Review: Strangeness and Charm (The Courts of the Feyre III)

Half-human, half-fey hybrids are loose now – but will they be safe if they’re brought before the Courts?

Having not read the first two novels in this sequence (something which I now intend to correct, despite having a good idea of what happens within them), I was a little concerned whether the third book in Mike Shevdon’s Courts of the Feyre series would make sense to a newcomer. I needn’t have worried – there are the odd moments where things don’t add up, so you have to take some things on faith, assuming they’ve already been explained, but overall you can jump in at this stage and understand the set up.

Continuing the current trend for first-person narratives mixed with third person POV scenes, we get inside Niall Petersen’s head, as well as that of his daughter Alex, although it would be interesting to see either or both from the perspective of his ex-wife/her mother, Katherine at some point. There’s a lot of clearing-up in this book from the events of the previous two, and a few plotlines left dangling, but this stands alone as Alex becomes embroiled in a plan that could have, quite literally, earth-shattering consequences.

Shevdon incorporates a lot of real history into his stories (although having lived there for a long time, I don’t recall there being a museum in Burgess Hill that has useful artefacts that can be used for nefarious purposes – maybe there’s a glamour on it?), and the bits that aren’t real feel as if they should be. He’s got an easily readable style that means you can devour the story quickly but not feel as if you’re being cheated of depth.

Verdict: An enjoyable urban fantasy. 7/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to buy Strangeness and Charm (Courts of the Feyre III) from Amazon.co.uk