The Autumn Castle

The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins is a lovely, romantic, thrilling fantasy that blends the folklore of Europe into an intricate tapestry of dark fantasy storytelling. It's filled with shapeshifters, witches, and magic, and every page is a complete delight to read. I will be reading and rereading this book for years.

I bought this book on a whim, and since have become addicted to Kim Wilkins' style, characterization, and worlds. The Autumn Castle is the fist in her new Europa suite, and is a wonderful tale of a young woman who is reunited with a long lost childhood friend. It is also about an eccentric artist's horrible desire to exterminate faries. It is a story about fear, about betrayal, about magic. Kim Wilkins created a fairy tale for grown ups (or eliminated all the kiddy elements of pre-existing ones). I love it

Kim Wilkins always manages to write a story that will leave you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The Autumn Castle is no exception, filled with suspence, horror and mystery this warped fairy tale will keep you guessing untill the very end.I would advise anyone with a love for fantasey, mystery and basically just a great story, to read The Autumn Castle.

Christine Starlight lives in a world of constant physical pain and memories, a weighty reminder of the tragedy she survived and struggles with on a daily basis: a hit and run accident that claimed the lives of both her parents. But as Autumn reintroduces itself to Berlin, she finds memories of another childhood tragedy surfacing. She begins to recall the disappearance of her young friend, May, long presumed to be abducted and murdered. May soon returns to Christine's life, and soon becomes tangled in the lives around Christine as well. She is now Mayfridh, Queen of the realm of German fairies, Ewigkreis. The "Real World" and Ewigkreis are briefly aligned, allowing for crossing between in the meantime, and soon May grows infatuated with Christine's budding artist lover, Jude. Just as easily, Christine finds herself growing attached to Ewigkreis, the one place that allows her respite from her physical pain. The tightly-knit story maintains a good pace; it starts out languid as the characters and background are introduced, then picks up into a flurry as winter, and the end of the alignment between fairy and real worlds, looms upon them. It is seen from four rather unique perspectives: Christine, the unassuming and perpetually self-doubting bookstore clerk that lets herself live in the shadow of her lover; Mayfridh, the beautiful Queen accustomed to getting her way who unwittingly gambles with the safety of Ewigkreis to feed her interest in the Real World and Jude; Immanuel Z (Mandy Z), the twisted fairy hunter that seeks the bones of fairies to complete his sculpture that he wishes to bring to life; and Hexebart, the witch of Ewigkreis that holds the magic of the realm hostage while refusing to acknowledge the adopted Mayfridh as sovereign after the disappearance of her parents. It successfully captures the flavor of a fairy tale in its rich story -- it is equally capable of being dark and grisly as it is lush and fantastical. This also leads to a level of simplicity in the characters and even the story itself, that at times felt unfulfilling. For example, there is no struggle for a human's mind to comprehend the existence of fairies, as it can be brushed away with an easy spell. The translation of the modern world to a fairy is also easily explained away by another quick spell. Love happens simply and without fanfare, which can be charming or anti-climatic. Overall, however, it was an engaging tale that was easy to be drawn into and stay involved until the end.