The Falconer by Elizabeth May

Title: The Falconer

Author: Elizabeth May

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Falconer # 1 

Hardcover, 378 pages 

Publication: September 19, 2013

Source: Personal Library
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She's a stunner. Edinburgh, 1844. Eighteen-year-old Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, has everything a girl could dream of: brains, charm, wealth, a title—and drop-dead beauty.

She's a liar. But Aileana only looks the part of an aristocratic young lady. she's leading a double life: She has a rare ability to sense the sìthíchean—the faery race obsessed with slaughtering humans—and, with the aid of a mysterious mentor, has spent the year since her mother died learning how to kill them.

She's a murderer. Now Aileana is dedicated to slaying the fae before they take innocent lives. With her knack for inventing ingenious tools and weapons—from flying machines to detonators to lightning pistols—ruthless Aileana has one goal: Destroy the faery who destroyed her mother.

She's a Falconer. The last in a line of female warriors born with a gift for hunting and killing the fae, Aileana is the sole hope of preventing a powerful faery population from massacring all of humanity. Suddenly, her quest is a lot more complicated. She still longs to avenge her mother's murder—but she'll have to save the world first..

MY THOUGHTS

The Falconer series has been on my TBR list for over 10 years. But I always knew it was a series I wanted to get into eventually. And I'm so glad I finally did. The Falconer, the first book in a trilogy takes place in 1800s in Edinburgh, Scotland. Our heroine, Aileana Kameron is a debutant by day and fae-slayer by night. What drives Aileana is finding her mother's murderer. I used the term 'Fae-slayer' because the entire book had Buffy vibes; all you have to do is just substitute the vampires with faeries.  

The beginning of the book was quite slow and took a while to get into. I didn't find Aileana's high society life very interesting. And the faerie slaying night after night got monotonous. It wasn't until Aileana's two world collided that thing got more riveting...but just by a smidgen. I somewhat enjoyed the chemistry between Aileana and Kiaran but no matter how much I read; I felt like something was missing. Something we missed between the two because they went from hot/cold to flirty to full-blown I worship thee. It didn't make sense, nor did it feel like a natural progression. However, the author recently said she is rewriting the series as it was intended; meaning it was supposed to be an adult romantasy not young adult. I think if I read the author's original adult version I would like it more. 

The characters and world building are pretty minimal and lackluster. I didn't feel like enough time or thought were put into their character development and the foundation of the world was weak. The only standout to the first book was derek, Aileana's faerie friend that resides in her closet. All in all, I thought The Falconer was an okay, decent read. There's just enough substance and a cliff-hanger that has me possibly picking up the sequel. But I may wait until the revised edition comes out before I continue with the series.