Review: The Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

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 factory owners Brimstone and Chalkhill, and the nefarious Lord Hairstreak, leader of the Faeries of the Night, all dream of ruling the Faerie realm and are out to kill Pyrgus. 

Enlisting the help of his sister, Holly Blue, and his new friend, Henry, Pyrgus must get back to the Faerie world alive before one of his many enemies gets to him instead. But how many portals are open, and can Pyrgus find the right one before it falls into the wrong hands? 

Conjuring scenes filled with vivid color, unforgettable detail, and fearless characters, author Herbie Brennan brings readers to the Faerie world, where nothing is ever what it seems and no one can be trusted.

The Faerie Wars started out in a way that I hadn't expected, but, to be honest, I'm not sure of what I expected because the copy I have has no synopsis whatsoever on it!

It started off by confusing me a bit, switching perspective between worlds a few times before it finally settled into the plot. Once it did, I was very glad I had picked it up. I ended up really loving the way it switched perspectives. It ended up telling a story that would have been much, much different and not nearly as interesting as if it hadn't.

The plot was one that kept me interested once it got going, it was really fun. It was the getting going that was tough, it was a bit slow for my tastes. Also, I'm not completely sure why Henry's family drama was necessary to this book- sure, it gave a nice back story and motive to Henry, but then it just kinda kept going and I really wasn't too interested in his bratty sister, stressed father and annoying mother that was having an affair.

Which brings me to something that I wasn't a fan of in this book- Henry's parents. Honestly, I really, really didn't like them. They tried to deal with the issue of Henry's mother having an affair like it was no big deal, which to Henry it was. Then they were just unreasonable and unsympathetic for the rest of the story, and that  made it all worse.

To get to the more positive, the concept of the faeries in this book was really cool! I loved how they had a sort of parallel world to our own. As far as characters go, the faerie ones were my favourite, especially Holly Blue. Blue is the sort of kick-ass female characters that makes books just that much better. She's a middle sibling, so she kinda gets ignored lots of the time and is left to her own devices- something that she is sure to take advantage of.

All in all, I had fun reading it but reading the next book in the series isn't a huge priority at the moment. Most likely I will in the future, but not for a while.

The Good: Some awesome characters, fun plot.
The Bad: Bad parent characters, a bit slow to start.
The Verdict: 3 3/4 stars

Rachel :)