Format: E-Galley, 384 pages
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse
Source: Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Mabily “Mab” Jones is just a twenty-something, over-educated, under-employed New Yorker trying to survive as a private eye’s unpaid intern . . . or is she? Once a powerful fairy, but tricked by the Fairy Queen into human form, Mab is forced to face her changeling past when investigating a missing person case at a modern speakeasy.
Obadiah Savage bootlegs fairy Elixir to human customers thirsting for a magical fix. But when Mab and Obadiah become joint suspects in a crime they didn’t commit, the only way to prove their innocence is to travel back to the fairy realm. And when Mab confronts the Fairy Queen and learns the depth of her betrayal, she must decide if the fate of the fey world is worth destroying the lives of the humans she’s come to love.
Elixir
is the first installment in Ruth Vincent's A Changeling PI series. Elixir
features Mabily Jones, a 22 year old recent college graduate who is looking for
a job as a Private Investigator in New York City. "Mab" also has a bit of a secret as well. Mab is actually a Fae stuck in human form, or as author Vincent is calling her, a Changeling. She has no magic. She has no way of returning home to Fairyland aka The Vale, and she hasn't fulfilled her original duty of finding out what is causing the Elixir levels in The Vale to drop drastically.
Mab accepts an internship of sorts from Chief Investigator Reggie Ruggiero. Reggie has been searching for a missing girl who was last seen in a trendy bar where he isn't actually welcomed. Upon entering the bar where Reggie's missing girl was last seen, Mab encounters Obediah Savage who knows exactly what Mab is. Neither are any of the customers. To Mab's horror, she discovers that Obediah has been selling bootlegged Elixir from The Vale to human customers that cause some strange side-effects.
Side effects that eventually hurt Mab's best friend and roommate Eva Morales. Caught between a rock and hard place with Eva's situation, Eva and Obediah agree to work together in order to travel back to The Vale where they hope to encounter the one person that betrayed Mab; The Fairy Queen. Mab and Obediah must find a way to save Eva, stop the Fairy Queen's plans of stealing more children to save her Fairies from dying off, and staying alive long enough to prove they had nothing to do with Eva's unfortunate situation.
Will Mab find a way to outsmart the Fairy Queen and save Eva? Or, will the Fairy Queen get the best of Mab and ensure that she is forced to play by the Queen's rules to survive? With this being the first installment in a new series, there are a few hiccups that I tried to put behind me so that I didn't allow my feelings to get the best of me. Mab is an interesting character, but her character acts about 6 years younger than she really is.
Her time as a Changeling has left her lacking of her former powers, and angry at the Fairy Queen who betrayed her so completely that she's basically human through and through. Her relationship with Obediah is an interesting one, and HIS background saved this book in more ways than you can imagine. I think that readers will find the plot enjoyable enough to get through the character flaws and continue onto the next installment. I really liked Mab's relationship with Eva as well. Of course, there is a surprise waiting for readers once you reach The Vale. Let's hope patience gets you to this point so that you can be as surprised as I was.
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