The Purple Emperor

A 12 year old friend and I were thrilled to see The Purple Emporer at the Indie bookstore. We were a little low on money so we shared the $17.95 cost. My friend kicked in more money than I did so she got to read it first. Waily, waily, waily! (oops, wrong book)

The Purple Emporer is sequel to Faerie Wars which I blogged about last September. The person I thought would be the traitor in Faerie Wars but wasn't looks like a prime suspect in Purple Emporer but (sigh) again is innocent. Darn! I want that person to be bad.

The Purple Emporer takes up very soon after Faerie Wars ended. Pyrgus is awaiting his coronation (with the purple magic embedded crown) and his father's body lies in State. Henry has been sent for from our world to stand at show more Pyrgus' side during the coronation but he has run into some problems. Henry is really looking forward to seeing Blue again. Pyrgus' sister, Blue, is alerted to a possible threat against a family member and rushes to protect Pyrgus. They are together when they are shown, in the flesh, that the King is no longer dead. Things are not back to normal; things are worse than ever!

There are lots of complications both personal and political and some of our favorite baddies return. Love is in the air in more than one relationship but responsibilities come first. Some people, animals, and items that were casually mentioned in the first book are given more depth in Purple Emporer.

At the risk of giving away some of the story I mention that there is the suspicion that Pyrgus eventually kills his father. This is seen as a release for the King and may be a point that leads to further discussion of the issue. show less

All of the characters (and many more neat ones) are back from the first book in this sequel that’s even more exciting than the first! Ever since Mr. Fogarty was appointed Gatekeeper by Pyrgus, the Purple Emperor Elect, Henry has been taking care of his home for him.

Until one day, when Mr. Fogarty shows up and asks Henry to come back to the faerie realm. It turns out that Pyrgus’ kingdom is not as peaceful as it should be. Someone has resurrected Pyrgus’ father, the previous Purple Emperor who was brutally murdered! Apatura Iris is a shell of his former grand self, but still powerful enough to sign his agreement on a contract drawn up by Lord Hairstreak, Pyrgus’ worst political enemy, stating the removal of Pyrgus from Emperor show more Elect. The position will now be transferred to Pyrgus and Blue’s younger brother, Comma, and the two eldest children will be banished to faraway lands.

Henry arrives in the faerie realm, only to discover that Blue and Pyrgus are gone, and the kingdom is in danger of being taken over by their political enemies. To make matters worse, both Brimstone and Chalkhill are back, each involved in their own plan to cause more trouble for Pyrgus. However, with the aid of a very mysterious and powerful group of people, Blue, Pyrgus, Henry, and friends just might be able to right all the wrongs in their kingdom.

Herbie Brennan once again brings readers an exciting and magical world. His books are impossible to put down and hard to forget. show less

Excellent follow-up! I'm about to start Ruler of the Realm so I'll have to make this quick! The pacing in the second installment of Faerie Wars series is much, MUCH faster (and I liked it--it works well) there are 100 chapters but each one is only a page and a half long, so yes you do switch viewpoints extremely often but it's not for long! One thing I would have liked was a better idea of time in the setting. I found myself frowning at the sequence of events (ever so slightly) because at times, events seemed far removed from each other, and at other times they seemed very juxtaposed. I also don't really care for the villains in the series - Lord Hairstreak, the nefarious Nighter faerie, and Beleth the Demon Prince. "Beleth, the Demon show more Prince!?!?! That sounds SCARY!" Yeah, you'd think, except they dont really seem...idk, developed? In my last review, I criticized the criticizers who whined that characters weren't complex enough... I stick by that defense, but even BAD bad guys need to be developed so that you as the reader can react emotionally to what they do. and i didnt, really. And more frequently in this book than the last one, Brennan seems to present things to me (as a reader) that really dont make a whole lot of sense, like "oh yeah right!!" A treacherous assassin/chief-antagonist protected by diplomatic immunity? A major criminal being so easily sprung from jail, then being ordinarily returned to jail? "Tens of thousands" of renegade faeries living unnoticed in the forest? Ohhhkayyy. - Those little discrephencies are swept way under the rug, however, when I take into account all the action! The main characters (except the villains) are explored in hi-def in this installment, and i actually got not one but *two* romantic subplots...sweet and simple and not over-the-top, just the way i likes it! The "science stuff" is starting to grow on me, and I find myself enjoying the descriptive passages about the magical technology found in this parallel world. Kudos, Mr. Brennan, for this awesome sequel! Now on to the next! show less

This book was all right, but I think I'm done with the series. I've never been a fan of silly sci-fi/fantasy and Brennan pushed the limits of my patience here. I like my books a lot darker. Pyrgus, Blue, and Henry continue to get into trouble in this second installment of Faerie Wars. Bad things happen, but it all turns out okay at the end (spoiler, but really, it's to be expected). Nothing in this book really engaged me the way I was hoping it would. I feel like I would be more interested in finishing the series if I were younger.

Greatly improved from the first book in the series, Faerie Wars. Held my attention well and kept my undivided concentration. Also, the plot twists were a lot more unexpected which seems both good and bad.. Bad in that the action seems less fluent and more staggered, but good in that it keeps the readers on their toes and not a boring read.

Fun quick fantasy/scifi read with Faeries, demons, zombies and a parallel universe. This is a young adult book, the second in the series, and has tons of action. The biggest complaint I have is that it jumps right into the story with hardly any reminder of what happened in the last book. This wasn't too much of a problem, but it took me a few chapters to remember who everyone was, once I had things figured out the story progressed quickly. I will definitely be continuing with the series.

Henry and Mr. Fogarty help Pyrgus (emperor elect) and Blue (princess) to figure out a conspiracy, by antagonist Black Hairstreak, to kill a member of the royal household and to take over the empire after the death of their father.

A continuation of Fairie Wars. The Purple Emporer has died and Pygus is to crowned king when his father’s body disappears. Then Lord Hairstreak arrives at the place with the old Purple Emporer’s body in a zombie like state and Pygus, Holly and the Gatekeeper (Mr Fogarty) are banished by Comma, the emporer elect. (P’s little brother). Meanwhile Henry is trying to visit and gets thrown into jail by Comma’s loony mother Queen.. Throw into this mix, the usual mix of villains and criminals all intent on taking over the Fairie kingdom and you have a pulp fiction take on greed and the battle for power in a mythical world. Each chapter looks at a different characters’ point of view until all the separate stories collide together