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Iona Fay #2
Iona Fay & The Fire Keepers
IONA FAY & THE FIRE KEEPERS (book #2 in the IONA FAY SERIES) continues the modern, magical Irish fairy tale about Iona and her fairy family.
Iona Fay, a spirited 13-year-old from the United States, tries out her new fairy wings in Northern Ireland — where the dangerous Fire Keepers dwell. Determined to find answers about her father, Iona must learn to trust others, and discovers that it begins with trusting herself.
IONA FAY & THE FIRE KEEPERS, follows IONA FAY (book #1) in which Iona searches for her missing mother in Ireland, only to discover her mother is lost to the Fairy World. To find her mother, she must forget everything she knows about reality and embrace a world of magic. For Iona, real magic begins with believing in herself.
The IONA FAY SERIES is filled with positive and empowering stories, written to inspire self-confidence in middle graders. Throughout the series, young readers go on epic Irish adventures to various fairy realms where Iona discovers more than she imagines about magic, family, friends, and herself.
Iona Fay, a spirited 13-year-old from the United States, tries out her new fairy wings in Northern Ireland — where the dangerous Fire Keepers dwell. Determined to find answers about her father, Iona must learn to trust others, and discovers that it begins with trusting herself.
IONA FAY & THE FIRE KEEPERS, follows IONA FAY (book #1) in which Iona searches for her missing mother in Ireland, only to discover her mother is lost to the Fairy World. To find her mother, she must forget everything she knows about reality and embrace a world of magic. For Iona, real magic begins with believing in herself.
The IONA FAY SERIES is filled with positive and empowering stories, written to inspire self-confidence in middle graders. Throughout the series, young readers go on epic Irish adventures to various fairy realms where Iona discovers more than she imagines about magic, family, friends, and herself.
177 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2017
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302 people want to read
About the author
Gayvin Powers
3 books30 followersGayvin Powers is a writer-in-residence at the Weymouth Center and teaches film and humanities at Sandhills Community College in North Carolina. After earning an MFA from the American Film Institute and BA from the University of Southern California, she was the first writer to win the Ojai Film Society Award. Iona Fay, a modern Irish fairy tale, is the first book in the Iona Fay series and Iona Fay & The Fire Keepers is being released in early 2017. For more information, go to: Gayvin Powers.com and IonaFay.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 28, 2017
My daughter, Mia, age 9 had this to say about the book: "I thought this was an excellent book. It was full of adventure and excitement. I love how Iona knows Tae Kwon Do! This book would give you fairy wings and lift you off your feet on an adventure to the fire fairies land. Even though it's just a book, you will experience the life of Ioana Fay. I would give it a 50 out of 10. If you haven't read the first book, do! If you read the first book before the second book you will understand it much better. I can't wait until the third book comes out BEWARE OF THE CLIFFHANGER!!!"
February 27, 2017
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I must say, I like the author's stated intention of writing strong heroines for girls. Unfortunately, this book fell a bit flat for me. I don't think the cause was the fact that it was the second book in a series; I believe I got a good picture of what happened in the previous book.
Firstly, it's very poorly edited. Words are misspelled; there is one case of a word that shouldn't be there; many words are used in the wrong context or the wrong form is used. Poor editing immediately tends to bounce me, and keeps me from full immersion in the story.
The biggest problem I had, though, was the fact that the author tended to simply have Iona explain her feelings to the reader, rather than describing them. For instance, Iona says of Gita/Iris, "I am delighted and revolted to see Gita again. I want to shake her, slug her, and hug her all at once." This sort of statement of emotion tends to emphasize the cerebral report of her feelings, but it doesn't bring the reader closer to them. There are seldom any physical feelings associated with her emotions, nor do any of these emotions really linger beyond the statement that she is feeling them -- she doesn't have emotions that persist beyond an immediate situation, though her thoughts carry over. There is a disconnect between feeling and thought that I really couldn't get past.
I also didn't think that Iona sounded like a 13-year-old -- she could have been stated to be 21, and I wouldn't have been able to tell he difference. Basically, I could never really empathize with Iona, because her feelings seemed shallow.
I also wasn't fond of the way the characters spoke -- the characters tended to speak the same way, except for when the Irish characters added a stereotypically Irish phrase, presumably to sound more Irish. Since those tags came in randomly, and their speech pattern did not differ from Iona's in any other way, it wasn't highly convincing to me.
That's not to say there isn't any good in the story. The descriptions of setting and characters are lovely and the action is fast-moving and cinematic. The world is beautifully well-realized, and as I said previously, the plot is a solid quest plot. There's a lot of good stuff here. I just want to see the author drill down into the meat of the story, rather than skim the surface. The fact that it's middle-grade fiction shouldn't make a difference; the best middle-grade fantasy handles emotions and characterizations deftly and deeply.
But first, the author needs a copy editor!
I must say, I like the author's stated intention of writing strong heroines for girls. Unfortunately, this book fell a bit flat for me. I don't think the cause was the fact that it was the second book in a series; I believe I got a good picture of what happened in the previous book.
Firstly, it's very poorly edited. Words are misspelled; there is one case of a word that shouldn't be there; many words are used in the wrong context or the wrong form is used. Poor editing immediately tends to bounce me, and keeps me from full immersion in the story.
The biggest problem I had, though, was the fact that the author tended to simply have Iona explain her feelings to the reader, rather than describing them. For instance, Iona says of Gita/Iris, "I am delighted and revolted to see Gita again. I want to shake her, slug her, and hug her all at once." This sort of statement of emotion tends to emphasize the cerebral report of her feelings, but it doesn't bring the reader closer to them. There are seldom any physical feelings associated with her emotions, nor do any of these emotions really linger beyond the statement that she is feeling them -- she doesn't have emotions that persist beyond an immediate situation, though her thoughts carry over. There is a disconnect between feeling and thought that I really couldn't get past.
I also didn't think that Iona sounded like a 13-year-old -- she could have been stated to be 21, and I wouldn't have been able to tell he difference. Basically, I could never really empathize with Iona, because her feelings seemed shallow.
I also wasn't fond of the way the characters spoke -- the characters tended to speak the same way, except for when the Irish characters added a stereotypically Irish phrase, presumably to sound more Irish. Since those tags came in randomly, and their speech pattern did not differ from Iona's in any other way, it wasn't highly convincing to me.
That's not to say there isn't any good in the story. The descriptions of setting and characters are lovely and the action is fast-moving and cinematic. The world is beautifully well-realized, and as I said previously, the plot is a solid quest plot. There's a lot of good stuff here. I just want to see the author drill down into the meat of the story, rather than skim the surface. The fact that it's middle-grade fiction shouldn't make a difference; the best middle-grade fantasy handles emotions and characterizations deftly and deeply.
But first, the author needs a copy editor!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews