Title: Bones of Faerie


Author:  Janni Lee Simner


Publishing Info:  Random House Books 2009


IBSN:  978-0-375-84563-5


Genre: Young Adult Fantasy


My Rating:  B



Like Cinder, I came across this book at a bookfair at my elementary school.  (But I can't imagine a 10 year old reading this story for reasons I will soon explain.)

Here is a synopsis of the book:

The war between humanity and Faerie devastated both sides.  Or so fifteen-year-old Liza has been told.  Nothing has been seen or heard from Faerie since, and Liza's world bears the scars of its encounter with magic.  Corn resist being harvested; dandelions have thorns.  Trees move sinister intention, and the town Liza calls home is surrounded by a forest that threatens to harm all those who wander into it.  Still, Liza feels safe.  Her father is strong and has protected their town by laying down strict rules.  Among them: Any trace of magic must be destroyed, no matter where it is found.


So basically the plants are evil, even shadows can harm people, and there are exploding butterflies.  That reminds me of the flesh eating butterflies in Snow White and the Huntsman, which is the only lingering impression that movie had on me, but let's not get on that soapbox.

Did the cover mention that Liza's dad is CRAY and even kills people who exhibit magical properties?  Well yes, but I did not feel like typing the whole thing.  Liza's little sister is born and she looks like a little faerie creature so the dad leaves her out overnight and something eats her, which is just bone chilling.  (I am not spoiling anything here, just summarizing the cover.  Much easier.)  Oh and there's this little tidbit of a story that a baby was born with bird claws and definitely tore the mom up as it came out so that she bled to death.

We are a far cry from Tinkerbell and Fairy Hollow.

Liza starts seeing the future in shiny surfaces (water, metal, etc.) and has to run away from her town, lest she be harmed by her father.  But I am not sure that she entirely believes he would hurt her.  Even though he kills her sister, which causes her mother to leave them, and he beats her when she is "late for chores," Liza defends her father when he is spoken ill of by others.  Their relationship is interesting because she believes that all magic is evil, since that is what her father has taught her.  (though demon bird babies clawing their moms' lady parts during birth is pretty sinister.)  He has taught her to survive and she is just his little star pupil.  She even shows some of his qualities through out the story, but you'll have to discover those for yourself.  But as she finds magic that doesn't hurt others, she becomes conflicted about how much good her father has really done over the years.

Liza goes on her adventure first just to run away and then to find her mother.  I gave this book a B because mainly, it was short.  There is nothing wrong with short, but I wished it had been longer.  Like even for the sake of character development.  When I finished, I was like, "is that it?"  I blew through this book in about a week, which is amazing considering that it takes me ages to read a book these days.  So there was no lack of action and attention holding.  I was just sad that it ended so quickly.  There is apparently a sequel, but I didn't know that at the time.  It is pretty good even as a stand alone story.

I recommend this book if you need a quick read during travels.  Like sitting in the airport for copious amounts of hours, or wherever the wind takes you.  And if you like dark, post apocalyptic fantasy where trees throw their nuts at people.

Exploding butterflies!!