What do you think?
Rate this book
Night and Nothing #1
Thorn Jack
From Book 1:
Combining the sorcery of The Night Circus with the malefic suspense of A Secret History, Thorn Jack is a spectacular, modern retelling of the ancient Scottish ballad, Tam Lin—a beguiling fusion of love, fantasy, and myth that echoes the imaginative artistry of the works of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Melissa Marr.
In the wake of her older sister’s suicide, Finn Sullivan and her father move to a quaint town in upstate New York. Populated with socialites, hippies, and dramatic artists, every corner of this new place holds bright possibilities—and dark enigmas, including the devastatingly attractive Jack Fata, scion of one of the town’s most powerful families.
As she begins to settle in, Finn discovers that beneath its pretty, placid surface, the town and its denizens—especially the Fata family—wield an irresistible charm and dangerous power, a tempting and terrifying blend of good and evil, magic and mystery, that holds dangerous consequences for an innocent and curious girl like Finn.
To free herself and save her beloved Jack, Finn must confront the fearsome Fata family . . . a battle that will lead to shocking secrets about her sister’s death.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published June 24, 2014
121 people are currently reading
4697 people want to read
About the author
Katherine Harbour
13 books248 followersThe author of The Dark Fable, Thorn Jack, Briar Queen, and Nettle King. (The Children of Night and Nothing series) Pretty good Painter and terrible gardener. Loves Faery, the Gothic, Victorian writers, the female surrealists, botany, and myth & folklore. My aunt once dated a Beatle, my father loved to read Mark Twain, and, if I was brave enough, I'd explore all those haunted woods and houses.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 308 reviews
June 14, 2018
In the beginning was nothing. From nothing emerged night. Then came the children of nothing and nightSeventeen-year-old Finn Sullivan has the luck of the Irish, if you consider how the phrase was used during Irish immigration to the New World. When she was living in Vermont, her mother was killed in an auto accident. A move to San Francisco did not improve things for good as her older sister, Lily Rose, committed suicide there. A need for a change of scene brings Finn and her Da back to the town where he was raised, Fair Hollow, in upstate New York. Enrolled in a local college, HallowHeart, she meets the dazzling but mysterious Jack Fata. They may or may not be fated to be together, but the Fata family is very definitely a big deal in this small town, which is not exactly the epitome of exurban serenity.
“So what’s with all the little pixies everywhere? Carved into HallowHeart, the theater…”The local décor seems to favor the mythological, as if the entire place had brought in the Brothers Grimm and Arthur Rackham to consult on a makeover. The older mansions tend toward the abandoned and the locals tend toward the odd. Finn finds a few friends, and together they try to figure out the enigma that is Fair Hollow, maybe save a few folks from a dark end, and try to stay alive long enough to accomplish both.
“They were worshipped here…”
“Pixies?”
“Fairy folk. Some of the immigrants from Ireland followed the fairy faith. And the Irish had badass fairies.”
Katherine Harbour
There are twists aplenty and a steady drumbeat of revelation and challenge to keep readers guessing. Finn is easy to root for, a smart, curious kid with a good heart who sometimes makes questionable decisions, but always means well. Jack offers danger and charm, threat and vulnerability. And Reiko Fata, the local Dragon Lady, a strong malevolent force, provides a worthy opponent. Harbour has fun with characters’ names that even Rowling would enjoy. Jane Ivy, for example, teaches botany. A teacher of metal-working is named, I suspect, for a metal band front man.
Each chapter begins with two quotes (well, most chapters anyway). One is from diverse sources on mythology and literature, and the second is from the journal of Finn’s late sibling. They serve to give readers a heads up about some elements of what lies ahead. One of the things that I found interesting about this book was the sheer volume of references to literature and mythology from across the world, not just in the chapter-intro quotes but in the text as well. I spent quite a bit of time making use of the google machine checking out many of these. You could probably craft an entire course on mythology just from the references in this book. In fact the author includes a bibliography of some of the referenced works. There are references as well to painterly works of art. Harbour includes a glossary of terms used by or in reference to the Fata family that comes in very handy. The core mythological element here is Tam Lin, a tale from the British Isles about a man who is the captive of the Queen of the Fairies and the young lady who seeks to free him.
The dream scene where Finn is speaking with her older sister and things grow sinister was an actual dream I had when I was seventeen. The revision was influenced by a book called Visions and Folktales in the West of Ireland, by Lady Gregory, a collection of local stories about some very scary faeries. The Thorn Jack trilogy is influenced by Shakespeare, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Frankenstein. - from the author’s siteIt is tough to read a book about young attraction of this sort and not think of Twilight, or Romeo and Juliet for that matter. And where there is a school in a place in which there are some odd goings on, and mystery-laden instructors, there will always be a whiff of Hogwarts in the air. But this one stands pretty well on its own.
Gripes-section. I did indeed enjoy the mythology tutorial available here, but sometimes I felt that the author could have pared this element down a bit. One result of this wealth of material was that it made the book a slow read for me. But then I have OCD inclinations, and have to look up every bloody one of these things. You may not suffer from this particular affliction, so may skip through much more quickly than I did. Or, if you are a regular reader of fantasy fiction, you may already know the references that my ignorant and memory-challenged self had to look up. Also, there are a LOT of characters. I tried my best to keep track by making a list and I strongly advise you to keep a chart of your own. It can get confusing. Finally, the quoted passages from Lily Rose’s journal do not much sound like passages from anyone‘s journal and seem to be present primarily to offer a double-dip into mythological reference material.
That said, Thorn Jack was engaging and entertaining, offering mystery, frights, young romance, and a chance to brush up on your mythology. Think Veronica Mars in Forks by way of Robert Graves.
Harbour has two more planned for the series, The Briar Queen and The Nettle King. I would expect she would address some of the questions that linger at the end of this first entry. What did her parents know and when did they know it? Is there an actual core curriculum requirement at HallowHeart College?
Review Posted March 14, 2014
Release Date – June 24, 2014
=============================EXTRA STUFF
The author’s personal, Twitter and FB pages
Also, definitely check out another of Harbour’s sites, Dark Faery/Black Rabbit , which includes additional entries from Lily Rose’s journal, among other things.
November 4, 2015
I can no longer pretend this book is entertaining.
I started reading Thorn Jack because:
1. Look at the cover
Isn't it gorgeous?It's just begging you to read the book and who am I to say no to pretty covers?
2. The faeries
Who doesn't love faeries? They're whimsical and they're full of mischief. I've always been fascinated with the Irish folklore. Any book with faeries is automatically added in my shelves.
3. The blurb is intriguing.
Although it kinds reminds me of Red and Unspoken (new girl in town meeting the bad boy of a wealthy/powerful company), I still want to read this book.
Why this book didn't work out.
1. It's so Twilight-y-I know that there are a lot of books where a new girl fell in love with a mysterious boy, but for fuck's sake, The idiocy of her reaction when she saw Jack is screaming Edward-Bella loveteam to me. And yeah. The hero is a stalker too.
2. The conversation between the characters- Very confusing. They would jump from one topic to another and I can't think of the connection between doing something for a terrible reason to Jack looking cold and then him scolding her for inviting him into her house.
3. Mean girls and weird psychos- What is this high school?This is college. And I think the only reason why the author used the college excuse to this story is so that the heroine can pretend that those people in weird costumes who acts weirdly are Drama actors and not some inhuman creatures.
4. The whole story (as far as I've read)- The story is messy and dragging. I've only reached up to chapter 4 but it feels like I've been to the moon and back. Thorn Jack, if I only had one hour left here on earth, I'll spend my last hour reading you because it feels like forever.
Maybe I'll get back on this book in the future or maybe not. But for now, sayonara Thorn Jack.
September 29, 2016
“Fairies have to be one thing or the other, because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling only at a time.”
----J.M. Barrie
Katherine Harbour, an American author, has penned a captivating and heart rending young adult fantasy fiction in her novel, Thorn Jack that marks as the first book in the Night and Nothing series and is loosely based or rather say, a modern retelling of an ancient Scottish folklore ballad called, Tam Lin where a young woman tries to free a prince without a heart whom she loved from the dominating and magical powers of a cruel fairy queen, resulting in devastating consequences.
Synopsis:
Combining the sorcery of The Night Circus with the malefic suspense of A Secret History, Thorn Jack is a spectacular, modern retelling of the ancient Scottish ballad, Tam Lin--a beguiling fusion of love, fantasy, and myth that echoes the imaginative artistry of the works of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Melissa Marr.
In the wake of her older sister's suicide, Finn Sullivan and her father move to a quaint town in upstate New York. Populated with socialites, hippies, and dramatic artists, every corner of this new place holds bright possibilities--and dark enigmas, including the devastatingly attractive Jack Fata, scion of one of the town's most powerful families.
As she begins to settle in, Finn discovers that beneath its pretty, placid surface, the town and its denizens--especially the Fata family--wield an irresistible charm and dangerous power, a tempting and terrifying blend of good and evil, magic and mystery, that holds dangerous consequences for an innocent and curious girl like Finn.
To free herself and save her beloved Jack, Finn must confront the fearsome Fata family . . . a battle that will lead to shocking secrets about her sister's death.
Finn Sullivan and her father moves to a small town, Fair Hollow in the New York upstate, that is a perfect backdrop for this fantasy story, filled with old, dilapidated and abandoned mansions with stories and lost souls looming in the interiors, and also where the folks inhibit an uncanny demeanor, after her elder sister, Lilly's suicide. Finn's father admits her to the community college, where she meets and makes new friends like Christie (a boy) and Sylvie, besides the mysterious and incredibly handsome Jack Fata, who belongs from the rich and urban Fata family. But her closeness with Jack results in sudden changes in Jack and also gradually unravels the mystery behind her sister's death, who had penned down about her encounter with a prince without a heart, and other characters who resemble with the characters around Finn's life. Although Jack is bound to serve for the ruthless fairy queen, Reiko but can he break that bond? And can Finn find out the truth about her sister's death?
This story is inspired from an age old Scottish fairy tale and the whole story unrolls in an atmospheric and breathy manner, slightly eerie yet fascinating. There are endless references to the mythological stories from around the world, some are either lost or some are still foretold by the grandmas to their grandchildren, and each chapter in this book begins with one such reference, that not only gives an insight and an idea to the readers about what is going to happen in the new chapter but also makes them curious about such a fairy tale. Many readers might find starking similarity with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight or the college where Finn studies might draw resemblance with Rowling's Hogwarts.
The author's writing style is fantastic and is laced with emotions and mythologies that gives a misty feel to the story line. The narrative is not that engaging yet somewhat free flowing and challenging enough to keep the readers curious for the story. The narrative is also inspired from folklore around the world that will make it tedious for the readers to keep reading smoothly till the very end. The pacing is very slow, and almost half way through the book, the story barely takes a tragic or twisting turn, that will make the readers skipping a few chapters to get to the major twist of the story.
The fantasy world developed by the author is strikingly and cleverly portrayed by balancing realism and fantasy. The background is vividly captured by the author into her story line, that will let the readers visualize imagine the scenes, the landscapes, the eerie atmosphere, the classes in the college, the interiors of the houses, the cemetery, the stories, the people, the fashion, where everything adorns a Gothic look and feel all throughout. In short, the readers might be swept away by the charm of this Gothic-themed fairy tale inspired romantic fantasy.
The characters are quite well developed from scratch, with enough realism in their demeanor, despite being supernatural. The main character, Finn, is a brave and courageous young woman, whose determination towards Jack's fate will make the readers respect her. In the beginning, Finn is wrapped up with grief over the loss of her dear sister, but gradually she evolves as she sniffs through the loose ends into the background of the Fata family, thereby making her strong. Jack, on the other hand, is sensitive, attractive yet risky to fall for. The rest of the characters are also highly interesting enough to keep the readers engaged into the story.
The romance between Jack and Finn is passionately arrested into the story line, enough with heart felt emotions to make the readers move for their bonding. Yes the romance is somewhat cliched, nevertheless, it is kind of cute.
In a nutshell, this story is enchanting, mystical that will make the readers get lost into a tale of love, betrayal, mystery and fairies and it is not necessary that fairies are forever good creatures, there are some evil ones too, and to encounter such a fairy, Is suggest you to pick up a copy of this book for sure.
Verdict: A promising fantasy series.
Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Katherine Harbour, for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
----J.M. Barrie
Katherine Harbour, an American author, has penned a captivating and heart rending young adult fantasy fiction in her novel, Thorn Jack that marks as the first book in the Night and Nothing series and is loosely based or rather say, a modern retelling of an ancient Scottish folklore ballad called, Tam Lin where a young woman tries to free a prince without a heart whom she loved from the dominating and magical powers of a cruel fairy queen, resulting in devastating consequences.
Synopsis:
Combining the sorcery of The Night Circus with the malefic suspense of A Secret History, Thorn Jack is a spectacular, modern retelling of the ancient Scottish ballad, Tam Lin--a beguiling fusion of love, fantasy, and myth that echoes the imaginative artistry of the works of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Melissa Marr.
In the wake of her older sister's suicide, Finn Sullivan and her father move to a quaint town in upstate New York. Populated with socialites, hippies, and dramatic artists, every corner of this new place holds bright possibilities--and dark enigmas, including the devastatingly attractive Jack Fata, scion of one of the town's most powerful families.
As she begins to settle in, Finn discovers that beneath its pretty, placid surface, the town and its denizens--especially the Fata family--wield an irresistible charm and dangerous power, a tempting and terrifying blend of good and evil, magic and mystery, that holds dangerous consequences for an innocent and curious girl like Finn.
To free herself and save her beloved Jack, Finn must confront the fearsome Fata family . . . a battle that will lead to shocking secrets about her sister's death.
Finn Sullivan and her father moves to a small town, Fair Hollow in the New York upstate, that is a perfect backdrop for this fantasy story, filled with old, dilapidated and abandoned mansions with stories and lost souls looming in the interiors, and also where the folks inhibit an uncanny demeanor, after her elder sister, Lilly's suicide. Finn's father admits her to the community college, where she meets and makes new friends like Christie (a boy) and Sylvie, besides the mysterious and incredibly handsome Jack Fata, who belongs from the rich and urban Fata family. But her closeness with Jack results in sudden changes in Jack and also gradually unravels the mystery behind her sister's death, who had penned down about her encounter with a prince without a heart, and other characters who resemble with the characters around Finn's life. Although Jack is bound to serve for the ruthless fairy queen, Reiko but can he break that bond? And can Finn find out the truth about her sister's death?
This story is inspired from an age old Scottish fairy tale and the whole story unrolls in an atmospheric and breathy manner, slightly eerie yet fascinating. There are endless references to the mythological stories from around the world, some are either lost or some are still foretold by the grandmas to their grandchildren, and each chapter in this book begins with one such reference, that not only gives an insight and an idea to the readers about what is going to happen in the new chapter but also makes them curious about such a fairy tale. Many readers might find starking similarity with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight or the college where Finn studies might draw resemblance with Rowling's Hogwarts.
The author's writing style is fantastic and is laced with emotions and mythologies that gives a misty feel to the story line. The narrative is not that engaging yet somewhat free flowing and challenging enough to keep the readers curious for the story. The narrative is also inspired from folklore around the world that will make it tedious for the readers to keep reading smoothly till the very end. The pacing is very slow, and almost half way through the book, the story barely takes a tragic or twisting turn, that will make the readers skipping a few chapters to get to the major twist of the story.
The fantasy world developed by the author is strikingly and cleverly portrayed by balancing realism and fantasy. The background is vividly captured by the author into her story line, that will let the readers visualize imagine the scenes, the landscapes, the eerie atmosphere, the classes in the college, the interiors of the houses, the cemetery, the stories, the people, the fashion, where everything adorns a Gothic look and feel all throughout. In short, the readers might be swept away by the charm of this Gothic-themed fairy tale inspired romantic fantasy.
The characters are quite well developed from scratch, with enough realism in their demeanor, despite being supernatural. The main character, Finn, is a brave and courageous young woman, whose determination towards Jack's fate will make the readers respect her. In the beginning, Finn is wrapped up with grief over the loss of her dear sister, but gradually she evolves as she sniffs through the loose ends into the background of the Fata family, thereby making her strong. Jack, on the other hand, is sensitive, attractive yet risky to fall for. The rest of the characters are also highly interesting enough to keep the readers engaged into the story.
The romance between Jack and Finn is passionately arrested into the story line, enough with heart felt emotions to make the readers move for their bonding. Yes the romance is somewhat cliched, nevertheless, it is kind of cute.
In a nutshell, this story is enchanting, mystical that will make the readers get lost into a tale of love, betrayal, mystery and fairies and it is not necessary that fairies are forever good creatures, there are some evil ones too, and to encounter such a fairy, Is suggest you to pick up a copy of this book for sure.
Verdict: A promising fantasy series.
Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Katherine Harbour, for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.
October 12, 2015
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/10/12/b...
Thorn Jack has been on my to-read list for a while, but nothing could have prepared me for magical story I found when I cracked open its pages. I was also delighted to find out that it’s a modern retelling inspired by “Tam Lin”.
First of all, I love creative reimaginings of all sorts; myths, folklore, fairytales – you name it, I want it. Second, if it’s a retelling of a story I’m not as familiar with…well, that actually just makes me even more interested. Needless to say, I had to go and brush up on the old Scottish legendary ballad while reading this book. There are many versions, but most variants of “Tam Lin” involve a mortal woman rescuing her true love held captive by the Queen of the Fairies, and like most old stories involving the Fae, it encompasses some pretty dark themes. Thorn Jack may be a modern retelling, but it likewise features some of the same themes, including those surrounding the power of young woman’s determination and courage.
So if you enjoy reading about strong, dedicated and genuine female protagonists, you’ll definitely like Finn Sullivan. We come upon her at a very dark time of her life, though. The recent suicide of her sister Lily Rose is an open wound on her heart as Finn and her father move from San Diego to a small town called Fair Hollow in upstate New York. While unpacking, Finn finds Lily Rose’s journal, filled with mad ramblings about strange occurrences and dark creatures that have preyed on humanity for hundreds of years. Dismissing these as her sister’s fanciful stories, Finn puts this aside and goes back to her grieving.
However, it soon becomes clear that things in Fair Hollow are not as they seem. Something feels wrong, and it all seems to revolve around the town’s most wealthiest and notorious family, the Fatas. When Finn and her new college friends are invited to a lakeside party, she immediately becomes drawn to one of the Fatas, a mysterious young man named Jack. But as they grow closer, the more unsettled Finn feels in spite of herself. So much about Jack and his family reminds her of Lily Rose’s journal and her sister’s descriptions of the “Children of Night and Nothing”. There’s an enigmatic, sinister air around the Fatas, but are they really dangerous? And what have they got to do with Lily Rose’s suicide?
Walking into Katherine Harbour’s world of Thorn Jack is like walking into a modern fairytale, a little bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Once Upon a Time. Also, you know you’re in for a good time whenever there are Fae involved, though these Fae are unlike any I’ve ever seen. Their characteristics make me think they are an amalgamation of many different kinds of monsters and creatures, with traits that bring to mind vampires, shapeshifters, ghostly spirits and more. There’s some excellent world-building going on here; I sensed the dark wonder and otherworldliness of Fair Hollow as soon as Finn and her father arrived at their new home. Harbour has created an almost palpable atmosphere, the kind that slowly seeps off the page to send tingles up your arms.
There’s also a heavy element of romance. After all, the story is based on a legend about a man rescued by his true love, so I went into Thorn Jack expecting the plot to center on a romantic relationship. My only issue with it is that it was a bit slow to take off. Part of the reason for this is because the narrative meanders quite a bit, occasionally branching out into small side threads and different POVs. Fortunately, in many cases the characters make up for much of it. While the story might not be constantly moving forward, I loved getting to know Christie and Sylvie (whom I pictured in my mind as Finn’s Xander and Willow) and I got to enjoy reading about the different members of the extended Fata family in all their creepy and dangerous glory. Even the various townies and seemingly innocuous professors at Finn’s college have hidden secrets. Part of the fun was discovering the mysteries of Fair Hollow and its people.
This book also turned out to be a wonderful read for October especially as we approach Halloween (which plays a significant role in this book, much like it did in the ballad of Tam Lin). It’s the time of the year when the leaves are starting to turn and the days are getting colder and shorter, and I found Thorn Jack and its mystical and eerie vibes to be incredibly immersive even though it’s not a horror novel and there’s nothing overtly frightening about the story. What Katherine Harbour has done here is really cool; she has reinvented a legend and put it into a modern package while making sure to preserve all the beauty and magic and seduction.
Thorn Jack has been on my to-read list for a while, but nothing could have prepared me for magical story I found when I cracked open its pages. I was also delighted to find out that it’s a modern retelling inspired by “Tam Lin”.
First of all, I love creative reimaginings of all sorts; myths, folklore, fairytales – you name it, I want it. Second, if it’s a retelling of a story I’m not as familiar with…well, that actually just makes me even more interested. Needless to say, I had to go and brush up on the old Scottish legendary ballad while reading this book. There are many versions, but most variants of “Tam Lin” involve a mortal woman rescuing her true love held captive by the Queen of the Fairies, and like most old stories involving the Fae, it encompasses some pretty dark themes. Thorn Jack may be a modern retelling, but it likewise features some of the same themes, including those surrounding the power of young woman’s determination and courage.
So if you enjoy reading about strong, dedicated and genuine female protagonists, you’ll definitely like Finn Sullivan. We come upon her at a very dark time of her life, though. The recent suicide of her sister Lily Rose is an open wound on her heart as Finn and her father move from San Diego to a small town called Fair Hollow in upstate New York. While unpacking, Finn finds Lily Rose’s journal, filled with mad ramblings about strange occurrences and dark creatures that have preyed on humanity for hundreds of years. Dismissing these as her sister’s fanciful stories, Finn puts this aside and goes back to her grieving.
However, it soon becomes clear that things in Fair Hollow are not as they seem. Something feels wrong, and it all seems to revolve around the town’s most wealthiest and notorious family, the Fatas. When Finn and her new college friends are invited to a lakeside party, she immediately becomes drawn to one of the Fatas, a mysterious young man named Jack. But as they grow closer, the more unsettled Finn feels in spite of herself. So much about Jack and his family reminds her of Lily Rose’s journal and her sister’s descriptions of the “Children of Night and Nothing”. There’s an enigmatic, sinister air around the Fatas, but are they really dangerous? And what have they got to do with Lily Rose’s suicide?
Walking into Katherine Harbour’s world of Thorn Jack is like walking into a modern fairytale, a little bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Once Upon a Time. Also, you know you’re in for a good time whenever there are Fae involved, though these Fae are unlike any I’ve ever seen. Their characteristics make me think they are an amalgamation of many different kinds of monsters and creatures, with traits that bring to mind vampires, shapeshifters, ghostly spirits and more. There’s some excellent world-building going on here; I sensed the dark wonder and otherworldliness of Fair Hollow as soon as Finn and her father arrived at their new home. Harbour has created an almost palpable atmosphere, the kind that slowly seeps off the page to send tingles up your arms.
There’s also a heavy element of romance. After all, the story is based on a legend about a man rescued by his true love, so I went into Thorn Jack expecting the plot to center on a romantic relationship. My only issue with it is that it was a bit slow to take off. Part of the reason for this is because the narrative meanders quite a bit, occasionally branching out into small side threads and different POVs. Fortunately, in many cases the characters make up for much of it. While the story might not be constantly moving forward, I loved getting to know Christie and Sylvie (whom I pictured in my mind as Finn’s Xander and Willow) and I got to enjoy reading about the different members of the extended Fata family in all their creepy and dangerous glory. Even the various townies and seemingly innocuous professors at Finn’s college have hidden secrets. Part of the fun was discovering the mysteries of Fair Hollow and its people.
This book also turned out to be a wonderful read for October especially as we approach Halloween (which plays a significant role in this book, much like it did in the ballad of Tam Lin). It’s the time of the year when the leaves are starting to turn and the days are getting colder and shorter, and I found Thorn Jack and its mystical and eerie vibes to be incredibly immersive even though it’s not a horror novel and there’s nothing overtly frightening about the story. What Katherine Harbour has done here is really cool; she has reinvented a legend and put it into a modern package while making sure to preserve all the beauty and magic and seduction.
January 14, 2018
This was an enjoyable modern interpretation of the "Ballad of Tam-Lin".
October 31, 2015
This is a great read set through the month of October with the climax on Halloween. ‘Thorn Jack’ captures the feel of Autumn. The brisk cold has the wind ripping leaves off trees. The Fae or Others, and their dead brought to life by the fairy folk, play their part. Add a Teind, a pact that must be satisfied for the Fae and their collected spirits to live another 100 years and the story starts to get interesting. Now, include a woman starting her first year at college in the sleepy Northeastern American town of Fair Hollow. After her sister and her mother took their own lives in California Finn and her father fled to heal from the loss. It’s a pretty fascinating concept, right? It also is a retelling of the old Scottish ballad Tam Lin. This book felt created especially for me based off my own personal interests. It is very good but it is also a book that fades in and out of greatness. The first near half of the book is close to perfect, however. Katherine Harbour has a way with words and created a beautiful world mixing the normal with otherness. It reminded me a bit of Charles De Lint’s writings.
Serafina Sullivan, better known as Finn, came to Fair Hollow with her father, the professor of myth and folklore, to escape constant reminders of the loss of her sister, Lily Rose. Someone, who we learn about through small portions of her journal. Finn and her father move into her late grandmothers house covered in carvings/pictures of fairies and anthropomorphic animals. It is a true example of the eccentric town that contains several other boarded up mansions belonging to old families of wealth and fortune. It has been a haven for the art/theatre community for years. Finn’s college takes liberal and unconventional to new levels, but the town love for celtic tradition appears to be more than nostalgia for lineage and roots. Finn and the close friends she makes get drawn into Fae mischief. Finn turns the eye of a Fairy Queen and her Jack. Their interest, and the why behind the interest is what this book is about. When Finn sees ties to the Fae in her sister’s journal it causes her to unabashedly rush down the rabbit hole in search of answers. The fact that she is attracted to the Jack only draws her further.
I recommend you read this book rather than listen to it. Kate Rudd narrates it and while she has done very well with other books, such as The Chronos Files Series by Rysa Walker, I preferred my own interpretation of Harbour’s writing. Listen to the snippet available prior to purchasing the audio version and make your own assessment.
The first half of this book I could not put down. Harbour’s writing is picturesque and I adored the originality. I recognize this is a retelling, and that Tam Lin itself is a romantic story of a woman who tricks the Fairy Queen to release her love/the Queen’s Jack from her clutches. My problem is I was so engrossed in Finn’s story of finding out what happened to her sister, who committed suicide and the reasons behind it, I was frustrated at being drawn away from that portion of the story. Ultimately, however, Harbour had to develop the tale of how Finn grows a new heart in the dead Jack. (A Jack is an Other, who at the bidding of the Fairy Queen, causes people to fall in love with them in the pursuit of mischief and.) The paranormal romance is not bad, but it did not have the same teeth that Finn’s search of the truth about her sister’s death has. The romance is predictable and typical of current YA/NA writing. The character interaction of Finn with her friend’s Sylvie and Christie loses its depth and realness at this point as well. I belive Harbour has great potential as an author. I hope the next stories in the series of Night and Nothing can be the level of the first half of this book all the way through. I believe Harbour can do it and I have been left curious. I’m assuming the stories will not be about Finn and Jack since this story feels so complete.
I recommend you pick this up is you like stories about the Fae. This is very good at leaning on real lore regarding the Fae from Celtic origins with interesting quotes from Shakespeare, Yeats, and Lady Gregory. It is definitely New Adult and paranormal romance but it is interesting. As I said I am interested in Harbour’s other work.
Serafina Sullivan, better known as Finn, came to Fair Hollow with her father, the professor of myth and folklore, to escape constant reminders of the loss of her sister, Lily Rose. Someone, who we learn about through small portions of her journal. Finn and her father move into her late grandmothers house covered in carvings/pictures of fairies and anthropomorphic animals. It is a true example of the eccentric town that contains several other boarded up mansions belonging to old families of wealth and fortune. It has been a haven for the art/theatre community for years. Finn’s college takes liberal and unconventional to new levels, but the town love for celtic tradition appears to be more than nostalgia for lineage and roots. Finn and the close friends she makes get drawn into Fae mischief. Finn turns the eye of a Fairy Queen and her Jack. Their interest, and the why behind the interest is what this book is about. When Finn sees ties to the Fae in her sister’s journal it causes her to unabashedly rush down the rabbit hole in search of answers. The fact that she is attracted to the Jack only draws her further.
I recommend you read this book rather than listen to it. Kate Rudd narrates it and while she has done very well with other books, such as The Chronos Files Series by Rysa Walker, I preferred my own interpretation of Harbour’s writing. Listen to the snippet available prior to purchasing the audio version and make your own assessment.
The first half of this book I could not put down. Harbour’s writing is picturesque and I adored the originality. I recognize this is a retelling, and that Tam Lin itself is a romantic story of a woman who tricks the Fairy Queen to release her love/the Queen’s Jack from her clutches. My problem is I was so engrossed in Finn’s story of finding out what happened to her sister, who committed suicide and the reasons behind it, I was frustrated at being drawn away from that portion of the story. Ultimately, however, Harbour had to develop the tale of how Finn grows a new heart in the dead Jack. (A Jack is an Other, who at the bidding of the Fairy Queen, causes people to fall in love with them in the pursuit of mischief and.) The paranormal romance is not bad, but it did not have the same teeth that Finn’s search of the truth about her sister’s death has. The romance is predictable and typical of current YA/NA writing. The character interaction of Finn with her friend’s Sylvie and Christie loses its depth and realness at this point as well. I belive Harbour has great potential as an author. I hope the next stories in the series of Night and Nothing can be the level of the first half of this book all the way through. I believe Harbour can do it and I have been left curious. I’m assuming the stories will not be about Finn and Jack since this story feels so complete.
I recommend you pick this up is you like stories about the Fae. This is very good at leaning on real lore regarding the Fae from Celtic origins with interesting quotes from Shakespeare, Yeats, and Lady Gregory. It is definitely New Adult and paranormal romance but it is interesting. As I said I am interested in Harbour’s other work.
June 4, 2014
This was just...not good. The concept has some promise (evil fairy cabal lurking in a weird town) but it's poorly written, oddly plotted, and feels like it's trying way too hard to be cool--another reviewer described it as "trying harder to be goth than a 13 year old at Hot Topic," which is dead-on. Comes straight out of the Twilight school of girl with emo past moves to small town, meets mysterious boy, falls in love despite repeated warnings not to, drama with boy's family ensues. The pacing is off (the entire book takes place in...two, three months? During which time the two main characters meet, fall in love, and apparently become willing to die for each other), the plot meanders around (lots of seemingly-pointless parties which mostly serve as setpieces for descriptions of clothing), none of the characters are especially likeable or memorable, and the writing is overwrought (the word "tawny" is used to describe a character three times in five pages). It's full of distracting tics--the entire town is full of things named HallowHeart, LeafStruck, BrambleBerry, SatyrNight, you get the picture--and character types and situations pulled from other books, movies, and pop culture. One of the sidekicks is a redhead whose mother knits gifts for him and his friends, for god's sake. Basically, it's a first novel and it reads like one. It appears to be the first in a series so hopefully a ruthless editor will come down on it between now and the next book and whip things into shape. Admittedly, I read an advance copy borrowed from a bookseller friend, so maybe there will be some additional polishing before this one is published, but quite honestly it's going to take a lot more than polish to make this readable. Would not recommend.
July 24, 2014
(3.5 stars)
For us readers of a certain age, “Tam Lin” and “college” in the same sentence are going to remind us of Pamela Dean’s quirky retelling. But other than profuse quoting of poetry, Dean’s Tam Lin and Katherine Harbour’s Thorn Jack are not much alike and don’t really invite comparisons. You might also think of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight a time or two, as a few of the story’s bones are similar, but I never once felt like I was reading a Twilight copy while reading Thorn Jack — which goes to show you tropes need not be poison if woven into a good tale. What Thorn Jack reminded me of, more than anything else, was the books Elizabeth Hand was writing back in the nineties, especially Black Light.
Eighteen-year-old Finn is still reeling from the suicide of her older sister. She and her father, to escape the sad memories San Francisco now holds for them, move back to her father’s hometown of Fair Hollow, New York. There, Finn will attend college at one of the local schools, HallowHeart. It feels more like a high school in some ways, and it isn’t used to the extent it could have been, but what we do see of HallowHeart is intriguing and appropriately mysterious.
She quickly makes two close friends, and then the trio is drawn into the strange world of the Fatas: the richest, weirdest, most secretive family in Fair Hollow. They throw the best parties, but there’s a whiff of the sinister about them. Finn falls for one of their number, Jack Fata, but also learns that her sister may have encountered these beings before her death, and that they’re planning something horrible for Halloween night.
I wish we had a little more sense of Finn as a person, of who she is when she’s alone. She seems somewhat blank at first, which can at least partly be attributed to grief, but one does wish for a little more metaphorical flesh to her. Later, she develops a fierceness that is a joy to see, and I also love that her courage isn’t only employed on behalf of her love interest. She defends her friends, too, and also defends a guy she barely knows just because it’s the right thing to do.
I mentioned Black Light above, and now I’ll go into why: Thorn Jack is one of those lush, dreamlike books full of surreal parties, gloriously creepy old houses, strange plays of light, roses and ivy and blood. It’s a veritable phantasmagoria of imagery, and if it were a movie, Tim Burton would no doubt be involved. Some readers like this stuff and some don’t; your mileage may vary. (I’m a sucker for it, as it happens.) And Harbour adds some fun twists and changes to the original story.
It’s a little rough around the edges. There are moments when conversations don’t seem to follow a logical path; someone will say something and you’ll wonder how they got there from the thing that was said right before it. There are words that are used too many times in close proximity; “saunter” comes to mind. There are a few possible holes in the magic; a guy who gets dizzy when he’s close to an iron bracelet is not likely to live in a place at the top of an old fire escape, I think.
Sometimes I find myself unmoved by a book while recognizing that it’s technically near-perfect. This is the inverse of that phenomenon: a book that is technically flawed, but which nonetheless grabbed me. My right brain and left brain want to give it different ratings. I’ve settled on 3.5 stars, and neither brain is quite happy with it, but you know what they say about compromise. Fairy lovers, check Thorn Jack out. It has some first-novel flaws and clunkinesses, but Harbour’s imagination is a riot of scary fairies and intoxicating imagery, and I’m definitely interested in reading her next effort.
www.fantasyliterature.com
For us readers of a certain age, “Tam Lin” and “college” in the same sentence are going to remind us of Pamela Dean’s quirky retelling. But other than profuse quoting of poetry, Dean’s Tam Lin and Katherine Harbour’s Thorn Jack are not much alike and don’t really invite comparisons. You might also think of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight a time or two, as a few of the story’s bones are similar, but I never once felt like I was reading a Twilight copy while reading Thorn Jack — which goes to show you tropes need not be poison if woven into a good tale. What Thorn Jack reminded me of, more than anything else, was the books Elizabeth Hand was writing back in the nineties, especially Black Light.
Eighteen-year-old Finn is still reeling from the suicide of her older sister. She and her father, to escape the sad memories San Francisco now holds for them, move back to her father’s hometown of Fair Hollow, New York. There, Finn will attend college at one of the local schools, HallowHeart. It feels more like a high school in some ways, and it isn’t used to the extent it could have been, but what we do see of HallowHeart is intriguing and appropriately mysterious.
She quickly makes two close friends, and then the trio is drawn into the strange world of the Fatas: the richest, weirdest, most secretive family in Fair Hollow. They throw the best parties, but there’s a whiff of the sinister about them. Finn falls for one of their number, Jack Fata, but also learns that her sister may have encountered these beings before her death, and that they’re planning something horrible for Halloween night.
I wish we had a little more sense of Finn as a person, of who she is when she’s alone. She seems somewhat blank at first, which can at least partly be attributed to grief, but one does wish for a little more metaphorical flesh to her. Later, she develops a fierceness that is a joy to see, and I also love that her courage isn’t only employed on behalf of her love interest. She defends her friends, too, and also defends a guy she barely knows just because it’s the right thing to do.
I mentioned Black Light above, and now I’ll go into why: Thorn Jack is one of those lush, dreamlike books full of surreal parties, gloriously creepy old houses, strange plays of light, roses and ivy and blood. It’s a veritable phantasmagoria of imagery, and if it were a movie, Tim Burton would no doubt be involved. Some readers like this stuff and some don’t; your mileage may vary. (I’m a sucker for it, as it happens.) And Harbour adds some fun twists and changes to the original story.
It’s a little rough around the edges. There are moments when conversations don’t seem to follow a logical path; someone will say something and you’ll wonder how they got there from the thing that was said right before it. There are words that are used too many times in close proximity; “saunter” comes to mind. There are a few possible holes in the magic; a guy who gets dizzy when he’s close to an iron bracelet is not likely to live in a place at the top of an old fire escape, I think.
Sometimes I find myself unmoved by a book while recognizing that it’s technically near-perfect. This is the inverse of that phenomenon: a book that is technically flawed, but which nonetheless grabbed me. My right brain and left brain want to give it different ratings. I’ve settled on 3.5 stars, and neither brain is quite happy with it, but you know what they say about compromise. Fairy lovers, check Thorn Jack out. It has some first-novel flaws and clunkinesses, but Harbour’s imagination is a riot of scary fairies and intoxicating imagery, and I’m definitely interested in reading her next effort.
www.fantasyliterature.com
Read
December 6, 2023read: 2016
reread: 2023
i’m afraid i didn’t enjoy as much this time. this book is only 330 but it felt 700+. did i love the fall, and small town descriptions? absolutely! that’s why i stayed reading the book, but i didn’t realized how over-explained everything is to the point where you start to lose focus of the plot.
also i think i’m very selective about certain books about fairies 🧚🏼 or young adults. 🤷🏻
PS. this is somewhat compare to The Night Circus, and that is just blasphemy. in no way. 😠
reread: 2023
i’m afraid i didn’t enjoy as much this time. this book is only 330 but it felt 700+. did i love the fall, and small town descriptions? absolutely! that’s why i stayed reading the book, but i didn’t realized how over-explained everything is to the point where you start to lose focus of the plot.
also i think i’m very selective about certain books about fairies 🧚🏼 or young adults. 🤷🏻
PS. this is somewhat compare to The Night Circus, and that is just blasphemy. in no way. 😠
Read
March 28, 2020Urgh, I’m not willing to give up on this for good, but the writing and scene construction are terrible. Soft DNF. Hope I can get into this a different time, because the concept is killer.
April 10, 2016
First half of the book gets 4 stars, and the second half gets 2 stars. Finn, short for Serafina, was a teenager living with her dad in San Francisco. Her mother was long dead, and about a year ago her sister committed suicide. She and her dad moved back his hometown in New York. It was a bizarre place. Spooky things happened in the woods, and many homes which used to be extravagant were abandoned. Some of the young people in town were strange and different. Many people in town were oblivious to these oddities.
For while I was really into this. Finn was depressed over the loss of her sister. She settled into her new town quickly by making friends and starting college. Finn had a hard time believing her sister committed suicide, and the more she learned about her sister the more suspicious her death seemed. She met Jack Fata and the rest of his bizarre family. She got the feeling there was some kind of connection between them and her sister. Something weird was going on with Jack. Being around Finn made him be able to bleed again, and I really wanted to know what that meant for him.
Unfortunately this went from interesting to YA cliched crap. The plot began to focus more on the romance than the sister's death or the bizarre happenings in town. Jack was a mysterious bad boy, so of course Finn was drawn to him against all better judgement. At one point things with Finn and Jack were getting intense when it was mentioned that Finn had only known Jack for a month. By then they were acting like they couldn't live without each other. Their relationship turned out to be nothing more than instalove with no realistic basis for a relationship. They didn’t know each other at all.
Farther into the story it developed a stronger YA feel. Finn and her friends were college freshman, so they were roughly 18. It felt like they were in high school. There was too much petty bickering and bullying. Finn got in a fight at college and went home to tell her dad. She was an adult. At that point in her life she wasn’t obligated to tell her dad about every mistake she made. Out of Finn and her two friends only one of them had a car. Finn didn’t even know how to drive. She and her other friend rode bikes. All three of them still lived at home. That didn’t seem so weird since the college was in the town. It was weird that Finn had a curfew. It was midnight which isn’t early, but the idea of college kids having curfews is odd IMO.
The character development was seriously needed work. The side characters had no depth. What you see is what you get with them. At first I thought some of the characters would be grey, and it would be hard to know where their loyalties lie. The bad people were simply bad, and the good were good. The only character with slightly questionable motives was Jack. He was supposed to be a serious threat to Finn, but I never got the feeling he would really hurt her. Finn’s two friends didn’t add much to the story. Sometimes I wondered why they were even in the book.
Finn acted dumber and dumber as the book went on. Her decisions became more reckless although everyone around her kept telling her what she was doing was dangerous. The intelligence of her friends was highly questionable also. They tagged along for every dumbass thing Finn did which put their lives in danger as well. The bad people were obviously otherworldly. Apparently her stupid friends thought they’d somehow be able to protect her from them. After a while it was fairly obvious what the Fatas were, but it took forever for Finn to figure it out. It took even longer for her to convince her friends. By the time the drama happened at the end, she’d been in the town and known everyone for about 2 months. She and Jack were literally willing to die for each other. The whole scene was overly dramatic.
This is the first book in a trilogy. Some things like her sister’s death got vague explanations but were satisfactory. Finn and Jack’s story was completely wrapped up. Nothing in this made me feel compelled to read the next one. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was a standalone.
For while I was really into this. Finn was depressed over the loss of her sister. She settled into her new town quickly by making friends and starting college. Finn had a hard time believing her sister committed suicide, and the more she learned about her sister the more suspicious her death seemed. She met Jack Fata and the rest of his bizarre family. She got the feeling there was some kind of connection between them and her sister. Something weird was going on with Jack. Being around Finn made him be able to bleed again, and I really wanted to know what that meant for him.
Unfortunately this went from interesting to YA cliched crap. The plot began to focus more on the romance than the sister's death or the bizarre happenings in town. Jack was a mysterious bad boy, so of course Finn was drawn to him against all better judgement. At one point things with Finn and Jack were getting intense when it was mentioned that Finn had only known Jack for a month. By then they were acting like they couldn't live without each other. Their relationship turned out to be nothing more than instalove with no realistic basis for a relationship. They didn’t know each other at all.
Farther into the story it developed a stronger YA feel. Finn and her friends were college freshman, so they were roughly 18. It felt like they were in high school. There was too much petty bickering and bullying. Finn got in a fight at college and went home to tell her dad. She was an adult. At that point in her life she wasn’t obligated to tell her dad about every mistake she made. Out of Finn and her two friends only one of them had a car. Finn didn’t even know how to drive. She and her other friend rode bikes. All three of them still lived at home. That didn’t seem so weird since the college was in the town. It was weird that Finn had a curfew. It was midnight which isn’t early, but the idea of college kids having curfews is odd IMO.
The character development was seriously needed work. The side characters had no depth. What you see is what you get with them. At first I thought some of the characters would be grey, and it would be hard to know where their loyalties lie. The bad people were simply bad, and the good were good. The only character with slightly questionable motives was Jack. He was supposed to be a serious threat to Finn, but I never got the feeling he would really hurt her. Finn’s two friends didn’t add much to the story. Sometimes I wondered why they were even in the book.
Finn acted dumber and dumber as the book went on. Her decisions became more reckless although everyone around her kept telling her what she was doing was dangerous. The intelligence of her friends was highly questionable also. They tagged along for every dumbass thing Finn did which put their lives in danger as well. The bad people were obviously otherworldly. Apparently her stupid friends thought they’d somehow be able to protect her from them. After a while it was fairly obvious what the Fatas were, but it took forever for Finn to figure it out. It took even longer for her to convince her friends. By the time the drama happened at the end, she’d been in the town and known everyone for about 2 months. She and Jack were literally willing to die for each other. The whole scene was overly dramatic.
This is the first book in a trilogy. Some things like her sister’s death got vague explanations but were satisfactory. Finn and Jack’s story was completely wrapped up. Nothing in this made me feel compelled to read the next one. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this was a standalone.
September 11, 2017
I didn't do this book any favors by putting it down for a couple of weeks, but I DIDN'T GET IT. Too meandering, too obscure. And I'd call it insta-love-y except for it didn't even quite feel like the characters were in love. Like, there just wasn't enough there even for insta-love
Too bad.
Too bad.
July 1, 2014
Finn Sullivan and her father move to the small town where he grew up in the wake of her older sister's suicide. There, Finn attends college and makes two good friends, Sylvie and Christie. She's finding the rhythm of life again. Then she meets gorgeous Jack Fata at a concert. The Fatas are beautiful, strange, and scary - soon Finn, Sylvie, and Christie are in over their heads. They must be clever to save themselves. But Finn doesn't just want to save herself; she wants to save Jack as well.
I felt that THORN JACK started slowly. For one thing, the college sounds nothing like a college and it really bothered me. It's called HallowHeart. What kind of name is that? It's even a college with a phys ed requirement. Plus, Finn and her friends all live at home and generally seem more like high schoolers than college students. I don't think it would've changed the story to put them in high school, and several little things would've made more sense.
I did enjoy being slowly pulled into the mythology of the Night and Nothing series. It's fairly traditional, as THORN JACK is based on the Tam Lin ballad. But it incorporates a few non-Celtic traditions and has its own spin on things. I also liked that the danger to the main characters felt very real. They mostly survive because the Fatas have plans for them, although they do a little better once they learn how to protect themselves and to fight (with poetry).
Katherine Harbour is a debut novelist, but she has strong control over her language. THORN JACK is very lush and lovely, although she repeats some of her best images until they become almost meaningless. Generally, however, the beautiful imagery enhances the horror elements.
If you're familiar with Tam Lin, you know where everything is headed in THORN JACK. But Harbour makes the story worth reading. Finn is a heroine who is somewhat foolhardy, but also loyal, determined, and inventive. Jack may be dangerous, but he's protective of Finn. (For a moment, it did look like THORN JACK was headed for the TWILIGHT mode.) Finn's best friends are great additions to the story. I am eager to read the next two books in the Night and Nothing series and to learn more about the wolf-eyed man.
I felt that THORN JACK started slowly. For one thing, the college sounds nothing like a college and it really bothered me. It's called HallowHeart. What kind of name is that? It's even a college with a phys ed requirement. Plus, Finn and her friends all live at home and generally seem more like high schoolers than college students. I don't think it would've changed the story to put them in high school, and several little things would've made more sense.
I did enjoy being slowly pulled into the mythology of the Night and Nothing series. It's fairly traditional, as THORN JACK is based on the Tam Lin ballad. But it incorporates a few non-Celtic traditions and has its own spin on things. I also liked that the danger to the main characters felt very real. They mostly survive because the Fatas have plans for them, although they do a little better once they learn how to protect themselves and to fight (with poetry).
Katherine Harbour is a debut novelist, but she has strong control over her language. THORN JACK is very lush and lovely, although she repeats some of her best images until they become almost meaningless. Generally, however, the beautiful imagery enhances the horror elements.
If you're familiar with Tam Lin, you know where everything is headed in THORN JACK. But Harbour makes the story worth reading. Finn is a heroine who is somewhat foolhardy, but also loyal, determined, and inventive. Jack may be dangerous, but he's protective of Finn. (For a moment, it did look like THORN JACK was headed for the TWILIGHT mode.) Finn's best friends are great additions to the story. I am eager to read the next two books in the Night and Nothing series and to learn more about the wolf-eyed man.
November 19, 2014
I couldn't finish this book, which I hardly ever do. The premise was promising, but I felt a lot of things were just happening with no explanation as to why they were, just because they had to happen. Christie and Sylvie become friends with Finn just because- there's no real reason or connection with it. Finn meets Christie behind her house in the woods and somehow they're friends after that, and she becomes friends with Sylvie too by default, and I'm just like, what? How did this happen? And the thing with Jack is the same way- Finn sees him, is intrigued, and suddenly she's in love with him. That escalated quickly. It also feels more high schoolish than the college age it's supposed to be, it feels very juvenile I'm some parts, such as the whole fight with Angyll and going to the office to discuss it- I had to recheck at that point to make sure this was college and not high school. There's this random nonsense quality to the book that I didn't necessarily care for- and flipping to the back and finding in the authors note that some of the inspiration came from Alice in Wonderland explained a lot of my aversion. To be fair I did truly like the setting and all the hits of mythology and folklore flung in, but I simply couldn't finish it.
March 14, 2014
The writing may be poor, but the storytelling is wonderful. There's talent here. And hey, I can't knock a fellow bookseller. I've been blessed to have read an earlier manuscript of this title as well as an official advance reader and understand she has been working with a very talented editor; it definitely shows.
How sixteen year old goth pagan me would have loved this story! I mean that in a good way.
How sixteen year old goth pagan me would have loved this story! I mean that in a good way.
December 23, 2021
When I started listening to this book, I resisted a little. Teenage urban fantasy, I sighed, and tried to remember what prompted me to buy it. (Ah – I'd gotten the ebook on the cheap, and there was a special price for the audiobook, so I took a shot.) I tsked over some phrasing – "when they'd been young"; "since they'd been little"; "when she'd been twelve", etc. But, on the other hand, I enjoyed things like this –
"Whatever."
"And once again the kingdom of whatever asserts itself."
It was clever. And funny. And intriguing. And sad. And creepy. And some of the writing achieved true poetry. I kept going.
The audiobook narrator, Kate Rudd, is overall very good, although I'm not in love with the way she reads intense scenes. Can't put my finger on exactly why. My only real complaint is that she insisted on pronouncing Tam Lin as "Tom Lin", which jangled against the ballad as I've always heard it. Well, and the fact that rather often the wrong "voice" was used for a character's lines. (To give her credit, it takes some time to get used to the main female character being named Finn, which is usually a male name, and her best male friend being named Christie, which outside of Ireland and Charles De Lint is usually not.) Well, and the fact that I got a bit weary of Finn exclaiming "Jack!!" like Rose in Titanic, but I suppose that one was unavoidable. (ETA after second listening: There had to be a way to avoid it, because my lord does Finn yell his name a lot...)
After a bit the story began to unfold in earnest. Finn and her father have moved back to the town where her parents went to school, planning to make a new start after the death a few years ago of her mother and the more recent suicide of her sister, and Finn began attending her parents' alma mater. She found a pair of amazing friends, Sylvie and Christie, with a speed that made me sigh again. I appreciated that Katherine Harbour had a solid knowledge of fantasy without feeling the need to reference Tolkien or Beagle every paragraph. I enjoyed the scents that permeated the book – people's individual fragrances, the smell of a street at night or a lawn at high noon or an abandoned and astonishingly creepy hotel. And the imagery began to get under my skin – and I mean that in a really good way. Her descriptions were a few degrees off the common, and conjured marvelously clear images. Her command of language is light years better than all those lesser writers I've seen who throw the book (the dictionary, that is) at a sentence to try to force the reader to "see" exactly what was in their minds, and just end up with word salad half the time. "He was like something that had stopped pretending to be human". "His eyes were colder than moonlight on a knife." "Jewels and eyes glittered like tooth and claw." Katherine Harbour writes like a painter. The imagery was so powerful I wish I'd had a sketchbook handy along with the leisure to fill it up as I listened, with things like boys filled with flowers and a hooded figure holding a rose in its hands. Maybe someday.
The names are magnificent. Leafstruck Mansion. HallowHeart. Caliban Ariel'Pan.
There is a nicely struck balance of humor and deadly seriousness. The three teenaged protagonists are wonderful characters – everyone deserves friends like these (however cranky the speed of their having been acquired made me), and their fate is never assured. They inadvertently interrupt an arcane wake, and while the reader-slash-listener knows that this could be a fatal misstep for them, the author adroitly shows that Our Heroes are all but clueless about the very real danger they're in. They're still not seeing the line between mundane and fae, still unaware that the world as they know it never really existed, and they do not understand that they are let off lightly when those holding the wake decide to penalize them with the lesser of three evils: mischief. It's bad enough – little do they know how very much worse it could be.
They find out.
And then someone came out and said the word "teind", and if it hadn't begun to happen already everything changed. "Tam Lin" (or as SJ Tucker calls it, "the 400-year-old Childe ballad about trying to rescue your baby-daddy from the queen of the fairies before it's too late") has been one of my favorite tales forever. Pamela Dean's novel of that name is something I've probably read half a dozen times (and I need to go find it and read it again), and one of the books I'd quite possibly go back into a burning building for is my thirty year old paperback of Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard, one of my favorite books in all the world (this or any other – also in need of a reread soon). (ETA: It's also available on Audible, in a really lovely narration, and now I don't have to rush to find my paperback, or risk my life for it.) And, of course, Steeleye Span's "Tam Lin" was a pillar of my twenties (and, to a lesser degree, Fairport Convention's). It's actually a theme I'm surprised hasn't been used to death, because the lady saves the knight's butt.
Something happened to me as I was listening to this book. You know the book (or movie) "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"? That's kind of how I felt, only quite not in the way Terry McMillan meant it. A long, long time ago, I drew. I painted. I wrote. I made things. I was positively steeped in Steeleye Span and Phoenyx and The Chieftains, and as often as possible I dressed in bodice and boots and bells and hied me to the Renaissance Faire.
I haven't done any of that in a long, long time. Did I "grow up"?
Why? Where's that gotten me?
Something … something about this book woke all of it up in me.
Another added bonus from this book is that a ways into it I felt the need to go listen to the ballad "Tam Lin", and betook myself to YouTube, intending to bring up Steeleye Span. Instead, I found Tricky Pixie, and fell straight in love, and have since become a fangirl of S.J. Tucker (Sooj!) in particular. (And in looking to expand my knowledge of where the group went after that one album ("Keepers of the Flame"), I discovered more about the aforementioned Phoenyx and lead singer and songwriter Heather Alexander; I'm still wrapping my brain around that.)
And so. Hopefully this will last. I really hope so. It felt … amazing. "Iron and salt. Poetry. Silver. Running water. Church bells, incense, mirrors, blessed ribbons, rowan wood, parsley, various other botanical varieties – these are your defenses." Silver, iron, salt, a talisman that means something (preferably in iron or silver) – these are the things that will keep you safe from the dark things, those things of night and nothing, the unseelie court. For the night is dark, and full of ter – um, yeah, anyway.
"Do you want this world of absolutes and accidents? Of hopelessness and ugly deaths? If we die, there will be no hope. Nothing but what you see." The sublime – something sadly absent in modern life – that's what else the night is full of, and faerie. It can kill you – or it can make you see, really see, kind of like a night on Cadair Idris.
Music and bells, incense and roses, Tricky Pixies and Phoenyxes – these are the things that will help to open me up to the starry night, the bright fae – the magic. I think I remember the path now.
Thanks, Katherine Harbour.
Tam Lin by Steeleye Span
Tam Lin by Tricky Pixie - a subtly different take, and my introduction to some spectacular people.
And if you're a completist, here's
Tam Lin by Fairport Convention
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
One final lesson that – depending on your outlook – might not be a bad thing to keep in mind: "Don't ever put anything outside your house with the word 'welcome' on it." Oh. Hey. Good point. (Happily, my doormat says "Hi. I'm Mat.")
"Whatever."
"And once again the kingdom of whatever asserts itself."
It was clever. And funny. And intriguing. And sad. And creepy. And some of the writing achieved true poetry. I kept going.
The audiobook narrator, Kate Rudd, is overall very good, although I'm not in love with the way she reads intense scenes. Can't put my finger on exactly why. My only real complaint is that she insisted on pronouncing Tam Lin as "Tom Lin", which jangled against the ballad as I've always heard it. Well, and the fact that rather often the wrong "voice" was used for a character's lines. (To give her credit, it takes some time to get used to the main female character being named Finn, which is usually a male name, and her best male friend being named Christie, which outside of Ireland and Charles De Lint is usually not.) Well, and the fact that I got a bit weary of Finn exclaiming "Jack!!" like Rose in Titanic, but I suppose that one was unavoidable. (ETA after second listening: There had to be a way to avoid it, because my lord does Finn yell his name a lot...)
After a bit the story began to unfold in earnest. Finn and her father have moved back to the town where her parents went to school, planning to make a new start after the death a few years ago of her mother and the more recent suicide of her sister, and Finn began attending her parents' alma mater. She found a pair of amazing friends, Sylvie and Christie, with a speed that made me sigh again. I appreciated that Katherine Harbour had a solid knowledge of fantasy without feeling the need to reference Tolkien or Beagle every paragraph. I enjoyed the scents that permeated the book – people's individual fragrances, the smell of a street at night or a lawn at high noon or an abandoned and astonishingly creepy hotel. And the imagery began to get under my skin – and I mean that in a really good way. Her descriptions were a few degrees off the common, and conjured marvelously clear images. Her command of language is light years better than all those lesser writers I've seen who throw the book (the dictionary, that is) at a sentence to try to force the reader to "see" exactly what was in their minds, and just end up with word salad half the time. "He was like something that had stopped pretending to be human". "His eyes were colder than moonlight on a knife." "Jewels and eyes glittered like tooth and claw." Katherine Harbour writes like a painter. The imagery was so powerful I wish I'd had a sketchbook handy along with the leisure to fill it up as I listened, with things like boys filled with flowers and a hooded figure holding a rose in its hands. Maybe someday.
The names are magnificent. Leafstruck Mansion. HallowHeart. Caliban Ariel'Pan.
There is a nicely struck balance of humor and deadly seriousness. The three teenaged protagonists are wonderful characters – everyone deserves friends like these (however cranky the speed of their having been acquired made me), and their fate is never assured. They inadvertently interrupt an arcane wake, and while the reader-slash-listener knows that this could be a fatal misstep for them, the author adroitly shows that Our Heroes are all but clueless about the very real danger they're in. They're still not seeing the line between mundane and fae, still unaware that the world as they know it never really existed, and they do not understand that they are let off lightly when those holding the wake decide to penalize them with the lesser of three evils: mischief. It's bad enough – little do they know how very much worse it could be.
They find out.
"Caliban and Phuagh shall escort you over the threshold."
Finn didn't like how Reiko had phrased that last statement. She searched for a trick. She looked over her shoulder at Jack, who said clearly, "Phouka – make sure they move safely over the threshold of this building and into Fair Hollow."
And then someone came out and said the word "teind", and if it hadn't begun to happen already everything changed. "Tam Lin" (or as SJ Tucker calls it, "the 400-year-old Childe ballad about trying to rescue your baby-daddy from the queen of the fairies before it's too late") has been one of my favorite tales forever. Pamela Dean's novel of that name is something I've probably read half a dozen times (and I need to go find it and read it again), and one of the books I'd quite possibly go back into a burning building for is my thirty year old paperback of Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard, one of my favorite books in all the world (this or any other – also in need of a reread soon). (ETA: It's also available on Audible, in a really lovely narration, and now I don't have to rush to find my paperback, or risk my life for it.) And, of course, Steeleye Span's "Tam Lin" was a pillar of my twenties (and, to a lesser degree, Fairport Convention's). It's actually a theme I'm surprised hasn't been used to death, because the lady saves the knight's butt.
Something happened to me as I was listening to this book. You know the book (or movie) "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"? That's kind of how I felt, only quite not in the way Terry McMillan meant it. A long, long time ago, I drew. I painted. I wrote. I made things. I was positively steeped in Steeleye Span and Phoenyx and The Chieftains, and as often as possible I dressed in bodice and boots and bells and hied me to the Renaissance Faire.
I haven't done any of that in a long, long time. Did I "grow up"?
Why? Where's that gotten me?
Something … something about this book woke all of it up in me.
Another added bonus from this book is that a ways into it I felt the need to go listen to the ballad "Tam Lin", and betook myself to YouTube, intending to bring up Steeleye Span. Instead, I found Tricky Pixie, and fell straight in love, and have since become a fangirl of S.J. Tucker (Sooj!) in particular. (And in looking to expand my knowledge of where the group went after that one album ("Keepers of the Flame"), I discovered more about the aforementioned Phoenyx and lead singer and songwriter Heather Alexander; I'm still wrapping my brain around that.)
And so. Hopefully this will last. I really hope so. It felt … amazing. "Iron and salt. Poetry. Silver. Running water. Church bells, incense, mirrors, blessed ribbons, rowan wood, parsley, various other botanical varieties – these are your defenses." Silver, iron, salt, a talisman that means something (preferably in iron or silver) – these are the things that will keep you safe from the dark things, those things of night and nothing, the unseelie court. For the night is dark, and full of ter – um, yeah, anyway.
"Do you want this world of absolutes and accidents? Of hopelessness and ugly deaths? If we die, there will be no hope. Nothing but what you see." The sublime – something sadly absent in modern life – that's what else the night is full of, and faerie. It can kill you – or it can make you see, really see, kind of like a night on Cadair Idris.
Music and bells, incense and roses, Tricky Pixies and Phoenyxes – these are the things that will help to open me up to the starry night, the bright fae – the magic. I think I remember the path now.
Thanks, Katherine Harbour.
Tam Lin by Steeleye Span
Tam Lin by Tricky Pixie - a subtly different take, and my introduction to some spectacular people.
And if you're a completist, here's
Tam Lin by Fairport Convention
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
One final lesson that – depending on your outlook – might not be a bad thing to keep in mind: "Don't ever put anything outside your house with the word 'welcome' on it." Oh. Hey. Good point. (Happily, my doormat says "Hi. I'm Mat.")
September 24, 2014
This is a good book to read in the fall. The description is so vivid you can almost feel the wind on your cheek and hear the dry leaves blowing across the ground. The fairy realm in this novel is truly frightening, and the town of Fair Hollow is a wonderful setting for all the goings-on. The author did a great job of setting an ominous tone with this marvelously strange place. I kind of want to visit Fair Hollow. But only in daylight.
I liked the main characters well enough, but Anna Weaver intrigues me the most at this point. I hope to see more of her in the coming books. There was a little more cat and mouse between Jack and Finn (and the Fatas in general and Finn)than I liked . It might be cool to get a book from Sylvie's or Christie's point of view.
When my husband and one of my coworkers read this, they were confused by the presence of the word "Emory" that kept popping up in a context that would imply it was some kind of plant. When I started it on audio, it was driving me crazy too, and I couldn't find anything satisfactory on the internet. The author's email is on her website, and I sent her an email about the mysterious "Emory". She emailed me back and explained that a character's surname had been changed last minute from "Ivy" to "Emory," and someone set it to autocorrect, accidentally changing every instance of the word "ivy" to "Emory" rather than just the proper name. I share this story in case it's confusing anyone else, but also because I thought it was nice of her to email back.
The audio was OK, but I eventually got tired of the way Christie's and Finn's voices were done, plus I wanted to get through it faster, so I switched to the print version about a third of the way in.
I liked the main characters well enough, but Anna Weaver intrigues me the most at this point. I hope to see more of her in the coming books. There was a little more cat and mouse between Jack and Finn (and the Fatas in general and Finn)than I liked . It might be cool to get a book from Sylvie's or Christie's point of view.
When my husband and one of my coworkers read this, they were confused by the presence of the word "Emory" that kept popping up in a context that would imply it was some kind of plant. When I started it on audio, it was driving me crazy too, and I couldn't find anything satisfactory on the internet. The author's email is on her website, and I sent her an email about the mysterious "Emory". She emailed me back and explained that a character's surname had been changed last minute from "Ivy" to "Emory," and someone set it to autocorrect, accidentally changing every instance of the word "ivy" to "Emory" rather than just the proper name. I share this story in case it's confusing anyone else, but also because I thought it was nice of her to email back.
The audio was OK, but I eventually got tired of the way Christie's and Finn's voices were done, plus I wanted to get through it faster, so I switched to the print version about a third of the way in.
December 17, 2017
This book was weird. Super weird. But I loved it. Dark fae. So many Twilightey scenes it was unreal. Got so fucking confusing at the end. Will probably have to reread it at some point if I continue on with the series.
July 11, 2016
A creepy retelling of Tam Lin (mostly I think) that had me frightened at some points and so terribly in love with Jack at others. Loved the characters and the setting and cannot wait to read the rest of the series.
June 26, 2014
I got a copy of this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. I was intrigued by the synopsis and lured in by the beautiful cover which is much different from other YA books out there. The story was beautifully written but wandering. At times it reminded me a bit of the style of Elizabeth Hand’s Waking the Moon, but with less substance than that book. This is supposed to be retelling of the Tam Lin fairy tale.
Finn moves with her dad to his home town of Fair Hollow after the death of her sister Lily. There her and her dad hope for a new start. Things start off well for Finn, when she meets Christie and his friend Sylvie they really hit it off. Then Finn meets Jack, he is dark and mysterious and draws Finn in. As Finn spends more time with Jack she is drawn into the dangerous world of the Fey. She hopes Jack can help her unravel the reason behind the death of her sister, but in the end it may be all Finn can do to escape with her life.
A lot of people have compared this book to Twilight. It does have that same sort of depressed girl meets hot mysterious dangerous boy thing going on. Of course the dangerous boy has a tender side and will do anything to protect said girl. However, this book was a lot more beautifully written. It is full of lush descriptions and tons of literature references which I really enjoyed. This book is also a lot darker; there is death, drugs, and many somewhat surreal scenes where you aren’t sure what is real and what isn’t.
More than Twilight this book reminds of a some of Elizabeth Hand’s early books (Waking the Moon, Blacklight). There are similar elements of dark rituals. There are also similar dark party scenes that are somewhat surreal. In these scenes there is heavy drug use and drinking and the reader is left to figure out what is magic and what is humans being under the influence. It all blends together to make somewhat wild and dark scenes that are beautifully gothic and dreamy, as well as being somewhat disturbing and dark.
I thought the imagery throughout was amazing, this is one of those book where the scenes are described so well they really really come alive...they are just so vivid. I loved the inclusion of fey mythology and ritual throughout. I am a huge fan of faerie themed stories, especially those that venture into the darker side of faerie. I love fairy tale retellings and this story definitely has a number of elements from the original Tam Lin fairy tale (which it is supposed to be a retelling of).
My biggest complaint about this book is that it felt very long. All the beautiful descriptions got to be a bit too much at times and slowed the story down; so this is something that could have been balanced better. Also the story felt like it wandered at times, so the pacing could have been more consistent.
The book ends well and ties up most of the loose ends, which I liked. I think this author has huge potentially, some of this book is really beautiful. The storyline just needed to be tightened up a bit, paced better, and made a bit cleaner.
Overall a beautifully written retelling of Tam Lin. I loved the dark faerie lore and ritual throughout. I also really enjoyed the lush descriptions and beautiful writing. The story did wander some and at times the description was a bit too heavy…this made the book feel really long while I was reading it. So while I enjoyed it, there were a couple times when I found myself thinking “Isn’t this story over yet!” I would recommend to those who love dark and gothic fairy tale retellings, or to those who love to read about the darker side of the Fae.
Finn moves with her dad to his home town of Fair Hollow after the death of her sister Lily. There her and her dad hope for a new start. Things start off well for Finn, when she meets Christie and his friend Sylvie they really hit it off. Then Finn meets Jack, he is dark and mysterious and draws Finn in. As Finn spends more time with Jack she is drawn into the dangerous world of the Fey. She hopes Jack can help her unravel the reason behind the death of her sister, but in the end it may be all Finn can do to escape with her life.
A lot of people have compared this book to Twilight. It does have that same sort of depressed girl meets hot mysterious dangerous boy thing going on. Of course the dangerous boy has a tender side and will do anything to protect said girl. However, this book was a lot more beautifully written. It is full of lush descriptions and tons of literature references which I really enjoyed. This book is also a lot darker; there is death, drugs, and many somewhat surreal scenes where you aren’t sure what is real and what isn’t.
More than Twilight this book reminds of a some of Elizabeth Hand’s early books (Waking the Moon, Blacklight). There are similar elements of dark rituals. There are also similar dark party scenes that are somewhat surreal. In these scenes there is heavy drug use and drinking and the reader is left to figure out what is magic and what is humans being under the influence. It all blends together to make somewhat wild and dark scenes that are beautifully gothic and dreamy, as well as being somewhat disturbing and dark.
I thought the imagery throughout was amazing, this is one of those book where the scenes are described so well they really really come alive...they are just so vivid. I loved the inclusion of fey mythology and ritual throughout. I am a huge fan of faerie themed stories, especially those that venture into the darker side of faerie. I love fairy tale retellings and this story definitely has a number of elements from the original Tam Lin fairy tale (which it is supposed to be a retelling of).
My biggest complaint about this book is that it felt very long. All the beautiful descriptions got to be a bit too much at times and slowed the story down; so this is something that could have been balanced better. Also the story felt like it wandered at times, so the pacing could have been more consistent.
The book ends well and ties up most of the loose ends, which I liked. I think this author has huge potentially, some of this book is really beautiful. The storyline just needed to be tightened up a bit, paced better, and made a bit cleaner.
Overall a beautifully written retelling of Tam Lin. I loved the dark faerie lore and ritual throughout. I also really enjoyed the lush descriptions and beautiful writing. The story did wander some and at times the description was a bit too heavy…this made the book feel really long while I was reading it. So while I enjoyed it, there were a couple times when I found myself thinking “Isn’t this story over yet!” I would recommend to those who love dark and gothic fairy tale retellings, or to those who love to read about the darker side of the Fae.
June 18, 2018
If you liked Twilight but wished Bella had some more agency and a really close knit group of friends, then I think you'll enjoy this book.
I'm pretty sure it's a modern day retelling of Tamlin, and though it definitely made me snooze in some places there were also some really creepy bits as well.
Instalove?
Well yeah. But I honestly didn't mind so much. I was here for the mystery and the atmosphere. Oh, and the Shakespearean ghosts.
Jack does have this annoying habit of saying something enigmatic and then VANISHING INTO THE NIGHT or DISAPPEARING INTO A PILE OF LEAVES you get the gist he was really just a real drama queen okay?
My biggest objection was how convoluted the storytelling was.
When I was a little girl I had this really high fever, and I dreamt that I was building a castle made out of blocks and someone kept knocking it over and I was forced to make the castle again. Over and over this occurred. Long story short, I woke up standing in my living room, and my mother was trying to speak to me. I didn't know how I'd gotten there. I didn't understand anything.
That's basically what this book felt like.
I enjoyed the characters and their journey but at the same time there were so many confusing pieces of dialogue that never added up and plot points that were vaguely hinted at but not explained until the last chapter.
Most of the characters freaking talked in lines of poetry and then threatened to kill someone, so that should tell you everything you need to know.
Overall, I appreciated this novel but I was so confused. I couldn't love it because I felt alot of it was sloppily done. Still, when I next visit the library I will get the next one. I'm interested enough to do that.
Also, this quote is everything:
"How come I don't see them moving?" Christie whisper shrieked.
Sylvie murmured, " Between. Christie, I saw something like this on Doctor Who- don't take your eyes off them."
"What? Are you kidding? Doctor-"
I love that this book is super high stakes and not everybody makes it out okay but it still doesn't take itself too seriously.
And can I just say?
I expected there to be fade to black sex in this.
I was so surprised and happy that this book just contained kissing even though it is an adult title. It is so hard to avoid.
3.5 stars.
I'm pretty sure it's a modern day retelling of Tamlin, and though it definitely made me snooze in some places there were also some really creepy bits as well.
Instalove?
Well yeah. But I honestly didn't mind so much. I was here for the mystery and the atmosphere. Oh, and the Shakespearean ghosts.
Jack does have this annoying habit of saying something enigmatic and then VANISHING INTO THE NIGHT or DISAPPEARING INTO A PILE OF LEAVES you get the gist he was really just a real drama queen okay?
My biggest objection was how convoluted the storytelling was.
When I was a little girl I had this really high fever, and I dreamt that I was building a castle made out of blocks and someone kept knocking it over and I was forced to make the castle again. Over and over this occurred. Long story short, I woke up standing in my living room, and my mother was trying to speak to me. I didn't know how I'd gotten there. I didn't understand anything.
That's basically what this book felt like.
I enjoyed the characters and their journey but at the same time there were so many confusing pieces of dialogue that never added up and plot points that were vaguely hinted at but not explained until the last chapter.
Most of the characters freaking talked in lines of poetry and then threatened to kill someone, so that should tell you everything you need to know.
Overall, I appreciated this novel but I was so confused. I couldn't love it because I felt alot of it was sloppily done. Still, when I next visit the library I will get the next one. I'm interested enough to do that.
Also, this quote is everything:
"How come I don't see them moving?" Christie whisper shrieked.
Sylvie murmured, " Between. Christie, I saw something like this on Doctor Who- don't take your eyes off them."
"What? Are you kidding? Doctor-"
I love that this book is super high stakes and not everybody makes it out okay but it still doesn't take itself too seriously.
And can I just say?
I expected there to be fade to black sex in this.
I was so surprised and happy that this book just contained kissing even though it is an adult title. It is so hard to avoid.
3.5 stars.
May 14, 2018
Okay. Imagine a little old lady's house that's just a mess of teacups, floral prints, overgrown garden, old books, dusty chandeliers and those little fake birds everywhere. Got it? Great, now imagine a bunch of goth teenagers hanging out there and you have this book. (Make sure they all have flowers in their hair. Literally EVERYONE in this book wears flowers in their hair.)
The best thing about this book is the atmosphere. It feels very dark-fairy-tale and magical. There are some sections where I was genuinely creeped out, too. But it also feels very, very confusing.
There are a ton of characters, and I found it difficult to care about them. It was hard to keep everyone straight and it was hard to know who was talking all the time-- everyone sounds the same, conversations make no sense, and Harbour tends to skip dialogue tags. And no one tells each other anything. I had no idea what was going on for about half of the book. It almost seemed to me like the atmosphere was a success at the loss of chemistry among the characters. There was no reason for anyone to like anyone, except that everyone is ridiculously gorgeous.
There were some brilliant ideas in here-- a dead man whose heart has been cut out, who only bleeds because a girl's love has made his heart regrow, and a town terrorized by evil fae for generations. I picked it up because it's a retelling of Tam Lin-- a story that just downright intrigues me. But it didn't feel like a Tam Lin retelling until the ending, which was actually pretty great, but by then it was too late for me. Some might love it simply because of the atmosphere, but for me there were too many musical references and random spewing of poetry and cryptic conversations and not enough chemistry and characterization.
The best thing about this book is the atmosphere. It feels very dark-fairy-tale and magical. There are some sections where I was genuinely creeped out, too. But it also feels very, very confusing.
There are a ton of characters, and I found it difficult to care about them. It was hard to keep everyone straight and it was hard to know who was talking all the time-- everyone sounds the same, conversations make no sense, and Harbour tends to skip dialogue tags. And no one tells each other anything. I had no idea what was going on for about half of the book. It almost seemed to me like the atmosphere was a success at the loss of chemistry among the characters. There was no reason for anyone to like anyone, except that everyone is ridiculously gorgeous.
There were some brilliant ideas in here-- a dead man whose heart has been cut out, who only bleeds because a girl's love has made his heart regrow, and a town terrorized by evil fae for generations. I picked it up because it's a retelling of Tam Lin-- a story that just downright intrigues me. But it didn't feel like a Tam Lin retelling until the ending, which was actually pretty great, but by then it was too late for me. Some might love it simply because of the atmosphere, but for me there were too many musical references and random spewing of poetry and cryptic conversations and not enough chemistry and characterization.
October 4, 2016
**This is a Window Seat Blog review http://readinginthewindowseat.blogspo... **
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters and the mythology and the dark gothic tones. But I can also see why people don't like it. Fortunately for me, I know enough about the mythology of creatures mentioned in this book that reading all of the vague descriptions and hints ended up adding to my enjoyment. For someone who didn't know anything? That could probably get pretty frustrating. And being that I love gothic romance novels, like Wuthering Heights, I enjoyed the constant descriptions. However even there I can see where they might bore a different reader. There was also the fact that this book took me much longer than a book usually would to read. That might have something to do with the physical size of the pages however (I have the hard cover, haven't seen the paperback so don't know if the shape is similar). They printed this book on wider paper than normal, and because of that there were more words per page. Even though I loved this story, even I got frustrated a few times that it felt like I'd been reading forever and hadn't made a dent in it.
All of that being said, if you don't know anything about old faeries or Tam Lin, look it up and then READ THIS BOOK. It's worth it. I fell in total love with Jack, despite all of his flaws, and I fully enjoyed the other characters as well. Some of the scenes are so colorful and full of life I one hundred percent felt like I was there while reading about them. This is a fantastic read, so long as you keep in mind while doing so it might take you longer to get through than you're used to.
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters and the mythology and the dark gothic tones. But I can also see why people don't like it. Fortunately for me, I know enough about the mythology of creatures mentioned in this book that reading all of the vague descriptions and hints ended up adding to my enjoyment. For someone who didn't know anything? That could probably get pretty frustrating. And being that I love gothic romance novels, like Wuthering Heights, I enjoyed the constant descriptions. However even there I can see where they might bore a different reader. There was also the fact that this book took me much longer than a book usually would to read. That might have something to do with the physical size of the pages however (I have the hard cover, haven't seen the paperback so don't know if the shape is similar). They printed this book on wider paper than normal, and because of that there were more words per page. Even though I loved this story, even I got frustrated a few times that it felt like I'd been reading forever and hadn't made a dent in it.
All of that being said, if you don't know anything about old faeries or Tam Lin, look it up and then READ THIS BOOK. It's worth it. I fell in total love with Jack, despite all of his flaws, and I fully enjoyed the other characters as well. Some of the scenes are so colorful and full of life I one hundred percent felt like I was there while reading about them. This is a fantastic read, so long as you keep in mind while doing so it might take you longer to get through than you're used to.
dnf
August 21, 2014Pages read: 50
Seriously, what is up with me and why can't I stop DNFing? Anyway, here are the reasons I am quitting Thorn Jack:
1) The world building ought to be awesome and magical. It's a normal world and all of a sudden holy shit no it's not motherfucking faeries! Only I'm mostly just frustrated that all of this obviously not normal stuff happens and Finn isn't really questioning any of it.
2) I haven't actually read Tam Lin, so this might be a brilliant retelling which would keep me interested but I have no idea.
3) Finn's made friends and they're talking and obviously trying to banter, but they're just boring characters on a page having conversations and failing to be quirky.
4) The common convention is to start a new paragraph when a different character begins talking. Harbour does not subscribe to this and it's both confusing and annoying.
5) My hope was there might be an awesome ship, but I read some reviews and now know who the guy will be and I already unship it, so noooope. That was my last hope gone.
Goodbye, book. May you find a reader more suited to you than I.
Seriously, what is up with me and why can't I stop DNFing? Anyway, here are the reasons I am quitting Thorn Jack:
1) The world building ought to be awesome and magical. It's a normal world and all of a sudden holy shit no it's not motherfucking faeries! Only I'm mostly just frustrated that all of this obviously not normal stuff happens and Finn isn't really questioning any of it.
2) I haven't actually read Tam Lin, so this might be a brilliant retelling which would keep me interested but I have no idea.
3) Finn's made friends and they're talking and obviously trying to banter, but they're just boring characters on a page having conversations and failing to be quirky.
4) The common convention is to start a new paragraph when a different character begins talking. Harbour does not subscribe to this and it's both confusing and annoying.
5) My hope was there might be an awesome ship, but I read some reviews and now know who the guy will be and I already unship it, so noooope. That was my last hope gone.
Goodbye, book. May you find a reader more suited to you than I.
July 20, 2015
I really enjoyed the beginning of this novel, gobbled it up in fact, but at about halfway through it I tired of reading about how beautiful every character is, and what they are wearing. The politics are mucky and the confrontations are poorly described. All together it's like manga and Hot Topic had a baby.
May 8, 2017
Almost a week after finishing it, I still have some unresolved thoughts and feelings about "Thorn Jack." It's another one of those books I would glad give 3.5/5.0 if it weren't for Goodreads crappy rating system (sorry-not sorry Goodreads). Finn Sullivan and her father leave California for Fair Hollow, New York following her sister Lily's suicide, where Finn plans to start college and her father a new teaching job. Immediately Finn starts noticing some odd things about Fair Hollow and Hallow Heart college. She makes a few friends, but there is also a group of "misfits" who associate with a family named Feta. Although all seem to belong to the same family, Finn quickly notices that something is amiss. She makes two friends, Sylvie and Christie (whom I immediately fell in love with because Christie is also the male lead in one of my favorite movies - What Dreams May Come - RIP Robin Williams). Together, the three of them manage to get in over their heads as they unravel the mysteries of the strange town they call home and its inhabitants.
I have to admit I am not extremely familiar with the tale of Tam Lim and perhaps it may have hindered me some, but for the most part, I think I was able to enjoy Harbour's tale on its own. I like the mystical Feta "family" and enjoyed learning more about their backstories, even mean girl Reiko. Jack was a pain and at times, quite unlikable, but hey, a lot of guys are at his age so I really wasn't surprised. There is a lot of mythology and Scottish folklore which I also found interesting. In fact, I will go to say that I fell in love with the author's odd little town and all its quirky setting and architecture. However, there are also some aspects of the book which I didn't enjoy as much. It iswas VERY wordy and sometimes I felt the descriptions went overboard. In fact, there were times Harbour almost lost me. Also, Finn sort of gave me Bella flashbacks (Twilight). There were times in the book she made stupid decision after stupid decision. I also had a hard time remembering these kids were in college when they clearly acted like high school students most of the time.
I was happy with the conclusion and there are some unresolved issues which I am sure will be addressed in the next two books. I will probably pick up the others at some point because I'm interested to read more of Harbour's lyrical writing and want to see where the story heads now that the main plot of "Thorn Jack" has been resolved. At one point in the novel, I actually thought it was a town I wished I had lived in but toward the end, that opinion changed (and those who've read this will understand why). If you liked Tam Lin or retellings in general, you should consider giving "Thorn Jack" a read.
I have to admit I am not extremely familiar with the tale of Tam Lim and perhaps it may have hindered me some, but for the most part, I think I was able to enjoy Harbour's tale on its own. I like the mystical Feta "family" and enjoyed learning more about their backstories, even mean girl Reiko. Jack was a pain and at times, quite unlikable, but hey, a lot of guys are at his age so I really wasn't surprised. There is a lot of mythology and Scottish folklore which I also found interesting. In fact, I will go to say that I fell in love with the author's odd little town and all its quirky setting and architecture. However, there are also some aspects of the book which I didn't enjoy as much. It iswas VERY wordy and sometimes I felt the descriptions went overboard. In fact, there were times Harbour almost lost me. Also, Finn sort of gave me Bella flashbacks (Twilight). There were times in the book she made stupid decision after stupid decision. I also had a hard time remembering these kids were in college when they clearly acted like high school students most of the time.
I was happy with the conclusion and there are some unresolved issues which I am sure will be addressed in the next two books. I will probably pick up the others at some point because I'm interested to read more of Harbour's lyrical writing and want to see where the story heads now that the main plot of "Thorn Jack" has been resolved. At one point in the novel, I actually thought it was a town I wished I had lived in but toward the end, that opinion changed (and those who've read this will understand why). If you liked Tam Lin or retellings in general, you should consider giving "Thorn Jack" a read.
August 15, 2019
This was a re-read. She's a visual storyteller and really pulls you into the story. My only beef was it felt scattered as we jumped around to different scenes. and i was more confused about what the hero was for a while. All and all i love this book.
March 26, 2025
You know, it’s hilarious that this is all about creatures who look and seem nice but have nothing of substance because that’s exactly how I feel about this book.
June 30, 2014
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
This is clearly a first novel - and after about 30% into the read, it was obvious that the Editor earned her paycheck. For while there are no typos or obvious sentence issues, a sophisticated reader will soon see the problems in the writing's bigger picture: pacing, world building superficiality, lack of originality in characters, and a LOT of superfluous scenes and paragraphs that don't add to the story. With experience, I hope subsequent books tighten the writing.It feels like a concept book in many ways: from the writer's perspective, I could see her saying, "I'll rewrite a more obscure fable like Tam Lin." From the editor's perspective, I can see her saying, "It is a Twilight and Beautiful Creatures' love child AND retelling a fairy tell (so popular now)! Best of all, it's got faeries (another popular YA theme!), and a Scooby Gang (go Buffy!)." And so it comes off as less than the sum of its parts: forced and cobbled together.
Story: Finn (Serafina) moves to Vermont from San Francisco after the suicide of her fey older sister. Cue Scooby Gang meet up and then mysterious boy who is clearly supernatural. Can Finn rewrite the tale of Tam Lin by saving her mysterious dark boy from the Fairie Queen?
For me, I was very excited by the writing until 30% into the book - it was looking to be 5 stars all the way. And then the supernatural started to kick in and the story ground to a halt. Choppy, abrupt, and unnecessary character POVs changes derailed a lot of the story and pace. Our intrepid heroine would ask someone directly about the fairy folk (the Fatas) and get a roundabout answer, end POV. Then abrupt change to someone else's POV - and we're left wondering why people who know what's going on never give a straight answer and never get asked more than once? It became very frustrating and nearly impossible to stay immersed in the story once the POV left Finn.
The characters were very flat - we've seen them all before. Finn's two new friends were pretty much Ron Wesley and Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Love interest Jack was Edward from Twilight. And the murkily evil Fata family were pretty much the evil family from Beautiful Creatures. Other characters were unnecessary - Phouka, for instance, as a love interest for the Ron Wasley character Christie (Chrisopher) could have been excised completely without affecting the story.
I still can't figure out why the Fata family fairy queen had a Japanese name and why there were Japanese mythological characters in there (kitsune and a tengu, for example). Muddled between that were copious amounts of Shakespeare fairy references with Yeats dropped liberally (and rather incongruously) as well. It was such an odd mash up.
But most frustrating to me was the complete lack of reaction or repercussions to the supernatural world in which the characters suddenly find themselves. Ghosts, witches, fairies - no one seems to be reacting to them at all other than to think they are suddenly hallucinating. It didn't ring true and the book went downhill from that point, bouncing between characters and scenes without a realistic reaction from anyone. As well, the whole point of the Scooby gang seemed to be to get captured so there would be a deus ex machina reaction from main character Finn. The Fatas were pretty stupid.
If I was not well read in the YA genre, I likely would have enjoyed this book a lot more. My rating teetered between 2 and 3 stars but I have decided on 3 because I wasn't tearing my hair out with annoyance while reading. I was just, honestly, bored. Too much getting excited about almost learning something and then abrupt dump into someone else's boring POV. Over and over again, never progressing with the plot and with everyone seeming to give cryptic answers for no real point.
I hope for future books in the series that the editors tighten up the plot and writing and really hone Harbour's writing to focus on a few characters and not try to overtell the story so disastrously. No more excessive quoting of Shakespeare and poetry, no more 15+ character POVs, and let scenes unravel organically without abruptly ending them after only a few pages.
Reviewed from an ARC.
July 1, 2018
As it's been a trend for me lately, I'm stuck between a 3 and 4 stars on this one.
I loved the free style of writing and poetic descriptions of the settings and characters that Harbour created. She created a very magical setting that made the Fae here harken back to the dark creatures that Yeats has written about of Scotland and Ireland lore, respectively and I loved that.
While the book was told in a modern world, the Fae characters still feel old and some not only dress the part but speak in riddles much to the irritation of Finn, the main character who has fallen in love with Jack, one of the jacks of lore and has her world turned upside down and sideways in order to save him without understanding what she's gotten herself into.
And here is where I struggled with the rating because as much as loved the writing and the magic it evoked, the romance didn't work for me and considering that Jack was only interested in her because he was commanded to be so by the Fae Queen as Finn's felt more as a bewitchment from the start for the same purpose, a Queen's enjoyment so it left me not believing either where as Finn's love for her family and friends seemed natural that it didn't leave any doubt.
I'm interested to see if Harbour wrote a book about any of the other characters here so I might be on the lookout because again, I did enjoy her writing style just not the romance.
I loved the free style of writing and poetic descriptions of the settings and characters that Harbour created. She created a very magical setting that made the Fae here harken back to the dark creatures that Yeats has written about of Scotland and Ireland lore, respectively and I loved that.
While the book was told in a modern world, the Fae characters still feel old and some not only dress the part but speak in riddles much to the irritation of Finn, the main character who has fallen in love with Jack, one of the jacks of lore and has her world turned upside down and sideways in order to save him without understanding what she's gotten herself into.
And here is where I struggled with the rating because as much as loved the writing and the magic it evoked, the romance didn't work for me and considering that Jack was only interested in her because he was commanded to be so by the Fae Queen as Finn's felt more as a bewitchment from the start for the same purpose, a Queen's enjoyment so it left me not believing either where as Finn's love for her family and friends seemed natural that it didn't leave any doubt.
I'm interested to see if Harbour wrote a book about any of the other characters here so I might be on the lookout because again, I did enjoy her writing style just not the romance.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 308 reviews