The Falconer Spoiler and Spoiler Free Review
There are people who really didn't like this book.
Amen, brother.
That's what I think about you book haters of this book.
But what book am I talking about?
WAIT.
INSERT GREETING: Hey, how's it going?
Back to what I was saying. And the book is...
The Falconer, by Elizabeth May (sidenote, my name is Elizabeth and I was born in May...whhhhat)
So, what's it about?
Sit down right now. I'll explain everything about everything.
Okay. I'm sitting. Good. I'm talking to myself. But anyways...
Set in an awesome, steampunk Scotland in the year 1844, it follows the beautiful debutante Aileana Kameron. While she's a gorgeous socialite/rich girl by day, she's a vicious faerie killer by night. And these aren't your normal faeries - they're nasty, ugly, disgusting, violent beasts. She is haunted by the death of her beloved mother, who was killed by some nasty bitch faerie, and wants revenge. So she kills as many fae as she can until she meets her final target: her mother's killer. Joined by a powerful, and sexy, faerie who kills his own kind named Kiaran Mackay, they fight fae together. But there's more danger in Scotland that's coming for them both...
So, I gave this 4 stars out of 5, and here's why.
Spoiler Free Review
From the minute you open the book, you are thrust into Kam's world (we'll call her Kam because that's what Kiaran calls her). The cool gadgets, the ballgowns she bloodies up from her fights with vicious fae, and the rules of high-society make for a great mix.
Kam (Aileana)
Well, she's pretty much a total brutal bad ass.
She's driven by the death of her mom to become a faerie killer, and she is relentless. The book itself opens up to her being a total butt kicker, with her skirts ripping and her dress all bloody, along with her collection of weapons she builds herself. Cue the awesomeness of steampunk and her crazy awesome engineering skills. I think this was the issue a lot of people had: she's beautiful and an inventor. What, are smart women supposed to be ugly? I'm definitely confused as to why some reviewers thought it was crazy that she is beautiful and great at engineering weapons. That's pretty sweet, she's a female heroine that's actually really cool and tough.
And don't get me started about how tough she is. There were countless scenes where she was kicking butt, not without injury of course. And I enjoyed reading those scenes. She's mad brutal and not afraid to kill. But she damns herself to hell because of her killing. Understandable. Killing for the rest of your life is probably going to lead you down a dark path.
But, it's a path that led her to Kiaran...and even back to an old crush named Gavin.
Kiaran (Mackay)
Precisely.
Mackay (that's what Kam calls him) is a dark and mysterious, and very powerful faerie. Actually, he's one of the most powerful types of faeries. He's basically trained Kam to fight his fellow fae. Hm. I wonder why, though? Well, I can't spoil that just yet. But he's super secretive. I mean, Kam can barely get him to tell her anything about him. But it's cool, because he's like her trainer. Personally I like mysterious, brooding people. Well, faerie in this case. They've always got the best back stories. You don't hear much of Mackay's back story in this book, but I'm hoping to in the second.
But you can tell, even though he's super cold to Kam, that he likes her. He's always touching her cheek and doing weird touchy feely things fae normally don't do. You can totally tell there's SOMETHING there. Mmmm. But you need to read it to find out.
Gavin
Gavin, or Lord Galloway, is the older brother of Kam's best friend Catherine. He's just come back from Oxford, and Kam isn't sure if she has the feels for him like she did before he left. I don't really know how I feel about Gavin. I'm either he's awesome, or he's not. He gives me mixed feels. Sometimes I like him, and other times I'm just confused by him and his intentions. And I should be saying that about Mackay.
Anyways, Gavin gets dragged into Kam's violent bad assery, and it turns out he's a Seer - someone who can see visions of what the future is when it comes to the fae. I'm still confused by him. Especially when a little "event" happens. Oh well. We'll see in the second book.
A Falconer
This concept was cool, and I really liked it. I'll talk more about it in the spoiler section though. Falconer's (the non-spoiler way of defining it) are those who are given extraordinary abilities to kill fae. It's like their born destinies. But they are only women. Which. Is. Awesome. There's a little more to it than that though. Check out the spoiler section for what it's about.
The Ending
I'm not saying this is in any way a bad thing, but the "ending" wasn't as lengthy as I wanted it to be. It didn't necessarily have to be, though. The whole book was more of a dramatic, action packed build up to the end. There's a little mixed feeling about the ending and how quick it was. I read that most people hated the cliffhanger as well. But I actually disagree. People hated it because it didn't give them a happy reassurance. That's pretty much it.
SPOILER SECTION
So what's a Falconer then?
Falconer's are women who can fight the fae with special abilities, and they each also have a falcon they are paired with. They can see through the falcons eyes. Which. Is. Awesome. But it's also sad because Kam doesn't have a falcon. Maybe in the second book?
Kam and Mackay and Gavin
I'm not too sure if you could say this was a love triangle. I don't even think Gavin really likes Kam in that way, and he even tells her he doesn't want to marry her when they are basically forced to be together. Hm. I don't know. Maybe he likes her, maybe he doesn't. The men are tricky in this book.
And then, as I thought, Mackay likes Kam. He evens says this super hot line towards the end:
"I will worship thee."
My insides are exploding. I don't know what it was about that one line that totally killed me and made me swoon for all eternity. But that line just made Mackay so irresistible.
The Author
I have to say, I also think the author is pretty cool. She did an awesome job with this book. I can't wait to read the next two.
Conclusion
It's a thrilling, violent, and fantastic read. The books main female lead is a total bad ass who just doesn't talk about being a bad ass. She literally lives up to it! I enjoyed the world a lot. The one criticism I have is that I was wishing for heavier accents to give me the Scottish vibes. But the author lives in Scotland, so I'm going to make a guess that she knows her stuff.
I totally recommend for anyone looking to read a book with a kick ass female lead. Kam is incredible.
Falconer out. ✌
Lot's of 💙 and 🍵,
Liz
What I'm reading next: The Curse of the Black Cat, by Carolyn Keene
Musical vibes: Let's Hurt Tonight, by One Republic
And blah, blah, blah:
Finn and Jake: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/fe/1f/a3/fe1fa39db78266f9558834e9bd433d48.gif
Waiting like a bum: https://media.tenor.com/images/2c35a77af08e5cb55fa86ef42eb13c9f/tenor.gif
Alice is sitting in Wonderland: https://ibme.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/giphy.gif
Bad ass Lily: https://media.tenor.com/images/c40707605be257e6743977134dc8af7c/tenor.gif
Always swooning: http://readeroffictions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cute-guy-alert.gif
Finn: https://media.giphy.com/media/4CFjzDix8jacE/giphy.gif
Amen, brother.
That's what I think about you book haters of this book.
But what book am I talking about?
WAIT.
INSERT GREETING: Hey, how's it going?
Back to what I was saying. And the book is...
The Falconer, by Elizabeth May (sidenote, my name is Elizabeth and I was born in May...whhhhat)
So, what's it about?
Sit down right now. I'll explain everything about everything.
Okay. I'm sitting. Good. I'm talking to myself. But anyways...
Set in an awesome, steampunk Scotland in the year 1844, it follows the beautiful debutante Aileana Kameron. While she's a gorgeous socialite/rich girl by day, she's a vicious faerie killer by night. And these aren't your normal faeries - they're nasty, ugly, disgusting, violent beasts. She is haunted by the death of her beloved mother, who was killed by some nasty bitch faerie, and wants revenge. So she kills as many fae as she can until she meets her final target: her mother's killer. Joined by a powerful, and sexy, faerie who kills his own kind named Kiaran Mackay, they fight fae together. But there's more danger in Scotland that's coming for them both...
So, I gave this 4 stars out of 5, and here's why.
Spoiler Free Review
From the minute you open the book, you are thrust into Kam's world (we'll call her Kam because that's what Kiaran calls her). The cool gadgets, the ballgowns she bloodies up from her fights with vicious fae, and the rules of high-society make for a great mix.
Kam (Aileana)
Well, she's pretty much a total brutal bad ass.
She's driven by the death of her mom to become a faerie killer, and she is relentless. The book itself opens up to her being a total butt kicker, with her skirts ripping and her dress all bloody, along with her collection of weapons she builds herself. Cue the awesomeness of steampunk and her crazy awesome engineering skills. I think this was the issue a lot of people had: she's beautiful and an inventor. What, are smart women supposed to be ugly? I'm definitely confused as to why some reviewers thought it was crazy that she is beautiful and great at engineering weapons. That's pretty sweet, she's a female heroine that's actually really cool and tough.
And don't get me started about how tough she is. There were countless scenes where she was kicking butt, not without injury of course. And I enjoyed reading those scenes. She's mad brutal and not afraid to kill. But she damns herself to hell because of her killing. Understandable. Killing for the rest of your life is probably going to lead you down a dark path.
But, it's a path that led her to Kiaran...and even back to an old crush named Gavin.
Kiaran (Mackay)
Precisely.
Mackay (that's what Kam calls him) is a dark and mysterious, and very powerful faerie. Actually, he's one of the most powerful types of faeries. He's basically trained Kam to fight his fellow fae. Hm. I wonder why, though? Well, I can't spoil that just yet. But he's super secretive. I mean, Kam can barely get him to tell her anything about him. But it's cool, because he's like her trainer. Personally I like mysterious, brooding people. Well, faerie in this case. They've always got the best back stories. You don't hear much of Mackay's back story in this book, but I'm hoping to in the second.
But you can tell, even though he's super cold to Kam, that he likes her. He's always touching her cheek and doing weird touchy feely things fae normally don't do. You can totally tell there's SOMETHING there. Mmmm. But you need to read it to find out.
Gavin
Gavin, or Lord Galloway, is the older brother of Kam's best friend Catherine. He's just come back from Oxford, and Kam isn't sure if she has the feels for him like she did before he left. I don't really know how I feel about Gavin. I'm either he's awesome, or he's not. He gives me mixed feels. Sometimes I like him, and other times I'm just confused by him and his intentions. And I should be saying that about Mackay.
Anyways, Gavin gets dragged into Kam's violent bad assery, and it turns out he's a Seer - someone who can see visions of what the future is when it comes to the fae. I'm still confused by him. Especially when a little "event" happens. Oh well. We'll see in the second book.
A Falconer
This concept was cool, and I really liked it. I'll talk more about it in the spoiler section though. Falconer's (the non-spoiler way of defining it) are those who are given extraordinary abilities to kill fae. It's like their born destinies. But they are only women. Which. Is. Awesome. There's a little more to it than that though. Check out the spoiler section for what it's about.
The Ending
I'm not saying this is in any way a bad thing, but the "ending" wasn't as lengthy as I wanted it to be. It didn't necessarily have to be, though. The whole book was more of a dramatic, action packed build up to the end. There's a little mixed feeling about the ending and how quick it was. I read that most people hated the cliffhanger as well. But I actually disagree. People hated it because it didn't give them a happy reassurance. That's pretty much it.
SPOILER SECTION
So what's a Falconer then?
Falconer's are women who can fight the fae with special abilities, and they each also have a falcon they are paired with. They can see through the falcons eyes. Which. Is. Awesome. But it's also sad because Kam doesn't have a falcon. Maybe in the second book?
Kam and Mackay and Gavin
I'm not too sure if you could say this was a love triangle. I don't even think Gavin really likes Kam in that way, and he even tells her he doesn't want to marry her when they are basically forced to be together. Hm. I don't know. Maybe he likes her, maybe he doesn't. The men are tricky in this book.
And then, as I thought, Mackay likes Kam. He evens says this super hot line towards the end:
"I will worship thee."
My insides are exploding. I don't know what it was about that one line that totally killed me and made me swoon for all eternity. But that line just made Mackay so irresistible.
The Author
I have to say, I also think the author is pretty cool. She did an awesome job with this book. I can't wait to read the next two.
Conclusion
It's a thrilling, violent, and fantastic read. The books main female lead is a total bad ass who just doesn't talk about being a bad ass. She literally lives up to it! I enjoyed the world a lot. The one criticism I have is that I was wishing for heavier accents to give me the Scottish vibes. But the author lives in Scotland, so I'm going to make a guess that she knows her stuff.
I totally recommend for anyone looking to read a book with a kick ass female lead. Kam is incredible.
Falconer out. ✌
Lot's of 💙 and 🍵,
Liz
What I'm reading next: The Curse of the Black Cat, by Carolyn Keene
Musical vibes: Let's Hurt Tonight, by One Republic
And blah, blah, blah:
Finn and Jake: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/fe/1f/a3/fe1fa39db78266f9558834e9bd433d48.gif
Waiting like a bum: https://media.tenor.com/images/2c35a77af08e5cb55fa86ef42eb13c9f/tenor.gif
Alice is sitting in Wonderland: https://ibme.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/giphy.gif
Bad ass Lily: https://media.tenor.com/images/c40707605be257e6743977134dc8af7c/tenor.gif
Always swooning: http://readeroffictions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cute-guy-alert.gif
Finn: https://media.giphy.com/media/4CFjzDix8jacE/giphy.gif
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