Autistic Representation in the Main Protagonist...
"Stories tell of children stolen away by faeries, replaced by inhuman lookalikes. These look-alikes, they say, could be identified by their strange speech or silence. They cried without reason or never showed any emotion at all, and struggled to relate to a world that seemed foreign to them. Folklorists theorize that these stories were early descriptions of autistic children — proof that autistic people have always been here. But once, they called us changelings."
Following the story through the eyes of Iselia (Seelie), we learn about the fantastical world they live in, where the human and faerie world exist side-by-side. Once they were able to move freely between these worlds, but after a war where a fae wanted to rule both, this was taken away. There is only certain places and times when there is the ability for moving between these realms. When Seelie and her sister, Isolde, ran away from home after Seelie's changeling magic got out of hand. They steal to make a living, moving from place to place. When they break into the home of the greatest enchantress, Leira Wildfall, they find a compass and an entity tied to this compass, which could lead them to a 'great treasure'. Thing is that the compass doesn't work, until Seelie touched it and it melted into her hand. Now she is the compass. There is a great adventure with a lot of fights along the way to find this treasure.
Learning what the author wanted to accomplish with this book and the character she created in Seelie, makes all the difference. Once you know you read this book through a different lens. I am more than ready to read book two, and having to wait is no fun at all. The world, the story and the characters are wonderful, strong, and strange, in all the best ways. I just want to fall back into this world the minute it ended.
Following the story through the eyes of Iselia (Seelie), we learn about the fantastical world they live in, where the human and faerie world exist side-by-side. Once they were able to move freely between these worlds, but after a war where a fae wanted to rule both, this was taken away. There is only certain places and times when there is the ability for moving between these realms. When Seelie and her sister, Isolde, ran away from home after Seelie's changeling magic got out of hand. They steal to make a living, moving from place to place. When they break into the home of the greatest enchantress, Leira Wildfall, they find a compass and an entity tied to this compass, which could lead them to a 'great treasure'. Thing is that the compass doesn't work, until Seelie touched it and it melted into her hand. Now she is the compass. There is a great adventure with a lot of fights along the way to find this treasure.
Learning what the author wanted to accomplish with this book and the character she created in Seelie, makes all the difference. Once you know you read this book through a different lens. I am more than ready to read book two, and having to wait is no fun at all. The world, the story and the characters are wonderful, strong, and strange, in all the best ways. I just want to fall back into this world the minute it ended.