Quick Picks: More Fairies, Plus Leviathans

Three YA books with fairies, goblins, and other legendary creatures. In each one, a girl learns about her magical heritage and must decide where to go from there. Apparently, the best use of an otherworldly heritage is to save somebody, whether it be fairies, a kidnapped father, or a king.

Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst—In this paean to the Princeton campus, high school junior Ivy strives for early admission by going on what turns out to be a fairy-linked scavenger hunt. She's not even sure what she's looking for and at first wonders if she's losing her mind, since magic is the last thing she believes in. But maybe there's another explanation for her mother's mental illness, and maverick boy Tye with his tiger-striped hair is awfully cute. Of course, so is preppy nice guy Jake. Ivy finds herself in the middle of a war between the fairies and the supposed guardians on the human side, discovering her true heritage and purpose along the way. A fun read if you've been enjoying the recent crop of teen fantasy romances. Durst's use of the campus gargoyles is especially memorable (see cover art). This teen book has a bit of an ick factor when you find out what the bad guys have been doing to the fairies; otherwise only medium dark. I should note that Durst's vision of Princeton is so magical that the fairy realm seems dull by comparison!

Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton—Hmm, more fairy wars! Only here the fairy folk are all called goblins, so this book is the start of the Goblin Wars series. Teagan Wylltson's best friend Abby has been having dreams of trouble for Tea. Then Teagan's bad boy "cousin" Finn Mac Cumhaill comes to stay and she feels that absolute soulmate zing, though she tries to ignore it. Pretty soon Teagan begins seeing some very unpleasant otherworldly creatures, like the hideous and sly cat-sídhe. Her life goes downhill rather quickly as her mother dies and her father disappears. Next an awful social worker comes sniffing around. With some help from Finn's grandmother, Tea and her magically musical little brother Aiden, along with Finn, enter the goblin realm to find Teagan's father. Apparently the worst of the goblins, Fear Doirich, long ago cursed Teagan's family and now takes a special, malevolent interest in the Wylltson children. This book is a dark YA fantasy with a promise of romance to come. Has a few plot bumps, but intriguing secondary characters, an appropriately shiver-inducing rendering of the goblins and their world, and a very nice use of music.

Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry—If you liked The Amaranth Enchantment, try this author's latest, in which a girl discovers her heritage in relation to a strange sea creature, the size-changing leviathan. Given a scholarship by the handsome king, Evie leaves her village and sets out for the capitol with her friend Prissy and the boy next door, Aiden, who would like to be more than friends if Evie will let him. After being waylaid by bandits, Evie makes her way to the palace, where her plans to study medicine are put on hold as she unexpectedly becomes the attendant to the foreign princess who is betrothed to the king. But a shipwreck during the journey has given Evie a new knowledge of who she is, and she discovers that Princess Annalise has similar secrets. When Evie suddenly finds herself embroiled in a plot against the king and his kingdom, she must use her new abilities to save them. Another book for teens, this one reads like an older MG. A fairly cheerful tale with solid girl appeal. Readers who like animals and pets will enjoy watching Evie get used to her slithery-sweet new companion as she saves the day. (Check out an interview with Julie Berry at Gamila's Book Review.)

A Review of Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

I love retellings of fairy tales, and this one's a honey. It would have to be frozen honey, though—there's more snow in this book than you'll find anywhere but in a biography of Admiral Peary. Durst has taken the Scandinavian Beauty and the Beast story, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," and set it in the present day, giving us a girl who lives on an Arctic research station with her gruff father and his assistants.

As a young scientist, Cassie is far from being inclined to believe in magic, though when she was little her grandmother used to tell her a seemingly fanciful story about how her missing mother was the adopted daughter of the North Wind, stolen by trolls after having bargained Cassie away to a magical bear.

Cassie thinks her father doesn't believe in fairy tales, either, but when she meets the Polar Bear King, her father panics. She realizes that her father has lied, and her grandmother's story is true. The bear returns, convincing Cassie to accompany him to his icy palace. There she learns to enjoy his company, eventually falling in love with him. (It helps that he takes the form of a man by night.)

But each will yet betray the other. In time Cassie wins her mother back, but at the price of her love. Now she must journey to the ends of the earth, fighting enemies with snarling faces, with smiling faces, and without any faces at all.

The author keeps the bones of the original tale, but uses them to build a new mythology linked to Inuit-type animal gods who preside over birthing and survival.

The original folktale, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon," is a story about being willing to do anything for the sake of love. Durst's retelling amplifies that feeling, with the stakes raised because her Cassie is going to have a baby.

Durst has a gift for communicating her cold setting to the reader:

By evening, the sun was to her right. Ice crystals sparkled in a halo around the sun and in gold sheets around Cassie. The powdery mist cut visibility even more. She forced herself to concentrate on the ice in front of her. But even with all her concentration, she stumbled over invisible frozen waves. She had no depth perception in the glare of infinite whiteness. Her remaining eyelashes were icicles, framing her view of the world. Her nostril hairs had also frozen. She exhaled through her nose to keep it warmer. Her Gore-Tex pants rustled as she stumbled along. It was the only sound in the emptiness besides the huffing of the bears.

In the Arctic wilderness, Cassie encounters not only the dangers of ice and cold, but also creatures who could easily kill her. This heroine uses her knowledge of survival as well as relying on magical allies and trickster strategies to accomplish her goal of retrieving her shape-shifting mate.

It isn't easy to combine fairy tale elements with modern science, but the author makes it work, leading us smoothly through two overlapping worlds. For example, each chapter begins with latitude, longitude, and altitude. And animals such as the polar bears, while linked to the magic of their king, otherwise behave like ordinary wild creatures.

I was curious to see how the author would handle the trolls, but I should have guessed that her story's resolution would contain an intriguing twist, rounding out the unusual and moving new vision that Durst has created in Ice.

Note for Worried Parents: This is a book for teens. There's some discreetly handled sex in Ice, along with talk about birth control, pregnancy, and birth.