A Brief Spoiler-Free Summary
Lesley Livingston's book series [Wondrous Strange, Darklight and Tempestuous] is inspired by Shakespeare's world of fae. Or more specifically, Shakespeares's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (the first play I ever saw, funnily enough). With a modern twist, of course. Seventeen-year-old Kelly Winslow is just trying break into the world of theatre when she accidentally comes across the world of the fair folk. Pretty soon, everything she knew about her life is replaced by the grim reality of the world of fae. Surrounded by creatures who physically cannot lie, she has never been more deceived.
Quality
Starting off, the quality of the book (Wondrous Strange) is okay, barely managing to remain at the level required for Young Adult literature [Unsurprising as this is her debut novel]. Her characters are likable but nothing special. The romance plot wasn't particularly new: falling in love with someone who is of a different walk of life, love at first sight, unbreakable connection and one is manipulated to hurt another.
Tropes that have been done again and again. I would honestly recommend skipping the first book altogether as it is a mere introduction into the world and only necessary if one is obsessed with knowing all the details of the story they are reading. It would be much more entertaining to read a plot summary.
But once the second book starts, you really start to get a feel for the world. The characters become complex and human. Everything that made the story seem like a mere fairytale in the first book is explained and you start to realise that the world of the story is complex. All the black and white is replaced by varying shades of grey. This isn't merely a Shakespeare fanfic, it is an exploration of the darkness of humanity.
Characterisation: Appeasing My Feminist Desires
Livingston's characters are so human that it becomes hard to see the text as a mere fairytale. Their motivations, mistakes, and actions are not merely a source of entertainment. They also provide lessons and moral guidelines on how a person can be led astray. Sometimes people have goodness underneath the badness and sometimes people are just too blinded by the desire for power to have any good left in them. Some of her characters can be redeemed and some cannot. But regardless of how the character is, they remain human. Their actions are not merely the author's attempt at creating drama, they reflect who they are as people.
Kelley Winslow (Protagonist)
The protagonist (Kelley Winslow) may start off as a naïve, somewhat helpless teenager but she certainly does not stay that way. She does everything in her power to protect herself and the people she loves. Sometimes, in an attempt to protect people, she hurts them. And at the end of the day, she is a three-dimensional being with strengths and flaws and morals. Sometimes she needs to be saved but even then, she does everything she can to protect herself and the ones she loves. She does not sit still like a damsel in distress (as is so popular in stories of this nature). And she does not allow the men in her life to dominate her. If she sees bullshit, she'll call it out.
In a genre that is filled with either helpless damsels or irrationally powerful women, it is so refreshing to see a character that makes sense. Yes, she is powerful but it fits within the rules of the story and the powers of those in her position. She is not a strong female character because of her powers, she is a strong female character because of who she is. With or without her powers she retains her agency (regardless of the outcomes of her actions). She is by no means a perfect person but she is still a good person.
World Building
Livingston creates a world that is ugly beneath the façade of beautiful creatures and content lives. The fair folk may have everything they desire but they are not happy. They are too accustomed to bliss for it to hold any power over them. Their desire for the volatile and flawed human world almost becomes a need in their quest for what is new and different. The eerie bliss is quite possibly a parallel for drugs and alcohol abuse. Bliss does not provide the fair folk with happiness.
Changelings
The mention of the stolen children is the first sign that this world is not as great of a place as it tries to be. These children are ripped from their homes and indulged so long as they remain entertaining. They are expendable and they will most certainly be replaced. One such example is (Name) who is lead away from the human world when a fae takes interest in him and swiftly ignored once the summer queen realises that he is not an adequate source of her entertainment. He is left to be ignored in the world of fae with no way of going back to his family or his previous life. Until eventually, he is stuck in the role of doing the Winter King's bidding in murdering all fair folk daring enough to attempt to enter the human world.
The only changelings who are of significance to the fair folk are the Janus Guard who are charged with ensuring that the fair folk do not enter the human world. They do not belong to the human world and they are not welcome in the world of the fair folk. In fact, they are openly hated by the fae despite their being responsible for the changelings becoming killers in the first place.
Ultimately, a changeling's value is only in their ability to entertain, and if they are lucky, their ability to kill.
The storyline of the changelings is eerily similar to the exploitation of child entertainers. Their entertainment value leads us to forget their status as children. We see their lavish lifestyles and consider them lucky. Not realising the fact that a lot of the time, their value as an individual is determined by their value as a source of entertainment. Many times, once their ability to entertain us with their childlike innocence comes to an end, they are forced to sexualise themselves in an attempt to avoid complete obscurity. They are both wanted and judged for the sexualisation of their own body. And as they profit from this sexualisation, we don't consider that this might be a form of sexual exploitation.
The fair folk also mirror our own inability to see the unethical treatment of child entertainers because they appeal to us. Like the fair folk, we do not consider ourselves immoral. We merely need an escape from the mundanity of our day to day lives and as child entertainers serve that purpose, we do not pause to consider the possible ramifications of supporting the industry.
Buying Bliss
Another backstory that tips the reader off to the darkness of the world would be the story of the blacksmith that loved to create so much that he traded his freedom for the ability to forever create things with his own hands. Yes, he was tricked into something he had no way of knowing would be so damaging but he still chose it. He chose to throw himself at something he loved without fully considering that it may end up trapping him.
And these sorts of things happen again and again. The fair folk continue to trick humans into agreements that ultimately only serve the fair folk and the humans continue to ignore the warning signs that something is too good to be true.
The reason why this resonated with me is probably because of how much it reflects our world. People are constantly being tricked by things that are too good to be true (scams, catfishing). It's not that the people being tricked into these agreements were gullible, more that they were so entranced by something that they receded into a childlike innocence. They wanted it to be true and so they ignored all the red flags and ventured on.
The Fair Folk Do Not Lie
It is often thought that a person who tells the truth cannot be deceptive yet the fair folk, who physically cannot lie, manage to deceive those around them. Their deception is often much greater than the deception from a mere lie. They are able to manipulate humans into unfair contracts and favours without once having to tell a single lie. It is this ability that is the scariest of all.
It shows that the truth is not always as clear as it seems. The master manipulator can imply a different meaning without ever straying away from the truth. In order to not be deceived, one must not simply look at what is being said, but also what is not.
It is ironic that in the end, one of the few fairy characters who can lie end up being the most open and honest of them all. (Name) does not trick people into doing what she wants. She is open with her emotions and she confronts things rather than hiding behind a wall of manipulation. In this way, she is more authentic than all the other fae who cannot lie.
A Summary of Thoughts
Livingston may start off shaky but dramatically improves at the beginning of the second book. Once the world is introduced, one is able to see the depth and darkness of what seemed a mere fairytale at the start. Despite being wholly otherworldly, the fair folk mirror the darker aspects of humanity. They show that things are not always as they seem and one should learn to look beyond the surface. Lavish lives do not always mean happiness. The truth is not always honest. People are not as good or as bad as they seem.
The Cursed Disclaimers
- The statements made are my own personal opinions and do not represent any demography or subculture.
- I do not believe that all child entertainers are exploited but it is clear that many are.
- There is nothing wrong with an entertainer (or anyone else) sexualising themselves. It is only a problem when this sexualisation is forced or necessary for the entertainer to retain their entertainment value.
- My interpretation is based only on what I read in the book, I did no external research as I intended to judge only based on what was written in the book itself.