Customer Reviews

The Sacrifice: The First Book of the Fey

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Fey are a ruthless, bloodthirsty, magic-wielding, conquering people. The people of Blue Isle, the next on the list of places to add to the Fey Empire, are peaceful, religious, and have never even encountered magic. The Fey expect to grind the Isle into the ground in a day. Instead, through luck or coincidence, the Islanders discover that the holy water used in their religious rituals kills Fey on contact, in a particularly gruesome fashion. The battle shifts, and the Fey end up fleeing, going into hiding in an invisible fort in the middle of the Island.

What follows are years of skirmishes between the Islanders and the Fey, who are led by the son and granddaughter of their Black King, Rugar and Jewel. The Islanders' king, Alexander, is forced to change his entire political outlook from a peacetime footing to winning a war, while his son, Prince Nicholas, finds out that war isn't as glorious as he thought. Meanwhile, the religious leaders responsible for making the holy water that is now used as a weapon have to reconcile their peaceful religion with the horrific things their water does to the Fey.

This is one of those books where no one comes through unscathed, and sometimes the characters you like the best are the bad guys. The writing leaves something to be desired sometimes, and Rusch has a tendency to repeat herself in an effort to pound certain concepts in, but overall, an enjoyable book with an ending that makes you anxious to hear more.

(Important Note: While books 1,2,3, and 5 are still available, book 4, The Resistance, is out of print and generally unavailable. I read the series without it and was able to follow it fairly well, but if you're the type who absolutely cannot read a series out of order, don't even start The Fey.)

When I first saw the title "The Fey" in the book store I thought, naw, I've read this story a thousand times. But Rusch acutally manages to make the rather standard plot into an amazing and original read. This king's daughter/warrior in battle proving her worth story certainly has some cliche elements, but they only give the reader a foothold for Rusch's magic in creating the brilliantly complex characters on both sides of the conflict. I never could decide which side I wanted to win, and never did decide even as it ended. Instead of the standard "some good, some bad people" set up for each side, Rusch puts the "some good, some bad" in each of her characters in a very believable way. Read this book if you're planning on writing some great, complex characters!

I picked it up by chance, started it, put it down for a while...just couldn't get into it. Glad I picked it back up. Slow start but it "reels" you in! Kristine has woven a fantasic tale of love, magic, treachery...and sacrifice. I applaud the entire series mainly because she has taken the Fey formula (wispy, fragile creatures) and transformed them into a conquering race, quite brutal actually. Plus, the strong religious intolerance element make it strike close to home. I've almost finished Book IV: The Resistance and have Book V: Victory and The Black Queen awaiting my eager eyes on my coffee table at home. Kudos to Kristine!

Originally, I had picked up the second book of the series by chance. I read the first few chapters and fell in love with the book. It was soem time later when I was browsing for a new reading book at the library and I reconized the title. My consensus is that the first book of the series is as great as any other. The characters are well developed and their personalities are mulit-faceted. Kristine Kathryn Rusch shows her ample capability of writing when she wrote the storyline. For most of the book she holds you in suspense and keeps you guessing at what will happen to the mysterious race known as the Fey. Even though the book skips around from person to person, most of the attention is centered on the Islander prince Nicholas and the Fey princess Jewel, yet Kritine doesn't leave her other characters underdevealoped. Overall, this was an excellent book with lots of plot twists, suspense, and imagination and it's only downfall is that the book starts off slow.

I really enjoyed this book and have continued to read the whole series. Admittedly it is difficult to get into but if you stick with it it will be worth your while. But i do recomend that some of the writing might be a bit gory in parts for some people, but if you like Magic, War and Suspence this is the book for you!

This is an excellent story. It got me on my toes from the first page untill the end. Really marvelous. I don't understand that there are people who don't like it. It's a fantastic story and deserves really five stars.

It amazes me each time I read a review of Rusch you either hate her work or love it. I am one of those who cannot say enough good things about this series and this book. The book is niether wildly fantastical or whimiscal. Rather it is based on Olde English concepts of magical folk. Rather than having mages that have all the power these magical creatures are limited in their abilities to one kind of magic, changeling or prophesizing to name two. I know it is worth the read and I cannot wait for the next in the series!

The rating of five stars is really for the series as a whole, not just the first book. I read the second book first, and the first book last, and I can see why some people don't like the first one, but by the end they are SOOO good, it doesn't matter! Persistance is the key! Arianna, Gift and Coulter are great characters, and I can't wait for the second series...

I am overjoyed to see that Kristine Rusch's Wonderful FEY Series is now being released to Kindle editions. This is an Epic Saga for all true Fantasy Lovers. These are "Must Read" Books and get an A+ from a Fantasy Lover.

The first two books in the series are now available on the Kindle Store - I can wait for the other three to be released !!!!!!
These are Magic Books !!!!!!!

It has a great plot. All the rest of the books in the series does too. Also, interesting characters, with strong personalities(most of them). Interesting world, too. BUT there is the fact that it doesn't manage to muster up enough suspense to keep us really interested. And the world view is not detailed, or realistic, enough to make us feel as though we're really inside the book, feeling along with the characters- it all too often reminds us that the thing we're poring over is just paper printed with words. Because of this fact, I never managed to read the books straight through- chapters were skipped, pages were turned without being read- but because the plot was always interesting, only the narrating lacking, I did go through all the books. If you have the patience, this may be a very good book for you.