In the fairy tale context of this book, I didn’t mind this. Readers should be warned that this is a story in which a woman does a ridiculously huge amount of emotional labor on behalf of a man who is both semi-immortal and very immature. Technically, this book is a fantasy, not a romance novel, but romance is so centric to the story that it works fine as a fantasy romance. If that sounds confusing, it boils down to: everybody wants Isobel and Rook to die and they must not fall in love so of course they do, and there’s a lot of Fairy politics and violence about it. Naturally they also begin to fall in love, but to fall in love would be to break the Good Law, which is, of course, the law that forbids love between a Fair Folk and a human, and is punishable by death. He kidnaps Isobel with the intent of taking her to court for her crime (The Fair Folk seem capable of inventing new crimes on the spot) but they become targets of the Wild Hunt and become allies instead of captor and prisoner.
When Rook’s portrait reveals an expression of human sorrow in his eyes, the other Fair Folk see him as weak. Isobel’s life becomes more complicated when Rook, the autumn prince, comes to sit for a portrait. For example: “Each of will lay six good eggs per week for the rest of their lives, and they must not die early for any reason.” The Fey delight in twisting wishes into things that cause suffering for the wisher, so caution is vital. Isobel, a painter, paints portraits of Fair Folk in exchange for very, very carefully worded enchantment. Baking, cooking, sewing, and writing are examples of Craft. Only humans can create a new thing (as opposed to an illusion, which the Fey can create) and this skill is known as Craft.
The heroine, Isobel, lives in the town of Whimsy, where it is always summer and the Fair folk come into town to trade for Craft. In this book, a human painter uses the power of human creativity to save her Fey lover (who can shapeshift into a horse or a raven) and fight the Alder King. One of our readers pointed me towards An Enchantment of Ravens. Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
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