Elfland

By Freda Warrington

Elfland is an intimate, sensual novel of people—both human and Aetherial—caught between duty and desire. It's a story of families, and of Rose Fox, a woman born to magic but tormented by her place in her adopted world.

Led by Auberon Fox, a group of Aetherials—call them the Fair Folk, if you will—live among us, indistinguishable from humans. Every seven years, on the Night of the Summer Stars, Lawrence Wilder, the Gatekeeper, throws open all gates to the Other World. But this time, something has gone wrong. Wilder has sealed the gates, warning of a great danger lurking in the realm beyond them. The Aetherial community is outraged. What will become of them, deprived of the home realm from which their essential life force flows?

Rose Fox and Sam Wilder are drawn to the lands beyond the gates, even as their families feud over Lawrence's refusal to do his duty. Struggling with their own too-human urges, they discover hidden truths that draw them together in a forbidden alliance. Only by breaching the dreaded gates and daring the danger beyond can they confront that which they fear most— their otherness—and claim their birthright.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Aug 18, 2009
• ISBN: 9781429960229

Freda Warrington

Freda Warrington is a British author best known for her epic fantasy, vampire and supernatural novels. Four of her novels have been nominated for the British Fantasy Society's Best Novel award. Her novel, Elfland, published by Tor, won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award in the Fantasy Novel category for 2009.

Reviews for Elfland

[alchymyst_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Somewhere between three and four stars. It was fairly enjoyable, but I wish there was more fantasy and less family soap opera. The never-ending family drama just didn't do anything for me (especially since 90% of the time these people could just be normal human beings -- the fact that they were Aetherials didn't seem to matter much in terms of the story). I think I would have preferred if the main characters stayed in their teenage years and just tried to solve the mystery of the Gates. That would have made it a great YA novel. Instead, we get this whole chunk about people growing up in the beginning of the book, which really slows down the pace and makes you want to cut this novel by about 200 pages. I didn't find the writing particularly lyrical or beautiful. It was fine and readable, just nothing special. P.S.: Dear writer: when writing sex scenes, please refrain from using the word 'wand' anywhere in there (unless you are writing bad Harry Potter slash fic). It makes your reader collapse in a fit of giggles.

[jen7waters · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I’m SO SO disappointed with this one! It’s not right that a book with such a gorgeous cover tells such a dull, frustrating, soap operish story. Ugh. Things actually started out okay, I liked the beginning when the protagonists are younger, just little kids really, and they can't stand the sight of each other -- in fact the whole story is about these two families that don't get along. They are not human, but some kind of fairy species, and they hate each other because one family is responsible for opening the 'Gates', which is the entrance to this otherworld, but they refuse to do it, while the other family wants to get in there.This story is also contemporary, meaning, this was supposed to be some kind of epic contemporary fantasy, and I was so excited for it, but turns out it's more like a lame romantic drama where people sometimes speak of these things called 'Gates' and the 'Dusklands' (the otherworld). Like I said, the beginning is quite interesting, but at some point the whole thing becomes this really bad soap opera episode, you know, when the girl likes the wrong guy, and for some stupid reason gets married with this other dude, just so a few days later she can cheat on him with yet another guy, but that's okay because her husband only married her for the family money, and OMG WHAT'S HAPPENING??? Seriously!? I kept looking at the cover just to make sure I was reading this same book I bought a long time ago because it had such a pretty Kinuko Y. Craft cover -- I WAS TRICKED! This is not at all what I was expecting! And I kid you not, all I said before does happen in Elfland -- the female lead, Rose, falls for one of the boys from the other family when she's a little kid, and turns out he's gay, but she refuses to deal with it so she spends years of her life trying to make him to notice her, all the while sleeping with guys that remind her of him -- when she does get tired of chasing a gay guy, she decides to marry this other dude who she does not love whatsoever, but she says she wants a normal, quiet life, which I could understand if her life wasn't normal already. Okay, yes, her family is different and they aren't human, but THAT IS normal for her, so I don't get it. Anyway, she marries this douche and HAS SEX WITH THE BROTHER OF THE GAY GUY DURING HER WEDDING RECEPTION, WHILE WEARING HER WEDDING DRESS, AGAINST A TREE, and keeps having sex encounters with him when her husband is away, until the day he finds them on the bed and ends up crashing a car against a tree, leaving her a widow. And I didn't even mention her mother, who got pregnant from her husband's nemesis. Should I go on? Yeah, I don't think so.I... I don't even know how I finished this book. And it's not that there's something wrong with the writing, no, but the concept of the story it's just... so not what I was expecting. This soap opera, Fantasy? Please...

[ninelarks-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Rosie is typical girl. Wondering about love, trying to figure out her place in life, cavorting with brothers and friends, and oh yeah, trying to figure out how to be Aetherian in this mortal word. But the gates between their world and "Elfland" has been closed permanently because of a great danger - or so says the Gatekeeper. As Rosie and her friends grow up, exploring into their lost heritage, they will find themselves in the midst of breaking this mystery.

This is the first book with decent grammar and writing that I've had the displeasure of finishing. The characters are complete imbeciles. All of them. All of them!! How is this possible? It's as if they're stuck at a hormonal age of 16, making idiotic decisions and irrational statements. Ummm marriage for 4 months and then realizing you can't stand the dude because you didn't face up to your real emotions? Ridiculous. It's like they're playing with life, and when a wave of lust comes across them, they treat it like real love and change their entire life. Argh, love - this pisses me off! As if any of them show real emotional attachment. All they have connecting them (Rosie and Jon; Faith and Matt; Jessica and Lawrence, and Sam and Rosie, especially) is just pure lust. And ugh, gratutious sex scenes. I'd rather have a scene that shows me that there's a true connection besides longing for their hot bod. And the worst part is that all of these characters grow up into their late twenties and they are still incapable of making rational decisions. Sure, emotions can make someone a little wonky, but their dumb decisions happen over and over again. Please. Excuse me as I roll my eyes.

The characters have utterly no depth except for what we are spoon-fed from the narrator. For example, Jon is supposed to be someone with whom everyone falls in love. But from his characteristics and actual dialogue, he's a bit of a stupid idiot. Rosie is supposed to be generous and kind and forgiving with a bit of spunk. But her actions and words just make her seem like a selfish, love-sick fool who can't do anything. Honestly, does she do anything at all in this story? Sam is supposed to be a violent, rude person that later is revealed to be actually a good guy who helps out his brother - but his words say that he's just a creepy, obsessed dude who has issues. The author wants us to believe these characters are a certain type of person by telling us exactly who they are, but all the dialogue and actions point to the contrary. That is poor writing.

There is absolutely no plot. My summary in the first paragraph sucks because I feel like it's a little impossible to summarize this convoluted, no-directional story. It's basically about Rosie and Sam hooking up and getting together and opening the gates. With a ton of teenage drama. Oh there's an affair. Here's a marriage. There's a hookup. There's a stepmom. There's unrequited love. Etc. That's the bulk of this book. It's more like a television high school soap drama with the amount of dumb relationship problems hidden between two families. And the closed gate is more like a subplot thrown in to make this drama possible. Shakes head.

Thus, the resolution of the "main" (in quotes because obviously the real emphasis is on the dysfunctional relationships. "Main" can probably be replaced by "fake") plot, is incredibly weak. The ending was a cop-out and the villain was too easily defeated.

You would think that having faeries in the real world would be a little bit interesting. I love learning about new magic systems and delving into new worlds. But this book.... manages to make faeries mundane. How is this possible? They're basically like humans with shiny skin and one more dimension. Rosie manages to reveal her status as a faerie to every single human she meets - and they're supposed to keep it quiet. What the heck? There is no magic in this world. There is no discovery. It's completely boring. Instead of new lore and a beautiful world where senses are incapable of describing the new dimension, Warrington just dumps the entire history of these Aetherians in long, unreadable, completely boring paragraphs. Information dumps. Horrible way to reveal a potentially beautiful world.

And one thing that I noticed and that I can't believe with a bit of outrage is that there are no humans in this story who are remotely portrayed in a positive light. In contrast, the main characters (all Aetherians) can do no wrong. Even Rosie when she commits adultery to her poor husband seems to be in the right at the end of the day when Alastair turns out to be a complete scumbag despite the initial courtship. Arghhh! Stupid girl!! Lawrence, for all his horrible, almost inexcusable mistakes, is still portrayed as a swell guy with courage to face his fears by the end of the book. Jon gets a free pass for his bastardly actions when he's all redeemed at the end as well. What the heck? How can these main characters (all Aetherian) do no wrong? And Sapphire, someone who could potentially defeat the stereotypical wicked step-mother turns into a caricature of that exact stereotype. The only humans in this book (besides maybe Mel, who isn't really a character), are all horribly in the wrong. Is it just me, or is that kind of weird? Especially since they're living in the mortal world and choose to stay here. Even besides that, it also points to the fact that this is a pretty empty world. Despite them going to college and getting married and whatever goes on in their drama-filled daily lives, they only interact with other Aetherians. It's poor world-building and poor characterization.

I hate how Warrington portrays the women in this book. These women all have stupid affairs and romantic relations and do absolutely nothing. They flip their waterfall of hair and let their hair swish around. They just get married and plant gardens. Do they have no ambition or any purpose in life besides swooning over boys??? Rahhh!!! Feeling angry. I am disappointed in Warrington for creating a female protagonist that can't do anything at all.

So. After all these rants, why did I finish the book? All 500 pages. Ha.. I'm not sure. Because I wanted to know how it ended, even though I hated so many parts of it, I guess. Maybe because it's a fairly easy read as well. But ugh. I don't think it was worth my time at all.

One star. This is incredibly low, even for me. But it's because even though sentence structure, grammar, and perhaps even basic story construction is okay, I really did not like it. At all. It's basically a teen angst romance story with multiple love plots. That is not what it sells itself as, though, and therefore extremely disappointing.
Would not recommend to anyone at all. Unless you like stupid girl stories about romance with a hint of magic.
I won't judge if you actually do like those stories. Okay. Maybe a little. Read at your own caution.

[majkia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although Elfland begins slowly, it quickly expands outward in both scope and character development. The story follows two families, both Aetherial (Fay) living on Earth. But the gates that allow the Aetherial to travel between the world of men and the world of Fay are closed. The Gatekeeper senses a threat to the existence of both worlds and refused to allow anyone through. The consequences and the roots of that decision drive the book.I enjoyed the book tremendously, particularly the second half. Well developed characters, an inventive view of fairies, and what the world might be like of they lived among us.The plot is convoluted enough to hold your interest and the characters are drawn well and are conflicted and confusing enough for you to want to learn their fates.Well written, exciting, recommended!

[agisby_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Elfland is a faerie tale for adults, a true faerie tale in that the book deals with a race of beings called Aetherials, who were what the humans thought were faeries; angels, vampires or demons. The mythology is great, but it is also an all too human tale of love, loss, fear and courage.

I can't condense the plot too much; it is too epic to even try, and this is only one of the first books in this new series. The story mainly concerns two families, the Foxes and the Wilders who live on earth but are Aetherial in nature and desire. Lawrence Wilder is the Gatekeeper; mad as a hatter living in the fortress-like house of Stonegate. The Aetherials can move between worlds on the night of the Summer Stars when the Gatekeeper opens the portal between the worlds; but one night he refuses to do so, spouting out about a great danger that awaits if he even tries. But is he just delusional or is there really something out to get them?

This book was a joy to read. I'm not normally a fan of urban fantasy, but for some reason this one drew me in and I felt like I was in the book with the characters and all the strange and wondrous places they visited. The romance flowed with the story, it didn't just suddenly apppear out of nowhere as if the author just wanted to put the romance in. The romance was part of it from the beginning. The book draws you in and by the end you feel you too have gone on a strange quest and come out relatively unscathed.

An intricate and well-realised fantasy. A keeper.