Note of warning THE FAIRIES OF SADIEVILLE is the very last novel in the Tufa series, so reading this book without having read the previous five novels will make it a bit hard to really understand since many events and people from the previous books will be addressed. You can read this book as a stand-alone. However, having at least read one or two books before will make this book a bit easier to understand.

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Not quite the ending I expected, but well done all the same.

I would love to have more stories about the Tufa in the future. ( )

97 points/100 (5/5 stars!)
Alert: Gushing Incoming

Justin Johnson finds a lost footage of a supposed documentary titled The Fairies of Sadieville that features a young woman turning into a fairy on camera, with a note attached to it saying "This is real." The Tufa community believes this is a sign that their Queen is willing to forgive them and let them go home to Tir na nOg.

What a beautiful work of art. This series up until this point has been beautifully written. This was the masterpiece. This is the series ending all other series should aspire to. From now on, I'm going to end up comparing every series ending to the end of Tufa. It was simply magical.

This was a blending of the present, the past, and the really past. In books previously, we'd get a bit of the past, but this was different. There was two entire stories worth of past and really past. It was a story inside a story inside another story. It was a great idea. We essentially zoomed in on the past and pulled back out.

The very past took place millenia ago, back when the Tufa first arrived on Earth. They had nothing, not even their names. They were being led by a person who advocated for complete isolationism, but the Tufa were scared and alone and they wanted more. It is a tale you've heard a hundred times before, a tale of love.

The past took place about 100 years ago in a town in Cloud County called Sadieville. It was a mining town, and some hot shot Yankees have come down to make a film. The town was owned by a mining company who don't give a damn about the workers. The fledgling church controls the police. The land used to belong to a Tufa family, before they made a bad decision to sell. Now, these filmmakers are caught in a millennia old hope. Bledsoe wrote this part so well, it felt like I was there. I felt like I could see the whole picture of it.

The present is about whether the Tufa can go home or not. They have to see, they have to try. Tir na nOg calls to them, and they have been trapped on Earth for what to them feels like forever. The question is, if they can go home, will they? They have family who don't have enough blood to come, they have friends who can't. It would mean splitting up. It is the hardest decision the Tufa have had to make since that time millenia ago when someone decided to stand up to a cranky asshole before they even knew their own names.

A lot of The Fairies of Sadieville is seeing old faces again. We see people we know well, and people who have only been brought up once or twice before. There is a lot of talking amongst themselves about this new development. We go from group to group as they talk about whether they would stay or leave. Young and old alike are discussing this. It is heartbreaking hearing everyone's tale, even if they are all short.

The end. Oh man, the end. From the start, I figured there was only two ways to end this series. Either they would stay on Earth and become part of the human world, or they would be able to go back home. The end is better than I could have hoped.

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So sad this is the last Tufa novel. ( )

When Justin’s beloved thesis advisor dies suddenly, it’s up to Justin to clear out his office- which is packed ceiling to floor with books, papers, tchotchkes, and boxes. One box proves to hold a short reel of ancient celluloid film. Curious, he takes it to a friend who works with such things, and they get to see what is on it. A woman sprouts wings and flies away- and the advisor has written on the reel “This is real”. So when Justin’s new advisor tells him that his proposed thesis is unacceptable to him, he decides to take a chance that researching the film will provide something unique enough to suit the advisor.

Some research tells Justin and his girlfriend, Veronica, that the film was shot in Appalachia, in a spot where an entire town disappeared instantaneously. They decide to head there to see what they can find. The tiny town of Needsville, the closest place to where Sadieville once stood, seems welcoming. A guide to where the film was shot is even provided to them.

The POV alternates between Justin & Veronica, and Sadieville before it vanished, so we get to know more than they do, but we still don’t know it all until their guide takes them to where the entrance to the Sadieville mine used to be. What they find there could not only change their lives, but the lives of everyone in Needsville.

When I requested this book, I didn’t realize that it was the end of a series of books about the Needsville area and the people there, the Tufa, but the story does manage to stand on its own. The author has managed to create a wonderful sense of place- the Appalachias have become a place I would love to see- and also a good sense of the Tufa as a people, despite not spending much time with any single one of them. I loved the combination of small town humanness mixed with Celtic fairie lore; the story presents a big question to the Tufa; do they want to stay in our world, or go back to fairie? What about their friends and lovers, and children? It’s a complex issue. Four and half stars. ( )