Faerie Winter

March 15, 2011

In the post-apocalyptic world left after the war between the human realm and Faerie, it's been winter for very long time. Since 15-year-old Liza called the magical quia tree to life at the end of Bones of Faerie (2010), even the evergreens have dropped their needles in a cold season that seems likely to be unending. Like the rest of the children born in After—since the war—Liza has magical powers. Her visions and abilities to command the living will certainly come in handy when she follows her erstwhile boyfriend (who can shift to wolf form) on a quest to bring a healer to her beleaguered village. It seems unlikely that her powers will be sufficient to protect herself and the Afters accompanying her from the enemy at the gates, however, especially when she sees how powerful that enemy is. The discovery of old secrets helps set up for the next volume in this series. Oddly, Liza's tale works despite the jumble of crowd-pleasing elements (post-apocalyptic dystopia, multigenerational faerie love stories, werewolf heartthrob). Graphic descriptions of murdered children push the story older than the reading level of its prose, but that just leaves it as an entertaining if quick adventure for those impatiently awaiting the next, heftier entry by Cassandra Clare or Julie Kagawa. (Fantasy. 12-16)

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November 1, 2011

Gr 8 Up-In this sequel to Bones of Faerie (Random, 2009), Simner paints a hauntingly exquisite portrait of a postapocalyptic world. The war between the Mortal and Faerie worlds has had disastrous consequences. Faerie is destroyed, and humans are in the grips of a winter so deep that not even the green hearts of slumbering seeds can stir. Survivors live in small, huddled colonies, threatened by starvation and fearful of outsiders and all things magical. Like all children born after the war, Liza, 16, possesses magical abilities that society believes in suppressing. Along with the rest of her village, she and her mother await a spring they fear may never arrive. Then one evening a strange boy with badly burned hands stumbles from the woods, mumbling incoherently and hinting at terrible danger. Liza decides to investigate. What she discovers is a nightmare: a vengeful Faerie Queen has been tricking human children into using their powers to destroy what remains of humanity. Now Liza must find a way to stop the queen's deadly plot and put an end to the winter before all is lost. But spring brings its own dangers.... Faerie Winter is a beautifully crafted tale, peopled with believable characters and overflowing with dramatic plot twists. But perhaps the most exceptional quality is the vivid imagery that plunges readers into the story and keeps them enchanted throughout. Fans of both fantasy and dystopian fiction will devour this one.-Alissa J. LeMerise, Oxford Public Library, MI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2011
Grades 8-11 In this sequel, readers of Bones of Faerie (2009) will learn a bit more about the apocalyptic war between humankind and faerie folk that has decimated both realms. Heroine Liza continues to come into her powers as she and the scattered people left unmurdered by the vengeful faeries weather a ruinous winter, with no spring in sight. When she discovers the bodies of children in the woods, it looks like the past just won't stay buried. Simner tells a more streamlined story this time around and keeps up the dark atmospherics of her high-appeal blend of unsettling speculative-fiction scenarios.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)