Faerie Unraveled (The Bones of the Earth Book 1)

** Full Disclosure: I was an ARC reader for, and received an ARC of, “Faerie Unraveled (The Bones of the Earth Series, Book 1)” for review purposes. The author requested a review but made no conditions for it. I am writing this review based solely on my enjoyment of this Story in particular, and the author’s writing overall.**

This is another wonderful tale from Linda Jordan which is basically set in the Seattle area – a ferry ride from my home!
Her layout of chapters is reminiscent of “The 12 Days of Christmas An Off-Worlder’s Guide where each chapter addresses an individual character.

*** This an exceptional complex story, in many cases I found it necessary to quote directly from the text; however, I will do my best to omit “spoilers” ***

These characters are an entirely believable and compelling cast: Sylph, Dryad, Meliae (probably meaning all tree-nymphs/sprites/færies), Naiads (nymphs/sprites/færies/kelpies of rivers and streams), Nereids (nymphs/sprites/færies/kelpies of calm seas), Oreads (nymphs/sprites/færies of mountains), Fomorians (giant, older, first gods with three eyes).

THE GOOD ENTITIES:
1) Skye is a masseuse who can fly, riding the thermals without her friends. Well, her human body is just a “case” which surrounds her sylph/Fae self. She’d had to find new hawk and eagle friends.
2) Dylan is a water sprite, his human form is a painter. He is, of course, an accomplished sea and undersea artist who actually sleeps underwater.
3) Egan is@dondon a fire spirit and older than most Fae, He’d been alive since before the Earth cooled. Most recently he’d lived inside volcanoes. Heat was exquisite!
4) Adaire is a dryad in a human’s body. She intuitively understood plants and how the soil affected them. While “masquerading” as a human she’d found that they understood so little about the interaction between plants and soil.
5) Fiachna maintains the burial mounds that create the boundaries around Faerie. He uses his magic to move large boulders to protect the mounds and talk to birds to deliver messages.
6) Meredith is the elder water sprite
7) Lynette is also a water sprite. Her name means “Little Lake”
8) Glenna, the female earth spirit
9) Pearce is a stone spirit

One human: Solange who came to live in Seattle from Colorado.

THE BAD ENTITIES:
Fomorians: Giant old gods, the first gods with three eyes. Primeval spirits of the elements. They’ve got more raw power than you’ll ever see in your life. They control the winds, the sea, the rain, movement of the earth, volcanoes, plagues, famine, drought, basically everything!
1) Balor: Drought
2) Cethlenn: of Fog is Balor’s wife
3) Conand: the North Wind
4) Corb: of the Sea
5) Domnu: “Mother to all Fomorians” She of the Deep Abyss of the Oceans
6) Elatha: The Wind
7) Dela: of the South Wind

All the entities are on opposing good or bad sides in the coming wor for control os Earth.
Faerie (the Fae’s original home) closed itself. Although it existed in the same space as the humans, they couldn’t reach Faerie now. It was as if they covered the land and sky with a with giant, invisible and magical cloth!. Only Fae could pass through to Faerie now.

Solange meets Dylan …

Solange, “I’m on sort of a working vacation. I lived on the Oregon Coast. Until recently.”
“When you say on the coast, do you mean literally?”
Dylan replied, “I was a human, renting a vacation cabin. Not in this form and I didn’t live in the ocean.”
“Wow,” she said, shaking her head as if in wonder. “Just wow. A thousand years?”
Dylan nodded. He probably should consult Egan about talking to a human, but then again, this was how Faerie should be opened. One human at a time.
Solange was amazed, “What happens when you’re being human?”
“I look and feel like a human.”
“Huh,” she said, staring at him as if she were reevaluating him. “Would you like to see more of Faerie?” he asked.

Meredith …

Meredith still had things to do in Faerie. Finally, she allowed the magic to flow back into herself. Perhaps accepting that her life wasn’t over yet. Her color deepened to normal. Her breathing slowed and no matter what else happened, whether she lived or died, Dylan felt somehow as if Faerie had come back into balance. All of the elements were back in place and in harmony again.

The Fomorians attack!

On the West side, the first in was Cethlenn. Flowing with her fog past the edges of Faerie like the cold fingers of death. Creating cover for the others, which included Domnu, her deep waters flooding the land.
On the East side went Elatha and his small band. On the North came Corb blowing in like a tornado, destroying everything in his path.
Balor’s side was the South and Domnu, the deep abyss of the ocean. They had transformed themselves into human-like bodies, but their wateryness couldn’t quite hold the forms
Last of all came Balor, drought. His gaze burned a path in front of him, leaving the white stones of the courtyard with a scorched, deep black trail.
Famine, drought, storms, winds, the strength of the seas, earthquakes, all those and more were the tools he and his people had at their disposal.
There were others whose real names the Fae didn’t know: Earthquake, deluge, tsunami.

The Fae strike back …

A cone of magic spiraled out from Meredith’s hands. She joined with Adaire and Egan. Skye felt herself drawn into the spiral. Her energy was sucked into a dome which Meredith was creating over the vaults. The elder water spirit was drawing power from Egan, Adaire, Dylan and any other Fae near her.
Towards the end of the spell, all the power she’d been harnessing ended up flowing into him, instead of it being grounded as she’d intended.

After the battle … plans … introductions … celebration!

Finally, most everyone had left except Dylan, the human, and a group of Fae who were obviously curious about her.
“Egan, this is Solange, Solange this is Egan, our Luminary.” Egan bowed at her and she returned the gesture.
“What brings you to Faerie?” he asked.
“I was out hiking and I saw Dylan. I thought he was drowning and I pulled him out of the water. But he was only sleeping.”
Dylan said, “I thought she might like to see more of Faerie. And to meet you.”
“And what do you think of Faerie?” “It’s amazing. And you’re all so different.”
“So are humans.”
“I don’t think so.”
“There’s huge differences between Northern Europeans, Africans, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Australian Aboriginal peoples.
”That’s true, but it seems like there’s more, just between the two of you.”
“We are opposites,” said Egan. “He’s water and I’m fire. But we’re much more alike than we are different.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” she said. “I can’t see it.”
“Perhaps you will with time,” said Dylan.
“What does that mean?” she asked, looking at Dylan with an obvious suspicious look on her face.
Dylan said, “Well, now that Faerie’s open, more of us will be coming out into your world. Humans will have more exposure to us.”
“Oh.” Egan smiled. That hadn’t been what Dylan had meant, but it was a good save.
“Three nights from now is the Solstice. We’re having a celebration. You’re welcome if you’d like to come,” said Egan.
“What sort of celebration?” asked Solange.
“Music, theatrics, dancing, wine, food. The best that Faerie has to offer.”
“Hm. I might just do that. Is it clothing optional? I’m not very good at nudity.”
“No. On Midsummer we always dress. We wear the most ornate costumes we can make or find,” said Egan.
“And this Midsummer will be the most extraordinary!”