The Autumn Fairy of Ages by Brittany Fichter
Fantasy. 440 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
Katy and Peter want nothing more than to be married and to begin life together as king and queen of the Third Isle. But before they can take their vows, they must venture to the legendary King’s Isle to meet their long-lost people and the chancels of the Lairis Isles must bless the marriage.
As Katy and Peter begin to learn more about their people and their past, however, they begin to wonder if a simple happy life will ever be within their grasp. For both men and Fae seem less than enthusiastic to approve the match.
All hope of the chancels’ blessing goes up in smoke when Katy is finds herself in the midst of a silent war, and Peter is imprisoned by the very people who brought them to the isle. Only with the help of an ancient forest spirit, an unlikely band of rebels, and their love for each other can Katy and Peter hope to find happiness…and possibly unlock a destiny greater than they’ve ever imagined.
The Autumn Fairy of Ages is the second book in the Autumn Fairy Trilogy, where fairies, humans, and legends collide. Buy The Autumn Fairy of Ages today to join Peter and Katy on their journey as they search for truth among ancient lies, hope in the darkness, and find their own happy ending.
My Review:
THAT ENDING, Y’ALL!!! Kay, I need book three, like now.
I didn’t think it was possible to fall even more in love with Peter and Katy than I already was. Well, Mrs. Fichter proved me wrong. Not only did we see them grow so much more together as a couple, but they also continued to grow as individuals. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Brittany Fichter’s characters are my favorite! They are models that we can look up to and fawn over, cry with and beat over the head when they’re being stupid. They are real. They aren’t fluffy or shallow, one-dimensional or cliche. These characters deal with real struggles and they make real mistakes. They’re characters to root for whole-heartedly. And she doesn’t just stop with the MCs. Oh no, every single one of those buggers is round, fleshed out, and three dimensional! It’s fascinating and I’m giddy just thinking about it! The Firin, Nikkie, Jagan, Donella, and I loved the other rhins and kings! I want to know more about these new characters we have!! Aisling was one of my favorites. First of all, she was simply enchanting, from the way she looked to her personality. Her story was beautiful and her family made me smile. Oh, and Liam. My word, Liam had me trailing after him like a puppy. I adored his character. The villain in this story stole my breath! I mean, seriously! I want to cry and thrash and scream! Brittany Fichter, you’ve torn my heart out with your positively stunning characters!!
The world expanded just as I’d hoped it would, and still managed to leave just enough mystery to string me along for book three. I absolutely loved seeing the King’s Isle and the seasons and the way Fichter developed the magic. This story held more tradition and rituals that the people were accustomed to. The procedures they’d done for hundreds of years that Katy and Peter were completely oblivious to often confused our MCs. I enjoyed their struggle to justify the rules they were forced to acknowledge. In the final installment, I hope we can see more of the other isles and also even more history. Though Fichter did dig into the allegorical development more, which I loved, I still want to know more history! The traditions of this land were supposedly steeped in its history and Fichter fed me just enough to make me hungry for more! I have the same questions Katy does about the tree and the High King and his family, his reign, etc. I’m very, very pleased with the way the setting and world building developed and very excited to see it continue to do so in the final book.
The plot for this book was so much fun! I think part of that had to do with the new setting, but I liked seeing Peter and Katy operate on their own again as well as how they fought their own internal (and some external!) battles. Again, this goes back to my love of proper development in characters, setting, and plot, etc. But it was just…fun. I can’t really think of a better way to describe it. There was some mystery and intrigue, threads sewn into the story that we will find the end of in book three. There were sweet moments to relish, and tense moments that made your heart pause. I was very intrigued by the tree and the crowns in it. The political set up definitely drew me in. That whole operation of the chancels was interesting to me. The tension between the fairies and the humans was one of the strongest plot drivers here. That definitely lent to explosive plot points, and the tension piqued my curiosity. I want to know how that is resolved too. I think because of the prior book, the length of this one didn’t even come to mind. With the last one, I was surprised to learn it was like 500ish pages, but with this one, I was prepared and so I simply enjoyed every beautiful page of it. The story was well-paced. The end was the only bit that felt slightly rushed/abrupt, but only very slightly. Oh! Also! Sidenote: I loved how the title came into play! That was so clever and beautifully tied in!
Okay, now for the writing itself. I like Mrs. Fichter’s style. I like how she strings her stories together and she’s excellent with development. I saw fewer repetitions than I did in book one, which pleased me. There was more variety in her descriptions and sentence structures than last time. (There was one point with some gnats that I felt was a little confusing and could have used a little more physical description to help a reader out; however, that was a minor issue for me.) I didn’t find any plot holes, but I did have a question about why Peter felt he couldn’t fulfill both of his promises at once. (I can guess, but it was never stated and, even so, I felt the guess to be a little weak, so I’m not sure…) As for typos and such, there were many skipped words and duplicated words. There were very few actual grammatical errors; it was all just minor editing errors. Poor Mrs. Fichter has put her heart and soul into this book, and it turns out she got kinda jipped by her proofreaders (I beg you! Let me proofread! I will SO do a great job!!! *shameless begging* I love proofreading and I am wholeheartedly devoted to your work!). For the first time that I can ever recall, I was not frustrated and annoyed by the errors. I kind of laughed at some of them. (My favorite was “Flames of tongue burned…” XD) Perhaps it’s because I know how hard the author worked, but the errors didn’t bug me as much as they normally would have. Plus, I know she’s doing her best to get them out and the copies updated for her readers. Because I expect she’ll remedy the situation as quickly as possible and because she has worked so diligently to make this the best book she could, I could not deny her that fifth star. This book truly deserved every bit of the five stars.
There is some very mild violence, no foul language, and a sweet, clean romance. There was a little bit of reference to childbearing, but nothing at all detailed. Again, I’d feel very comfortable giving this to a young teen.
More:
Book 1 in The Autumn Fairy Trilogy is The Autumn Fairy (4 Stars)
Book 3 is The Last Autumn Fairy (5 Stars)
I have rated and reviewed the above on Goodreads! Click the link to check it out. Go show this book and/or it’s sequels some love! Tell Brittany that Coralie sent you!
This trilogy must be read in order!
On GraceBought
Missed my first review? Find it below! And stay tuned next week for my thoughts on the conclusion!