125Pages

Faerie by Eisha Marjara
Published by Arsenal Pulp Press on June 7, 2016

Faerie by Eisha Marjara could have been a powerful read. Dealing with an anorexic teen girl, Lila, and her desire to die before her eighteenth birthday should have made me an emotional wreck. Instead, I was annoyed with Lila’s whiny self-indulgence and the people around her perpetuating her disease. Lila is a patient at a hospital where they are attempting to help her overcome her eating disorder. Badly in my opinion. Never searching her room for hidden food yet wondering why she is not gaining weight. When another patient comes in and befriends Lila, they find solace and comfort in each other.

The plot of Faerie had such potential, however it never reached it as it did not focus on recovery, rather it focused on continued destruction. The writing of Eisha Marjara was good, she was able to detail a very real world in the hospital and in the emotions of Lila. Since the hospital was the only real location we saw, the world building was successful in incorporating it. The pacing was also a little off. Time would jump in uneven increments, so at times it was hard to determine just when we were at. This should have been a sob-fest with the subject matter, however I was never emotionally invested in the characters. The characters were very flat to me. All of the adults were useless and clueless and the teens were full of angst and self-pity. There was no one that I could attach to and it made for a trying read.

Faerie was not a bad read. I just expected more from the deep subject matter. Eisha Marjara was able to craft some very good scenes, they just did not contain the depth I was looking for. I may have a bias for certain storylines, as I believe they should be taken very seriously and used to teach a lesson and not just entertain. This to me was not a success as the lesson was not there.

I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.