Saturday, May 3, 2014

Book Review: The Falconer by Elizabeth May

The Falconer
Author: Elizabeth May
Series: The Falconer (Book 1)
Publication: Chronicle Books (May 6, 2014)

Description: Debutante by day. Murderess by night. Edinburgh's only hope.

Edinburgh, 1844. Beautiful Aileana Kameron only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. In fact, she's spent the year since her mother died developing her ability to sense the presence of Sithichean, a faery race bent on slaughtering humans. She has a secret mission: to destroy the faery who murdered her mother. But when she learns she's a Falconer, the last in a line of female warriors and the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity, her quest for revenge gets a whole lot more complicated. The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller blends romance and action with steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.

My Thoughts: Lady Aileana Kameron is leading a double life in 1844 Edinburgh. By day she is a sheltered aristocrat who is on the marriage market but whose reputation is tarnished by the possibility that she had something to do with her mother's brutal death. By night, she is fighting and killing the faeries who are stealing energy from humans but whom most humans can not see. She is searching for the faery who killed her mother.

Aileana is being trained by Kiaran MacKay who is one very powerful faery who wasn't imprisoned beneath Edinburgh after an epic battle that occurred 2000 years before. Aileana's relationship with Kiaran is a difficult one as she moves between liking him and trusting him and realizing that he is not at all human and that he is alson one of her enemies.

However, unfortunately for Aileana, the 2000 year old seal is weakening and is scheduled to fail within days if she can't do something to reinforce it. It was made by a number of falconers working together but Aileana is the only remaining falconer and has had just a year of training.

I loved the steampunk aspects of this story as Aileana is an engineer who has made a number of weapons that will let her defeat the faeries. I loved her ornithopter and the locomotive that she made along with her lightning gun and sonic cannon. The bomb that she used on the Red Caps was particularly effective and destructive too.

Aileana was an intriguing character whose life changed immeasurably when her mother was killed. She is haunted by the memory of her mother's death and by her need for vengeance. Kiaran is also an intriguing character who is very mysterious. Aileana's pixie protector Derrick adds some much needed lightness to this very intense story.

I can't wait to see what is going to happen next in this trilogy.

Favorite Quote:
"I was keeping you safe."

"In what way could keeping me in ignorance be construed as protection?" I straighten a piece of wire to add to the fire-starter. "God spare me from such protection, especially when it involves safeguarding my poor feminine sensibilities from life-saving information."
I won this ARC from LibraryThing. You can buy your copy here.

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