Book Review: ‘A Far Better Thing’ is the Perfect Blend of Classic Historical Fiction and Fantasy for Fans of Charles Dickens
It’s possibly an embarrassing admission, but I have to confess, I’ve been on this planet for two score (haha I had to!), and still haven’t read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. But this historical fiction fantasy retelling of a Dickens’ classic made me want to! I absolutely loved A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry. Not being super familiar with the source material, I’m not sure how much it strayed from the original story, but I believe the main characters are the same. It’s set just before and during the sparks of the French Revolution, and I found this story to be utterly tragic. If you don’t mind bittersweet endings, a slower pace, and fairies interfering in our world, you might love this too. It definitely had an interesting take on traditional fairies. They’re the typical narcissist characters caring only for themselves, their agenda, and amassing power while toying with human lives. However, there hasn’t been a full-blooded fairy for centuries. Instead human children are spirited away to The Realm, with changelings left in their place, and upon reaching a certain age they have a choice: stay in The Realm and have your memories of humanity erased, becoming an unfeeling, probably devious fairy and continuing the cycle, or be placed in the mortal world and become a mortal servant, doomed to do any fairy’s bidding. Our MMC doesn’t have much of a choice in this matter, but I won’t spoil it, you’ll just have to read and find out. Oh, and above all else, it’s a death sentence to meet your Changeling IRL…
Things to Know:
Standalone
Historical Fiction Fantasy
A Tale of Two Cities retelling
Traditional Fairies
Unrequited love
Tragedy
Revenge
I’ll say it again: we need more fantasy standalones. It was so refreshing to have a fully fleshed out story in one book. We meet our protagonist Sydney Carton doing something rather devious: procuring a human bone for a fairy. Apparently, they ask for this kind of thing all the time from their mortal servants, of which Carton is one. He’s clearly super smart, but doesn’t always apply himself. He drinks too much, and doesn’t take care of his appearance, and he lets everyone around him take advantage of him. Within the first few pages, he finds himself in court, shocked to see he’s come face to face with his changeling. And everything in his life quickly unravels.
We’re taken all over England and France, there is war and unrest brewing, and much of it can be blamed on interfering fairies. But what could possibly be their motivation? This is a tale of revenge, but there are so many layers of revenge and vengeance to sift through and at each reveal, I found myself being more and more invested in this alternate world. What if fairies were responsible for sparking the French Revolution?
The side characters were wonderful, and if you loved the vibes of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (another five star read for me!), I think you’ll absolutely love this book. It’s not a fast paced novel at all. Sometimes it moves at a languid pace, but I was still invested in the story, and the writing style felt very classic, but easily readable. I think it’d be a great book for people not quite ready to read the actual classics yet.
Side note, I loved all the chapter titles as well. They were super clever. The attention to detail with this book was just so well done.
Overall, definitely reach for this book if you love historical fiction fantasy as a genre, or you’re a classics lover who wants to dabble in some fantasy reads. I think you’ll be connected to Memory, Charles Darnay, Lucie, Ivy, Shadow, and the rest! Shout out to the narrator, I absolutely LOVED the audiobook as well. It was so well done, complete with accents. Many thanks to Tor and MacMillan Audio for providing ARCs to review. All opinions are my own.
Favorite Quotes:
“I learned her in glimpses as I might a book repeatedly snatched up over a period of time.”
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“You really don’t know very much of the world you walk in, do you?”
“I don’t walk in it. I’m not a sightseer. I live in it. I try to do so without going mad.”
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“From the moment I saw her, I knew that I would die for her.”
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“Perhaps for us, love is always an act of revenge.”
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“"I’ll set your horrid little mind at rest at once, shall I?”
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