Review: Fairy Blues by JL Bryan

Posted 5 February, 2012 by Heather in Heather, Heather Book Review, Uncategorized / 2 Comments

Fairy Blues (Songs of Magic #2)

(Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble)

by JL Bryan

(Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Website, Twitter)

Book Description (From Goodreads):

[box type=”shadow”]The sequel to Fairy Metal Thunder.

With their enchanted instruments charming the crowds, the Assorted Zebras attract interest from record producers, and soon they’re off to cut their first album and music video. Jason and his friends don’t know they’ve just become pawns in a sinister plot by a cabal of evil fairies…

Meanwhile, Aoide and her band pursue a new strategy for regaining their stolen instruments, one that will take them into the most haunted region in Faerie.[/box]

My Thoughts:

Fairy Blues picks up where Fairy Metal Thunder left off– with bandmates Jason, Dred, Mitch, and Erin recovering from their epic festival gig that was topped off with an battle to the death with a shapeshifting unicorn/dragon. Their popularity is still soaring due to social media and their fans, and now they’ve been offered not one, but two record deals. But do they take the deal with the closer to home Indie label and have more artistic freedom, or should they go with the mega-label that is responsible for the cookie-cutter hot acts that will surely guarantee them world-wide success but will stifle their creativity?

The Assorted Zebras chose the big label, of course, and jet off to Ireland to record their debut and film their very first music video. But while they are there, they find that they are just another cog in the money making machine, where they must record the music they are told to play and they are now basically owne by Malarkay records for the next several years. The high dollar contract doesn’t look so good after all, they start to find. Grizlemore, the goblin that has been living under guitar player Jason’s bed since Jason stole the enchanted instruments from Faerie in the first book, accompanies the band to Ireland to look out for further danger from Queen Mab’s forces, and he adds his much needed grumpy comic relief. I don’t think that Jason and his friends realize that they are stuck in the middle of something brewing between the denizens of Faerie.

While the band is working in Ireland, the band who had their instruments stolen decide to set off in search of them on their own after the elf and unicorn they had commissioned to bring the instruments back from the human world had failed epically. After doing a little research in the library, the broke musicians discover that banshee wolves can sniff out magic better than unicorns, so they decide to hunt down the elusive wolf in the Hauntlands. And this is where JL Bryan’s story really comes alive. The world of Faerie is such a vibrant, magical place–full of odd plants and animals, strange seemingly abandoned towns. You get such a bigger glimpse in this book at the Faerie world and I really enjoyed walking alonside Aoide and her bandmates as they tried to get to the Hauntlands. I’ll never look at Jack-o-lanterns the same again!

But as the Faerie band has taken it into their own hands to get the instruments back, the Queen has decided to use the guardians of the gates between the man-world and Faerie to find the instruments. Of course these dullahans have other plans, which include busting their friends out of the Queen’s dungeons, on their agendas instead of handing the instruments over to the Queen. And again, Ill never look at Teddy Bear the same way. You just have to read it to see what I mean.

JL Bryan has written a fast paced, exciting, and solid follow up in Fairy Blues. This one moved this series forward nicely while revealing a nice twist in the end, and I can’t wait for book three. This one gets a firm five out of five from me with the expanded, vivid look at the Faerie World and the dynamics between all of the different folk that live there.

Rating 5 truly bewitched
[box type=”shadow”]Check out Bewitched Booworms later this week for a character interview from this series and a book giveaway from JL Bryan![/box]

 

Heather

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I'm a PhD chemist who loves sarcasm, music, and books-paranormal, mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, and romance. Most of my free time is spent at the martial arts studio these days--whether practicing Combat Hapkido or reading books while watching my son's Taekwondo classes, or even working up a sweat with Kickboxing for fun. Goodreads

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