This is one of the best Young Adult novels I think I have ever read. It discusses the Land of Faerie in all its amoral glory, and introduces us to the King of the Fae, Finvarra. And let's not forget the many fairy rings and hills and legends in modern Ireland, even today.

In good storytelling, there is a pair of cousins, one daring and one not so much, who decide to take the summer to travel Ireland. And the daring one chooses that they sleep in a Fairy Mound, and yes, she gets taken by the King as his next paramour.

What makes this book especially interesting are all the ways in which the Fae of Ireland provide hints of themselves. It is up to young Gwen to learn the ways of her helpers and trust her encounters to lead her to her goal: that of returning her cousin to the modern world. ( )

This was a pretty good book among the huge number of "faerie" books I've noticed are competing with the vampire craze.

Gwen and her cousin Findabhair both love Ireland. But they also have a special fascination with it, and they are determined to find some way to get in touch with its mythical side; the realm of Faerie. When Findabhair is captured by the faeries as a sacred victim for an ancient ritual, the more shy Gwen has to find to her courage to save her.

This book has a lot of interesting Irish references and mythology woven into it, as well as lots of dialect (there's a glossary in the back). But sometimes it feels like the introduction to the world drags away from the characters. I never felt particularly attached or identified with any of them. Any relationships formed felt rushed and unrealistic (Gwen fell in love with a guy over the course of a single chapter!). And the big climax was pretty much a letdown.

Nevertheless, it has pretty good writing style, and a fairly satisfying ending. The next book is much better though. ( )

The premise was good (cousins going on an adventure in search of fairyland), but everything beyond that point was kind of disappointing. Characters didn't really decide to do things so much as they were swept off on adventures, and all the magic seemed underwhelming and as though it was created with no purpose behind it (ex. random witches start weaving yarn around their horns to hurt the main character...somehow?). Also, character emotions seemed very flat. They make big decisions with little or no apparent thought behind them, and in the end of the book, the main character is very upset about something bad that happens to someone whom she considered her enemy for most of the book. Not to mention romance that pops out of nowhere and becomes intense immediately. ( )

A younger end of the YA genre. The theme was interesting, very much a fairyland fantasy, set in the Irish countryside. Some of the characterization was sketchy, especially Findabhair, who felt very 2-dimensional. If O. R. Melling is a new author to you, I recommend 'The Singing Stone' as your first read. ( )

Good fairy story i am excited to see what happens in the next book
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