Review: Fairystruck by JL Bryan
Fairystruck (Songs of Magic #3)
by JL Bryan
Published March 2012
Book provided by author in exchange for honest review.
Description:
While their first single shoots up the Billboard charts, the Zebras hit the road as the opening band for an epic stadium tour across America. The future looks bright for the band… if they can survive the rioting fans, Queen Mab of Faerie, the dullahan, and a few evil teddy bears.
Aoide the Lutist and Liadan the banshee wolf cross into man-world on the trail of the stolen fairy instruments. Aoide is shocked at the strangeness of life among the humans, but she also learns about a thrilling new kind of music never heard in Faerie… rock and roll.
*Spoiler Warning–May contain mild spoilers for Fairy Metal Thunder and Fairy Blues*
My Thoughts:
The titles of JL Bryan’s books in The Songs of Magic series have a way of making me sing classic rock songs in my head. The first installment, Fairy Metal Thunder, had me singing “Fairy Metal Thunder” in place of part of the lyrics of Born To Be Wild. And the third book is no exception. Fairystruck had me singing AC/DC everytime I picked up my Kindle Fire with the words to Thunderstruck now replaced with “Fairystruck.” I’m still not sure which version I like better…
But I am positive that this series gets better and better with each book. Jason and the rest of the Assorted Zebras–now renamed the Rioting Zebras without their consent–hit the road in a broken down old school bus on their first tour as an opening act for DJ Smoov Moov. Their lavish lifestyle on the record company’s dime is a thing of the past as they travel across the States as cheaply as possible, dodging rioting fans, gargoyles sent to steal their enchanted instruments, evil teddy bears who are hell bent on destroying as much as possible while they’re out of the dungeons on a mission from the Queen to get the instruments back and assassinate the band while they’re at it, and deal with a quirky headlining rapper who loves potatoes a bit too much at the same time.
Meanwhile, the fairy musician Aoide has traveled with the Banshee wolf, Liadan from Fairie to the human world to get their instruments back. It was really funny to read as Aoide adjusted to life pretending to be human, even as she had to sing for a car and food. The Dullahan is up to some evil tricks with Jason’s sister Katie, and she goes pretty far to try to lure him back to Minnesota to get her hands on the instruments.
One of the great things about this series is the character growth. Jason has been the voice of reason throughout, even though he’s the one who stole the instruments from Fairie. But he’s loyal, strong, and unafraid to fight when the sh*t hits the fan. Jason always has your back, even if you’re not on the best of terms at the time. Mitch has responded to their newfound fame in a very realistic way–by becoming the suckup and yes man, and he’s rewarded by the record company by getting the best crappy hotel rooms, etc. Dred reacts to all of this by hiding behind a mask during the concerts, desperate to hold onto her anonymity. The highly creative lead singer Erin has the hardest time of all the band members performing the songs written by the record company, and she rebels constantly.
I give this one a 4.5 out of 5. Fairystruck is a fast paced, funny, action-packed installment of an imaginative series. Full of good music, snarky humor, weird beasties that will rip you apart and look eerily cute while doing it, you can’t go wrong with this book. It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I suggest that you have your copy of Fairyland (Songs of Magic #4) ready to go right away. Trust me, you’ll want to start it. Now to think of a song to insert “Fairyland” into…
If you haven’t started this series yet, what are you waiting for? The first book, Fairy Metal Thunder, is free on Kindle, Apple, and Smashwords. 
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I love the sound of the music theme in these books. I need to pick up this series soon! I’m glad to hear you are still enjoying it. Brilliant review, Heather.
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Thanks, Sam! The music references are great in this series, and each book is better than the one before it. Definitely check them out.
Heather recently posted..Review: Fairystruck by JL Bryan
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Great review Heather. I have the first book in this series and am glad to hear that book three delivers as well. Fantastic review!
kimbacaffeinate recently posted..City of Demons by Kevin Harkness
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Thanks! All three books have been solid so far. Now on to book four!
Heather recently posted..Review: Fairystruck by JL Bryan
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I love that this follows the same pattern of the prior books (I skimmed your review ’cause I haven’t read the others! Bad, bad Mary!). Not a huge fan of the cover but it’s what’s inside that counts, right?
Mary @ Book Swarm recently posted..Speed date with Eleanor: SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY by Susan Dennard
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LOL, Mary! It does follow the same pattern, but Jeff adds in several more layers of complications in each book. I’m pretty meh on the covers too, but it’s what’s in between that counts. And that’s golden
Heather recently posted..Review: Fairystruck by JL Bryan
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