Faenwick's story -- and series -- has been a slow evolution since the last words were typed for The Fairy Godmother's Apprentice. As fans who know a little about the series are aware, Faenwick was never intended to have a second appearance -- much less six of them. But when we decided to retell the story of Cinderella ... well, you know the rest.
There were a few things about the original FGA book that were problematic for us as storytellers, which explains in part how Faenwick earned such a place in THE DARK WOODS SERIES. The voice at the beginning and the end of the book was Faenwick's, yet nothing about the girl we meet in the book explains how she becomes the powerful, well-spoken narrator of both prologue and epilogue. Not even Cinderella's retelling reveals it: in fact, the Faenwick we meet in that story is hardly changed, Eloise perceiving the elegant side of Faenwick as 'cold' and 'inhuman,' with Faenwick's serious, stiff speech hardly seeming natural to her in that scene.
The book Thorns, with its fairies and prophetic magic, seemed the perfect opportunity to introduce the Faenwick we meet in the first person narrative of FGA, but it opened up new questions at the same time. Namely, what world and experiences had made her into that elegant figure -- and what exactly did Faenwick do to set in motion the destruction of the world of the fairies?
We begin to answers to those questions in The Last Fairy Godmother. The novel is a complicated bridge tale between worlds, that of Faenwick the seamstress faerie and Faenwick the central figure in the fairies' doom. It was an opportunity to give Faenwick a place that was completely her own in the Dark Woods canon, something we feel she deserves. Now, in the second tale of her series, we'll focus entirely on what makes her someone strong enough to take on the world of the 'winged imps,' to put it in Darri's terms, and the reasons why someone as loyal to the fairy godfolk's destiny as Faenwick would ever be forced to do it.
After all, the faerie girl who was Marimetsei's loyal apprentice in the end, choosing that life over love itself hardly seems like the future leader of the fairies' enemies. Even the incident at the pond hadn't changed Faenwick's loyalty to the purpose of the godfolk, the end result of which supposedly atones for the fairies' cruelties. But now everything about Faenwick's beliefs -- everything about her choices and her past -- will be called into question. Old friends return, and new ones divide her loyalties. Alliances are formed, secrets are revealed, and the very existence of the godfolk will be threatened by the discovery of the one thing the fairies have kept hidden for ages.
And when it is over, nothing will be the same.
The Last Fairy Godmother is Book Two in A FAERIE'S TALE, and is now available to purchase from major eBook retailers. Follow @DarkWoodsSeries or subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest updates on this and other Dark Woods related books.
