Format: E-Book, 400 pages
Release Date: November 21, 2017
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Genre: Urban Fantasy
A fun, fast-paced debut urban fantasy in which Titania’s son, Lord Coilean--aka Colin Leffee--must find a way to re-open the doors between the land of fae and our world, before magic runs out and chaos descends.
Life has been anything but mundane for Colin Leffee, the wayward son of Titania, queen of Faerie. Having spent centuries on his mother’s bad side, Colin made the mortal realm his home. In his latest guise, he fights malicious faeries as an exorcist’s part-time muscle, runs a small-town bookstore as a cover story, and tries to fly under his nosy neighbor’s radar.
Now, Titania has set an unpleasant plan in motion, one that will lead Colin back into her clutches if he isn’t careful. But Titania isn’t the only royal with a scheme. Mab, who has long been exiled from Faerie, sets a trap that threatens all magic by sealing the border between the realms.
As the world runs out of magic, Colin must depend on his wits to set things right, and he must trust some unlikely allies: a wizard with a dangerous family name, a seminarian who fancies himself a knight, and his own psychopathic half-brother.
But no one holds a grudge quite like a faerie, and both queens have Colin in their sights...
Now, Titania has set an unpleasant plan in motion, one that will lead Colin back into her clutches if he isn’t careful. But Titania isn’t the only royal with a scheme. Mab, who has long been exiled from Faerie, sets a trap that threatens all magic by sealing the border between the realms.
As the world runs out of magic, Colin must depend on his wits to set things right, and he must trust some unlikely allies: a wizard with a dangerous family name, a seminarian who fancies himself a knight, and his own psychopathic half-brother.
But no one holds a grudge quite like a faerie, and both queens have Colin in their sights...
Stranger Magic, by author Ash Fitzsimmons, is her debut novel. The story's protagonist is Colin Leffee aka Lord Coileán a High Lord of Faerie who has owns and operates a book store called Ex Libris. For his other job, he works with Father Paul McGill exorcising Fae who cross the line and attack humans. One could say that Colin prefers humans over fae since they're not likely to attack him at any moment. The curious part about Colin is the fact that he is 1/2 human, and 1/2 fae. The 1/2 Fae part is the most important because it gives him youthful looks, magic, and immortality.
It's also important to note this because his mother is Queen Titania who he has a hate hate relationship with. He just happens to be her oldest living heir, but has a target on his back because of an action he committed in saving a human from a fae long ago. As the story opens, Colin is breaking in a new seminarian assistant named Joey. After sending the fae away, things really get twisted. Colin's octogenarian neighbor Mrs. Coopers ends up with a 16-year old girl who calls herself Moyna. Moyna claims that her "mother" Queen Titania tossed her out of Faerie because she wants something else.
This leads Colin to searching for Moyna's parents, which shockingly, become even more twisted when he learns that he is Moyna's father, and her real name is Olive. If you thought things were going to get even more twisted from here, you are absolutely right. Especially after Colin discovers that his long lost lover Meggy Bellamy is the girls mother. Oh, but I'm not finished yet. Meggy and Moyna are sucked into Faerie where Titania waits thanks to, ready for this? Colin's own brother Robin, that would be Puck to you, who triggers a trap blowing up the link to Fairie, and causing magic to be drained while leaving Meggy and Olive stuck in Faerie.
Oh, but do behave! Colin's troubles have just begun to get rolling. Now he has an untrustworthy brother who is working for Mab, a young assistant priest who isn't sure of his vocation, and a woman named Toula who has worked with Meggy, and has a curious parentage which leads to all sorts of questions about her abilities. What could ever go wrong? I didn't even mentioned Colin's adversarial relationship the Wizards of the Arcanum! So, now Colin and team must find a way to restore magic to the world, save Colin's former lover and his daughter, avoid political manipulations from Oberon, Mab, and Titania, while also searching for the 12 missing globes that a powerful magus hid all over the world. What could possibly go wrong?
This book has more than its fair share of flashbacks to certain points in Colin's life. While these flashbacks were informative, they may have taken away the enjoyment of the final chapter. While there was some action involved in this story, I would have preferred less of the flashbacks, and more of Colin's team facing the difficulties they encounter along the way. It wasn't until much, much later in the book before Colin and team get their acts together to rescue Meggy and Olive who never once had a kind world to say about Colin.
She was truly obsessed with regaining Titania's love and respect instead of understanding who Colin was and what he has gone through in his 800 years of existence. I would have also liked to get more information about Mab's reality where she was vanquished to. I think the author could have done quite a bit more with that realm. I really liked Joey. Ok, so he is a little bit rambunctious with his nail gun and sword, but he's just now getting an understanding of what Father Paul went through for years with Colin. I liked Toula as well. I dare say the girl more than made up for her prickly side over the course of the story. I don't believe there is a necessity for any sequel to this book. I am just fine with this being a standalone.
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