Green Fairy (Dangerous Spirits #1) by Kyell Gold
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
With Azure City coming out at the end of March, I thought it was high time I review the three books in Kyell Gold's Dangerous Spirits series. I find this to be one of Kyell Gold's most recognizable works alongside Out of Position, and it's easy to see why. It's has a unique concept, great structure, queer themes, and beautiful artwork by Rukis. So, without further ado, let's get started with the first book in the series: Green Fairy.
Genre: Magical Realism
Age Rating: PG-13 for some sexual situations
You might like this book if you:
Enjoy the magical realism genre
Can relate to gay coming of age themes
Played sports in high school
Like paranormal/ghost stories
Have tried and failed to become a vegetarian
Green Fairy follows Sol, a gay wolf whose senior year of high school is filled with personal issues and drama. He's closeted in a bigoted southern town, he just lost his starting spot on the school's baseball team, his overbearing father is on his case about personal responsibility, and he's involved in a questionable online relationship with some guy he's never met. Sol just wants to graduate, move out of his bigoted small town, and start his life with his online boyfriend, but it seems life is going to throw him through ordeal after ordeal to get there.
To top it all off, Sol starts a school project with his best friend Meg, which requires him to read the journal of an imprisoned Frenchman in the 19th century. It details the man's infatuation with a male dancer named Niki at the Moulin Rouge. After doing a just-for-fun magic ritual with Meg that involves drinking absinthe, Sol begins having dreams where he experiences the journal's events through Niki's eyes, and strange things begin happening to him in his everyday life.
So on top of everything else, now Sol is being haunted by a ghost. Poor guy.
I don't usually spend two paragraphs explaining the premise of a book in my reviews. I prefer the shorter approach. But I wanted to show just how much stuff is going on in Sol's life because his character development is such a highlight of the book. If you're a fan of character-driven stories, you're going to enjoy this one. All of Sol's challenges are more than enough to keep you interested in learning about him and seeing him through his stormy life. It also helps that he takes a lot of initiative, always actively trying to solve his problems rather than suffering the common writing flaw of just having things happen to him.
Sol is also a very flawed character, being so overwhelmed that he makes a lot decisions that may frustrate you in his efforts to do so. However, in the words of a friend of mine, "if a teenage character is making choices that frustrate you, they might just be written well." While I personally ended up not really liking Sol as much as I liked the other characters in this series, I can't deny that he'll appeal to others who can relate to him, and that he's a well-written character.
As Sol deals with all the challenges in his life, he only has his friend Meg to vent to. Meg is a standout character who I really enjoyed, a goth otter with an attitude who thoroughly rejects any possibility of something paranormal going on (despite doing a supposed magic ritual for fun at one point) and who often said exactly what I was thinking about Sol's questionable decisions. Keep an eye on her, because she returns in the second book and is the focus of the third. Probably one of my favorite characters I've encountered in furry fiction so far.
And then there's Sol's parents, who are both problematic in their own ways. Sol's father is stern and demanding, with high expectations for Sol to get his starting spot back on the baseball team. It's not like Sol is planning on a big future in baseball or anything, so I have no idea why his dad was so gung ho about it, but I've seen this kind of parent before in real life, so I can't say he wasn't realistic. His mom, meanwhile, is a bit of a pushover, not doing anything to stop Sol's father from making the poor guy's life even harder than it already is. I could really see why Sol was driven toward starting a questionable online relationship with someone who seemed to actually listen to him on an emotional level.
"But what does any of this have to do with being haunted by a 19th century dancer from the Moulin Rouge?" I hear you cry. Well, alongside the character development, that's what I found most brilliant about this book. Niki's historical life reflects Sol's modern one in a fascinating way. Sometimes, the beats of Niki's life are similar to Sol's, such as how his relationship with a noble ram mirror's Sol's online relationship. At other times, terrible things will happen to Niki to show that something similar may happen to Sol if he continues down his current path (which I can't give an example of, because spoilers). This interplay between two very different characters from two very different time periods was so well-written and structured that I think you'll find it's one of the most memorable parts of the book, filling an otherwise realistic story with paranormal surprises and revelations.
With all of this in mind you may be surprised to hear that I find Green Fairy to be somewhat mundane when compared to the other two books in this series. It features a lot of high school angst, with a teenager making teenage decisions and the occasional light paranormal event. I'm far removed from high school at this point, so while it might register more strongly with queer readers in their late teens and early 20s, it was a bit unremarkable to this 30 year old. That's not a flaw on the book's part, it's just something to keep in mind if you're also far removed from high school. But the next two books mature out of this a bit, raising the stakes of the character's problems, which should hopefully make you excited to continue the series after finishing this book up.
I would be remise to not talk about the excellent illustration work by Rukis in this book, too. And there's so much of it! I only picked up a physical copy after listening to the audiobook, and I was shocked to flip through the pages and see just how much great artwork I had missed. Each book in this series is lovingly illustrated as well. If you're a fan of Rukis's work, or just like great furry artwork in general, you're going to be in heaven here.
So, Green Fairy is a furry classic for a reason. If you're a fan of magical realism and can relate to the struggles of growing up gay in a small town--especially if high expectations were placed on you in a high school extra-curricular--this book will doubtlessly register with you. Plus, this excellent book starts you on the path toward books I find to be even more excellent, so you have a lot to look forward to. Not to mention a fourth book coming out at the end of March. It's a great time to get into this series, and I look forward to seeing conversations start up about it again this year.