Faery Rebels

**Faery Rebels**, also known as **No Ordinary Fairy Tale**, is a fantasy trilogy by Canadian author R.J. Anderson. Each book in the series centers around a faery who must venture away from their home to save the faery race.

The first novel in the series, *Knife*, was published in the United Kingdom by Orchard Books on 8 January 2009. Subsequent books in the series were *Rebel* (2009) and *Arrow* (2011). *Knife* was also published in the United States through HarperCollins and was re-titled *Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter*. HarperCollins also re-titled the second book, *Rebel*, which they released as *Wayfarer* in 2010. These books would later receive another United States release through Enclave Publishing in 2015, where they were released under their original UK book titles but with a new series title, *No Ordinary Fairy Tale*.

Anderson later released a separate series set in the same universe, *The Flight and the Flame*, which consists of three books: *Swift*, *Nomad* and *Torch*.

## Synopsis

### **Knife**

Knife is a young faery hunter. The faery race is dying off and Knife is convinced that humanity may hold the key to saving them from almost certain extinction as their magic is slowly disappearing. However her Queen is adamant that faeries and humans should never mix. Despite this, Knife defies her ruler and meets Paul McCormick, to whom she is instantly drawn.

### **Rebel**

Linden is a teenage faery that must venture out into the human world in order to find a way to save her people, as she is one of the few among them with any usable knowledge of the outside world. In the process she meets Timothy, who was very reluctantly taken in by family after his boarding school suspends him. Timothy holds a musical gift, something that placed him into the path of some faeries keen on taking it from him. Linden manages to save him, only for this to make the both of them a target.

### **Arrow**

Rhosmari is a young faery that has led a peaceful, yet sheltered existence, as her home lies on one of several islands that are free of any human contact. Her people want little to do with the faeries from the mainland and their rebellions, so Rhosmari is sent to retrieve the Stone of Naming, in the hopes that its retrieval could prevent them getting drawn into the fray. This proves to be easier said than done, as the young faery quickly experiences culture shock due to the differences between the mainland and the remote islands. Things grow worse when the evil Empress sets her sign on enslaving Rhosmari's people.

## Critical Reception

Critical reception for the series has been mostly positive. *Knife* was widely praised for its story and imagination, and Strange Horizons commented that the relationship between Paul and Knife worked especially well as it "manages to be both completely individually theirs and also more universally that of a couple of any kind, needing to negotiate their differences—of background, experience or just habit—with flexibility and generosity of spirit." *NATE Classroom* wrote a mostly favourable review of *Knife*, writing "The setting of the story lacks the intricacy of a fully built fantasy world that readers may be seeking. Instead it relies on the relationship between the characters to draw in the reader. It is a spellbinding fairy-tale dark enough to keep any boy or girl totally engrossed from beginning to end."

*School Librarian* gave *Rebel* a favourable review, praising it for its complexity and stating that it "is a book to enchant anyone who loves a fairy story." *The Horn Book Guide* and the *School Library Journal* echoed similar sentiments, with the *School Library Journal* writing that "Awkwardly out of place Christian doctrine may distract some readers, but, all in all, this is an enjoyable story that will appeal to fantasy fans."

### Awards and nominations

* CLA Book of the Year for Children Award (2010, nominee - *Knife*)
* Concorde Book Award (2010, won - *Knife*)
* Carnegie Medal (2010, nominee - *Knife*)
* Christy Award (2015, Young Adult Category finalist - "Rebel")