The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle

- First an aside - I haven't reviewed in a great while. I may post on some reasons why but I haven't decided yet. We'll see how this goes. I'll try to be more conscious of editing now and in the future (mostly because I'm embarrassed at all the typos already in the blog)-

I came across this book in a rather strange fashion. I was looking at a Collectible Card Game specifically for the art. I ran across an artist I really liked, went to his website, saw that he had done a cover for a juvenile fiction book that had just come out and decided to read it. Yes, I picked up a book purely based on cover art. I had no expectations.

It was good. It was quite good. It's the first of a series (DAMMIT). It's high fantasy. If I had to super simplify it I would say it's a book about Fairies and humans, but not exactly, and it's the not exactly that makes it stand out and makes it original and worth reading. So let me quote:

Mankind is Sunkind
And rules by the Light;
Nightlings are Moonkind,
And rule in the Night;
Or there will be War.

That was enough to hook me. Thirty pages in and the author had the world built, the main characters (brother and sister) established, and the Dilemma well moving (Mother is ill, and Uncle wants us dead, HOLY MOLEY the reason). It was fast paced without feeling rushed. You were pulled along with the characters who were forced to be More Than Children, but struggled with it in believable ways.

I could say it was a familair fantasy formula, and to certain degrees it was, but that did not detract from it at all. The construction of it was orginal and there were enough twists and uncertainties that it was never truly predictable. I was prepared for the resolution to come along certain lines, but there were enough variables that I never really knew how it was going to end.

It's definately worth reading for fantasy fans. I'm seeing it shelved as Young Adult, though I am referring to it as Juvenile, so it's probably an inbetweener - for reference I would say younger than Sabriel, older than The Dark Is Rising, just as dark as both.

Memorable quote:

"...and somewhere in the Great Book of Common Sense, which I clearly have never read..."

Other things:
The book is printed in purple type. I have no idea why.
There is a talking cat. It's forgivable.
This books has hands down the best "negotiate with a fairy(-like immortal)" I have ever read. This is usually a big pet peeve of mine that interferes with my enjoyment of a story, but this author handled it beautifully and how I would expect characters to act knowing how untrustworthy these creatures are.