INDIE BOOK REVIEW - PIXIE DUSTED BY SARAH J SOVER

 PIXIE DUSTED 

WRITTEN BY SARAH J SOVER

REVIEW WRITTEN BY JOE COMPTON

3RD BOOK IN FRACTURED FAE SERIES
RELEASED: APRIL 23RD, 2025
PUBLISHER: FALSTAFF BOOKS
LENGTH: 270 PAGES
GENRE: URBAN FANTASY

SYNOPSIS: Chessa Moon and Gwendolyn Evenshine started C&F Investigations with a clear objective: pursue justice for the countless fae who’d been let down by the system. Unfortunately, the lines of succession and a botched insurrection tore Gwen away, leaving Chessa to press on without her partner.

With help from Norman, a rehabilitated criminal wizard, and Cross-Eyed Quincy, a disreputable half-ogre, C&F scrounges for business, crippled by its connection to the Seelie Throne.

Until Xander Aster is pushed through the front door.

Xander’s brother Mandrake was murdered, and the teenage pixie doesn’t believe the story the cops are selling. When the case leads to Avalon, the seat of Seelie power, Chessa must determine who is trustworthy before the magic inside consumes her and 

a new evil is let loose upon the world.

They say you can never go home again, and while that might ring true as far as the story goes, I love it when novels go back to the "scene of the crime" or their first setting after a brief departure. I loved it when another series I liked did this within 3 books, and now Sarah has followed suit with her 3 books out. Though that other series ended after 3 books, there is no way this one can do that; more on that in a couple of paragraphs. 

There are few authors I know who manage old and new characters alike with the kind of vigor and just amazing forethought that Sarah does. The meticulous manner in which details are shared, through dialogue and emotive observations, the fact that they all matter, and how that one little thing can lead to something, is huge. That's the foundation of great mysteries, great storytelling, and just out and out enjoyment as a reader. 

I also love how much the familiar characters grow based on what has happened, what is to come, and what the situation brings. Case in point, my 2 favorite characters, Chessa and Quincy.  Both have paramount and amazing roles here that are so well defined and well utilized to tell this complex and interesting turn of events.

Its not just the characters. I have always had a fondness for Sarah's banter, her cadence, but she does messy punk rock like it's an emmaculate piece of China. There is a polish that allows you stay grounded here, and it comes in the discovery as a reader and paying attention to the details she sprinkles throughout. It is also how she sets the characters in the environments they inhabit, and that adds another layer to everything we are experiencing. 

One of the things that I also think separates Sarah for me from other authors, is her care for ancillary characters. While she won't put as much care into them as our mains, they all serve a purpose for the overarching story afoot, and that is impressive considering the riff raff that is put before us. Some we know, some we get to know better, and some we get introduced to in a manner that is akin to a great noir or mystery rolling into an Urban Fantasy. There's a Knives Out, Agatha Christie kind of feel to each character introduction here.  

Then comes the most amazing 3rd act for me in my 2025 reading experiences. I mean, I am still shell-shocked from it months later. It is one of the best and most powerful twists and turns you could ever possibly imagined and you still would be wrong. What I love is that Sarah pulls no punches and just dares us to defy it, to deny it, and leaves us to stew in it. I loved every last word of the last 40 pages. I mean, this is one of those special endings you talk about at water coolers, and believe me, I want you all to read it so we can talk about it. The nuances, the speculations, the retracing of the steps. It all has merit here, and it's so brilliant when you break it down. Sarah J Sover, because of her command of her world, her characters, and her wiritng has pulled it off in spades. 

I trust so much in how this will all pay off, and I can not wait to read it, but then again, I still need some time to get over this, too. 

 

YOU CAN READ PIXIE DUSTED AND THE WHOLE  FRACTURED FAE SERIES HERE