Review: Enchanting!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2014
From Fairies and Creatures of the Night, Guard Me, is an enchanting book full of short stories, that I enjoyed very much. It includes 17 urban fairy tales that take place in a magical world known as the Hinterlands. Full of magic, romance, friendship, fairies, trolls, and pixies, this book can be enjoyed by anyone who loves good fantasy fiction.*Warning: Contains Some Spoilers*In The Seller of Fortunes, we meet Mestrall who is able to paint the future. Mestrall was good with cats and paint, but not people.Next story is Impasse, a story about a woman who can transform into different beings. She has a soft spot for sad, broken things. Her oldest friend: a ghost of a king who died in the middle ages.Then we meet Penny and Erkling, in Something Rich and Strange. Penny is obsessed with finding a magical portal to visit the fairy realms nearby…In The Bridge, we follow Penny on her travels across a bridge guarded by a troll. Bridge guarding is a sacred and magical task, that trolls take very seriously. As serious as their nails are sharp…My favorite tale is next, Of Ice Pixies and Wine Casks, and this tale is a story about an infestation of Ice Pixies in the Hinterlands.Then, there is the tale of Hliff and Maelstrom, a wizard and a witch who meet once a month. Maelstrom brings Hliff a very unusual gift…Nepenthe continues with Hliff’s story. She enjoys brewing potions, but a certain potion, Nepenthe, comes with a price…Arachne, my second favorite tale, is about a girl with magical talents who gets herself into some trouble and has to make a devil of a deal… Magriet is the Queen who would never be.Mrs. Winifred, is a story about an older lady who is plagued by the family curse… and a demonic bird.Etude, is a story about a woman who prefers messages hidden in music over words. Words, you see, are dangerous, like blades and poison.Pumpkins is a story about a vampire who develops an unlikely friendship with Thanatos, his would-be prey.Beowulf, A Prequel, is about Aeschere, a young man who looks forward to winning a vacation so he can get away from his three intolerable friends.My third favorite tale, The Barely Seen World, is about a woman created by alchemy and science, who wishes to be “more” human.Then there is Hildegarde, a respectable Dwarf who is a trained healer in dwarf medicine.The Song of Rowland is about a brother and sister who love each other dearly, but cannot stand each other’s presence… While hiding from her brother, she (Helen) meets the man of her dreams. A King!Lastly, we meet Galatea in Pavane, a woman who saves her grief for one day out of the year, every year.I enjoyed all of the characters very much in these short stories, and was happy to see a lot of them make a reappearance! Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy fiction! I was happy to see that Emily de Courcy made the crossover so well, from writing regency romance (under the name Daphne du Bois) to urban fantasy. She clearly is an excellent writer with a knack for world building, regardless of the genre! 5 stars!