Strangeness and Charm: The Courts of the Feyre, Book 3 [Mass Market Paperback]

Mike Shevdon (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 29, 2012 | Series: Courts of the Feyre (Book 3)

Alex has been saved from the fate that awaited her in Bedlam, but in freeing her, Niall has released others of their kind into the population - half-breed fey who have been mistreated, abused and tortured by the institution that was supposed to help them.

Now, as Warder, he must find them and persuade them to swap their new-found liberty for security in the courts - but is the price of sanctuary to swap one cage for another?

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ Duty Bound | Family Man | Them And Us | A New Beginning ]

e-book ISBN: 978-0-85766-225-5

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mike Shevdon lives in Bedfordshire, England, with his wife and son, where he pursues the various masteries of weapons, technology, and cookery. His love of Fantasy & SF started in the 70s with C S Lewis, Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov and continued through Alan Garner, Ursula Le Guin and Barbara Hambly. More recent influences include Mike Carey, Phil Rickman, Neil Gaiman, and Robert Crais, among many others.

He has studied martial arts for many years, mainly aikido and archery. Friends have sometimes remarked that his pastimes always seem to involve something sharp or pointy. The pen should therefore be no surprise, though he's still trying to figure out how to get an edge on a laptop.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Angry Robot (May 29, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0857662244
• ISBN-13: 978-0857662248
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #504,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mike Shevdon was born in Yorkshire, grew up in Oxfordshire and now lives in Bedfordshire, so no-one can say he hasn't travelled. An avid reader of fantasy since his early teens, he has a bulging bookshelf going back more than thirty years. His love of fantasy started with Edgar Rice Burroughs and C S Lewis and expanded rapidly, spilling over into SF, crime fiction (usually mystery in the US), thrillers, the back of cereal packets, instruction manuals and anything else with words on it.

He is a keen cook (his wife would use the word 'messy' but that's another story) and is the inventor of Squeaky Cheese Curry. He particularly loves food from South East Asia and is on a life-long quest to create the perfect satay sauce.

His favourite books include Barabara Hambly's Darwath Trilogy, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and any of John Le Carre's George Smiley books. He is a big fan of Robert Crais and the Elvis Cole series and loves all the Janet Evanovich, Stephanie Plum novels. He believes Sir Terry Pratchet's knighthood is richly deserved.

Mike draws his inspiration from the richness of English folklore and from the history and rituals of the UK. The Courts of the Feyre is a new series that follows the adventures of Niall and Blackbird as Niall discovers a world of dark magic and strange creatures hidden in plain sight.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent third installment in the Courts of the Feyre series May 30, 2012

By misplaced cajun

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This third in the Courts of the Feyre series finds Niall Petersen picking up the pieces after the events of The Road to Bedlam. Thanks to him, a whole slew of half feys are on the loose and many of them have little to no control over their powers. What's more, their imprisonment has left them with some serious issues. In an attempt to maintain their agreement with the human world, Niall will have to round up the rogue feys and bring them back to the Courts. But not all of them are ready or willing to go along with Niall or the Courts wishes.

There are many things that make this series a true standout. Shevdon's worldbuilding is the key, though. His Courts of the Feyre series is set in the UK but he twists the existing framework of the real world adding in Fey elements. One of my favorite things is his manipulation of actual history, superstitions, symbolism, and ceremonies.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Dysfunctional Dilemma September 8, 2012

By JlWelch

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Eventually this book is about the fallout of what happens with or rather to the escapees from Porton Down. It also deals with Niall (who is rather annoying in this book) and his daughter Alex (who is also annoying). Niall is very defensive and argumentative when told by Fionh that he needs to,learn how to use his powers, that he needs to learn to control them. He pulls an attitude, he's only known about the Fae, that he was Fae, that he even had powers for a short amount of time..now he thinks he's an expert..How does he ever expect to help his daughter when he can't even help himself? I guess Niall's struggle with letting go cover a move vast area then just his daughter.
I also felt that Niall really didn't take his job as a warder seriously. It felt like he rather didn't care about his duty or the proper way to handle situations and just impulsively did what he wants to do. He rather like his daughter in the sense that he don't really care about anything else than his own selfish wants. Yes, his heart may be in the right place but there is way to do things I stead of blindly rushing into them.
I will say this, yes everybody, teenagers are annoying. Reading about teenagers is annoying. Alex is argumentative, defensive, whiny and stubborn. Alex believes that she knows it all and what is best but in all actuality is utterly clueless. She pretty much is the character type for all teenagers. To top it all off, she's supremely powerful, emotional and has no control over her powers...basically she's an ornery loose cannon...No that doesn't really make for fun reading, especially with Niall and Blackbirds arguing added into the mix, but that's just part of the story. I do feel like the story wouldn't be realistic if it was all perfect.... For these characters, this is ral life and there are consequences to every action and emotions to every result. It may not always be a fun read, but at least it's real.
But on the flip side of that, I did feel like I was listening to a teenager whine for half the book, and the other half I was listening to a disgruntled, dysfunctional, neglected relationship hash out their problems. I have my own dysfunctions with reality, I really don't need to relive it in my escapism. Reading about that really isn't my favorite pastime..But I digress. I felt like this book was just a bridge onto the next part of the story. If I want to continue to see where Mike Shevdon takes these characters, unfortunately I have to read this story to do it..
I will say that when she wasn't being annoying and essentially acting more adult, I rather enjoyed reading about Alex's story and see her come into her powers. I do feel like this series has some interesting turns and plots ahead of it, especially with the way Mr. Shevdon built the story at the end. He set up enough that after wading through all the crap throughout the whole story at the end your left feeling 'what now.' I'm interested to see what happens next, I just hope the characters don't annoy me half as much... Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Off the original trail July 26, 2012

By Dkveragas

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I actually gave on this book about 120 pages or so into it, after having read and enjoyed the first two titles. And I am not a fantasy fan.
Simply put the story did not really advance the first two titles. Instead we are subjected to page after page of the protagonist dealing with his hormonal/angst ridden daughter, his mistress who just gave birth to her (in her opinion) baby boy, and his boss.
It is less of a fantasy novel and more a script proposal for a horrid reality show.
Maybe it picks up the fantasy line later, there was little enough in the first 1/3 or so, but I'll never know. My copy is in the library donate pile which I will recommend they place in the fund raiser book sale stack.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Stalled April 27, 2013

By Robert E. Fletcher

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

After having enjoyed the other books in this series, I fully expected to enjoy this one as well, so I was surprised when I did not. It truthfully seems like the author has just sort of stalled out with main character, Niall, and I felt myself really struggling to care one whit about his secondary character, Niall's daughter, Alex. He even has one of the other characters point out Niall's fault -- he thinks too damn much. I was challenged to get through page after page of his inner dialogue of how to deal with his responsibilities, how to be a good father, a good husband, etc, etc, etc. And by now I was kind of hoping he would be a little more competent as a Warder. He seems to screw up way more times then he gets anything right, and while it may have been interesting to read about the learning curve over the first couple books, it's tired now. And given the fact that Niall is so different from the other Warders, able to utilize the Void, he did precious little with it.

And Alex. I so desperately wanted to stop reading about Alex. There was so little that was interesting or likable about the character, that I had to stop myself from just skipping her chapters. Whiny, self-involved and just plain stupid is maybe okay as a tertiary character, but I really don't want to read that much of it.

At this point, I'm kind of wondering why I even gave this book in the series three stars, but I do have to say that Shevdon is a pretty good writer. He sets the scene nicely, the locations are easy to visualize and vivid, and the very few action scenes that are part of the book are well done. Now if he could just back to writing something interesting about his characters...

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars don't like where this is going June 2, 2012

By ladyjayb

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Where as much as I liked the first two books I found the third one lacking. I don't know if anyone will understand when I say the 'feel' of the book changed but it has. I don't like the change in Garvin, the man who helped Niall get through his daughter's funeral, is suddenly have the feeling of a villian. He is probably my favorite characters. Dogstar and Blackbird have, with all their bickering, become a pain to read almost wish they go their seperate ways. Alex, does act like a teenage but I wish she never got her power and was left at home with Katherine. Sorry! I really did like the first two books...which I finished each in a day. This book is going on day 4 and I'm still struggling to finish it. I just don't like any of the characters any more. They are loosing definition. In the first two books we knew and understood each charater; somehow along the way they have become murky and not well defined. It's well written, so there is not fault in that. Others may really like where this book takes them...I guess it is a matter of preference.