Knife - RJ Anderson

Knife is a beautifully-written twist on the typical fairy/faery/fury tale. It's written in 3rd person POV, and is very unusual. It's main character is named Knife, originally Bryony. As a young fairy, she meets the youngest member of the human family living near the oak tree she calls her home.

Knife has been raised to fear going outside the oak, and her mother of sorts, Wink, is terrified of humans. However, Knife is a unruly little fairy who, as she grows up, wishes to leave the oak as often as she can.

Her chosen career path is 'Hunter', and she is apprenticed to Thorn. This thrills her, as it means she is free to leave the oak as often as she wishes, and is not bound by the rules and restrictions of the reast of the fairy-folk.

The blurb reads -

Knife woke in a cold sweat, the torn edge of her wing sizzling with pain. How long had she lain unconscious? Her worst fears had come to pass: she was trapped, flightless, a prisoner. The humands had put her in a box, and now they had come to torment her...

When Knife ventures near the human's yard, she sees Paul again, only this time he is a fully grown man, paraplegic from a rowing accident and in a wheelchair. She continues to go back to the house, until one day he captures her, and puts her in a shoebox in the cupboard.

When she wakes, she escapes, but is attacked by his cat. Paul saves her, and she enters into a grudging friendship with him. He introduces her to his love; art. They quickly become good friends, with Knife sneaking out of the oak to see him more and more.

When Knife's good friend Campion gets a disease called the 'Silence', Knife is forced to question truths she has never before questioned about her culture, and her Queen. She enlists Paul to help her, and uncovers flaws in her people, as well as her love for him. At first she thinks that this is unnatural, and rejects her feelings, but upon reading the journals of her ancestors, she discovers that she is mearly walking their path, and that her people had forgotten their history.

Knife is a delicately written story of love, betrayal, depression and mystery. It's brilliantly written, with plot twists every second page. The characters undergo great characterization, and the plot thickens beautifully.