Kate Danley

This was a fun and zippy weekend read, meant for people who enjoy fairy tales and fantasy. Following two wars between power seeking humanity and the fae, the fae set up 12 human kingdoms to be ruled by those with a mix of faery blood. As long as 6 kingdoms are ruled peaceably, the fae agree not to destroy humanity. Watching over this arrangement is the Woodcutter, who lives in the neutral Wood, naturally enough, and is one with the trees. Mixed blood humans/fae continually wander into his Wood, driven by the magic present in the kingdoms, living out fairy tales and legends. So the Woodcutter does things like follow little girls dressed in red capes on their way to grandma's house, and sometimes he is able to save them from the wolf, and sometimes he is not.

But when Cinderella is found dead in the Wood without a mark on her, the Woodcutter senses something more sinister afoot. One of Odin's hellhounds is loose and taking the souls of rightful heirs to the kingdoms who have been somehow delivered into the Wood. The Woodcutter must uncover the plot, fight the evil Queen whose madness for power risks delivering all humanity to destruction, and save the magical beings who live in the Wood and the kingdoms from becoming enslaved in the illicit faery dust trade.

Scads of familiar fairy tales are incorporated into the novel, which is itself a fairy tale, warning of the dark side of human motivations and the bad ends to be found by pursuing them, and the saving benefits of true love.

The internal logic of the story is occasionally difficult to suss out, but the story flies by and kept me turning the pages with pleasure.… (meer)