Fairy Debt by Gail Carriger: Book Review

Title: Fairy Debt
Author: Gail Carriger
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Publication Date: 2013
Number of Pages: 18 pages (~5000 words)
Series: Stand Alone
Reason for Discovery: Gail Carriger's website

According to GoodReads:

"I knew it would all end in tears the moment I saw the hat." Cups is a fairy with a problem. She can't grow wings because is she under a death promise to a local king. So she takes service at his castle as the Least Jester, hoping to earn her wings and learns a great deal about cupcakes, tea daemons, and Earth dragons along the way. 

This short story (~5000 words) by Gail Carriger is a fun, quick read. For those who are a fan of the Parasol Protectorate universe, this is a stand alone story and in a completely different universe. This book feels similar to something that you would find in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles universe (author: Patricia C Wrede). In other words, clever and sometimes snarky characters who live in a magical world.

I was quite impressed with how well Carriger used her 5000 words. Carriger was able to balance plot movement with character and world development fairly well. The writing felt quite natural and flowed for the most part. As a reader, I was happy to take the ride. I didn't find myself looking to see how many pages I had left. I was content to let the book guide me down the path. Typically, with novelettes and novellas, I am constantly checking to see how much I have left, because I have found that this type of story wraps up in two sentences or the story ends on a cliffhanger (usually for an introduction to the next book in a series). With that said, even though I wasn't check how far into the story I was, Fairy Debt does wrap up a little faster than I would have liked. I wish that the story was just a smidgen longer to wrap up things a little bit cleaner.

4 out of 5 fairies


10 comments:

Chanzie said...
October 24, 2013 at 4:21 AM

This sounds like a great story for kids :) Glad to know I am not the only one who counts down pages at times, either for the story to end or if it's a great book for it not to end... Great Review Pam!

Tabitha (Pabkins) said...
October 24, 2013 at 12:38 PM

Oo! I will have to check this out then! You can flog me but I still haven't read any of Gail's books!

Unknown said...
October 24, 2013 at 2:47 PM

Thanks! I have become obsessed with tracking my progress now that I can see it so many different ways with my kindle (i.e., minutes, %, and pages).

Unknown said...
October 24, 2013 at 2:48 PM

LOL. You are still ahead of me with reading, so no worries. I would read Soulless over this little story though.

Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer said...
October 24, 2013 at 4:46 PM

Pam despite wanting a longer ending you have me so curious about this one. Lovely review!

Donna said...
October 25, 2013 at 12:30 AM

That's awesome! I'd love to read something different from Gail Carriger. I think she does banter so well. I enjoy her writing.

Unknown said...
October 25, 2013 at 12:40 AM

It is a cute story. :)

Unknown said...
October 25, 2013 at 12:40 AM

If you enjoy her banter, you will like this little story.

Berls said...
October 26, 2013 at 12:29 AM

Love finding kids stories like this - sounds different and fun! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...
October 27, 2013 at 1:39 AM

It is a super cute read. As an added bonus, it is short enough that you can read it aloud without having to take a break!

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