The Faerie Wars Chronicles started off with a bang with Faerie Wars and its sequel The Purple Emperor. Both were excellent with interesting characters, fast plots, evil villains, well-written dialogue and conflicts that felt real.
You can read my reviews here:
The Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan YA Fantasy Fiction Book 1 Chronicles
The Purple Emperor Faerie Wars Chronicles Herbie Brennan YA Fantasy Review
Sadly the next two books in the series, Ruler of the Realm and Faerie Lord were disappointing and did not come close to the fun and enjoyment of the first books. Both were boring, with little character development and even less plot tension. Both were unconvincing and worst of all, left me feeling like I really didn’t care what happened next.
The whole series is aimed at younger readers but the first two books were satisfying for me, and based on reviews on Amazon, many adult readers enjoyed them too. These next two books have all the shortcuts we expect in YA fiction that can turn off adults. The characters just do things without drawing out why they act as they do. Wonderful results happen to save the day, without any reason as to why. Very likely younger readers will enjoy these two novels although I did not.
Ruler of the Realm
Ruler of the Realm wasn’t bad, just not very good. I did not enjoy reading it.
Just Blah
It felt pedestrian, with the characters acting out a script vs. acting like real people. For example, Henry, the hero from our world, is kidnapped by the aliens also known as demons, and implanted with a device to control his thoughts and given false memories. He believes he has been turned into a demon and ordered to produce a faerie/demon child with the Purple Empress Blue. Really? Henry has taken biology classes in high school and should know it doesn’t work this way. Even had he been changed into a demon he cannot produce a demon child. That may seem like a trivial point that only a pedant would care about, but I have a hard time believing that someone as smart as Henry would fall for a lie like that.
The Good Parts
The only good parts of the book are the settings, which are well done and the ending. Brennan introduces several parts of the Faerie World that we’ve not seen before and gives excellent descriptions. When you’re in the desert you feel hot.
Not to spoil it for readers, but the finale is excellent with Blue managing to overcome the demon king by herself. What I do like with Herbie Brennan’s books is that they stand on their own without cliffhangers in between novels.
Overall Just OK
Ruler of the Realm dragged. So Henry is back in England and confused. Yes, and why should I care? The previous two books gave you a reason to care, but Ruler of the Realm does not.
I managed to finish this but it was a close call.
Faerie Lord
I did not get past the first 30 pages or so of Faerie Lord then skipped to the end. I was glad that they rescued Hodge but that was about the only thing I liked in the book.
Based on Amazon reviews, I am in the minority not liking this. Maybe I tried to read it too soon after the first two books and just had enough of the series.
I see there is a fifth book now, The Faeman Quest, with Henry and Blue’s daughter Mella which I will not read.
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