“Walt Disney has a lot to answer for.” Or so thinks Dr. Bob Curran, author of Dark Fairies, a book highlighting the true, dark, and violent nature of fairies. In ancient times, fairies were not the Tinker Bell that we all visualize today, they were feared and never to be trusted. They were dangerous and unpredictable spirits that flitted about doing wicked things and were more commonly known as manifestations of demons, fallen angels that did the bidding of the Devil himself. In Curran’s book, he goes into great historical detail about the history of these amazing, mysterious beings. Dark Fairies is split into four major parts: "The People of the Mounds", "The Host of the Gir", "The Dwellers in the Depths", and "Away with the Fairies". Each section goes into great detail and is very well written and researched. It even includes real-life stories from people who believe in or believe they had encounters with fairies, ghost stories of sort. One such person is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was an avid believer who even staged séances and had photos of what he believed strongly to be real fairies. The public, however, disagreed and thought his photos were staged.
I found this book to be very interesting and enlightening to the truth behind some of our “fairy tales” that I grew up with. It is very much steeped in fantasy, so it won’t be a favorite for everyone. For those interested in mythology, history, and/or fantasy, this is a fascinating read. Curran does a great job of telling these stories with credibility and his writing is very smooth.
You can find Curran's Dark Fairies at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and other major book retailers.
Thank you to Career Press for sending us a copy of this book free of charge to base this review upon.
