Midsummer Night-Freda Warrington

Midsummer Night
Freda Warrington
Tor, Nov 30 2010, $27.99
ISBN 9780765318701

Just after WW II in the Scottish Highlands, three youths dress up as fey to pull a practical joke on their uncle. However, none of the four blood relatives were ready for the Aetherials to cross over from the Spiral to Cairndonan. The Aetherials snatch one of the youngsters before returning to the Spiral as the uncle drops dead.

Decades have passed since the horrid incident, but time has turned it more into a family myth. Currently, internationally renowned sculptor Dame Juliana Flagg resides at run down Cairndonan, though she cannot afford the upkeep financially but cannot afford to sell emotionally. Now Gill Sharma arrives on holiday to be unwelcomed by Colin the dogsbody apprentice. Soon Dame J and the newcomer will learn first hand of the legend of Dunkelman as the truth without omission will not set the artist or the guest free.

The sequel to Elfland is so much darker as the readers enter the eerie Spiral of the Aetherials and the even stranger Vaethyr magical essences who have a wing (some would say horn) in Spiral and a wing in Earth. Dame J is a fascinating protagonist who cannot leave Cairndonan as if she is mystically tied to her family estate. Haunting, Freda Warrington provides a scary Midsummer Night Nightmare horror thriller as the Aetherial horde play with mankind.

Harriet Klausner