AURELIE

Princess Aurelie and her two closest friends, Garin and Netta, grew up playing with Loic, a river drac, and have the gift of being able to see the Fae, on the condition that no one should ever know. Netta’s inadvertent slip has resulted in their blindness, and with Garin returned to his original kingdom—now at odds with Aurelie’s Lumielle—royal diplomatic duties bring Aurelie little joy. Tomlinson immerses readers in a world of intrigue and magic with surprisingly clarity. As the possibility of war looms and her hand in marriage seems to be the only value she possesses for achieving peace, Aurelie’s difficulties multiply with Loic’s wooing, Netta’s subservience and Garin’s Jocandagnian heritage. Sharply realized characters abound in both magical and human form; the narration shifts focus from character to character, Netta, Garin and Loic voicing their own accounts in the third person while Aurelie’s takes a third-person limited form. Vivid descriptions and intricate plot twists convey that most traditional element of all faerie stories—the misunderstandings between humans and the Fae despite the best intentions. (Fantasy. YA)