User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I chose this book as a read-aloud to my little sisters on a whim after winning it for a giveaway. I wasn't sure what to expect at first as I usually didn't enjoy reading YA and especially not YA fantasy (until now, apparently!!!!!). But this book was absolutely amazing! I'm in my late teens, and I enjoyed it just as much as 9-year-old sister did, which shows this series' accessibility! The characters were all so real and convincing, and the plot will grab you and not let go. I totally could've read the entire book in one sitting; it literally took me all my self control to savor it over a one-week period.
I could really relate to the main character, Ivy, as she struggled with her limitations, battled for freedom, and learned to set aside her past beliefs about how things were and are supposed to be so that she could grow and find the truth. And don't even get me started about "Richard"! I literally can't have enough of him; he charmed me so quickly! We ordered the second book of the trilogy (Nomad) and preordered the third (Torch) right away and I'm obviously not going to go into them here, but let me just say that they're even better than the first (which is saying a lot)!!!
Anderson's writing is so charming and magical, I loved every bit of it! I've really drifted away from reading for the last year or two, barely reading a book a year, believe it or not, but Swift has truly drawn me back into reading again and I am oh so grateful. If you are on the edge of a decision about reading this one, I'm telling you, it's more than worth it!
Rating: really liked it
This book has saffron cake and Cornish pasties, and underground tunnels full of mysterious beauties and hidden dangers, dancing and flying and quoting Shakespeare, soul bonds and friendships, issues of disability and prejudice and the clash of cultures, and a lot of other things I care about. It's also a tribute to my Cornish maternal grandmother, and all the sayings and traditions she passed on to our family even though she died before I was born.
ETA June 2020 - I am so thankful to my publisher Enclave Escape for giving this story a new chance to reach readers in the US and around the world, starting in August 2020. See my latest Goodreads blog post for an exciting SWIFT preorder bonus giveaway, available to the first 30 entries worldwide!
Rating: really liked it
I'm so happy this is about to be republished (by Enclave) - I think my red-headed goddaughter and her sisters are going to love it!
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This is my first foray into RJ Anderson's books. If I had to slot it into a specific age group, I would call this middle-grade, but really it reminded me of old-fashioned YA books. It's set in a very well-rendered Cornwall, and it's written for everyone who also reads Narnia or Enid Blyton or THE PERILOUS GARD. It's not quite as good as the first or last of those, mind you. But there was a lot that I appreciated in this one.
First, it's beautifully written with a fast-moving plot. Second, it's really wholesome and sweet. Third, it is REALLY challenging.
I mean that. This is not a simple book.
It's not just that Anderson repeatedly pulls away the carpet from under us just as we think we understand the characters. She does that, by the way. This book twists like a corkscrew. It's also the whole ethical set-up of the book. There is some really mature, challenging thinking here. There are the "gender issues", for instance: the men of Ivy's people have a history of treating their women rather cavalierly, and we see Ivy battle past her indignation to a place where she's still willing to help them. There are the issues of prejudice and parochial suspicion, and yet the plot is so much more than just "they aren't evil, they're just misunderstood!" There are grown-ups doing things that the young people don't understand and sympathise with, and there are young people coming to realise that the grown-ups have much more complicated and dangerous situations to deal with than they realise.
There is even an awesome rebuke of tribalist thinking.
This was a little, sweet book with some big ideas in it. I did have some complaints. One character's death disappointed me because it left one plotline with very little closure, for instance. And when I think about actually sharing this book with the little girls I know, I tend to wonder whether the level of mature thinking it demands of its audience might even be a little way above them.
It can be hard to find good reading for young people, especially girls around 8-14. If this is a problem you face, I would enthusiastically recommend checking out RJ Anderson's SWIFT.
Rating: really liked it
The more I read of R. J. Anderson's faery books, the more impressed I am by how effortlessly she blends genres: urban fantasy, English garden fantasy, folklore, mythology both real and imagined, even bits of theology. They all come together to form a coherent world that doesn't feel at all piecemeal. The books are cross-age too: they've been marketed as both middle-grade and YA, and are quite capable of appealing to adults like myself and my mother. I think a big part of it--aside from how they're just awesome stories--is that Anderson has nailed the technique of touching on complex issues in fairly simple stories, with the disturbing content as much implied as shown, so that readers can experience the story in a way that corresponds to their maturity.
Swift shifts to a new kind of faery: the piskeys, who live in a mine, confined by their fear of deceitful faeries and monstrous spriggans. The heroine is Ivy, a sickly young piskey who never developed wings. She's grown up hating the spriggans: after all, they kidnapped and presumably ate her mother. When she finds out that some of her fellow piskeys don't even believe in the spriggans, she's horrified. But then--after another young piskey disappears--the piskeys actually capture a spriggan, and she thinks she's been vindicated.
Then the spriggan claims he has a message from her mother.
There are dark elements in this story: lies and murder and self-deception, on several different scales. Ivy has to face the fallibility of her own judgements, not just once but again and again. And there's the painful awareness that sometimes you don't ever get to find out what was really going on with someone.
There's also magic and beauty and loyalty. Birds and the lure of the wind. And an ending that's really a beginning. I am really, really excited to see where this new set of faery novels go.
(view spoiler)
[My one complaint: once again, Anderson has clearly set up a romance and made me fall in love with it, AND YET THERE IS NO KISSING. I appreciate how she doesn't rush the development of relationships, I just want more payoff. I hope--I really, *really* hope--that the next book will also focus on Ivy and Martin so we can see their relationship progress. (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
What a gloriously magical story! I grew up loving fairy stories, so this gave me all the best nostalgia. It's such a beautiful tale of family and courage and adventure.
The characters stole my heart so easily. Ivy and Richard had such a funny relationship, and all the characters were so real and dynamic.
I love how simple this story is on the outside, yet how deep and complex it delves at the same time.
It's easy to read, and so powerful and meaningful at the heart of the story.I thoroughly enjoyed this and it's definitely on the 'read to future kids' list.
I absolutely recommend it to all lovers of faeries and fantasy!
Rating: really liked it
I read this book aloud to my teenage daughter, and we loved it! Swift was a fun adventure with a fascinating storyworld and lots of surprises. I enjoyed reading about Ivy and her life as a pixie living in the Delve. RJ Anderson is a wonderful storyteller, who creatively reworked fairy lore to tell a unique adventure story. My daughter and I cannot wait for book two!
Rating: really liked it
A solid 4.5 stars for this brilliant fantasy novel.
I would say this is a YA Tinkerbell…and seeing as how I am always down to watch Tinkerbell with my siblings it’s definitely not a bad thing. The plot took an amazing twist that really upped the stakes. This got more complex than I expected. I also didn’t think that the characters would stick with me as much as they are.
I am so thrilled that my experience with this book was good. I am moving right into book two.
Rating: really liked it
This book was an easy, light read. There were some things I did enjoy, like the worldbuilding with the Delve, the piskeys, faeries, and spriggans, and I really liked Richard. He was my favorite character by far. I would read Nomad as it looks like it will focus on the characters I enjoyed the most.
Rating: really liked it
Could this have been better?
I don't think so!
With Swift, fourth book of the Fairie Rebels (or the first one in the Swift series), we get a new heroine, and another dangerous quest.
But one thing doesn't change:
PEOPLE, THIS IS HOW YA BOOKS SHOULD BE WRITTEN!!
A strong plot, cleverly built, and strong enough to keep going through of whole book, without having to resort to the same old "tricks", like insta love, love triangles...or other soap "operish" dramatics, just so pages can be filled!
Strong believable characters, that despite their magical nature still feel natural and engaging to the reader.
Never once did i, while reading a book of this series feel the urgent need of shouting at the characters!
Why?
Because the author knows how to properly mix the magical with the ordinary! So, the whole story flows seamlessly! And the only thing the reader can do, is turn the pages as fast as he/she can!
Another thing, just because a book is ya, it doesn't mean that it has to be written as if it's audience lacks brains!
R. J. Anderson knows this! Her characters despite being young _ for the record, this should not be seen as a sign of stupidity, as some authors tend to do! _ are more mature and grown up, that most characters in some of the contemporary romances that i've read!
Ivy, our main character was no exception to this.
I loved the way she was characterized. Her courage, her doubts, her frailty.
The whole story, and culture of who the piskeys were....their tunnels, the mine, the whole setting was so perfectly described, that i was there.
I liked that despite being a magical being, Ivy has problems and has to face situations less than magical.
She has to fight against adversity. She has to fight for what she believes. She has to make choices.
And those choices come with consequences...
I devoured this book. Honestly, it was that good! ( pretty obvious now, by the number of exclamation marks that i'm using, lol)
I can only tell you to give this series a try!
Do not be fooled by the covers. Or by the fact that the characters are fairies, or piskeys, or whatever magical beings the author created.
I dare you to read this series, and to find it lacking!
Luckily Nomad, the following book of the series, has already been released :)
Rating: really liked it
This was the story that broke a too-long succession of books I DNF.
I enjoyed it very much! It was pretty lighthearted, but don’t let any of the cliches fool you because you’re in for a series of plot twists!
It was a fun story, likable characters, and though the writing itself was nothing extraordinary, I still found myself drawn into the world of piskeys, faerys, spriggans, and the mystery revealing their endangerment.
Rating: really liked it
martin 😔✌️ my homie..... my lad..... my sacrastic boy....... i lov u my son
Rating: really liked it
Originally posted here.
R.J. Anderson's Swift was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012.
Anderson is an auto-buy author for me, so much so that if her books (like this one) aren't going to be foreseeably available in the US I order them from the UK. Swift did not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations for it. Anderson brought the story that began in to a brilliant conclusion with Arrow. Swift takes place in Cornwall and deals with an entirely different group of magical beings, Piskies. While there is a definite overlap between the first trilogy and this book you can read Swift without reading the others. (Though why would you want to? And if you don't read them first you will definitely want to once you have finished this.)
Ivy is a Cornish piskey living with her family and people in an old mine. Ivy is different from the other female piskies. She is smaller and more fail and, most devastating to her, born without wings. Being different hasn't been easy on Ivy nor has the disappearance of her mother, presumably snatched by spriggans, her people's fearsome enemy. When a strange creature, presumably a spriggan, is taken captive by her people and Ivy stumbles upon his cell she makes a dangerous bargain with him. If she helps free him he can take her to her mother and teach her how to fly. This sets Ivy off on an adventure that will forever alter the way she sees herself and the world she grew up in.
What I consistently impresses me about these books is that each heroine is very different from the ones who have come before her. They all share a similar spirit, but their personalities and how they go about achieving their goals is quite different. Ivy is, to me, the most interesting one yet. She has a confidence in herself that is mixed with fears of inferiority. She is stubborn and strong willed, but also willing to explore new ideas and entertain the notion that she may be wrong about things and need to rethink them. Having been sheltered all her life, completely shut off from the outside world, she has much to learn and yet she has a real sense of adventure and is not afraid of the unknown.
The mysterious captive who offers Ivy the bargain for her heart's desire is as fascinating as they come too. Ivy calls him Richard, but that is not his name. When she discovers him for the first time he is alone in the dark and is despondent. What is he doing in his despondency? Quoting Shakespeare. You should have seen the smile on my face when I reached that page. I admit I was excited and extremely happy to find they had captured a Shakespeare quoting magical being. I was kind of hoping we would get more of a certain character who fit that description.
The story itself is an interesting one full of intrigue and a lot of action. As always, the themes Anderson explores through the plot are just as engaging as the plot itself. There is a blood feud that shows what a cruel face justice can have when it is used as a mask for revenge. There is the danger of what happens when we allow the stories we tell about our pasts to become the truth we believe about ourselves and our history. There is the fine line that exists between protecting those we love for their good and enslaving them for our own. Good food for thought and excellent execution all around.
While the book has a definite end it leaves the door open for more which I am anticipating. There is still a lot left to explore both individually for Ivy and "Richard" and with their connection to each other. (Whether it turns out to be a romantic one or not. There was no romance in this story though there was definitely potential for that to develop. Yet there is also potential for things to develop in a completely different fashion. I'm interested to see where Anderson might go with all that.)
Rating: really liked it
A fantastic series starterI’m looking forward to continuing Ivy’s story. I love the search for answers and discovering truth throughout this story but there’s so much left to uncover! This book awakened my imagination and left me eager to learn more about Ivy and the Cornish faerie folk.
A clean and wholesome read for young adults: no swearing or sensual content, mild violence.
Rating: really liked it
Travelers Wife 4 Life
Have you ever read a book that made you feel lost in another world? Well, if not, Swift by R.J. Anderson will change that. It is the first book in the series and is a great introduction to the world of fairies for someone not used to it.
I really enjoyed the character development in this story Ivy grows so much as the story progresses, always learning and willing to look at things from a different perspective. Ivy was a very well-done character, and with the addition of the secondary characters Richard and Molly, it left me very invested in their outcomes and the continuation of the story! (and no, this one does not leave off with a cliff hanger, just the idea of adventures yet to come).
The storyline and plot were like getting immersed in a totally new land filled with Pixi dust, fairies, and spriggans. It kept my imagination working to dream of all the different characters and what they might look like; everything was described in vivid detail, so it helped me imagine things as R.J. Anderson envisioned them. I loved the almost coming of age theme to this book and I am really looking forward to where R. J. Anderson will take this adventure next as so much already happened in this book.
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for the creative characters, the amazing storyline, and for the great themes that were presented.
*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
Rating: really liked it
When I first started reading Swift, it seemed cliche and boring, but then I started hitting the plot twists (yes, there are multiple), conflicts, and questions that need answers. Now, I can see I was totally wrong before - this series is an adventure that I can’t wait to continue on!
Excited to read book two in the series, Nomad, to see where R.J. Anderson takes this story and its magical (quite literally) characters!😃
