Sunday, March 28, 2010

Review - Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog (3/5 stars)

This was a rather short, contained novel about fairy.  It is Balog's debut novel and I have been wanting to read it for a while.  It was okay.  About par for the course when compared to numerous other young adult fairy books out there.

Morgan and her boyfriend, Cameron, were born on the same day.  They have known each other forever and imagine they will be together forever.  Morgan is a psychic and as far as she knows everything she predicts always comes true.  Then things with Cameron start changing and she can't tell why.  That is until Cameron gives her the news that he is actually heir to a fairy throne and a fairy himself.  He thinks despite this, nothing will stop him from staying with Morgan.  That is until his human replacement shows up from fairy.  Pip is a sweet human boy raised in fairy, he is geeky and awkward and Morgan does her best to help him fit in.  He was the kid that was stolen from fairy when they left Cameron in his place.  Morgan is determined to find a way for her and Cameron to stay together; but what does that mean for fairy and what does that mean for Pip?

This was a hard book to rate for me because there were things about it I really loved and things about it I really disliked.  I loved the dialogue.  The dialogue between characters was always snappy, witty and at times heartfelt, never awkward .  Morgan was a great character and I loved how she dealt with everything.  Despite her psychic ability she is always very down to earth, honest, and has a great sense of humor.  I loved that she wasn't another over-dramatic, whinny heroine.  I also loved that her and Cameron has a solid base for their relationship; it's based on years and years of friendship.  I also enjoyed Balog's writing style; her sentences are well put together and the writing itself is engaging.

There were a couple things I didn't like though.  I thought the plot development was weak.  Morgan's efforts to save Cameron from his fate were weak and her change of heart mid-story was odd given the history her and Cam have.  I was kind of torn mid-story because I couldn't decide if it was nice to have Morgan make a mature rational decision...or if it was just weird that she gave up so easily.  Balog also never develops a very solid foundation for the fairies.  You don't know much about their world or their magic system.  It just is.  So, from a technical standpoint the plot left a lot to be desired.

All in all this is an okay read.  I would read it more for fun than for any desire to read something wonderful and new.  It was a quick read and a fun diversion, but definitely nothing awe-inspiring.  I did like Balog's writing style though, so I may pick up her next book "Sleepless" just to see if the plot development improves.   If the next book is like this one then it is minimal time to breeze through the book.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge

Fairy Tale 

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