Wednesday, November 23, 2016

The Falconer by Elizabeth May


Title: The Falconer 
Author: Elizabeth May
Series: The Falconer #1
Publisher: Chronicle Books 
Release Date: May 6, 2014 



One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale

She's a stunner.
Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.

She's a liar.
But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.

She's a murderer.
Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.

She's a Falconer.
The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first.

The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.






“I'm like him. I'm a monster, too.” 

I plunged into this story with hopes of enjoying a new YA fantasy. This series was highly recommended to me and I finally got a chance to read The Falconer. I'm glad I did. The characters intrigued me and Aileana was a welcome surprise as a heroine. 

Aileana is a Falconer. She's the last one standing. She was born to kill the fae. She learned to fight and to kill after she witnessed her mother's murder. Her mother could have been a falconer too. The power comes from the female bloodline. Unfortunately, before she was able to learn how to defend herself, she was attacked and died. Aileana wants revenge. She needs to destroy the one who hunted and killed her mother. She won't give up until she accomplishes this task. In the meantime, she's happy disposing of the fae she runs into. 

Aileana has been trained by Kiaran, a daione sith. He's powerful and dangerous. She met him after the death of her mother and he has been preparing her to fight the fae from then on. Aileana doesn't know why he attacks his own kind and he doesn't know the reason behind her hate for the fae. 

Aileana does have another fae in her life. She has Derrick. He's a pixie who likes his honey, helps her fix her ripped clothes and can conceal her from the fae. He reminds me of Jenks from The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. I liked him. 

There is also Catherine, her best friend. Catherine is sweet and she covers for Aileana when needed. Catherine's brother, Gavin also plays a big part in the story. Aileana had feelings for him before he left for Oxford two years ago. Aileana's father is almost non-existent throughout only making an appearance when he thinks she needs to find a suitor and get married soon.

I'm not usually into the Steampunk genre but none of it bother me while reading this novel. Instead, I love that Aileana knew how to create contraptions, fly something close to a helicopter, and make awesome weapons to defend herself. She was smart, innovative and a great fighter. She was also broken, her grief was constantly present. 

Kiaran was so swoon-worthy. He was a very attractive fae who didn't say much and hid too many things but whom I could tell cared for Aileana more than he wanted to. I can understand how someone could be faestruck by him.

 “I will worship thee.” 

There were some things in the Falconer which reminded me of The Fever series (one of my favorites). This didn't deter me from liking the story. If anything, I wanted to keep reading it.

One thing I hated was the ending. Major cliffhanger. I was not expecting it. Fortunately for me, the next book is out. 

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by  Chronicle Books via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


2 comments:

  1. Excellent review! I keep hearing great things about this one. I may have to add it to my wishlist and bump it up on my TBR!

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    1. Thank you AngelErin. I enjoyed it and I want to finish the trilogy.

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