Series: The Falconer #1
Genres: YA | Fantasy | Steampunk | Romance
Published: May 6th 2014 by Chronicle Books
Heiress. Debutant. Murderer. A new generation of heroines has arrived.
Edinburgh, Scotland, 1844
Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined for a life carefully planned around Edinburgh’s social events – right up until a faery killed her mother. Now it’s the 1844 winter season and Aileana slaughters faeries in secret, in between the endless round of parties, tea and balls. Armed with modified percussion pistols and explosives, she sheds her aristocratic facade every night to go hunting. She’s determined to track down the faery who murdered her mother, and to destroy any who prey on humans in the city’s many dark alleyways. But the balance between high society and her private war is a delicate one, and as the fae infiltrate the ballroom and Aileana’s father returns home, she has decisions to make. How much is she willing to lose – and just how far will Aileana go for revenge?
This book has been dwelling in my TBR pile for a long time as I was a bit wary of the hype surrounding it. That said, I am quite happy to state that this book deserves all the hype it can get! The characters, the plot, the fighting sequences, the romance, the action and everything about The Falconer is amazing and absolutely brilliant. Oh, I am in love.
Aileana has a secret. Beneath her gentlewoman mask and her pretty gowns, the parties and the balls is a girl who creates weapons, arms herself to the teeth and hunts fae. It all began when she witnessed a Faery killing her Mother and since then, she has been filled with nothing but the need for vengeance when it came to the matter of fae and the determination to track down the Faery who killed her Mother.
I am very fond of Aileana, the girl who dealt with the rumors surrounding her and spent her time making weapons to harm the fae. She is the perfect example of a strong character who doesn't spend the whole novel swooning over the love interest. She knew how to take care of herself and was a well trained fighter - and no, she didn't just learn to fight out of the blue thus "well trained". Aileana is more on the action, less on the talk and I admired that a lot.
The love triangle didn't really feel like a love triangle at all. Evidently, Aileana only has feelings for one guy and does not spend her time drifting between the two guys. I repeat, does not spend her time drifting between the two guys. There's a pretty good chance it will properly turn into a triangle at one point in the sequels but, we shall deal with that later.
Kiaran MacKay. The guy who molded Aileana into a fighter and the guy who has stolen my heart, along with Aileana's, I suppose. I'm not going to give away anything about him because I don't want to deprive anyone of the lovely surprise that awaits them about him, just a few chapters into the story. Just one thing: prepare for the swoons and arm yourself because Kiaran MacKay.
On the other hand, we have Gavin, the brother of Aileana's best friend and one of her childhood friends. Quite frankly, I do not care much for Gavin. Something tells me I'll start loathing him if/when he approaches Aileana in a more than friendly way.
Enter Derrick, the man of the house! And silly me, there I go calling him a man. Again, I'm not giving away anything about this lovely cutie patootie over here but I just, I just really need to squish Derrick with love and shower him with honey and I don't know, give him ten to ten thousand kisses and maybe another hug, because goodness is he cute.
I know a lot of people hate cliffhangers and seeing how this book ends, I can see how they would despise it in this book. Personally, I didn't mind it that much, excluding the part where it crushed my heart and broke it into little pieces. Yeah well but whateves right? Better go on and get the seq --
Expected publication 2015. Hmm? Oh look, there goes my broken heart again.
In conclusion: The beauty of the book lies in the brilliantly drawn out action sequences, the steampunk elements, the details about the fae, the slow but burning romance and most importantly, the well portrayed characters.
Recommended to anyone looking for a good steampunk book.
