[Lani]

Well, it's May and the discussion is open!

[Erfael]

We seem to be reading an awful lot of fairy books of late, no?

I thought this one was okay. Not really great, not really awful.

-Some things I liked: The Faerie creatures, the Phouka, some of the descriptions of making music.

-Some things I didn't like: Characterization, the 80's movie structure, the environment.


The story itself was nothing spectacular, I thought, a fairly basic, straightforward story that didn't really bend any perceptions or expectations outside of the US city location.

I thought the creatures, especially the Phouka, were pretty well-done. They added a fair bit of character and flavor to the story, and I could have used more of them.

Also, as a musician, it was interesting to read the descriptions of the band at work. She did a fairly good job of capturing what it's like to have that sort of interplay between individual voices during that act of creation.


That all said, on to the bad: I felt like the city was almost completely empty of life. With the exception of a few dance club scenes, other people were almost exclusively not mentioned, at least in any way that stayed with me in my overall concept. I understand that this book is about the Faerie war, but to set the book in a city and then lack people just didn't work very well for me -- no traffic, no pedestrians, no neighbors?

Did anybody else feel like they were reading a novelization of an 80's movie? It had everything: the best friend, the love interest, the ex, the really dark bad guy. I somehow knew from shortly after the start that at the end was going to be a battle of the bands. To be fair, I expected it to be Stuart's band and her band, so she gets a few points for that surprise. I can just see the casting of this as a movie being all sorts of semi-awful 80s band members and leads.

And my biggest gripe: The characterization. There were absolutely no revelations about characters in this book, not one surprise at all to me. From the moment that Stuart walks off the set, I knew he would be back. From the moment that Willy came on, I knew he was Faerie, as was Hedge. The whole love triangle between Willy-Eddi-Phouka was just terribly written. Everything else seemed pretty forgivable except that the main characters seemed totally transparant. Nothing happened to any of them that wasn't somehow broadcast in huge letters well before the fact.

Perhaps she was just trying to foreshadow things, but the effort went to waste if that's the case. Perhaps she wanted us to know these things; is that's the case, far too much time was spent on Eddi figuring them out. Perhaps if she led our expectations astray just once, it could be forgivable, but everything she broadcast came to pass.

Overall, it wasn't a terribly painful read, but I didn't think it was a terrily good book either. Look forward to hearing from the rest of you. Erf.

[rune]

Now I quite enyed this book, and though it was written some years ago it still had a fresh feel to it.
I liked how the author had encorporated music into the plot line and giving it a magical quality, and with not reading a fantasy book that does this it was quite unique for me.
I recognised some of the faerie species from other books I've read, which made me wonder if later books had used this one as a template for how certain species would look and feel. The magic was interesting, the main character's relationships kept my interest and there was enough risk in the plot to keep me riverted.

Overall I thought it was very entertaining read :D

[FicusFan]

I also noticed the heavy emphasis on Fairies - but my complaint is not with this book, but with the first one Little Big.

The War for The Oaks was a pretty well written, captivating story that hooked me from the start and kept me reading so that I never put the book down until it was done. I think it had some flaws but they are more noticable in hindsight than in interrupting my enjoyment of the story.

My comparison of the two reads is that the first read more like an academic tome than a story whose purpose was entertainment. That said having some of the insight into the land of the fairies from the first book did give me a sense of depth to the fairy world that did not come from the content of War for the Oaks. So I suppose they complemented each other, but the first book was still a painful read.

I liked the characters, Eddi and the various members of the Fae who dropped in on her. I liked her human friend and didn't really mind that there was nobody else in terms of bystanders (until the club scenes) in the story. I also thought the city was ok - I have never been to Minneapolis and don't really want to go, so I don't want a lot of local color - just enough to evoke a specific big city and I thought she did that. I liked the use of bands and musicians - just because it was an interesting new thing to learn about, not because I have any specific interest in semi-professional music.

I liked the Pooka, but wished EB had given him a real name. I am sure there is more than one 'alive' at a time and so he should have a name. Everytime they referenced Pooka, all I thought of was Harvey and that was not the right atmosphere for this book. I liked the relationship between Eddi and the Pooka, I thought there was the right amount of friction at the start, enough to be believable but not enough to chafe me. In fact I was reminded of Stephanie Plum and Ranger from Janet Evanovich's series. I thought his change from trickster to smitten secret admirer was done well, but I did wonder: was this the first time he fell in love with a human ? What is going to happen when she ages and dies and he doesn't ? If this is the love of his life and he is imortal how will he go on. If she isn't that important then it renders their relationship into something almost tawdry with an immortal dallying with a helpless human.

I also liked Willy and the three-way relationship they had and felt that EB was too conventional and chickened out by not developing it more. Willy was beautiful but flawed, neither a good human nor a good fairy and I felt that he could have been grounded with Eddi and Pooka and it would have made the story more interesting and given it more emotional depth. He truly didn't understand what he had done to Eddi, and her not bashing him for it was a great non-cliched moment. Then of course the TV mentality came into play and he had to die and suffer for his moment of evil with the heroine.

I did suspect Willy from the start but I didn't mind and I didn't object that Eddi didn't figure it out. I thought she was too happy to have finally won the brass ring, the door prize, the male equivalent of Cinderella - for her to risk asking any questions that would rock the boat. It was perfect and she didn't want it to end.

I didn't suspect Hedge, I just thought he was a nerdy, strange, human geek. I did think at the end when it all came out that there were so many faires in the band, it kind of ruined the band for me. It made their music wonderful and enchanting because of their glamour, not their skill or togetherness as musicians. They could suck and still be better than a good human band and that seems like cheating.

My biggest problem with the book was the plot and the motivations for it. Why all of a sudden did the war between the Seelie and Unseelie court heat up to the point where they wanted to use the fairy equivalent of nuclear weapons (real death). They have been fighting for thousands of years. There just didn't seem to be a real reason. Why was Minneapolis the spot they were fighting for ? Pooka made it seem like it was that location, but fairy seems to not be bound by time or space, so why woud it be anchored to Minneapolis ? I mean aren't these the little people from Ireland - why go to Minneapolis when you can have Erin ? If a human bound to them brought death, why were the Seelie the ones to get the human, and the Unseelie to try to kill her before the battle? Surely the Seelie would have just gotten another human. It seemed to hint that Eddi had Fae blood, but it was never developed and never stated that it was what made her valuable to the war. The Unseelie could have gotten their own human or a human first, so why did Eddi matter to them. Once Eddi was bound what was the point of Stuart ? Can they die twice, or more deeply with two humans ?

Even with the little niggles after it was over I still enjoyed it, and would be happy to read more about them if a sequel came out.

[rune]

I also felt this book left some unanswered questions about the fae world. It would be nice to return to these characters and see how things worked out. I very much enjoyed the relationship between Eddi and the Pooka, and was pleased when the Pooka finally won her over :)

[Nimea]

My, how the time flies by . . . I finished the book a week ago and could not be motivated to post until now.

Well, let's see.

I liked it, gave it 3 out of 5 points. It was an easy and quick read but it did not enthrall me too much. For example I have no real need for a sequel . . . even so I see the problem with the background as well. Especially since there was not explanation why the two faery courts had to fight in Minneapolis of all cities? How did they come to the US, why?
Why the title 'War for the Oaks'? Because there were oaks in the last battlefield :confused: - sorry, can't remember right now. My memory degrades faster with each year. ;)

I liked the characters and the music and the love story, not deeply, not thinking it was the greatest thing ever, but nonetheless I liked all that.
But since the book was written in the late 80's I had two problems with it. I knew most of the musicians and bands that are played but not the songs. Aaand the fashion - at least in my mind, knowing it was the 80's - drove me nuts. ;)

Can I say more about it?

Another thing I would like to ask: what about the three scenes of the movie script at the end?
Anything to say about that?