Fairies have one job. They are tasked with helping people learn and practice virtue. I am sure you've heard stories of fairies taking the form of beggars, blessing those who help them, and cursing those who don't.
However, not all fairies are good. Instead of helping people practice virtue, some encourage vice. These are the types of fairies you generally want to avoid. Nothing would delight them more than seeing you destroy someone you love.
Unfortunately, for the young King Alexander, his sister falls victim to a pair of such fairies who convince her to launch a coup. Alexander has no choice but to flee to a barbarian kingdom and try to build himself a new life among the uncouth locals.
Even if happiness were possible in such a place, could he live with himself if he left his people at the mercy of such evil beings? And even if he wanted to help his people, how could he possibly match the fairies' power?
I enjoyed this book a lot. It is a fractured fairy tale of sorts, updated for modern sensibilities but still anchored in the things that make for good fairy tales — fantastic adventures, heroes, right and wrong, good and evil, and even a faithful hound. There are even solid spiritual lessons woven into it, thankfully without ever hitting you over the head with them.
All this is told with a good sense of humor, clever plot twists, and solidly developed characters. I was really on tenterhooks at the end, wondering what sort of countermeasures Alexander could come up with against the two evil fairies. (He did it very cleverly, by the way.)
Definitely recommended.
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