I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a review copy of the book via NetGalley.

Fairies: A Celebration of Pixies, Sprites, Mermaids, and Brownies is an attempt to provide an overview of fairies and fae creatures across the world from various literature and folklore. Each entry provides a basic overview, some trivia, a sentence about the origin of the fairy type, and a piece of popular culture. The entries also include illustrations or pictures, and each includes a quote related to fairies, sometimes related to the entry but other times not.

The book is divided into two sections; Fairies from Literature and Fairies from Folklore. I'm not sure how successful the break between the two sections is. What is literature and what is folklore? Poets are often brought up in the folklore section, and what is poetry if not literature? Also, the literature section is heavily comprised of Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies (or, at least, it felt that way), which isn't inherently a problem, but I struggled with why the author included the Flower Fairies they did and excluded other or didn't give more of a broad overview. It felt almost as if the Flower Fairies were filling out the page count, which is unfortunate as I felt there were more fairy-type beings that could have been added.

Of course, that brings up the next potential point of contention. Fairies, more or less, are typically anthropomorphic (but not always) wee folk found in European cultures, with the Tuatha De Danann, Aos Si, or Sithe often held up as a framework, in addition to brownies, boggarts, hobs, and other household spirits/sprites. One of the potential pitfalls of books like this is essentially trying to retrofit other distinct cultural folklore spirits into a western European/Celtic framework.

While I think this book actually handled this aspect pretty well, it does bring to question why we have so many flower fairies, but only a few examples of fae-like spirits from the Americas and Africa, or why some of the Asian fae-like spirits were chosen instead of others.

I will say, if the book needed divisions, I would have liked to see the book broken up in a section detailing specific fae individuals (Princess Ozma, Queen Mab, Morgan Le Fay, etc) and another detailing more generic fae types, such as banshee, lanvaettir, dryads, and the like

Overall, I think this is a pretty decent overview of Celtic/western European fae-like spirits with a smattering of spirits thrown in from other cultures. It could have merged the two sections (or done without much of the literature section), but that's a minor quibble. All-in-all, if you're looking for a good-looking fairy field guide-style book to put on an end table or coffee table, this might be a great option for you. If you're looking for depths of information or a good global overview, you may want to keep looking.

2.5 Stars
One Liner: Works more like an index

So, the blurb says that the book is a collection of beautiful images and fascinating tales about fairies from various lands and cultures.
Hardly surprising that I requested it right away. I love reading about fairies and mythical creatures (good, bad, and ugly). When I saw the long list in the table of contents, I was delighted. Given the page count and the extensive work involved, I knew it wouldn’t be in-depth. I don’t need it to cover everything.
However, the content is really sparse. Moreover, the focus is more on pop culture usage or appearance of the creatures than their original tales.
Each fairy gets this - One para about the creature. A short snippet (3-5 lines) about where it was used in fiction, origin in one line, presence in popular culture and an illustration/ photo, and a quote by the authors, actors, etc., about fairies.
That’s it. Rinse and repeat for all of them.
While the list is lengthy and includes flower and plant fairies, tinker bell, ariel (not mermaid Shakespeare’s from Tempest), fairies from folklore, leprechauns, and even plant devas and yakshas from Hinduism, it doesn’t do anything else much.
We at least get a visual representation of the said fairy – sometimes a painting, some pencil sketches, and some pictures (photographs). I didn’t mind the lack of consistency as it seems that they picked the best possible option available on the internet. However, I did very much mind the lack of detail. The ‘tales’ are not even tales, TBH. I’d find more content on online blogs (and I did too).
I’m not annoyed (just disappointed) since I got the ARC for free but I don’t think people would be too happy if they paid for it and found barely any useful information.
To summarize, Fairies is an index of the mythical creatures that broadly come up under the tag of the term fairies. It might work as a starting point (to find a fairy or see if it is what you want) but does nothing beyond that.
Thank you, NetGalley and Amber Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Amber Books Ltd for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a nice read, but a bit basic. The cultural references could have done with being a bit more up to date.

Stunning illustrations with beautiful mythology. Its so lovely to see art and myth intertwined. Truly a beautiful book

This book contains many fairies I had never heard of, so in that way, it is rather expansive. The information, however, is very light, with just a few facts on each.

The main thing that jarred me was the different styles of images for each fairy: some photos, others illustrations. The artwork didn't follow the same theme and feel, which made the book feel a bit messy and disjointed.

Ugh this book was such a let down. Its a basic book about the different types of faeries, each one getting its own page or two with a short blurb and a picture. That's fine in and of itself if I hadn't read it a million times already. The author tried to make it more interesting by splitting the blurb in to origins and examples in pop culture BUT it didn't flesh it out enough. With a little bit more information it could have been great. I was also expecting stories about the fae. Maybe some folklore or fairytales but it was strictly factual and a little dull.

The book "Fairies" by Dominic Connolly has a subtitle "A Celebration of Pixies, Sprites, Mermaids and Brownies" which implies an encompassing introduction to different types of fairies. The cover depicts two fairies in gossamer wings that look like they came out of a Victorian novel, It seems promising as a coffee table book, and I won't comment on how the epub displayed things to what the final product might look like, but I certainly hope they would fix the ebook formatting before proper publishing.

However, writing short descriptions for different types of fairies seems more of an excuse to cut corners than to exercise compact writing. Instead of each entry being coherent and self-contained, they often ramble off into other sources, some of which have nothing to do with fairies at all. Or they're repetitive in ways that would be caught in a first draft of editing. One example is: "In English folklore, Puck is a fairy known for playing pranks, who is also known as Robin Goodfellow. Puck has been popularised by Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which he is also referred to as Robin Goodfellow." Other involve shoddy research, such as saying Sha Wujing is a kappa from Journey to the West, when in actuality he was not referred as that in the text, but later adaptations in Japan have depicted him as a kappa from their cultural understanding.

The art collection may be the real draw, as various Arthur Rackham illustrations and vintage or Renaissance era paintings are included for examples (some more of a stretch than others). Although some pages are populated by Shutterstock illustrations, which seem like a cheap alternative for fairy types that aren't easily found in art. The pictures are accompanied by quotes about fairies and magic from different sources, again some really reaching for a coherent point of reference to the subjects involved.

The least polished part of the whole thing is the popular culture references that seem mandated to accompany each entry. Some are useful points, but many others are obviously straining to find something that could fit, such as namedropping a YouTube crafting channel with just 700 subscribers as an example of primrose fairies in popular culture. And sometimes completely give up finding relevant references for the blurb, like when one states, "Many Flower Fairies images are free to download on the internet as PNG files." Meanwhile, other entries with lots of popular references are boiled down to how they appear in "popular culture, particularly computer games, comics and animation."

I know the topic of fairies has a wealth of information to sift through, and likely some of the research had to be cut down to suit the format of this book, but I could not recommend this book even for people very interested in fairies when it is not up to par in terms of quality. The writing is lackluster and overall it feels like trying to fit into the parameters of something it could not deliver. I do not think the audience is particularly well thought out, as it feels too old for children and too simple/repetitive for teens.

This book is a great introduction to fairies throughout history, from literature and from world cultures. It is a book for all ages with some beautiful examples of artwork and illustration. I particularly liked that there were examples from all over the world. Often books on fairies focus just on the Celtic fairies.

The format divides the fairies into two sections; Fairies from Literature and Fairies from Folklore. Each example is supplied with references to its origin, references in literature and popular culture. There is an image with each example and a quote. This is perfect for children as it offers small tidbits of information and then things they can go away and find out more from the references.

This is a beautiful book. I made lots of notes as I read in order to learn more from folklorists and writers. I will definitely order a copy in hardback to add to my folklore collection.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Amber Books for the opportunity to read this advance copy. All opinions are my own.

The blurb and cover intrigued me, but I had high expectations.
I appreciated the older images and the research that was conducted for writing this book.
I liked the concept of an encyclopaedia+fairy tale anthology, but unfortunately, this book was not what I expected. It is not a deep study of fairies, fairy tales, folklore and myths around them, their origins nor a rich collection of stories.

What a wonderful little resource for those interested in fairies, fairy tales and nature. I didn’t know what to expect so it was a pleasant surprise. Lore, illustrations and suggestions for what to discover in the world about fairies. It will led to other magical books and even films and artists obsessed with fairy tales. Great suggestions if you have little ones. But for grown-ups who love the magical world of the fae as well.

This is a sweet book with descriptions of fairies and spirits from all over the world and their depictions in popular culture combined with quotations and beautiful illustrations and pictures. It is an introduction to this world with only short pieces about each fairy and spirit, but wonderfully enjoyable and useful as a reference or starting-point as well.

I decided that what I really need is a hobgloblin who will do the housework for me while I sleep at night!

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book was a delightful escape into a magical world. It dives into the fascinating realm of fairies, giving readers a mix of folklore, stunning illustrations, and engaging storytelling. Connolly's writing style is approachable and captivating, making it easy to get lost in the enchanting tales. If you're looking for a light and whimsical read, this book is definitely worth picking up.

DNF at 22%, there's nothing wrong with this book but I just thought it would be more in-depth folklore etc but instead each fairy has 2-4 sentences written about them. For me this just it just wasn't what I was hoping, I was hoping to really get some in-depth myths, their origins etc. I think for what it is, it would be muchhhh nicer in a physical book where you can just flick through and read pages here and there, rather than trying to read it as a normal book. Doing it this way just feels too stilted as each little description is so short you can’t get invested or emersed in the reading experience.

This is a cute little book about fairy’s but sadly, for me, it didn’t provide much when it came to the stories. The book delves in to the origins of fairy’s in literature and folklore but I just wish there would have been more material.
It probably serves as a good index and the illustrations are gorgeous to look at but it wasn’t really what I expected.

𝙈𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘼𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬!

"Miracles are made of wings you forgot were on your back."

All the fairies, fairies from literature and fairies from folklore, where they came from with pictures and quotes. Nice and Fun read!

Thank you Amber Books for giving me a chance to read Fairies: A celebration of pixies, sprites, mermaids and brownies by Dominic Connolly via NetGalley. I highly suggest reading this on paper as there are beautiful illustrations.

"Beauty is a fairy; sometimes she hides herself in a flower-cup, or under a leaf, or creeps into the old ivy, and plays hide-and-seek with the sunbeams, or haunts some ruined spot, or laughs out of a bright young face."

Dominic Connolly’s book is soooo beautiful! I haven’t seen an illustrated book that’s so lovely in a long, long time. Connolly has collected dozens upon dozens of old-fashioned fairy pictures. The fairy descriptions prove exhaustive, as Connolly relies not only on folklore but also literature. Here’s a children’s book that adults will treasure even more than their kids do. Highly, highly recommended.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Amber Books in exchange for an honest review.

divided into two parts—fairies from literature and fairies from folklore—dominic connolly gives short, bite-sized information on different types of fairies, sprites, etc. especially as the reader would come across them in daily life or pop culture. connections are made between specific types of fairies and how they have been used in media. the illustrations included of the creatures were really lovely overall. however, it would be better suited to beginners to the folklore of the creatures, because there isn’t much detail given. having it on hand for its aesthetic aspect, or to remember the names of certain creatures could also be useful!

thank you to netgalley and amber books for the e-arc!

I read this courtesy Net Galley and Amber Books. Fairies are all over the world, and this enchanting book discusses a few. Author Dominic Connolly breaks down fairy origins and abilities and gives some examples of how those fairies have been used in popular media over time. The author tells the reader the stories behind famous fairies such as Shakespeare’s Titania and JM Barrie’s Tinker Bell and what kind of fairies they are. Fairies, we are told, come from folk beliefs and have been everything from demoted angels or demons and pagan deities, spirits of the dead, and spirits of nature. This charming book comes complete with illustrations from classic painters, and is an enjoyable read.

#Fairies #NetGalley #CampNetGalley

A nice little compendium of different fairies both in fiction and folklore. It could provide a good start for a child who is interested in learning more about folklore. For a person who has a basic comprehension of folklore, myths and the like it might a bit too basic but never the less, a good book to start with for the absolute beginner.

Nice art featured inside.

This was really interesting - I've never read anything like it before, but I super enjoyed it! If someone is thinking about reading this, I would recommend reading it as a physical book rather than a digital book for the best experience!