The Changeling
H. V. Fisher
language
(, Nov. 10, 2012)
The Faerie King is an epic story for anyone over 12 who likes fast paced action, plot twists, and excitement. The opening of the tale rambles through the gentle countryside of the Greene Land as you would expect a fairy story to do, but unknown to the protagonist, Pete, who is a young inventor, the idyll is already fractured by an invasion from across the sea. He discovers that a chance encounter with a fairy which gave him minor magical powers has also made him a target for all the invaders in the Land and before long both he and his friend, Tarquin are fighting for their lives against the Werelock.The friends are tricked into joining the Fair Folk in their fight against the Invaders, starting a sequence of deadly adventures for each of them. Now separated, Tarquin finds himself storming a formidable Fortress defended by spectral Bards, while Pete is pursued by the Shades of the Battle of Eothon who are intent on tearing his flesh from his bones. In the course of their journeys the friends travel through tranquil woodlands lit by shafts of sunlight, pick their way through forests of slippery stalagmites in ink-black caverns, and attend a royal banquet of swans and wild boar.In later books our heroes are faced with the insensate rapacity of wolves, the primordial fear of the labyrinth, the dread of a witch’s wrath, the half-remembered horrors of the Abyss, and the terror of being the target of a swooping dragon. The chief protagonist, Pete, though modest, retiring and pacifist by nature is also brave, handsome and indefatigable in defending those he loves. But will he be able to thwart the invasion, or is the Greene Land right to put its faith in his heroic friend Tarquin?