This was an unusual fantasy in several ways… and I have to admit, I bought it for its cover. I didn’t immediately realize that it was a little gremlin; I just thought it was pretty and whimsical looking.

The story primarily follows Jenny, who is “a jenny greenteeth”—apparently this is a name for a vicious looking, flesh-eating water sprite. (Who knew?) In this case, the jenny is the main character, which was one unique feature. The second is that there’s no romance in the book at all; it’s really a buddy story, between Jenny, Temperance (a “good” witch from 16th century Britain, at a time when suspected witches were routinely rounded up and killed), and a traveling peddler gremlin depicted as mercenary at first, but who later turns out to have a heart of gold. Jenny rescues Temperance when she’s thrown into her lake by the bigoted local preacher, and the she offers to help her get rid of the evil preacher so that Temperance can get her family back. I totally expected at this point that the story would be overtly anti-religion, but it turned out that the preacher was actually possessed by the Earl King (an ancient evil fairy).

In order to defeat him, they appeal to the elves in the forest, who give the trio several impossible tasks first in order to prove themselves worthy of the elves’ help. Once they successfully complete these, the elves tell them how they can expel the Earl King from the body of the preacher. It’s a quest story too, therefore, and there are lots of surprise twists along the way.

My rating: ****

Language: none that I can recall

Violence: fantasy only

Sexual content: none

Political content: none that I recall

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