leanan_s%C3%ADdhe). Think "vampiric fae who gives poets and artists inspiration in exchange for a short lifespan." Definitely NOT a fairy godmother as seen by Disney.) The fourth book, Summer Knight deals extensively with the politics and battles between the Summer and Winter Court. Oh, and there are three queens in each Court. The eighth book, Proven Guilty focuses on Faerie--a battle to get there and back--for the final third of the book. And in book ten, Small Favor, it's psychotics-possessed-by-fallen-angels vs. faeries vs. Harry and his friends/allies. There's also a short story called "Something Borrowed," which deals with a stolen bride.

Read all of them--and every book and story in between. You'll be glad that you did.

[easol.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Butcher really does well with that -- the fae spend time doing and thinking about other stuff than sex. They're actually kind of freaky and very inhuman, and extremely menacing regardless of gender or position. Even if they're stuck in a block of ice having psycho attacks! The Leanansidhe rocks.

I do love Toot and his little brigade of not-very-bright pizza-loving faeries, tho.

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

Honestly Mab could give lessons on how to be an evil Faerie Bitch Queen.

Tie someone up, torture them within an inch of their life and then kill them = done and over done.

Tie someone up, torture them within an inch of their lives, hang them up, pull them down, heal them until they look forward to the torture then kill them because you broke them = genius.

[estllechauvelin.livejournal.com]

I third this.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

Fourth this!

I wanna see Titania on screen dang it! She's the only Queen we haven't seen on camara speaking!

[beloved828.livejournal.com]

I um....5th this? (what number are we up to now?)Harry Dresden all the way! I really think you'll like him. I really used to like the Merry Gentry stuff, too. I admit it. I liked it for the faeries, the fluff, and the smut. After LKH got on her soapbox about monogamy being the debbil and things just happening because it's "magic"(read: plot device used to get LKH out of having to write), I began to feel like I was reading an Anita book set in Faerie Land. I know, I know. They weren't that much different to begin with. Now, the only thing that's different is the hair/eye color and the setting.

[angylinni.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Fae Series by Karen Marie Moning. They are less sexually oriented than LKH and the writing is really good. Her other series, the Highlanders has some Fae mixed in as well. I would buy her books over almost any other paranormal author save Jim Butcher.

[kynekh-amagire.livejournal.com]

The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams is an interesting take on the "fairy realm" idea. I liked it quite a lot, although it's definitely modernized throughout, and owes only a little to actual mythological figures.

[moonsinger.livejournal.com]

I'll second Charles de Lint and Jim Butcher. I'd also add Mercedes Lackey's Serrated Edge and Bedlam's Bard series as well as her prequel series about elves in Tudor England.

[easol.livejournal.com]

If you like high fantasy, you might enjoy Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow and Thorn series, which has this truly awesome species of elves. Kind of derivative of Tolkien's, but given a lot of unique quirks and tendencies that make them seem really like another species.

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke I thought was very good. The fae that show up in that are very strange and creepy. It's set against the backdrop of England during the Napoleonic Wars. I feel that the faeries in that story more were based on legends and stories of faeries than on any set court system.

[easol.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, that was awesome. Very otherworldly and haunting -- partly because Clarke doesn't explain too much about then. Many authors make that mistake.

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to write from a point of view that is so different from the one an author is used to. The faeries in Clarke's world are from my perspective very self-centered and amoral. They do what they do because that's what they want to do. Just because a faerie seems to be on "your side" they are only there because they want to be. If they have an objective, they follow the most direct path to reach it. One of the scenes that creeped me out was when the gentleman with the thistle-down hair (a faerie with no real name) decided to "help" another character(human) and rather casually described murdering a dozen people to complete this objective despite the other character not wanting the gentleman with the thistle-down hair to do anything for him.

I think at times authors try to hard to make sure they are understood. With Clarke the vague explanations of faeries actually serve to underscore their different nature.

[easol.livejournal.com]

I actually find that the more the author tries to explain everything about faeries/elves, the more they resemble funny-looking humans. Benevolent or selfish, explaining too much drains the mystery.

This is a problem in books like Dennis McKiernan's, where he tries to make the elves noble and ethereal, but then goes into intricate detail about their kitchen hierarchy and mundane stuff like that.

And the selfish, casual attitude of Clarke's fairies sets them apart, to my mind -- they're not just humans with odd characteristics, but something really different.

[pastygothchick.livejournal.com]

I think the balance is knowing what not to commit to the page. The author has to know and understand the motivations of the mystical creatures so there is a coherency to their actions. The reader doesn't need to know every detail. I think some authors feel that if they did the work then they want to put it on the page so everyone can bask in the light of their genius (that's extrapolation based on feeling I don't actually know why some authors decide to write details down).

I feel it's like showing a magic trick and then walking through and explaining how it works. It sucks the "magic" out.

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

Benevolent or selfish, explaining too much drains the mystery.

Exactly! That's one thing that kinda bugs me about a lot of fantasy out there. There is something to be said for leaving things unsaid.

[marumae.livejournal.com]

And the selfish, casual attitude of Clarke's fairies sets them apart, to my mind -- they're not just humans with odd characteristics, but something really different.

Thank you~! I loved Clarke's fae. But I see this that you're referring to all the time with fey, they're just humans who look funny for the most part and that irritates me. I saw it all the TIME in the Labyrinth fandom and now I see it in popular fiction. These aren't the creatures of mythology, the ones who peasant folk had to tread lightly around to make sure their lives weren't ruined by offending them. These are Renn Faire wannabes who wear shiny clothes and are eerie reminiscent of Lord of the Rings.

[canadianevil.livejournal.com]

Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire/cadhla) has the first in a trilogy of books about a changeling private investigator in San Francisco coming out next year. I'm very excited for it because her LJ is one of the most entertaining things I've ever read. I don't remember what it's called off-hand but I'm sure you can find it at one of her journals.