Fairy Bad Day (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Fairy Bad Day Claire Gross Ashby, Amanda . Fairy Bad Day. Speak/Penguin, 2011. [352p]. Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-14-241259-6 $7.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10. Emma, a student at a school for those who can see (and thus slay) elementals (think goblins, demons, harpies, etc.), is certain that she's destined to be a dragon slayer, [End Page 455] just like her deceased mother. The indignity of her assignment as a fairy slayer—they're tiny! they're harmless! they keep mooning her!—is only compounded by that fact that she's paired with newly minted dragon slayer Curtis for a team learning assignment. That proves more interesting than she expected, though: Curtis has his own secrets, and while regular fairies pose little threat, a heretofore-unheard-of giant fairy called a darkhel ("seven feet of pure venom . . . sinister red eyes . . . razor-sharp teeth squished into a wide, misshapen mouth") proves a worthy foe and may even shed some new light on Emma's mother's death. Curtis is a low-key, good-natured man of mystery, and while his romance with Emma is nothing if not expected, it—along with the deadpan incorporation of generic high-school concerns—is a welcome balance to the seemingly unstoppable demonic peril. The littler fairies have a whiff of the Wee Free Men about them—that is, if Pratchett's bantering tricksters were mall rats instead of drinkers. There's a slight emotional tug in Emma's relationship with her father and revelations about her mother, but the demon-fighting high-school hijinks are where this book is really at. Hand it to fans of Hawkins' Hex Hall (BCCB 5/10) or Clement-Moore's Prom Dates from Hell (BCCB 7/07). Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois