The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm

This compiliation of fairy stories is amazing! I enjoyed all of them greatly. I liked Tengu Mountain, The Price of Glamour, Never Never, Imersed in Matter, The Shooter at the Heartcock Waterhole, and The Annals of Eelin-Ok the best. At first I wasn't going to read it because it was so long, but I liked it so much it took me 3 days to read 350 pages. I couldn't stop! I liked this book so much because the stories are all so different and unique. The faries are all so different, and so I never got bored. Never Never was the same plot as Peter Pan, just told in the point of view of Captain Hook. If you want to read a book that is fun, interesting, and a great journey, read the Faery Reel.

"The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link has won the Hugo Award and Locus Award for Best Novelette. It has now been nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

Fairies may be found around the world in many cultures and in many fantasy works: here Datlow and Windling has asked modern writers for short stories and poems which draw upon fairy traditions, update old stories, or provide new light on them - with the result a collection of powerful contrasts by such notable contributors as Nail Gaiman, Patricia McKillip, and Charles de Lint, among others. The diversity of settings, themes, and approaches is refreshingly different and amazing in The Faery Reel: Tales From The Twilight Realm, while black and white decorations by Cahrles Vess enhance each new chapter.

Over the years, Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling have established a reputation as editors of quality fantasy anthologies. Their series of volumes of modern adult retellings of classic fairy tales are essential reading for the fairy tale-addicted. "The Faery Reel," a Young Adult anthology of original stories about the fey likewise maintains a high standard. These are not stories about quaint Victorian fairies with filmy wings. Rather, these stories hark back to earlier folklore about red-blooded creatures who can be good or evil, dangerous or benign. Many of the best known names of modern fantasy are represented in this volume: Charles de Lint, Delia Sherman, Tanith Lee, Katherine Vaz, Gregory Frost, Kelly Link, Steve Berman, Holly Black, Bruce Glassco, Ellen Steiber, Nini Kiriki Hoffman, Neil Gaiman, Patricia McKillip, Gregory Maguire, Hiromi Goto, A.M. Dellamonica, Bill Congreve, Jeffrey Ford, Emma Bull, and Nan Fry. The rule of thumb for most anthologies is that they are uneven--some stories are stronger than others, and there are usually a few duds. But there aren't any real clinkers here. In addition, "The Faery Reel" has an added bonus, namely a wonderful introduction to fairy lore and its history in popular culture by the editors. Datlow and Windling really know their stuff and it shows Charles de Lint and Neil Gaiman contribute poems. The former, which de Lint wrote to fit the tune of an Irish reel, sets the leit motif for the collection. Gaiman's poem, on the other hand, is much darker, and reflects the dangerous human longing for things fey. Nan Fry's poem ends the anthology with advice on how to find traces of fairy in the ordinary. The stories themselves reflect the various forms in which fairies are traditionally found and include urban and rural, familiar and exotic locales. Many of them have a touch of horror. Gregory Frost's "Tengu Mountain," for example, is an encounter between an unsuspecting Japanese boy and goblins. A.M. Dellamonica's "The Dream Eaters" is likewise chilling, although its setting is an alternate urban reality. On the other hand, Patricia McKillip's "Undine," is a lighter story in which the femme fatale of legend encounters the modern world. Delia Sherman's "Catnyp" turns the catalog of the New York Public Library into a magical lion in a story about a young girl's personal growth. "Peter Pan" gets an adult updating in Glassco's "Never Never." My personal favorite, Jeffrey Ford's affecting "The Annals of Eelin-Ok" is a quiet story of a fairy life lived in the time between high and low tide. Like much fantasy, "The Faery Reel" is being marketed as a Young Adult book. But it's just as satisfying for adult readers. It would be a shame if potential readers miss it because of the YA label. I highly recommend this book to any lover of fairy tales.

This book in amazing. It is not about little fluttering butterfly faeries, but is about the good and evil faeries of folklore. Ellen Datlow has organized faery stories from a variety of authors and has created this book of good and evil, love and hate, and everything inbetween. It binds you in and you are just iching to read the next story! It was hard for me to put this book down!