I'm new to writing reviews, but "Midnight Never Come" certainly inspires me to write one. It's not often that a book intertwines historical figures and fantastic personages with such elegance. Oddly, the author manages to make both the mortal and immortal characters come to life with what I can only call a startling realism. Considering that more than half the major characters are mythical by nature, that's quite an accomplishment.

These are not the poetically spoken dewdrop fairies of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", although they do rise from the same folk tradition. (It's helpful that the author is proficient in both folklore and history.) Somehow, without sacrificing the poetry or sense of magic, the author makes her inhuman characters quite easy to relate to. For "great shadows", they're remarkably three-dimensional. Then too, the author has a gift for deftly blurring the lines between what's natural and what's not; there are very earthy fairies, and an unearthly human wandering their halls with mad forays into prophecy. Playing with the concept of just what it means to be human - or not - makes for vivid characterizations.

The plot is every bit as intricate - which does, admittedly, make it a bit tricky to follow in places. We shift between the story as told by different characters, and the focus shifts from events past to events present, sometimes without warning. Fortunately, it's easy to become immersed enough in the story that one picks up the trail each time the plot doubles back in a new direction, until it all comes around quite nicely with the ending. ( )

In late 16th-century England, the astute and powerful Queen Elizabeth seemingly has total sovereignty over her country. Her courtiers jostle for her royal favor, including young newcomer Michael Deven, who hopes to gain favor through Elizabeth’s royal spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. He and the rest of the court have no idea that beneath the streets of London there is another court, over which the beautiful and ruthless fairy queen Invidiana presides. In the shadowy Onyx Court, Lune has fallen out of favor with her queen and is sent to the mortal realm to gather political information. Together, Michael and Lune eventually discover the chilling secret behind Invidiana’s power and concoct a dangerous plan to take her down.

Despite seeing many positive reviews of this book in the communities, I was a little apprehensive about it. Luckily, my fears were groundless: I found it impressively researched and incredibly entertaining. Although there are (obviously) some fantasy elements, Brennan sets the book firmly in the actual England of Elizabeth’s day, and I was very excited to read about real-life personages like Walsingham and John Dee. The plot moves along nicely and is definitely exciting enough to hold the reader’s attention, with plenty of political intrigue and a dash of literary allusion thrown in. The romantic angle is well done too, with (in my opinion) just the right amount of tension and restraint. I think fans of historical fiction and fantasy would definitely enjoy this book.

I had been searching for this book for years. I would see it, and defer purchase and then forget the author and title, and be unable to find it again. I wanted it because I like SFF, and historical fiction.

This book is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England. It moves as the court moves, so sometimes it is in London, and sometimes at other nearby locations. There is a prolog that depicts Elizabeth in the Tower where Mary had placed her ostensibly for her religious beliefs, but really because she was afraid Elizabeth's supporters were going to overthrow her. The premise is that Elizabeth was definitely slated to die, but she made a pact with one of the Fae. Invidiana, was a woman who also wished to be Queen, but of the Fae. She makes Elizabeth an offer she can't refuse.

The story jumps then to a mature Elizabeth who is secure on her throne, and to Invidiana being the Fae queen. It is implied that the poor weather caused the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and that the weather and other combatants were supplied by the Fae.

The POV character for the human court is a poor, socially low level young man who comes to court, Michael Deven. He did some good work for Walsingham, and has been sponsored to become a member of the Gentlemen Pensioner's, Queen Elizabeth's bodyguard. He is loyal to the Queen but he also wants to make his fortune and advance in social rank.

The POV for the Fae is a character named, Lune. She was a lady in waiting for her Queen Invidiana in the Onyx Court. The court was created under human London and protects the Fae from the charms and religious injunctions that humans use against them. The Fae are not open about their existence, they sneak around humans and go in disguise.

Lune is in disgrace because she was responsible for negotiating the deal that had the sea folk helping the English and destroying the Armada. Her Queen felt she gave up too much. In royal disfavor, Lune has become a target in the court. Life in the Onyx Court is dangerous, because the Queen is vicious, capricious and likes to play games. Even living out in the countryside is no protection from the Queen's machinations, so there is no safe place. Because the Queen is that way, her courtiers emulate her, and are very cut-throat.

Deven and Lune do end up together, when Lune is sent to the human court to spy on them. She goes in disguise at the start and latches onto Deven for his inside knowledge. Of course, Lune's plans fall apart, and Deven becomes aware that she is Fae and that they exist.

The story is mostly about how he finds out about Lune, and what they do together to fight Individiana. Her evil influence is felt at Elizabeth's court, and Walsingham instructs Deven to find the secret actor pulling the strings. Walsingham suspects a human agency dabbling in the politics of the realm, not a magical one. He dies before Deven learns of the Fae.

I enjoyed the book. I thought it was well written and gave a good picture of the time period. Brennan is able to balance the past with enough modernity to make it understandable to us, without being jarring or anachronistic.

The characters were very well done. They all seemed believable and real, and like people I want to know more about. The construct of the Fae and their world was interesting, as was the politics and history of the various realms.

The story was good, though a little light on the influence of the Fae on Elizabeth's court. Something more dramatic than meddling in Ireland would have been better. Much of the story of the Onyx Court is told towards the end when they are trying to overthrow Individiana. More information about how and why the court became evil sooner would have been better, since the explanation at the end was not really shown in the story.

Finally the structure of the story is a bit odd. There is a human who has been sucked into the Fae world, and is trapped there. He is a seer, and he has strange passages that describe his dreams, sights and experiences, but he isn't really explained til the end. What is in the passages, doesn't always connect or make sense for a lot of the book.

I think Brennan was trying to gild her story with some of the literary magic that was part of Elizabeth's time period, but it wasn't meaningful for me.

The narrative is also broken up with date, and location lines. It helps break scenes and lets you know when and where the story is, but I didn't find them terribly important.

The problems I have listed are really minor and keep the book from being 4.5 or 5 stars, but the story is still a very good read.

I have the next book in the series, In Ashes Lie which is set in 1666 England. ( )

Midnight Never Come's plot ranges from historical to fantastical, a balance of courtly intrigue and faerie magic. I find the concept of faeries within Elizabethan England incredibly intriguing and Marie Brennan did a great job of meshing Faerie and historical England. The historical and magical elements flow smoothly into one another. However, the book never really lived up to its potential for me.

The world-building and historical aspects were exceptional but the characters, while likable, never felt fully developed. They lacked the emotions needed to fully draw the reader in. This limited the emotional impact on what would have otherwise been a wonderful love story mixed in with all of the intrigue and politics.

The end felt unfinished and left many questions unanswered. There were a few characters who seemed to disappear from the pages of the book. Most of the flashback chapters felt disjointed and unnecessary. I would have liked to read more flashbacks between Invidiana or Queen Elizabeth I or Francis.

With that being said, I am curious about where the "sequel", In Ashes Lie, will take readers. I would really like to read a "prequel" about Invidiana - a fully developed story about her curse and pact rather than flashbacks and second-hand accounts.

I will definitely be reading more historical fantasies that mesh Faerie with history. Namely, Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age. ( )

The premise: In Elizabethan England, everything is not as it seems. Queen Elizabeth rules all of England, but beneath the London, another Queen rules another city. A Dark Queen who'll do whatever it takes to keep Elizabeth in power, as well as hold on to her throne. But two courtiers have stumbled upon the secret of this darker, shadow rule, and will do anything to break it.

My Rating

Give It Away: by time I finished the book, I was enjoying myself and will actually seriously consider getting the sequel. But it took a very long time for my interest to get snagged, and that's more my fault than the author's: I have a strong dislike of fairies and I've sadly lost interest in the Elizabethan period in which this book takes place. I will say that on the surface, this looks like it's another fairy book with an evil Queen who needs to get what she deserves, but there's more to it than that, and once I got to that point in the book, I was very engaged. Like I said, I'll consider reading the sequel. I've read all of Brennan's novels so far, and she's improving as a writer, there's no doubt. I think if there's a flaw in this one, it's that the historical detail sometimes gets in the way of the larger plot, and I'm curious to see if the same happens with In Ashes Lie (the sequel). Who knows? But I intend to read on, despite my dislike of fairies. That's how much I like the author.

The full review, which includes some spoilers as well as cover art commentary (and why I like this author so much), is in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Marie Brennan's MIDNIGHT NEVER COME

Happy Reading! ( )