REVIEW: Dance with the Fae by Elisabeth J Hobbes

1919 May Day

Kit Arton-Price should be celebrating. It’s his engagement party and, unlike many young men of his generation, he survived The Great War. Whilst his fiancée, Adelaide, is dancing with one of their guests, the enigmatic Mr Wilde, the scars on Kit’s face bear the heavy toll of battle – and the scars on his heart bear a secret he’s been forced to carry in silence.

In the morning, Adelaide cannot be woken and the village doctor declares it’s the mystifying ‘Sleeping Sickness’ – an unexplainable epidemic affecting society.

But there is more to this sickness than first appears and it’s not long before Kit is lured into a strange new realm. One of magic and danger. The realm of the fae…

Dear Ms. Hobbes,

I enjoyed “Daughter of the Sea,” with its mix of a strong MFC and fairytale beings. This book promised more of that and I was delighted to be approved to read it. There is a lot to like but unfortunately it’s balanced with things I didn’t care for.

Kit Arton-Price survived the battlefields of France but with facial scars, PTSD, and guilt. He’s hailed a hero but he knows the truth – something that will be hinted at for most of the book before we learn what happened. His betrothal has been expected by starched family members since he and Adelaide were children and while they like each other, it’s clear to me from the start that this isn’t a romantic love match. When a strange, unknown couple appears at the betrothal celebration, neither of them have a clue who, or what, these people are nor how Valentine and Silas are going to change things up. 

The pace of the book is fairly slow all the way through. There is a lot to explain at the beginning and then much for Kit to try and understand. Believe me he tries valiantly to deny, deny, deny what’s right in front of his face. Okay, having fae creatures steal your fiancée and seeing something shocking about a family member who has always been seen as “being away with the fairies” is hard to accept all at once, I’ll give Kit that. But after a while I wanted to shake him. 

Once Kit and another enter the Faedemesne, Kit … doesn’t improve much. Everything is astounding and must be stared at and talked about even though Valentine has warned Kit not to do these things. There are also times when Kit is, to put it charitably, as thick as a brick. I wanted to say “finally!” when he catches on to stuff. Kit keeps wandering around like a yokel in the big city and loudly announcing that he’s going to bring Adelaide back. Why? Well because it’s expected and he’s the heir and all that. He also keeps believing the worst of Valentine even though she’s pledged to keep him safe. Kit (very) slowly changes his feelings but he remains hellbent on his mission. As Valentine begins to fall for Kit, the main initial reason seems to basically be, because he’s nice to her. Sure she’s been treated badly by Someone but this isn’t a great reason for long term love.

I enjoyed the land of the fae, how it’s described, the various people and creatures there (the birds! and another creature!). Kit finally begins to loosen up a bit and examine his personal privilege (there’s a pointed scene that drives this home) and how humans maybe don’t know everything and have done some grievous wrongs to the world. I will admit that the two people behind Kit and Adelaide being there take some time to trust, and yes there are good reasons for that, but Kit stretches this to the max. So maybe I just got bored with the repetition. 

The reason those people need K&A is inventive

Adelaide is as happy as a clam at high tide and clearly has no desire to return but here Kit goes again, staunchly determined that she’s coming back with him because of his responsibilities. Sigh … Kit, Kit, Kit.  

I like that there is a lot of LGBTQIA+ rep, that oppressed people get Kit to understand that not everyone has as good a life back home as he does, that Kit finally comes clear about what happened to him during the war, and that he Does His Bit to make the faedemesne a better place. I feel that Adelaide does a 180 on her LGBTQIA+ beliefs too quickly and that Kit’s ultimate choice is telegraphed. The final section wraps some things up which is nice but for once Kit needed to be a touch less honorable and just do what he wanted. Someone else describes this as Downton Abbey meets Emily Wilde which, yeah it is. C+             

~Jayne           

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