THORN JACK (Night and Nothing Novels, 1) Paperback – February 19, 2015

What a lovely novel which is absolutely thick with mythology and some of the finest descriptive language on fairy-related symbols. So I was not surprised to see Diane Purkiss's book on fairies listed in the back as a source. That's my favorite book on the fairies.And I suppose, at this moment, this is my favorite piece of fiction on fairies, too. The magic and atmosphere is so completely intrinsic in nature that I don't know how to describe it, but to say, it's real, it feels real to me, as someone who has studied folklore for most of my adult life.The story is a beautiful and highly romantic retelling of Tam Lin, the ballad about mortals and fairies and love. I just adored the heroine, an ordinary girl who has lost both her mother and sister, who meets the goblin boy and is seduced by him, only she seduces him and makes him bleed. From there on out, the fairy trick is complicated and the mischief is deep. But not even death can stop this kind of love.It's not a complicated story and the events are simple and play out slowly like the fairy dream that surrounds it. The setting becomes a character. Jack, well, he IS one dark and beautiful dream. And this time, the schoolgirl saves him. That's the pleasant ending, the good outcome.But it all came at a high price. People do die. Hearts are broken. And one has to understand that mortals loving the dead can have consequences, terrible consequences. The living do not choose death easily. And the dead, well, they want to live again.There are lots of literary allusions, which also function as metaphors and clues and other kinds of things. I've been reading this book off and on all day, rereading some passages and pages, marking it. Lots of beautiful passages and quotes to lift from this tale. And it is a tale, so really character is less important than story.Side note: I have read four very good novels this year, this being one of those four. All of them have several things in common. (1) Third person narrative (2) Basically they are tales, meaning structure (3) ordinary girls who have no super powers and who are not chosen, etc. (4) Girls who find themselves in extra-ordinary circumstances and survive because they are good and smart and loyal and have a strong sense of empathy. (5) A price is paid (6) Family is important. (7) sui-generis, meaning they defy labeling.I am going to write a detailed review for my blog at a later date.But I love this novel and highly recommend it to everyone, 13 and up!

After her sister Lily Rose's death, Finn Sullivan and her father can't stay in San Francisco any longer. They flee to Fair Hollow, New York, the same upstate town where her father was raised and where he is offered a job at the local college. Finn attempts to start a new chapter in her life. She attends college and meets two friends, Sylvie and Christy.But Fair Hollow seems to have secrets. Long a haunt of movie makers, the town seems full of beautiful people and dramatic happenings. The most beautiful are the Fata family, extremely wealthy and consisting of a large clan of both men and women. They don't seem to have to work and spend a lot of time having parties and exploring the deserted mansions from Fair Hollows time as a haven for wealthy families.Finn is curious about the Fatas, and especially when she meets Jack Fata. He is impossibly gorgeous, irresistibly mysterious, and for some reason, he seems interested in Finn. She seems to run into him everywhere. Sometimes he pushes her away and then he pulls her back. She doesn't know what to think, but she knows she is falling in love.But that's not a good idea. For the Fata family is mysterious for a reason. They have secrets going back centuries and they don't take kindly to newcomers. As Finn gets closer to their secrets, she starts to realise that she has fallen into a danger even more fatal than the one that stole her sister. Can she break free and can she take Jack from his family?This is the first of a trilogy about The People Of Nothing And The Night. It is lushly written and the tension builds very slowly. The reader sees Finn's danger long before she does, but is helpless to do anything more than read as she is entwined further and further into the Fata family mysteries. This book is recommended for young adults and those interested in suspense fantasy novels.

I honestly loved this book. It was rich, beautiful, and haunting. I pretty much just want to immerse myself in this world and learn everything there is to know about it. Katherine Harbour does an excellent job of weaving tortured characters, evil characters, and characters that seem to know far more than they should, while the rest of the characters go on a believable trip through this magical world of dead boys who bleed though they aren't supposed to and queen's determined to have everything, but most especially what she doesn't want you to have. I didn't feel like any of the characters were less than uniquely and only themselves. And the world the author has created is just as extraordinary; it is made of a tattered sort of elegance, beautiful, but a little torn at the edges, because this is where They live, these are their places. I know next to nothing about the folklore involved in the making of this novel, but I do know that after reading this, I want to learn. I've heard this is a planned trilogy, but the characters and the world Katherine Harbour has created here can honestly be explored in several more books, and I personally would devour every single one.After having read some of the other reviews, I looked up the Ballad of Tam Lin and this is a pretty accurate re-telling.My only regret is that when I originally saw this book at the bookstore I didn't buy it then, but waited to buy it on my Kindle later, because in the end I ended up buying both this book and the sequel in paperback format. I loved it that much.Seriously. Read. This. Book.

I love all things fae and especially if an author keeps to the original, the traditional lore and stories about the uncanny. And so this is one aspect about „Thorn Jack“ that I absolutely love, it’s in its core a retelling of „Tam Lin“, the old Irish legend about once human man who got under the fae queen’s spell and who is in the end saved by a brave young woman, who defies the fae, their spells and glamour.The once human, now somehow „other“, man is Jack Fata. And the heroine is Finn, Serafine, Sullivan, who just moved to the small town of Fair Hollow with her father. The two fled from San Francisco, where Finn‘s sister committed suicide a year ago, to finally move on somehow.But the town is strange, people and buildings alike and even when Finn has made friends, they aren’t really able to ignore the constant danger that lurked everywhere and the feeling that no one is ever really safe.This atmosphere is one of the things that K. Harbour has got down. This atmosphere gives the whole plot an eerie feeling, even a dose of horror. It’s the perfect backdrop for the story full of uncanny people (term used loosely here) and events. And in the beginning, Finn is a great character to follow around. When she comes to town, she makes friends with great people and is able to not fall for the awesome supernaturals. She starts investigating what is behind all the strange things she and her friends experience and she is sensible about things. Up until when she falls for Jack and she and her friends start making the same mistakes over and over. Actually, it gets more and more unbelievable that Finn should be able to do anything about the old, cunning and powerful beings she is up against. And she needs more than one deus ex machina events to get out of deathly peril again and again. Added to that are the long parts where nothing new happens, which slow the pacing down a lot. The book is way too long in my opinion. So, I liked the background, the fae lore and the atmosphere, but with these main characters, I don’t know if I want to read on.