Of Blood and Honey

I enjoyed the book overall, but my reaction to it is complicated--as is the book. It follows Liam, a young Catholic man coming of age in 1970s Northern Ireland. He is repeatedly imprisoned and abused by the occupying British Army--and battles against his own dark nature. He does not understand that he is part fae, and that he has been targeted by his estranged father's old enemy.

Foremost, this is the only fantasy book I've read that is based in the Troubles, and it's brilliant. Dark and disturbing, but brilliant. For Americans like me, who grew up with mentions of the IRA and bombings in lands-afar with no personal connections to the conflict, it will be a necessary education. I didn't like the presence of rape throughout the novel, show more though I understand it is also part of the reality of the time period.

Liam is a fantastic protagonist to follow. He does terrible things, but he never lost me. Again, he feels real. Human and frail, even as he doubts his own humanity at times.

What drove me bonkers, though, was that almost all of the book happens because people cannot communicate about simple things. They hint, they hedge, but they cannot reveal the truth, even when people are brutalized and raped and killed. That might be realistic, yes, but it's also infuriating as a plot device. I didn't like it in old Flintstones episodes when I was a kid, and I don't like it now, especially when those frustrating secrets kept the major cool aspect of this world almost entirely hidden: I wanted to know more about the fae and the parallel war against the Fallen. I wanted to know more about magic, period. Instead, it feels like that has likely been pushed off for the next book. At this point, I'm left so frustrated by the pacing that I don't know if I want to continue to get to the bits I really wanted. show less

Inference and subtlety, in my opinion, has become somewhat of a lost art in literature. While this talent hasn’t disappeared entirely and some writers continue to maintain the proficiency of suggestive narrative I’ve noticed a decline in its use. What surprised me then was the skill in which Stina Leicht, a first time novelist, uses the ability of suggestion and nuance in her debut urban fantasy Of Blood and Honey. The literary foreplay leading up to the violent, traumatic sexual assault of the main character, Liam, for instance, is handled with a great deal of subtlety – more the fodder for our imaginations and more effective than a straight telling of the incident which, by the way, never happens. And the first time Liam show more unwittingly allows the otherworld beast inside him to escape we are shown more than told of that transformation. Because of the competence employed utilizing the art of supposition Ms. Leicht makes us a better audience. We are allowed to use our imagination to fill in the subtle nooks and crannies that remain unwritten but which are obviously present.

Of course, Of Blood and Honey is not a perfect urban fantasy but, then again, none really are*. What I feel missing from this tale was the intricately woven account connecting the Fey and human worlds. In truth, and perhaps in defense of this omission, I was under the distinct impression during reading - and here again is the subtleness of inference at play - that the Fey would become more prevalent in later books. Additional works would certainly offer the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of Fey and meld it with that of the commonplace home of humanity. On this point only time (and the publication of additional volumes in the series) will tell but the author would do well to bring the compelling world of Bran and Redcap to the forefront in at least one subsequent story. I also found a number of very dark moments scattered throughout this novel which may offend some readers. I, on the other hand, felt that those sobering flashes provided a certain “punch” and the “hard edge” moments made it more emotional, therefore more enjoyable to me. And giving a novel sentiment and mood is what every writer strives for, or should. While the unimaginative and angry step-father cliché has been overdone those scenes were crafted skillfully enough that I could appreciate the struggle between the love and duty suffered by Liam’s mother and the emotional tug-of-war she endured. Fortunately, the step-father character is only found in a few scenes for abbreviated stretches of time.

Some of Ms. Leicht’s strengths are simply a result of blood, sweat, and hard work. The time period and politics of 1970’s Ireland and the clash between the Irish Republican Army and the British Army has been meticulously researched and she reveals to us the enviable ability to construct entire worlds in just a few short but concise paragraphs. Mingling Irish folklore and the mundane and then throwing a mystery into the mix is a stroke of genius. Every one of her characters are elaborate and intricate, even those that are flawed, secondary, or cliché and she reveals surprises in delightfully proportioned servings. The worlds she’s created are foreboding and rough and magical and dark and we are fortunate to be able to visit there, if only for a short while. The Fey and The Fallen is a series I’ll be following closely. If you enjoy finely crafted fantasy then you should too.

* Samuel R. Delaney’s Dhalgren comes very close to perfect and I’d rally behind just about any of Emma Bull’s urban fantasies or Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim books, but I digress. show less

Of Blood and Honey is a raw, bitter and bloodthirsty book. There is an undercurrent of brutal honesty which is hard to swallow, mostly because it talks openly about Northern Ireland and what it had to go through in the 1970s.

On the other hand it has an early urban fantasy feel, so if you liked War for The Oaks you most assuredly will enjoy this book as well.

The book follows the life and tribulations of young Irish guy, Liam. He is half-phouka and doesn't know about it as his human mother keeps his heritage secret from anyone. Liam is abused and beaten up and gets into trouble all the time while your heart just bleeds for the poor boy.

There are few factors you can blame for his misfortune: horrible prosecution of Irish on their own soil show more by British soldiers; the camps and inhuman conditions guys endure there; IRA secret war; secret police's intrigues... but mostly it's the hidden war between The Fey and The Fallen - demons that Catholicism brought to Ireland and which Fey unsuccessfully try to drive off their land, that Liam unwillingly gets caught in because The Fallen try to use him to hurt his father.

Throw in the mold a young and tumultuous love, the rage that overcomes Liam and makes him do some horrible things to the people that abuse him, a secret Order of Catholic priests who don't know the difference between demons and fae and kill everyone they can get their hands on.... and it's an awful, twisted, torturous mess of a life in an insanely intense book.

As I said, Of Blood and Honey is an old-fashioned, long urban fantasy that stubbornly trudges through the injustices of Liam's life and makes us see and feel deeply the suffering of the whole Irish nation and the spirit of its people.

Strong, beautiful and very harsh. Recommended. show less

Stina Leicht is talented, no question, able to pull me into a world where politics is deadly and being in the wrong place at the wrong time can set you on a path from which there is no return. And that’s just the “normal” world for Northern Ireland in the 1970s.

Liam is an average young man in a place where tensions are high. He is just trying to impress his girl and stay out of trouble, but trouble follows him around like a curse, a feeling he has no idea is the honest truth.

This is a story of discovery, both of what defines a person and of who you become when pressed to the wall. The social and political situation is stark and dangerous. One wrong step and a young man’s life can be torn apart, with choices stolen and hopes show more destroyed. But for Liam, this is only one aspect of the challenges he faces as he learns the truth about who his father is, and discovers the battle he tried to avoid is being fought on levels both physical and metaphysical, with him pushed to the very center. His actions and choices have real, and concrete, effects on the people around him, sometimes at great cost and other times opening eyes to possibilities that could change everything if the right people will only listen.

This is a book that can be read as a simple thriller, with horrible things happening to Liam and everyone he becomes close to, but that would be doing it, and yourself, an injustice. Beyond the overt activities, Of Blood and Honey taps into faith and belief, not always the same thing, and perceptions versus reality. It’s got a lot to say, but in such a honeyed voice that the complexity is more on reflection than while you’re reading. There’s no time for contemplation as you’re down in the trenches with Liam.

Which is not to say this is a fast-paced novel that never stops to breathe either. It’s just one where every moment has significance, whether immediately apparent or something that builds. It starts with a bang, throwing the reader head-first into Northern Ireland’s political conflicts, and from that moment on, trouble after trouble comes for Liam, making bad moments worse and ripping away ones where he believes he’s found a kind of balance.

In case you can’t tell, I enjoyed this book. It sucked me into an unfamiliar world, and kept me trapped in a full sensory experience well worth every minute I spent absorbed in Stina Leicht’s words. And even better, from the way it ended, or rather the epilogue after a solid conclusion to the soul-searching Liam struggles through, I’m guessing a little search will find me another, equally compelling, read as his tale continues. show less

Of Blood and Honey, by Stina Leicht, is a fantasy set in a most non-fantastical time and place: Northern Ireland in the 1970s, during the height of The Troubles. Liam is a teenager growing up in Derry, an outsider in most respects: his Catholic mother had him out of wedlock to a father said to be Protestant who died before Liam was born, following which his mother married a proper Catholic man who dislikes and resents Liam and constantly takes his feelings out on him. As the book opens, Liam is caught up in yet another riot, only he is grabbed by the British Army and sent to Long Kesh Internment Camp, later to be infamously known as the Maze, despite being innocent of any wrongdoing. As the youngest inmate there, he is constantly picked show more on and beaten up. He tries to be stoic, but when a guard brutally rapes him, he decides to join the Provos, the provisional army branch of the IRA. He discovers that, far from being dead, his father is in fact one of the Fey, a member of the Fianna, the warrior cast of the Tuatha de Danaan, those "Good Folk" who drove the Firbolg out of Ireland at the beginning of time; and not only that, as a half-breed, he himself is also a shapeshifter, taking on the form of a large black dog. He uses his "Glamour" to take his revenge on the rapist, and later, on other people who treat him or his badly. He learns that the Fey are in a centuries'-old war against the Fallen, that is, Christian angels who have been thrown out of Heaven. His own parish priest, Father Murray, turns out to be a member of a militant Catholic branch dedicated to fighting and killing the Fallen in all their forms, even if that form is as a baby; unfortunately, the militant Catholics don't recognize that the Fey and the Fallen are not the same and they've been slaughtering both for centuries. It is in the context of all of these wars that Liam must grow up and become a man, but what kind of a man will he be?....For some reason, I started this book with the belief that it was a YA novel, specifically a fantastical coming-of-age story, and in the sense that Liam is young (he's 16 at the start, in his early 20s by the end), I suppose one could call it that. But it is by no means appropriate for a young audience, given the extremely graphic scenes of violence and rape that recur throughout the book; indeed, how Liam survives the huge number of savage beatings he receives in the course of the novel is beyond me. I found the writing to be compelling and the premise of the story is certainly an interesting one: I can't think of another fantasy novel with such an interesting contrast between "real life" and the "otherworld." But as noted, it's extremely violent and doesn't really end well, so I'm not sure that I would recommend it to anyone in particular. I will look out for Stina Leicht's writing in the future, though, as she's definitely got that creative spark and a vivid imagination. show less

It’s good to see something fresh brought to the fantasy genre and Stina Leicht does it with flair in her debut novel Of Blood and Honey. Set in the 1970s when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the British Army (BA) clash, Leicht’s story opens with action that doesn’t stop until the last page is turned.

Ireland’s Fey are at war with the Fallen, and as that conflict escalates, so does the confrontations between the IRA and the BA. Caught up in the war zones from both sides is Liam, a young man who always assumed that his protestant father was dead. When Liam is wrongly accused of participating in a riot and is arrested, his mother turns to her old lover and Liam’s father, a member of the Fey, for help.

Told with the show more fierce voice of the Irish, Leicht takes the reader deep into Northern Ireland’s Troubles through Liam’s experiences. She pulls no punches and shows both the IRA and the BA in all their brutality while never losing sight of either the old Celtic religion or the new (Christianity). It’s rare to see such a masterful weaving of worlds, but Leicht keeps a tight grip on her story and propels the reader forward like a bullet from a gun.

All of Leicht’s characters are rich and complex, and she keeps the surprises coming. She masterfully intertwines fantasy with reality to create a world so gritty, you feel like you’re walking Belfast’s streets. Dark and feral in its imagery, this is a story you don’t want to miss. show less

This is a book about the fey. This is also a book about Ireland in the 1970s. I don't think it's necessary to have much knowledge of either in order to read this book, but I suspect you'll enjoy it a lot more if you do.

This story is painful. No surprise there, given where it's set. It's horrible and, yet, somehow the people in it still seem to find beautiful moments. Even Liam, who is perhaps the unluckiest man to ever draw breath.

This is a story about war and the impossibility of peace in some situations, about how hard it can be to tell your enemies from your friends, and about how long grudges can last. It's a story about families, and love, and all the ties that bind. Mostly this is a story about Liam and how he lives the life he show more was handed the best he can.

TRIGGER WARNING: Actual rape of a man. Mention of rape of a woman. Lots of violence.

[John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 2013] show less