Of Blood and Honey by
Stina Leicht
Published: Night
Shade Books 2011
Series: Book 1 of the
Fey and the Fallen
The Book:
“Liam is a child born
out of wedlock, whose mother never spoke of his biological father’s
identity. Even aside from the mysteries
of his parentage, he has plenty to deal with as a boy growing up in Northern
Ireland during the period of The Troubles. As he grows into a man, he senses something strange deep
inside himself—something dark and dangerous.
What he doesn’t know
is that his father is one of the fey, and that his people are locked in a long
war that is raging in Ireland alongside the religious and political strife. The enemies of the fey are also the
enemies of a secret branch of the Catholic Church, but that does not necessarily
make them allies. Liam’s life and loved ones are endangered by both the natural
and the supernatural turmoil that fills his world. ~Allie
Of Blood and Honey, which
is up for the Campbell Best New Writer award this year, is my 6th
review of the WoGF challenge at World’s Without End (I missed a month. I’ll
catch up!). It’s Stina Leicht’s debut novel, an urban fantasy that takes on the difficult setting of 1970s
Northern Ireland.
My Thoughts:
Since Of Blood and
Honey features a very recent historical period, it seems especially
important that the setting be portrayed respectfully and accurately. For the most part, I feel like Leicht
intended to be respectful of the time period she portrayed, but I don’t have
the experience or knowledge to comment on the accuracy. A description by Stina Leicht of the research that went into building the setting of Of Blood and Honey can be found here, as well as a discussion of the subjectivity of personal experiences and how that affects historical accounts, here. A response to the book from the perspective of one Irish man can be found here (beware of series spoilers).
In terms of the story, Of
Blood and Honey moved quickly and was very engaging. Liam’s life seemed to
have little breathing space, as it bounced from one catastrophe to the
next. I enjoyed the combination of
religious supernatural evil (“the fallen”) and the traditional supernatural
elements (the fey) in the story. I enjoyed how Liam’s his fey heritage was
incorporated in his character, and how it played a part in shaping who he grew
to become. Of course, the non-fey violence of the time also played a large role
in his life, and I should warn that this is a book with a fair amount of
physical and sexual violence, though I did not think the prose was especially
graphic.
While the story was entertaining, there were a few plot
devices that irked me along the way.
For instance, the plot was complicated by the insistence of many
characters on not communicating with one another. As one example, Liam would have had much less pent up anger
and confusion if anyone he knew had bothered to let him in on the secret of his
heritage. The aversion to
communicating also crept into other situations, such as Liam’s relationship
problems with Mary Kate, and Liam’s father’s decision not to keep his family in
the loop about potential supernatural dangers. I think the story could have
worked just as well without all of this unnecessary evasiveness, and it would
have been a sight less frustrating from my point of view as a reader.
Most of the other devices come late in the novel, as the
plot begins to verge more towards a traditional kind of superhero story. Dramatic changes in Liam’s story are
motivated by the death and suffering of women he loves, and there is the usual
kind of talk about justice and vengeance.
The main villain is not very clearly or convincingly developed, and is
seems to be just meant to be “crazy” and evil. The villain even takes time out to monologue near the
end. I was a little disappointed
that a novel with such an interesting premise and beginning moved towards such
a familiar conclusion.
My Rating: 3/5
Of Blood and Honey is
an urban fantasy that incorporates supernatural elements of religious evil and
the traditional fey in the period of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The story is fast-paced and exciting,
and Liam and the other characters are engaging. I felt like the story was more out of the ordinary in the
beginning, and I was a bit disappointed that it moved more towards a
traditional hero vs. villain story towards the end. The story was still
entertaining through the end, even if that end was not as innovative as I might
have hoped.