The Invisible Order: Rise of the Darklings
Rise of the Darklings (The Invisible Order, Book 1)by Paul Crilley
Emily Snow is twelve years old, supporting herself and her younger brother on the streets of Victorian England by selling watercress. One early winter morning on her way to buy supplies, she encounters a piskie--a small but very sarcastic fey creature that has been cornered by a group of the Black Sidhe, piskies from an opposing clan. She rescues him and unknowingly becomes involved in a war between the Seelie and the Unseelie, two opposing factions of fairies that have been battling each other throughout the long centuries of human history, with London--and England itself--as the ultimate prize.When the Invisible Order--a centuries-old secret society of humans that has protected mankind from the fey's interference--gets involved, things really start to get complicated.Now she is the central figure in this ancient war that could permanently change Earth. With no one to trust, Emily must rely on her own instincts and guile to make the right choices that could save her family and all of mankind. (goodreads.com)
This book is all Jenny's fault. She happened to ask me on Twitter one day if I had read this and I hadn't even heard of it until she asked. It looked interesting and my local store had ONE copy in stock after Christmas so I picked it up instantly when we went. Only the lines were around the store and I couldn't find other stuff I wanted, neither could my husband, so we put the book back and ended up using our gift cards online. Then the box with our order was delayed. Argh. But it arrived on Tuesday while I was at work and since I was home with the stomach flu Wednesday, I started reading it as soon as I finished The Books of Elsewhere, Vol. I.I honestly didn't know what to expect from the book, I just knew that Jenny loved it and that the summary interested me enough to pick it up. I was hooked by the table of contents, people. The TABLE OF CONTENTS. Why? Because it showed me the titles of all the chapters and they all started with "In which..." and I don't know why but I love chapters that start like that!Emily's Victorian England is so vivid from the first pages. I was instantly drawn to this 12 year old, though continuously had to remind myself that she was only twelve. She seemed so much older, but it was even explained that she had to grow up fast when both of her parents went missing and she was left to protect her 9-year old brother.I did not find this story to be the same ol' same old fae story. I was trying to explain it to my husband and just couldn't get it right. Yes, there is Seelie and Unseelie but they aren't depicted the same way they are in every other fantasy novel about faeries. There is something different about this novel that makes it fresh and exciting. I loved all characters, even some of the smaller side characters that showed up. Each brought something to the story no matter how much "screen time" they got. I loved Merrian the half-giant and especially Mr. Pemberton the gnome.There are twists in this story that leave you wondering who the heck you can trust at all. I had my suspicions about everyone some were right and some were wrong.The piskie, Corrigan, made me laugh on a number of occasions as did Emily's total dismissive reply to her friend Jack when he thought he'd done something especially brilliant. I love me some dry, snarky British humour.This book isn't ballgowns and coming out soirees, oh, no, this is where the poor live, where people dig through the muck in the Thames to find garbage that could have some value. This is a story of survival and fantasy all in one.I need the second book now. I'm not even kidding. I could probably read book after book of this series and never get tired of it. Think Harry Potter meets Percy Jackson meets Fablehaven meets..um.. just really fun, fantastical middle grade type adventure. Excellently written, fantastically humoured and whimsically adventurous is this first Invisible Order novel. If you see it in your library or at the store - PICK! IT! UP!If you don't like it, blame Jenny.The Invisible Order