The Stolen: An American Faerie Tale by Bishop O’Connell

I’m not entirely sure why I picked this book up. I have an enormous To Be Read (TBR) pile that’s 400+ books and counting, and so when I finally get to a book, I often have trouble remembering how or when it got into the pile. In the spirit of trying to reconcile my need for perfection with the idea that a short book review is perfectly acceptable, I’m going to make this concise.

I found this book to be derivative. Faeries of various warring courts both in the human world and without. The liberal sprinkling of Irish brogues and Gaelic phrases that seemed strained at best and haphazard at worst. Wizards, because, well, why the hell not? I can’t even really say I found some of the ideas good if badly executed. It really did seem to come down to a repetitive series of fantasy and urban fantasy tropes, and it jumped the shark for me in the first chapter when an Irish Fain (whatever that is, the author never really explained) went berserker on some evil faeries who had killed his fiancee.

I had started to say that this would be an adequate introduction to the urban fantasy genre for Young Adults, but I can’t even say that. If you want an excellent introduction to urban fantasy then go with Charles de Lint, even if he does have an obsession with penny whistles.