Rebel Fay

Noble Dead Saga: Series 1 #5

by Barb Hendee, J.C. Hendee

Magiere the Dhampir was created by a shadowy, long-forgotten enemy of many names-an enemy who the elf Leesil was trained from childhood to kill. They were brought together by the Fay to forge an alliance that might have the power to stand against the forces of dark magics. But as Magiere and Leesil uncover the truth, they discover just how close the enemy has always been...

Genres: Fantasy, Vampires, Fiction, Horror, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal, Science Fiction Fantasy

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 2, 2007

About the author

[See barbhendee.org]

Like most writers, I've worked at many jobs in my life, including teaching pre-school until I completed my master's degree in Composition Theory. Between 1993 and 2006, I taught college English while writing fiction on the side, some independently and some with my husband and life-long partner J.C.

Over the years, we've lived in Washington State, Idaho, Colorado, and now moved just south of Portland, Oregon. I love the Northwest, and it's a great place to write.

We have a lovely and talented daughter, Jaclyn, who lives in Houston, Texas along with our wonderful and talented son-in-law, Paul.

J.C. and I sold Dhampir in 2001, which changed our lives considerably. It was published in January 2003, and we've published a book in the Noble Dead Saga every year since. In May of 2006, we were both able to quit our teaching jobs and move into full time writing.

Recently, I've begun writing romance/suspense novels, beginning with: Alone with a Soldier. I am so glad my books have found an audience because I love to write fiction more than anything else in the world... and I'm not really good at anything else.

Reviews

[Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this was a fairly dull instalment of the Noble Dead series and easily the weakest one so far. I've mentioned what I like and dislike about the Noble Dead series in my reviews for the earlier books so I'll just skip ahead to what went wrong for this specific instalment of the series.

The plot itself did not sound so bad in theory. Magiere, Leesil, and the others head to the Elven lands to try and discover what has happened to Leesil's mother. It could have been a fun chance to learn more about the elves but the way things played out made it all a bit slow and boring.

The biggest problem with Rebel Fay was that it was a bit dull and depressing. It was all doom and gloom and lacked the excitement, fun character interactions, and hints of romance of the earlier books. It was all doom and gloom for poor Magiere and Leesil in this one and things were not a lot better for Chap and Wynn! The other big miss was the fact that Welstiel and Chane only played a small role in the story as vampires could not enter Elven lands. The vamps were a loss for the story as the few elven characters we got as POV support characters did not pick up the slack. They were a boring bunch! It really did not help that the start was bad with our team spending the first 25% of the story just unhappily plodding through a winter landscape.

The only plus points in this instalment was the fact that we learned more about the elves, more about Chap, and learned a tiny bit more about what roles people expect both Magiere and Leesil to fulfil in the coming conflict.

I think I stalled on this book during my first read of the Nobel Dead series. I'm going to pause the series for a bit but hopefully I'll be motivated to come back to it soon. I like to think the next book will be an upgrade!

All in all this was a dull instalment of a fairly decent series.

Rating: 2.5 stars. I'll round up to 3 stars.

Audio Note: Tanya Eby did a good job with the audio.

[edge of bubble · Rating 2 out of 5]

*spoilers*



There is an artifact out there, protected by ancient whatevers. And there is an evil force that's showing everyone the way to the hidden place of the said artifact. There seems to be one person who can reach it. So logically she decides to find and get the artifact to give it into the protection of sages who are basically historians with a eenny weeny bit of magical power. So much logic, so much brains and reasoning going on this story I just can't comprehend it.

[Viridian5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Barb & J.C. Hendee's Rebel Fay quite a bit, though I had some problems with it. A lot happens, our protagonists are often in danger, and there are very few slack sections. We and Chap learn more about his purpose and origins, while Magiere gets a glimpse of her possible, highly unpleasant future. I appreciated the character development our protagonists get.

That said, sometimes I wanted to smack Leesil very hard for how often his obsession with finding and rescuing his mother from captivity in one of the elven territories led to him stupidly putting himself and his friends into danger he knew they didn't need to be in. It's part of the point of it, but it's still frustrating to read. The parts with Chane and Welstiel don't add up to anything for this book and seem to be set-up for something in the next book, so here they feel more like unnecessary distractions. All the accent marks and apostrophes strewn throughout the names and language of the elves--such as Brot’ân’duivé, Cuirin’nên’a, Léshiârelaohk, bóijt’äna, and Grôyt’ashia--really started to get on my nerves now that the book is full of elves.

I'll be picking up the next book.

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opět rychle přečteno. Na začátku sem si říkala, zda mě to bude tak dlouho bavit, ale ano, stále mě to baví a i překvapuje. Hurá na další dil

[Kenny Bellew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of great bits of storytelling in this latter book in this fantasy series. Again, I really recommend this series if you're a fantasy fan.

[Ricky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I think I made a big mistake. I read the first few very quickly. Loved them, the characters had such potential. You've got the mysterious Dhampir and the elf assassin, their fay in disguise Chap and the makings of a very epic story.

But then I ran out of books in the series to read, so I read other stories. Sadly a couple of those books were The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Name of the Wind. Two books which showed me that you can have a good story AND intriguing dialogue. In fact, those books ruined me for all other stories.

Okay so the Noble Dead doesn't have wicked awesome dialogue? I'll get over it, what does it have? Intriguing characters? Well no, I mean, the elf's an outcast elf assassin, we get that. He wants his mommy. Okay. I think in the author's eagerness to portray the characters as conflicted, we strayed too far into whiny bitch territory.

A part-vampire chick and an elf assassin, yet these are possibly the most indecisive, emotional, self-doubting, shells of characters I've read in a long while. As our friend Heath Ledger would ask: "What happened, did your balls fall off?" It's sad when you find yourself halfway through a story about an outcast elf assassin and a vampire returning to the elf's home in search of his mommy with a sentient dog and a scribe who dabbles in the arcane, yet you have the same body count as a movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

I'm really getting tired of the characters having to tell me they're conflicted, or that they're indecisive. Kill someone dammit! There's little dialogue in this story and what's there is bits and pieces.

Oh and the scholarly scribe shows as much depth and intelligence as your average bleach blond teenager at the mall. "What's that? The dog ran off somewhere? Well I can't let him go it alone..." Seriously that's the depth of her reasoning.

Fuck that...

Seriously someone find me a book with an assassin, a vampire and a dark god threatening the world. Because that may have been what this book set out to be, but somewhere we got lost and now I suspect the Hendee's hired Anne Rice to ghost-write the rest...

[Catherine Fitzsimmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been following this duo’s Noble Dead series since book two – before I realized it was a book 2 – and I was looking forward to this fifth book in the series. I was interested in the idea of a vampire story in a fantasy setting and I found the books I read engaging in a way that regrettably few fantasy books I have read are. The characters are delightfully temperamental and sarcastic, the climax tends to begin directly building starting from about halfway through the book, and in general, they’re pretty entertaining reads. The second book in the series, Thief of Lives, made a good introduction to the series, as there were enough hints at what had happened in the first book to suggest that something had come before it without making reading the first book necessary to its enjoyment – and you don’t have the silly goth mental picture of the first book’s cover that has become the norm in the later books. The overall story does span deeper and stretches out as the series progresses, however, so I would recommend reading at least some of the first books before jumping to this fifth novel. It’s worth it, though, as I greatly enjoyed all the books that came before it.

Rebel Fay is a bit slower for the series; there isn’t nearly as much action as in the other books and the climax is not as drawn out nor quite as exciting. The ultimate climax, in fact, is not based in action but in diplomacy. It was still an interesting read, and I wouldn’t say it’s the worse for its difference, but it is different for the series. The authors still had a way of revealing just enough details to leave me with questions I had to keep reading to find answers. It kept my appetite for Noble Dead sated yet has still left me eager to read the next book.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've gotten far enough in the Noble Dead series to get to this, the fifth book, then it's likely that you don't need too much convincing to read on. In many ways, this was the best yet. Our vampire friends Welstiel and Chane, while pivotal to the arc of the series, were becoming a bit tiresome and repetitive in their obsessions, so I'm glad that Rebel Fay doesn't center on them. Instead, the action moves into new territory, literally and figuratively, as our protagonists journey into the Elven Territories. Humans are not welcome there, nor are the undead, which means that Magiere is risking much to help Leesil find and free his mother from imprisonment.

I enjoyed the new elven characters, and found the pacing a little more brisk than in some of the previous Noble Dead books. Well-written action; well-drawn characters.

If I had to come up with a criticism, it would be that a lot of time was spent on Chap (as the book's title implies). Chap discovers much about himself and the Fay, and spends a lot of time with other majay-hì. I found these scenes less compelling than those involving the other characters. Somehow, as Chap becomes more communicative, and as we spend more time in his head, he has lost his some of his "voice" as a distinct personality. Only a minor quibble.

If you've been asking yourself whether you should go on with the Noble Dead series, my answer for Rebel Fay is a definite "yes."

[Tammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebel Fay is Chap's story. I very much enjoyed this book. The Journey into the elven lands breathed new life into the series for me. I liked seeing more from his perspective. And although Wynn does do some stupid things like going off and getting lost, I still like her. Her character grows on me with each book.

[Ruby]

Best Vampire Series to date

I love this series. It is by far the best. Vampires, elves, and spiritual wolves... it's got it all. Wow!

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I confess, I thought this one would be more about Chap. And in a way, it was. He got the bigger reveal, but Leesil was kind of the star. In this arc, we get to see Leesil's homeland, and the interesting politics and cult-like authority of the "Most Aged Father." It was fun to get a new look at the classic take on elves, the mysticism of their ways and chap's special attachment to a newfound family.

But it did seem to drag on when the other characters were forced to stick around to move the plot, and at one point there was a long stretch of the book where the group is just WALKING through the forest. I know that's meant to show how deep and profound the magic of the woods are, but I even said out loud, "but how will they get back?" > BOOK PROCEEDS TO DETAIL THE SAME WALK, BUT IN THE OTHER DIRECTION. "Oh."

There's way more positive than negative with the book, but the main plot gets sidelined with the side quest of finding Leesil's mother. Along the way, we get the internal conflict of 'what technically makes you part of where you belong.'

I don't know why people hate on Wynn, I still feel for her strongly. She has courage, and yes, curiosity, but experience is learning. So much has happened thanks to her, and they continue to chide her like a nosy child. She's part of the group, so they should just accept that already. Instead, she continues feeling alone and like an outcast. But the most amazing things happen because of Wynn. (And chap's support)

I wish I remembered more, but I didn't take notes, and only kept reading. I don't want to say too much without spoiling it, so I'm just glad that we are on to the main plot again.

[Avalon (Paperknight) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The genre changed somewhere between the third books and this one.

I think the authors really struggled with the restrictions they set on themselves by making the Elven Lands impervious to undead invasion. The result?

This book about vampires lacked vampires T_T

Leesil becomes unreasonable and kind of a jerk, Magiere becomes weirdly passive, the authors play around with side-characters like Sgaile and the other elves. Wynn, oddly, becomes a more proactive character, able to translate and speak the elven language, as well as interact with the Fey. Chap was given more build-up, which was cool, but not quite cool enough to make up for the serious lack of Magiere and Leesil doing anything cool.

This book felt different from the others, and I think it suffered for it.

It was more boring, and the side-characters were less likeable. Rather than fighting mysterious forces of darkness, the protagonists had to fight basically racism? Which... could have been compelling, except that the elves actually kinda had a point. The story makes you realize that the elves are right to be afriad of humans, and Magiere.

Anyway, I didn't hate it, but I was eager to get through it. The coolest parts were: the fey dogs and the Mononoke Deer have a showdown with some baddies, we get some progress from our main ship, and some sick lore drops happen in the form of flashbacks (via Chap). Chap was probably the best character in this book, ngl. The dog just did more cool stuff since the main characters were basically under house arrest. But you know, that's ok.

[Victor Sanchez · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dislike this book because the characters are outstanding stupid. No other word. Stupid. They are in a xenophobic kingdom, surrounded by an expert assassin, many who equal or outclass Leesil and are trained to kill the undead for decades. Yet both of them continuously reprimand, demand, threat, and act so suicidal that it's only for the plot that they are not killed.

Yes, they should be angry, they should be distrustful; yes they must rebel. But telling the comparison of an insane warlord, the elf version of Darmouth in his fortress that he can go fuck himself is just... why? How do they think they can threaten the elves to let them leave with their prisoner or they would die when a fraction of them nearly killed them as it happened during the reunion? Where does the bravado come? How do they expect to force an entire nation, who hates them deeply, into an enchanted forest, when they are outgunned, unmanned, and out planned?

It was just so exasperating seeing them act with such temper tantrums and expect them to be heard. I guess they both are insane from grief and/or life, but it's so exasperating that I honestly just continued reading because I wanted to get to the next novel.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am giving this a 3star because it shouldn't have taken me this long to finish this book if I had been more into it. The first half was slow - I kept putting it down and forgetting about it for a year. The second half of the book was better - more action, more revelations, I could get into it enough to finish and want to move onto the next book. This was not a book for distracted reading, better if you can really concentrate on it. Lots of names and elven language to pay attention to. I'm now ready to continue with this series, which I do like overall.

[Alon Lankri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fun departure from the greater plot. The authors managed to keep interest even without the main theme of vampires and the old ones. The Elven characters introduced here are quite interesting and the conflicts feel natural and keep you engaged. The descriptions fo their world are also engrossing with a variety of sights, smells and tastes.

[Derek Wall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book only maintained the series for me, doing most things just alright (character interactions, character growth, setting, tone, etc.). The one area where this book really excels for me is the amount of world building that happens in this book. I was just beside myself to learn more about the enigmatic elves and the even more mysterious “forgotten war” all-in-all it was a fun read.

[Julie Bergley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book develops Leesil's backstory even more. Now we know why he was born and it may drive a wedge between he and Magiere as they are built to oppose one another. I can't wait to read the 6th and final novel in this segment of the Noble Dead Saga!!!

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first four of these books last summer and really enjoyed them. This one started slowly. The first half dragged for me, but may have partly been due to my long gap in reading about these characters. The second half got me back in the swing.

[Cakester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way better than the fourth book. They travel into the elven lands for answers, get a few and more questions. Pretty usual. Mostly I don't like elves but the book does explain why they are so xenophobic. Some of the elves are fine.

[Tracey Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve loved this series for years. I’ve done many rereads. I have both read the books and listened to the audiobooks. I prefer the audiobook. The narrator did a good job, and I enjoyed the mix of accents. Though she does mispronounced somethings that didn’t take away from the whole series.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Ford Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read. The series has been enjoyable so far. This book seems to drag at times and get a bit stale. overall good series.

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nasty, disreputable, xenophobic fae.

[Lucy Lillianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dosud nejslabší díl. První návštěva elfských zemí mě bavila do té doby, než došlo na intriky, což bylo na můj vkus moc lidské. Pak mě příběh postupně začal ztrácet... 2,5*

[Kevin Neff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much time spent with the elves, got distracted too easily.

[Delanwy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

[Severind Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, look! It's the novel that WRECKED me. I basically finished this in a day. I read so late into the night that I had a headache, and I'd read so many hours on end that I'd lost track of time to begin with. Why? Because if I didn't figure out what happened, if I didn't make sure my precious characters were okay, then I would have died (dramatically speaking) in my wait to find out. And the ending still killed me, so there wasn't much relief. But it killed me in the best of ways? I think? I just know that when I finished reading this book, I went on tumblr (because that was still a thing back then), and wrote down that a book hadn't emotionally ravaged me like that since I'd read Christopher Paolini's Inheritance. And that book shattered me. So did this book, which I read immediately after book four. And it's not even the finale! The metal gods were not sparing me that summer, were they?

So. I have some thoughts. And all of them are wild and erratic and, ultimately, good. You have been warned.

The plot itself? Killed me. The dynamics between the characters? Murdered me. The shit I found out while reading it? Obliterated me. And I fucking loved every minute of it. I suppose I'm sadistic, that way. But (and spoiler alert, though not really if you've made it this far into the series, and the fact that it's in the book description), the fact that Leesil was trained to kill the very thing that Magiere is...and then Chap, the magical elven dog, intervened with fate and brought them together? I just...have no words? For how this made me feel? I mean, they love each other, so that's just an added dimension to their dilemma. And then, on top of that, there was so much tension between those two, and not the good kind like we had in book two. Sometimes I actually wondered if they were going to be okay. If the authors were going to break them up just to hurt us. Mercifully, they didn't, but that's a big reason why I just HAD to keep reading, to make sure they WERE okay. I'm pretty sure I even looked at the synopses (with guarded eyes) of future books to see if they referred to them still being a couple, and was very careful to avoid spoilers in the process. And Chap, of course, saves the day. Because why wouldn't? He's a magical elven dog, for god's sake. I love him. And yet, their fate is still uncertain.

Then we have the setting. Assassin elves? Count me IN. Even though they're all assholes to Leesil and Magiere, because they're protective of their lands and don't want any outsiders, least of all Magiere, of all people, to intrude. But man, the elven culture is rich. The Hendee's definitely know how to create a world and make their elves stand apart from everyone else's, even when certain common tropes are used. But I mean, you can't write a book that involves assassin elves and expect me NOT to love it. So that was kind of a given. Bonus stars for that.

Wasn't Magiere on trial in this one? I feel like she was, and Leesil had to do everything he could in his power to make sure she got out of that okay, because the verdict was uncertain at best. I had no idea what was going to happen. If there was going to be some kind of uprising, with Magiere slashing throats, or something more peaceable... But I was not disappointed. Also, the JEALOUSY. I'm pretty sure Magiere was worried that Leesil was falling for someone else? Another elf. And that hurt. It hurt her AND it hurt me. Of course, Leesil was doing no such thing. But this book knew how to hit me in all the right places, and I don't know if that's a good thing. Even though I enjoyed the hell out of this book, so I suppose it was.

But ouch. This one hurt. This one hurt so much. 10/10 would do it again.

Oh. And we get to see Leesil's mom. She's a bitch.

[Oddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've dropped the series. I continued to Rebel Fay because I wanted to know about Lessil and see what kind of society the Elves held. I was very bored and as soon as I got what I wanted out of this novel, I made the descion to drop the series as a whole. I may come back to the side series and see what happens with Wyn but the series takes itself too seriously to be a fun ride anymore.

[Krazykiwi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebel Fay Book 4 took me three weeks to read, this one I knocked off on the train this afternoon. And not entirely because they were both due back at the library. In fact this is easily the best book of the series.That said, Magiere is still grumpy (but actually making sensible decisions and not just being Miss Stubbornpants), Leesil is sullen and confused but sort of actually has a reason now, Wynn is still annoying but actually gets useful, Welstiel and Chane... meh, who cares about them.
 
Chap has a major part in this, which is always good. He learns a whole lot more about himself, and finally gets to actually have a life of his own, for at least a while.  I love Chap, he's a great character.
 
And Wynn instead of flouncing about the place getting lost and needing to be rescued, flounces about the place, gets lost, needs to be rescued, but actually makes a useful breakthrough in the plot in the process. Well it had to happen eventually, right?
 
But the elves. Haughty, arrogant, insular, beautiful and deadly know-it-alls, everything we love about high fantasy since Tolkien elves. Ok, maybe that's just me. In fact they are magnificent bastards nearly to a one, except for maybe Sgäile's grandpa and Sgäile's niece (I'm not even going to attempt to spell their names.)  And most especially the Most Aged Father.
 
The Hendee's tendency to over-describe is not so bad when the environment is new to everyone, and everything is alien and fascinating, and they are reacting to that. But still, there's endless pages in the first third or so devoted to some thieving rodent thing, and it just keeps on coming up. I figured after about the fifth time, there had to be a point, it was going to be important later. But no, at some point someone says "oh that thieving rat thing hasn't been around stealing things lately, I guess we left it at the last village... ha-ha-ha, sucks to be them". Seriously, do these guys just not have an editor any more? Does it matter that the unnamed barge captain wears his goatskin vest without a shirt and fur side in? Or that Wynn saw a mushroom and two birds and a tree and another tree and....
 
Anyway, as I said, although they do go on a bit, it's much more readable here, because we're also seeing Leesil feeling alien in a place that should be his home, Wynn being fascinated by evvvvvverything, and Magiere being cranky (because, Magiere), and Chap feeling totally at home, and having a wonderful time. Also, I think I have a small reader-crush on Sgäile. Because I can. I have a thing for blondes, and he seems to be the only character in the whole book series who just says what's going on. (Oh and I'm on to you Hendees, nicking gaelic words and substituting random nordic letters and apostrophes, does not a new language make.)
 
But now we're all set up for the final book in this particular arc. Which is where I'm stopping, because even useful Wynn still sets my teeth on edge, so I'm just not going to read a whole new series about her and Chane.

[Shelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really truly did want to like this book more than I rated it, but, I, for one am sick to death of both Chane and Welsteil, and wish they would just die already! I know, I know, that's just mean and all, but seriously hasn't the storyline gone on long enough? And, I'm tired of the moaning and groaning Chane does about poor defenseless Wynn. Aww shut yer pie hole already!

Leesil is still a killjoy, and will be for as long as I can tell, even after finding his long lost mother Cuirin'nena (Nein'a, and her not actually LEAVING with them. Can you say what's the point of the journey to rescue her if she's only going to stay behind? I mean seriously, he dragged Magiere and Wynn along kicking and screaming and demanding that they do it now, only to have this ending? Really?!?!

C'mon Hendee's I was so looking forward to this storyline being finished already. First, you killed off Magiere's mother, and later tell us that it's was all so that she could be conceived to either side with the dreamer, or fight him.

Wynn was okay for part of the book, then she goes off running after Chap and once again puts herself and others in danger. Her ability to translate Elvish was interesting, but her constant badgering was incredibly mind numbing.

Magiere even asks Leesil to marry him, which he says no to...then yes...then no..then maybe, but only if they can wait till they get back home to their tavern. ::eyeroll: Sorry, Magiere, you're like the evil incarnate who is expected to bring the world down or something unless Chap can stop you.

Chap meets a nice lady love, and one of his own kind named Lily. The Awwww moment of the book. It's too bad they end up splitting up at the end, but, you know how it goes. Meet the girl of your dreams, and she ditches you. Chap has some serious adventures of his own this time around, and really makes his kin the Fay upset at him. Then again, having this annoying voice in your head constantly telling you what to do, I would probably be a wee bit upset as well!

Hmm, let me see, oh yeah, Magiere vamps out, and gets accused of being an undead by the Most Aged Father, who is a creepazoid to the letter C. Leesil goes on a soul search and gets an actual Elf name in order to prove Magiere's innocence. Probably the only interesting thing that happened to him. Magiere is defended by Brotan, who, if you remember, tried to kill Magiere the last time around. Now, he's all, I need to protect Leesil, Blah Blah Blah. Magiere gets saved by a bird that somehow has the same blood in both of them. No really, no kidding. In fact, the bird actually left a trail of food for Mageire and team and leads them into Elven Land.

With this being the next to last book in this particular storyline, you do find out more about Chaps history and Magiere's as well. ::sigh:: You KNOW I have to read the last book of this series, otherwise, I will just be kicking myself for months from now.

**Snarky commentary brought to you by lack of sleep, and having my brain totally numbed out by the time I got to the end of this book!**