Lyra Selene’s A Feather so Black (Orbit March 12, 2024 – thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy!) is a lush romantasy full of fae, magic, curses, and morally grey characters. Using Irish folklore, this Swan Princess retelling set in Tír na nÓg had a lot of potential but ultimately fell short due to, in my opinion, trying to fit in this cookie cutter mold that has made most romantasy a lather, rinse, repeat of the same things over and over. Admittedly, the familiarity may be comforting for some readers, but it really just annoys this one. Maybe it’s just not the genre for me.
Where the novel excels is in the world Selene is building. Tír na nÓg is equally stunning and terrifying, as it should be. The use of Irish folklore is a departure from the norm and could have truly set this work apart, but the novel seemed to backtrack in favor of more expected and repeated conventions.
Fia, who is almost never called by her name by anyone (admittedly, Fia is just another pet name given to her by someone who sought to control her), but one love interest calls her “challenging” – a derogatory term for this half human half fae with no memories of the fae folk – and the other love interest calls her “colleen” (meaning “girl”) – yet another derogatory term. Both use it in pet forms, but it’s extremely annoying – as is the entire romance plot line. Childhood friend is the hot prince that’s betrothed to the princess, Fia’s sort of sister. Rogan was Fia’s first (and probably only) friend and eventual lover. He’s a mopey, brooding, drunkard who whines instead of acting and has all the pretty words but not the pretty actions to follow it up. Then there’s Irian, the tortured fae and wielder of the last remaining treasure who has cursed the princess and eleven other maidens. Both love interests are cookie cutter characters, and you know immediately whose bed she’ll wind up in. But there’s no real building or developing that relationship. It’s just straight to “love” and the powerful magic of the heart. Yawn. Blech.
Fia also seems a bit too much of the same small feisty heroine that we’ve seen time and time again, and it’s so frustrating because OH THE POTENTIAL. Changeling girl raised by the Queen as a “daughter” but more as a “weapon”? Magic of the woods that can heal, bind, create and destroy life with nature? Her lack of interest in her own identity and her own magic, despite a lot of words to the contrary, was a missed opportunity.
Corra and its riddles are perhaps my favorite parts of the novel, and I wish there’d been less time moping between full moons and more time exploring Corra, the riddles, the library, and the magic. This novel is set up as part of a series because that is just what one does in this genre, I guess. And that’s why it fails – this could have been an amazing standalone novel about a changeling who has to choose between lives, men, and her own destiny. I won’t continue the series. In my mind, I know Fia’s heart even if I don’t know her real name.
If you enjoy romantasy, give it a go. The cover is gorgeous and it’s deliciously readable – it’s just not filling.
A Girl Named Tommi 