# Feywild Reading List - Recommendations?



## Irda Ranger (Sep 23, 2008)

Can anyone suggest any good novels that capture the feeling of the Feywild? I'm thinking about the uncaring fey, the aloof Eladrin, etc. Specifically, I am not looking to collect Tolkienish fantasy like Feist and Brooks.

I'll start with a good one:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Among-Men-Robert-Charrette/dp/0446600377"]A Prince Among Men[/ame]. A mid-21st century dystopian fantasy, it tells the story of King Arthur reborn. The elves and goblins are particularly fey.


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## Fallen Seraph (Sep 23, 2008)

While they aren't novels the _Changeling: The Lost_ books have amazing fluff in it for the Fey and Feywild (Arcadia in Changeling).


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## theodoric (Sep 23, 2008)

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel captures the mood of the alien mind set of fey. Gaimen's stardust is very good too, and don't forget Lord Dunsany who's works inspired both the above works. I would also  heavily recomend changling the lost.


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## Rakor (Sep 23, 2008)

A second for _Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell_, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series has him dealing with fey quite a bit. If you are over 18 you might find some inspiration in Laurell K Hamilton's Merry Gentry series.


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## Khayman (Sep 23, 2008)

The _Sandman_ comics and related novels by Neil Gaiman feature several crossovers to Faerie. The Fair Folk are not always so fair, and there are frequently (obscure) rules by which one can interact with them. Accept an innocent-looking gift and you may unwittingly enter a bargain. A lot of this runs through the rest of Gaiman's novels even if they're not specifically about the fey.

As for non-novel sources, there's White Wolf's _Changeling _game. I'd also recommend watching _Hellboy II_ and _Pan's Labyrinth_ until your eyes bleed.


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## Stoat (Sep 23, 2008)

The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany


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## Michele Carter (Sep 23, 2008)

Agreed, Susannah Clarke's _Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell_ is virtually a blueprint for the Feywild. 

Also, see Elizabeth Bear's _Blood and Iron_ and sequels (_Whiskey and Water, Ink and Steel, Hell and Earth_) for some astonishing writing and truly ruthless fey.


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## Scribble (Sep 23, 2008)

Khayman said:


> As for non-novel sources, there's White Wolf's _Changeling _game. I'd also recommend watching _Hellboy II_ and _Pan's Labyrinth_ until your eyes bleed.




Yeah it's not a book but I second the Pan's Labyrinth nomination!


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## WayneLigon (Sep 23, 2008)

Prachett's _Lords and Ladies_ has a lot of super-scary blithly uncaring fae under all the comedy with the witches and such.


Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. 
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. 
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. 
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. 
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. 
Elves are terrific. They beget terror. 
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. 
Nobody said elves were _nice_. 
Elves are _bad_.


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## Askaval30 (Sep 23, 2008)

I vehemently reccomend _Winter Rose _by Patricia McKillip


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## crash_beedo (Sep 23, 2008)

Tad Williams, *War of the Flowers*.  He's mainly known for the Otherland series, but Flowers was a neat little fey-world book.


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## Klaus (Sep 23, 2008)

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.
Books of Magic #3, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.
Sandman #19, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess (noticing a theme?).

In fact, here's Charles Vess' piece "Companions of the Moon":


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## Ethalias (Sep 24, 2008)

I also recommend Changeling: The Lost.  I browsed it in my local bookstore over coffee (a cliché true but one of my few rpg pleasures lacking much money or a FLGS) and it inspired me to run a Feywild-heavy campaign.

It's also worth noting that IIRC it includes a recommended reading list somewhere, though I may be confusing it with something else.

Actually talking about it makes me want to take another look..

What I've read of Gaiman I've enjoyed very much also.


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## rainmaker (Sep 24, 2008)

I'll second the Elizabeth Bear books listed above. They're amazing books, and the fey in them are quite ruthless and other-than-human.


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## Fallen Seraph (Sep 24, 2008)

Ethalias said:


> It's also worth noting that IIRC it includes a recommended reading list somewhere, though I may be confusing it with something else.




It does, the list for fictional is:

-Something Wicked This Way Comes
-Johnathon Strange & Mr. Norrel
-The Stolen Child
-The King Elfland's Daughter
-Neverwhere, Anasi Boys, American Gods, Stardust and other works by 
Neil Gaiman
-Gormenghast and Titus Groan
-Fables


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## Byrons_Ghost (Sep 25, 2008)

Funny you should mention Feist, since the only book of his I've bothered to read was called _Faerie Tale._ It's about a contemporary family that moves onto an estate with a tie to faerieland.

These fae are definately not nice. They draw on darker celtic and germanic legends- think Erl King, Wild Hunt, unseelie court, etc.


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## Patrick Jarrell (Sep 25, 2008)

Got to agree with this one.  Same for me, Faerie Tale is the only Feist book I've read, but it's also one of the best fey themed books I've read.


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## Herremann the Wise (Sep 26, 2008)

I liked Jack Vance's interpretation of faeries in the Lyonesse series. Perhaps a little comical in parts but heh... the Lyonesse series is close to my favourite.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise


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## Cwheeler (Sep 26, 2008)

I'm putting in another vote for Neil Gaiman.

Also check out the works of Brian Froud, although they do relate more to the boggart-y, pexyish, mischievous side of fae than the more aloof and mysterious elements. They are great to drop in though!


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## Irda Ranger (Sep 26, 2008)

Byrons_Ghost said:


> Funny you should mention Feist, since the only book of his I've bothered to read was called _Faerie Tale._ It's about a contemporary family that moves onto an estate with a tie to faerieland.
> 
> These fae are definately not nice. They draw on darker celtic and germanic legends- think Erl King, Wild Hunt, unseelie court, etc.



Huh. I remember trying to read _Faerie Tale _a long time ago and putting it down after just a couple chapters because I didn't like it.

I may have to give it another shot though, as my tastes have changed just a _wee _bit since 7th grade. 


And thank you everyone for all of your suggests. I hope more come.


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## TarionzCousin (Sep 26, 2008)

*Faerie Artwork*



Cwheeler said:


> I'm putting in another vote for Neil Gaiman.
> 
> Also check out the works of Brian Froud, although they do relate more to the boggart-y, pexyish, mischievous side of fae than the more aloof and mysterious elements. They are great to drop in though!



Brian Froud is an artist, by the way. He has drawn hundreds of faeries of all kinds.


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## TwinBahamut (Sep 26, 2008)

Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, of course. 

Just keep in mind while you are reading/watching it that, in the original production, Shakespeare's faeries were almost certainly double-cast with the same actors who played the burly carpenters. Shakespearian faeries are closer to bugbears and trolls than pixies.


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## Rechan (Sep 26, 2008)

You know. Just for those of us who don't have the buckets of time, or want something a little sooner...

I think that it might be useful if we started a project on fleshing out the Feywild, or brainstorming pulling in information from all these sources + D&Dfying it.


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## ProfessorCirno (Sep 26, 2008)

If we're including artwork, Stephanie Law's stuff is absolutely exquisite.


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## Jürgen Hubert (Sep 26, 2008)

Another resource on fairies is the Arcana Wiki entry on them. Granted, it's not very long yet - but hey, you could add your own information to it!   



Fallen Seraph said:


> While they aren't novels the _Changeling: The Lost_ books have amazing fluff in it for the Fey and Feywild (Arcadia in Changeling).




If we are talking game supplements, there's also the Fair Folk from Exalted to consider. They are rather scary - they see the whole of existence as a story with them as the protagonists, and others are only as important as their parts in their story. In their native realm, they actually shape the environment to suit their stories, and thus there is nothing of true permanence there.

I recommend getting the Wyld sourcebook for Exalted, as well as the upcoming "Graceful Wicked Masques.


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## Yair (Sep 26, 2008)

I really liked _Faery Tale_ too, very nice dark faerie mood.

Another roleplaying book is _Faeries (Revised)_ for Ars Magica. It isn't ArM's best book, and doesn't give much D&D stats, but is roleplaying-oriented and presents an interesting take on faeriland and the nature of faeries based on real-world faerie tales and flavor. I especially liked the Laws presented there - things like "What's Mine is Mine; What's Yours is Mine Too"... (The book is for Fourth Edition; a Fifth Edition book will come out soonish, and I expcet it to be great - but it ain't out yet.)


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## LoneWolf23 (Sep 27, 2008)

GURPS Faeries has an extensive amount of information on Faerie myths of all sorts, from the possible origin of faeries, to nearly every type of fae, to the interactions between Fae and Mortals.

Sure, there's GURPS stats, but you can ignore them and focus on the fluff, or use them for guidelines to determine D&D stats...


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## mmadsen (Sep 27, 2008)

One more vote for Dunsany's _King of Elfland's Daughter_.  (I didn't enjoy Vance's _Lyonesse_ nearly as much as I expected to, but it does have aloof fey.)

I also recommend *Poul Anderson's Broken Sword*, which manages to have both alien fey and an unusual take on the half-elf (changeling, really).


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## Glyfair (Sep 27, 2008)

mmadsen said:


> I also recommend *Poul Anderson's Broken Sword*, which manages to have both alien fey and an unusual take on the half-elf (changeling, really).



I was about to recommend this as well.  In fact, I believe it was in Gygax's recommended reading list in the AD&D DMG.


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## El Mahdi (Sep 30, 2008)

I know a lot of people don't seem to like them (although they are some of my favorites), but George Lucas' and Chris Claremonts' _Chronicles of the Shadow War_ Trilogy (the sequels to _Willow_) did a good job of showing how other races and people might view the Fey Realms.  Most people in Willows world aren't even aware these realms exist, but those that do are usually scared of them, even going as far as seeing any creature from any realm as some kind of demon or evil spirit.  Willows' spells (or Thorns', as he is renamed by Sorsha) in the books could even be good ideas for envisioning the magic of the Shadowfell.  They seem to be very dark and always have a price for using them.

Although Elves or Eladrin like creatures aren't specifically mentioned or described, it's implied that they exist in these other Realms (and I think they do appear a bit in the first book, during Elora Danans birthday).  However, the books are replete with Faery like creatures (especially Brownies).

_Chronicles of the Shadow War_ 
_Shadow Moon_ (1995) ISBN 0553572857 
_Shadow Dawn_ (1996) ISBN 055357289X 
_Shadow Star_ (2000) ISBN 0553572881


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## John Q. Mayhem (Sep 30, 2008)

Lords and Ladies is excellent, as is Jonathan Strange. Gaiman's work is very very good, especially Stardust.


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