Except the Queen in Into the Forest

Sep 30, 2016 Jalilah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mythic-fiction, fantasy-and-science-fiction, urban-fantasy-and-pr, fae-faeries

Fae sisters Serana and Meteora are banished from Faerie for inadvertently revealing information about the Faerie Queen. In addition to being sent to different cities, New York and Milwaukee, the sisters lose their magical powers and their eternal youth. Each sister finds herself in the body of an overweight "older" woman, clueless about the human world.
This point of view reversal, seeing our world from the persepective of the Fae, as well as their commentaries made this novel unique from other Fae sisters Serana and Meteora are banished from Faerie for inadvertently revealing information about the Faerie Queen. In addition to being sent to different cities, New York and Milwaukee, the sisters lose their magical powers and their eternal youth. Each sister finds herself in the body of an overweight "older" woman, clueless about the human world.
This point of view reversal, seeing our world from the persepective of the Fae, as well as their commentaries made this novel unique from other "fairies hidden in our world" type books I've read. It also made for some humorous moments! For example after finding each other and sending letters though messenger pigeons, Meteora finds out that letters can be mailed though the post. In her next message she explains to her sister how to send a letter:
"There are big blue boxes on the street with eagles on them, put your letter to me there and a man dressed in blue with and eagle sigil on his breast will take it from the box and bring it to me"
Serana does as suggested and...
"So I did the turnings she suggested, and found the place of mails with the big eagle sigil on the wall. I did not see any of my sister's men in blue, but there was a lady behind some bars-caged like a farmer's cows-who told me to put the letter into an envelope and seal it" After being told the letter will take two days to arrive Serana replies:
"Two days? "But I thought this is eagle mail. The dove can do it in that time and for nothing more than some honey water and bread."
There are many similar incidents like this as Serana and Metora discover the human world. Serana meets street musicians in the park and is offered brownies. At first she's repelled think they are made out of smashed elves, but then when it's explained they are made of sugar chocolate, eggs, flour and a " magical" ingredient ends up eating several with an effect she was not expecting!
However this is not a funny book. There are quite a few dark parts in it.
The two sisters soon realize there are Fae hidden among humans and many of them are not benevolent. There seems to be trouble brewing. When each sister finds themselves taking care of a mysterious human that has been broken or injured by the Fae, they start to wonder if they are not part of a bigger plan........
I liked that the two main characters were "older" women. The two sisters realized very soon that they, all older woman were invisible. It is a pretty direct commentary on how older women are treated in our culture.
Overall this is a delightful and refreshingly different read that I highly recommend! ...more

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Oct 01, 2016 Margaret rated it really liked it

Shelves: fairytale-myth-inspired, contemporary-fantasy

Two Fae sisters, Meteora and Serana, happen upon the Fairy Queen with a mortal man and their child tucked away safe in the grass. They flee the queen's wrath, but when one makes a gossipy mistake, the queen finds them and curses them to live apart in the mortal realm as two old women.

One sister is exiled to Baba Yaga's house in Milwaukee, and the other to New York City. Both meet other fae, whose stories turn out to be entwined in the whole mess of their exile.

I enjoyed the two elderly sisters' ...more

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Sep 29, 2016 Leah rated it liked it

Two fairies discover the Fairy Queen's biggest secret but vow to keep their mouths shut in order to avoid the Queen's wrath. Unfortunately, one of them leaks the secret and both are banished from the high court, thrown into the mortal world, one in New York and one in Wisconsin, without their magic, youth or beauty. They soon realize that being an old lady in the human world isn't easy, but they make the most of their situations. That's when they start seeing other fey hiding among the humans; f ...more

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Mar 05, 2014 Katy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Perfect book, no, not really -- but perfect reading for me at this time. A lovely story mixed with folklore that works wonderfully. An urban fantasy with all of the charm of the original tales.

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Mar 25, 2010 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fairies-fae-faeries, favorites, ya, feminist, based-on-folksong-myth, urban-fantasy, reread, best-books-i-read-in-2016, fantasy, best-books-i-read-in-2011

Is the opposite of a YA urban fantasy novel, an AK novel? If it is, then this novel is that. (AK is slightly rude Yiddish for 鈥榓lte kacher,鈥� or old fart.) I wish other fantasists would write more novels for this subcategory of books. (Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler is also one that fits this category.)

Meteora and Serana are members of the high court of the Fairy Queen who are exiled to the human world, where they suddenly look and feel like old women, and they separated, as they have never been Is the opposite of a YA urban fantasy novel, an AK novel? If it is, then this novel is that. (AK is slightly rude Yiddish for 鈥榓lte kacher,鈥� or old fart.) I wish other fantasists would write more novels for this subcategory of books. (Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler is also one that fits this category.)

Meteora and Serana are members of the high court of the Fairy Queen who are exiled to the human world, where they suddenly look and feel like old women, and they separated, as they have never been. Meteora lives in Milwaukee and Serana lives in New York City, so they also have to manage on their own for the first time.

鈥溾€ leaned down to see my reflection in the calm surface of the lake. My face was wider, with cheeks and chin padded and softly wrinkled. My eyelids drooped sleepily, the lids darker and more deep- set. My hair once the color of acorns and burnished leaves was graying at the temples and crown.鈥� (35) (This is a continuation of the quote below, where Meteora is looking at herself for the first time, after arriving in the Other World.)

Read for a discussion on the 欧宝娱乐 board Into the Woods. I also reread this to get over a bad book hangover from Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now and a good one from the Arrivals. I 鈥榖ought鈥� this 3/21/10 from SFBC for 0.

Review from April 25, 2011:
Sisters Meteora and Serana are exiled from the Court of the Fairy Queen, without their magic and aged. They are also sent to Milwaukee and New York City, and there they must learn to cope without what they feel at first, with what made them special. Each of the sisters finds a person needing her help, a young girl who cries every night, and a young man, a fiddler, who is lost. This is an unusual and delightful urban fantasy novel, for though it takes place in the present, Meteora and Serana鈥檚 perceptions and misunderstandings are not of the here and now, but of the Greenwood, from whence they came. It is also atypical, that the heroines in this YA novel (or is it?) are not beautiful and young looking, but are no less heroic --and attractive.

鈥淚 glanced down and gasped, seeing for the first time what had become of me. Gone was may slender torso, the small hard breasts, the flat belly. Now I was stolid and thick-waisted, my breasts pendulous. My thighs had spread like yeasted bread, and creased over my knobbed knees. I lifted my hands, cried out at the web of blue veins, and the little gold rings embedded in the swollen flesh of my fingers.鈥� ...more

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