The Falconer - Elizabeth May

The Falconer by Elizabeth May
Series: The Falconer #1
Published on May 6, 2014 by Chronicle Books

One girl's nightmare is this girl's faery tale.

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.

The first volume of a trilogy from an exciting new voice in young adult fantasy, this electrifying thriller combines romance and action, steampunk technology and Scottish lore in a deliciously addictive read.

When I first read The Falconer, on 2014 I absolutely loved but re-reads are always something that leave me wary because what if I don't love the book as much the second time around? I don't want to tarnish the perfect memories I have of the original read! Oh well I shouldn't have worried, The Falconer was as much entertaining the second time as the first one probably even more. Since I tried to write a review on the regular way and failed I'm gonna do a list of the important factors:

• The World Building: Reading this one for the first time I remembered being highly confused by this world, at the start we are said this is Edinburgh at 1844 but that isn't exactly what we find on this story. The setting is Edinburgh but it's a steampunk version of it, full of new inventions and even different geography aspects; since I already knew what I was going to find this time around I wasn't as bothered by these elements, but be warmed this is a fantasy/steampunk novel that has kind of a alternative historical setting too.
• Aileana: guys, this girl has to be one of my favorite characters ever, she passed through a terrible trauma but instead of cowering and hiding she goes out of her way, defying her society to avenge her mothers death. Despite her strong physical attributes, she shows a lot of weakness on the emotional side, I really hope that with the passing of the series we get to see her coming around on her grief. 

• The Romance: So, when I first read I thought the romance on this book was a love triangle but now I didn't see it that way at all, but more on this next. Right now I want to talk about Kiaran, our dickhead fae that trains Aileana to hunt his own species, it's pretty obvious he has super secret things on his past that made him start hunting his own and it's pretty obvious that despite his facade he has a heart and cares deeply for Aileana. I love the banter between those two, Aileana doesn't take shit from him and is always ready to call him on his bullshit or put him on his place. I really hope that on the next books we get to see more of his good side and less of his emo persona.

• The friendships: Now, as I said above I thought the romance was a love triangle at my first read, but now I don't think Aileana and Gavin's relationship has any romantic elements to it at all. Aileana never has passionate feelings towards Gavin, but they do share a emotional connection that is deep because both of them remind of their lives two years ago with longing, of their lives before the fairies, and also they are the only ones in this society who can understand what each other is passing and be honest with each other, so it's a great dynamic between these two, it sounded true and very deep for me. Also loved the portrait of female friendship, Aileana and Catherine, they are best friends since childhood and despite Aileana not being able to share her new life with Catherine their friendship doesn't falter, Catherine chooses to keep believing on her friend and understands that there has to be a good reason for her lies while still keeping her trust on her. Honorable mention to the adorable pixie, Derrick, that made me laugh like a mad person on so many scenes.

Okay, that was all that I had to highlight about this one, there is much more too it but I can't do justice because well, you have to read it yourself. Trust me on this one, if you're looking for an amazing cast of characters, with incredible relationships and well develop personalities, while also having a fast paced read, full of new twists and action sequences you need to pick this one up. And even if you don't think this is what you want you should pick this one up anyway because I'm pretty sure it can surprise you.