For centuries, the Eight Courts of Folk have lived among us, concealed by magic and bound by law to do no harm to humans. The prince’s brooding guardian, burdened with a terrible secret. A dutiful fae prince, determined to earn his place on the throne. A tempestuous Fury, exiled to earth from the Immortal Realm and hellbent on revenge. The “ironborn” half-fae outcast of her royal fae family. Many young adults will love this novel’s stellar queer representation, as well as the oft-repeated refrain that the adults should be the ones handling this mess.The Cruel Prince meets City of Bones in this thrilling urban fantasy set in the magical underworld of Toronto that follows a queer cast of characters racing to stop a serial killer whose crimes could expose the hidden world of faeries to humans. While the main mystery is solved, unanswered questions will motivate readers to continue the series. The resulting vocabulary may cause confusion, and the complex world-building is accomplished through detailed exposition that sometimes interrupts the plot. Shuttleworth weaves together multiple mythologies: Greco-Roman Furies and dieties, Irish faerie lore, Western alchemy, the seven sins of Christianity, and the format and tools of modern role player games.

The high stakes of the plot are balanced with humor, particularly from the irreverent and snarky Nausicaä. Characters are vivid, with motivating, sometimes mysterious, backstories.

Numerous secondary characters have diverse gender identities, creating multiple opportunities for deftly handled discussions of respectful pronoun usage, crafted by an author who uses they/them pronouns. The faerie fantasy market is saturated, but the distinctive feature of this series starter is the four queer main characters who have a range of skin tones. When her uncle the High King refuses to seriously investigate, she teams up with two teen fae and one exiled immortal to solve the mysteries. In Toronto, ironborn Arlo witnesses a murder and is compelled to find answers. Humans are disappearing and ironborn, half-fae and half-human, are being magically murdered. Gr 9 Up–Faeries secretly live alongside humans, but an outbreak of magical violence threatens the peace.

A dark and hollow star series order