War for the Oaks
Ratings16
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings16
Average rating3.8
Amazon.com Review
Emma Bull's debut novel, War for the Oaks, placed her in the top tier of urban fantasists and established a new subgenre. Unlike most of the rock & rollin' fantasies that have ripped off Ms. Bull's concept, War for the Oaks is well worth reading. Intelligent and skillfully written, with sharply drawn, sympathetic characters, War for the Oaks is about love and loyalty, life and death, and creativity and sacrifice.
Eddi McCandry has just left her boyfriend and their band when she finds herself running through the Minneapolis night, pursued by a sinister man and a huge, terrifying dog. The two creatures are one and the same: a phouka, a faerie being who has chosen Eddi to be a mortal pawn in the age-old war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. Eddi isn't interested--but she doesn't have a choice. Now she struggles to build a new life and new band when she might not even survive till the first rehearsal.
War for the Oaks won the Locus Magazine award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Society Award. Other books by Emma Bull include the novels Falcon, Bone Dance (second honors, Philip K. Dick Award), Finder (a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award), and (with Stephen Brust) Freedom and Necessity; the collection Double Feature (with Will Shetterly); and the picture book The Princess and the Lord of Night. --Cynthia Ward
Reviews with the most likes.
I'd never heard of this book until last week and, lo, the bookstore had a ton of copies of this newer edition sitting everywhere, like they got overstocked and where trying to get rid of it. It's hard for me to believe that such an incredible novel that is so relevant to my interests, and is nearly as old as I am, could have gone so unknown to me until mere chance intervened.
This book is a wonderful urban fantasy that can be even more appreciated by music lovers. It's multi-leveled and has great dialogue and character interactions that have you entranced from cover to cover. One reading has set it in my favourites pile.
It was originally published for teens but I feel it's more adult, not in context but in writing. It's very mature and just very well written. This is not for typical lovers of the S. Meyer brand of romance fantasy but a more developed reader.
This book has been on my to-read list for a while, and I'm glad I finally sat down to read it. It is billed as one of the foundational books for urban fantasy, so while the tropes in it might seem a little tired now, I think that's only because so many people have copied it. Overall, I enjoyed the story and characters as a popcorn-filled adventure of Fey rock and roll. Personally, I was delighted and overjoyed that it was set in Minneapolis, and all of the local references made me love it more than if it were set in a more standard city. It's incredibly amusing to me that the kingdoms of Faerie would fight over Como Park territory.
It's maybe a little simple in places, but that isn't always a bad thing. If you like hardcore fey and eighties rock music, I think you will be similarly delighted by this book.
I had not heard of the “urban fantasy” genre before reading this, but I really enjoyed it. I was very entertained and found myself laughing often at the clever scenes with faerie an human. I considered giving this 4 stars, but I was a little disappointed with how the story concluded in regards to (#1) some of the final acts taken by Eddi's counterpart, Stuart. I mean really, who brings a gun to a faerie fight? and (#2) there was a reasonable amount said by the Phouka about Eddi's future within faerie... and.. then... nothing... Maybe there's another book where this happens, but there should have been something more to it in this one. I though the conclusion was somewhat abrupt, that I deserved a better ending, and the author had demonstrated they were capable of providing one. I think I will try an read more of this genre, and something else from this author.
