Seconda lettura - 3/5 o 6/10 Per la prima volta ho vissuto un effetto Mandela su questo libro legato al finale di questo libro. Mi ricordavo che ho apprezzato molto questo libro con la prima lettura, questa volta molto meno ma penso che i miei gusti letterari sono cambiati con il tempo. Secondo me il problema principale è legato alla poca descrizione del mondo, visto che è un mondo steampunk. Purtroppo ho trovato la storia troppo veloce per legarmi ai personaggi e per questo ho abbassato di tanto il voto rispetto al 2018. Il finale comunque illegale (a prescindere dalla CE italiana).

ebbene si, mi ha preso e non sono più riuscita a staccarmi. e ora, che sono arrivata alla fine, vorrei tanto continuare.. devo sapere! per essere un romanzo d'esordio, non si può essere cosi crudeli e terminare un romanzo sul più bello :( le uniche cose che non mi sono piaciute sono: la prima persona e il tempo verbale usato, il presente. per il resto, qualche piccolo confronto con la serie Fever mi è venuto naturale. ci sono svariati punti in comune, ma quest'ultima rimane comunque qualche gradino sopra. l'elemento steampunk, seppur a me non piaccia, qui è inserito in modo consono e curioso. complessivamente, ne consiglio la lettura! è un romanzo pieno di azione, tensione e segreti che vengono snocciolati col contagocce..maledizione, voglio sapere!

3,5/5 ☆ This was enjoyable! The narrator if the audiobook did such a great job; she really drew me into the world of the fae. The setting was very enjoyable as well (i love Scotland!). The main protagonist is so independent and strong, I loved her! However, sometimes, especially the middle of the book, stretched a bit. For half the book I didn't even know what their goal was exactly.

I’m so proud of myself for not dnfing this book. Or maybe I’m annoyed with myself for wasting precious reading time? Who knows. What did I like? Erm, … give me a minute, that’s a hard question … Derrick! I loved Derrick. A sassy pixy that gets drunk on honey is a definitive plus. And I liked the steampunk setting, I guess. It caught me of guard, but it was interesting. Even though it was kinda silly that all those strict and stiff rules of society still remained while a big change like steampunk was totally fine. But whatever. And that’s the end of the-like list, which isn’t nearly enough to give this book two stars. What did I not like? The worldbuilding. Sure, the steampunk element was nice, but that’s it. This story takes place in effing Scotland, one of the most beautiful places in the world, but take the Scottish phrases and dances away and the story could’ve taken place anywhere else. The setting offered so much potential that remained unused. Besides, I would’ve liked to see more different kinds of fae. The main characters. Stunning, cunning, intelligent Aileana (“I’m not the beautiful one, my mother was, I’m dull in comparison!”) consists of only few things: her rage/need for vengeance and fae blood, her distaste for her role in society and her swooning over the male fae main character. That’s pretty much it, which means that her character remains pretty … flat. And to not forget that her mother’s death and her need for vengeance are a crucial part of her character it gets repeated over and over again. And again. And again. Which leads her to getting trained as a killer. And after only one year, she thinks she’s already powerful enough to stand against a whole fae army and gets pissed off when someone says she’s not ready. Oh, and I forgot how good at engineering she is at 18 years. Few families can afford a flying vehicle, an ornithopter, since only few engineers can build them, but our prodigy has her own which is, of course, built by her. The already mentioned fae, Kiaran, could’ve been interesting if the author stuck to the “emotionless fae” version, but he “betrayed an emotion” pretty much every time he interacted with Aileana, so I wasn’t convinced. Never mind that most interactions between them made me puke (I mean, who kisses amidst an effing battlefield). Besides, he lied when fae aren’t supposed to be able to lie, so the author wasn’t very consistent here either. All in all, the characters in general suffered from a certain … superficiality. Like the author thought that a few character traits and repeated phrases sufficed to flesh them out. And not to forget: the ending. First of all: One fae and one human against a whole army of fae, are you kidding me? And holding them off pretty much effortlessly? Are you double kidding me? And the last paragraph isn’t a cliffhanger, it’s bad writing. So, all in all, this book read like pretty much every other book, just not very well written and with an overly special and annoying MC. There was nothing new, nothing original to be found here.

Publicado originalmente: El Extraño Gato del Cuento Antes de leer el libro me tope con algunas opiniones del libro un tanto acusatorias, sobre que este libro se parecía mucho a otro, pero como no leí ese libro (del cuál no recuerdo el nombre ahora) no fue tan aterradora la afirmación, pero aún así decidí posponer su lectura. Hasta que me di cuenta que se me pasó la fecha de publicación xD Las hadas y el steampunk era una combinación a la cual no me iba a resistir, sobre todo si me lleva a la tierra misma dónde todas las historias comenzaron, Escocia. Últimamente estoy buscando nuevos escenarios reales para mis lecturas, casi siempre son algún lugar de USA, ya siento que puedo a ese país y no perderme en ninguna de las ciudades. Escocia fue un lugar genial para hacer turismo librero, sin duda ha retado a mi imaginación, la necesidad de variar era abrumadora. Y no me decepcionó, me tuvo buscando imágenes de las ciudades, las cuáles había visto muy por encima, sin prestarle mucho atención. Sobre todo al querer adaptar la Escocia de 1840 real a la Escocia de 1840 según Elizabeth May, una en la cuál existen maquinas voladoras, electricidad y bombas hechas por la protagonista que pueden hacer caer a grandes hadas y todo un puente. The Falconer me ha gustado mucho, es una historia que se ha catalogado en lo Young Adult pero lo sentí un poco más maduro, quizá sea por la protagonista quién no es una damisela en apuros, a pesar de las circunstancias que llevaron a Aileana a conocer el mundo Faerie, no puede negar que ese lado oscuro es parte de ella, quizá incluso desde mucho antes que ella lo supiera. Y eso es lo que me gustó, una protagonista que disfrute con el peligro y no ande lloriqueando por las esquinas lo cruel oh cruel de su destino. Siendo yo una persona bastante fría, encontrar una protagonista que disfrute como yo de la aventura y matanza me hace feliz. El romance, o la casi ausencia de este, es otro punto de que me encantó, es algo más de segundo plano, y es más un efecto que una consecuencia. Sólo que a pesar de todo lo bueno que pude encontrar en el libro, el final no me convenció del todo. Soy muy mala imaginando batallas y peleas, a pesar de que me gustan verlas, por lo que de vez en cuando se me hacía bastante difícil meterme del todo en la piel de Aileana. Y además todo ese de "Eres el elegido" por alguna razón, por más que era algo que ya sabía, me decepcionó un poco, creo que estaba tan contenta con la personalidad de Aileana y distraída por el lindo de Kiaran y el adorable de Derrick que en algún momento olvidé por donde es que iba la historia. Es un buen debut, de la escritora modelo. Elizabeth May ha salido en varias portadas de libros por lo que no solo los escribe, está en ellos xD Twitter || Blog || Pinterest || Tumblr || Instagram