Reminiscent of Artemis Fowl books, YA technofantasy. Fun, not too thoughtful. Lots of imagination. ( )

Troubled by family problems, Henry finds his life taking a whole new dimension when he and his friend, old Mr. Fogarty, become involved with Prince Pyrgus Malvae who has been sent from the faerie world in order to escape the treacherous Faeries of the Night.

This book. (!!!!)

I read it when I was younger and I just absolutely loved it. I read it when I was about 13, and I liked that it was a little bit grittier, a little bit more serious than most fantasy books. The protagonist seemed to be making some quite serious decisions throughout the story, which I appreciated as well. There are quite a few 'mature' themes, but to be honest, it's fiction. I'm... more or less happy, as a teacher, when I see kids reading.

ANYWAY.

I loved Brennan's British/Irish wit, dry, dark and clever.

I can't remember much of the plot (apparently there are some twists that I totally forgot about!) but I loved the writing style, I loved the voice of the narrator. It was one of the books that I stayed up all night reading, which was rare for me to do when I was that young.

... I don't normally read YA and children's literature (unless it's for a class), but I'm tempted to reread this book. Hmm.

(Coincidentally, the author loves a holiday spot in Ireland where I've been a few years ago. I love it too! That's so weird.) ( )

I read half, and just couldn't develop enough interest to go on. I wanted to know more about Henry's family - what an intriguing teen realistic novel that could have been. But we spent so much time in the run-of-the-mill 'faerie' world, focusing on adventure and the duties of the Purple Emperor, his heir, and the sister who could probably have run the 'Wars' better than the whole male clan, that I just got bemused and bored. ( )

I definitely enjoyed it. It was a very good mix of scifi, fantasy, and real life similar to Artemis Fowl but still different.

I was not expecting Henry's personal life problems, but they added so much more to the story. It made Henry very real. His return to real life at the end, with just a bit more confidence, is very nice as well.

Henry is my favorite character, but he spends a surprisingly small amount of time in the story. It's a little odd, since he is set up as the main character in the first few chapters, only to be cast aside in favor of Pyrgus and Blue. Pyrgus is okay, but I'm not fond of Blue. Every time they had a scene, I was mostly just hoping Henry would be next.

The plot itself is very interesting, if a little complicated. I got the three villains all mixed up, which made the plot twists a little confusing. They were also all very stereotypical villains, with none of the depth given Henry or Mr. Fogarty.

I'm also not entirely sure what age group this is for. The stereotypical villains and the age of the main characters make me think it is for pre-teens and maybe young adults -- and yet there is a lot of stuff directly referencing sex. No explicit sex scenes of course, but there are quite a few references -- from Henry's parents's problems to Henry seeing Blue in the bath. And yet the story itself does not seem complex for or written for young adults.

Despite all of this, I really did enjoy it, and definitely recommend it. ( )