With Fate Conspire

July 25, 2011
Gifted storyteller and world-builder Brennan returns to the Onyx Court, a faery city that coexists with London, in her fourth historical fantasy (after 2010's A Star Shall Fall). As the Onyx Court is threatened by 19th-century advances in technology, the faeries and humans increasingly come into conflict. Eliza O'Malley is caught between the two worlds, both of which are often cruel and indifferent to her desperate search for her childhood friend, Owen, who was captured by the faeries seven years before. Unless Eliza can find Dead Rick, the dog-man who betrayed them, Owen will be lost to the faery kingdom forever. Series readers and fans of the Tam Lin myth will be captivated by this complex and vibrant depiction of a magical Victorian era.

August 1, 2011

Final entry in Brennan's historical fantasy series (A Star Shall Fall, 2010, etc.) wherein the Onyx Court, realm of the fae, lies hidden below Queen Victoria's London.

Few humans believe in fairies, and fewer still know the Onyx Court even exists. And with a technological revolution in full swing, London is threaded with iron: paved-over rivers, pipes, bridges, the tracks of the underground railways. The presence of so much iron is destroying the fairy realm; what remains holds together only by the magic and indomitable willpower of its queen, Lune. Her bewildered experts are researching, by scientific, alchemical and magical means, ways to preserve the court, although most others are resigned to fleeing. Meanwhile, Nadrett, the fiendish gangster lord of the Goblin Market, pursues his own nefarious plans, while, in a connected development, certain prominent citizens, both fae and human, find odd chunks of their memories have inexplicably gone missing. On the streets of London above, Eliza O'Malley searches grimly for her sweetheart, who vanished seven years ago, stolen away by the faeries of the Goblin Market. Of course, nobody believes her when she insists he was stolen by fairies. Only Eliza's unshakeable determination keeps her quest alive. Eventually she will cross paths with Dead Rick, Nadrett's tortured, shape-shifting slave, held in thrall by the memories Nadrett stole from him. This time, Brennan's grasp of period detail is sure, as the Dickensian squalor of most mortal sections of the city has its mirror in the teeming desperation of the Goblin Market. Despite the cast of thousands, many of the characters have real presence, and after a slow start the plot coheres and swirls forward into a series of tense and surprising conclusions.

An absorbing finale to a series that has grown richer with every installment.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 15, 2011

Eliza O'Malley, a young Irish woman living in Victorian London, still searches for her childhood friend Owen, stolen by the faeries seven years ago. Her search takes her to the city's aristocracy, to meetings of the Society of Psychical Research, and finally into the Onyx Court, a hidden faery city that is threatened with destruction from the encroaching effects of the Industrial Revolution. There, she finds strange allies to help her in her quest, including the faery who had originally stolen Owen. Brennan's fourth series tale (after A Star Shall Fall) blends history and fantasy to create a London of high grandeur and unspeakable squalor, where faery crime bosses hold hundreds in their thrall below the city and humans who believe in the unbelievable search for proof of another realm's existence. VERDICT Brennan's characters breathe life into a landscape rich in detail and vibrant with imagination. This title should please fans of Mercedes Lackey's "Elemental Masters" series and Elizabeth Bear's "Promethean Age" series.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2011
Brennan's fourth novel of the Onyx Court takes place in 1884. London continues to spread out, it having burst the ancient walls more than a century before.But now the underground railway threatens to destroy the subterranean hall of the Onyx Court. Both fae and mortals are menaced by the hall's weakening. The damage to the fae palace is reflected as chaos in London's streets, and many of the dark fae feel free to use mortals as they will. Seven years ago, Eliza O'Malley's childhood sweetheart disappeared. No one believed her when she said he was stolen by fairies. But she is still searching, and that search brings her to the hidden places of the fae and the parlors of their human allies, and eventually makes her part of a chance that may save the Onyx hall. Brennan's research is impeccable, and her pictures of a London not too well known on this side of the pond are first-class, as is the weaving of the human and fae settings. Her characters, both major and minor, are well drawn and memorable. Brennan's own fans, historical-fantasy fans, and lovers of classic fantasy will find this a must-read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)