STRANGE WORLDS

In this fourth installment of a YA series, a group of heroes confronts the Wild King.

In Tir na nÓg, the Faery Realm, the Wild King hosts his army in the Dead City. With a mark from his antlers, the monarch can mutate fae beings, turning them savage and loyal. One person in the Dead City not directly affected by the Wild King’s magic is Feya. She uses her healing skills to help fae, like Ivy, who suffer from painful mutations. Elise, meanwhile, is a Seer from the Mortal Realm who’s been recruited by Sirius, leader of the elves, to help end the Wild King’s reign. But the Summer Queen believes that the Wild King is “an elf who had glamoured himself to look like a monstrosity,” despite countless missing fae. Sirius plans to visit the Seelie Court to summon Galahad, the Golden Knight, to battle. Galahad is willing to commit soldiers to the cause only if Sirius can learn the Wild King’s exact location in the Dead City and the size of his army. As Galahad joins Sirius’ expedition, Elise hopes to clarify her feelings for Finch, a female elf. Finch, being pure of heart, wants Sirius to tell Elise “that you love her.” Ridge unleashes chaos on her beloved cast in this Faery Realm fantasy, ensuring that characters who have starred in other adventures, like Lark, Alexis, and Jaxith, make appearances. The battles feature grisly moments, as when a Wild fae, already impaled by one arrow, has a second “explode through its eye.” The author does balance the gore with humor, as when the heroes encounter a Wild fae with a duck’s bill. A solid backstory humanizes the Wild King and layers deeper emotions onto Feya’s arc. During the momentous final third of the narrative, Ridge uses Lark to set up a further adventure that may or may not fold in events from the finale. Though the cast is diverse, readers may need patience as characters shuffle tumultuously between the foreground and background, Game of Thrones–style.

This engaging epic fantasy makes effective use of the tension built up in previous volumes.