So I was torn while sorting this by shelf, because it's not a fairy tale although it is a tale about Faerie, which is very different.

How did I miss Elizabeth Bear? I have this odd feeling I tried this series before and started with Ink and Steel and totally didn't get it (even though it's a separate duo logy). The cover looks familiar, but I lose track so easily...anyway.

One of the really cool things about this book (other than the horse named Whiskey) is how it both works with and against conceptions of the Fae. It takes faeries and the legends about the Sidhe and the British Isles seriously and doesn't mitigate the otherness of the Fae, but it still manages to make them sympathetic characters. Bear doesn't make the fae seem human, but she...shows how the humans almost appear fae from the opposite perspective. And it's impossible to tell what the line is between good and evil, but not in the [a:George R. R. Martin|346732|George R.R. Martin|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg] "everyone's a jerk" fashion, but in the "wars are complicated when both sides have grudges and are willing to destroy the others to survive and thrive" which I prefer.

Also, I have a soft spot for books that include the Lions outside the NYPL. Anyway, I really enjoyed this and have to pencil in catching up on everything Bear has written.

(Which brings me to two squeecast regulars whose books I love)