Some cringeworth stuff in here. For example, (re someones dreadlocks): “he was entitled to it, being a black man”

Didn't pick up until about 1/3 of the way through and never really gripped me.

A unique and interesting take on contemporary/urban fantasy. Where most urban fantasies these days are either vampires and werewolves, or wizards and warlocks, Card takes fantasy back to its medieval pagan roots with faeries and tricksters, all set in modern-day Los Angeles area in a black neighborhood. Powerful, relate-able, believable characters, and an original take on modern faeries make this a solid novel.

This was another of those books where the premise and concept are so good, but the book is just okay. It is hard to even say why. The writing is fine and the book flows nicely. It even started off at a good pace. I just found that I wasn't really interested as the book progressed. By the end, I completed it only because I hate not finishing a book.

I have always found Card to be readable, and listening was good too. I just wish that I could forget Card's biases - I don't think he is a nice man.

The book was good and it was especially helpful to find out why Card set the book where he did.

Weird, that's all I can say. Not what I had expected at all.

As usual Orson Scott Card's characters just suck me right in. I loved the story in the beginning, but just couldn't sustain my interest. Not sure why - but this one didn't do it for me. I usually love magic and urban fairy tales.

Got three chapters in and stopped. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't drawing me in. Once I read a bunch of reviews, I realized, as a fan of Ender's Game and the associated series to that, I would not be impressed with this one.

Obviously not my favorite of this author's work, but I couldn't put it down, because Card is such an amazing storyteller that he drew me into his fantasy world. Even while I totally disbelieved all the situations and worldview, I still cared about the characters and "had" to find out what happened to them. If you like fairy tales (or Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream") then you should really love this modern version, featuring Oberon, Titania and Puck in today's Los Angeles.

Awful, forgettable - and thank god Queen Latifah never made the movie, as the author bragged at a signing event that she was going to. BTW, I facilitated that event and he was a genuine asshole - the bookstore could barely contain the size of his ego.

Meh. I'm disappointed in this book. I had a hard time moving past the "white author depicting a black world" facet of this book, and so no matter how authentic Orson Scott Card managed to be (and how would I know?), that kept me from really settling in and enjoying the book. I do appreciate that authors try to explore experiences and viewpoints other than their own - if they didn't, there wouldn't be much fiction, would there? But when it comes to taking on a different race or gender, it is very rare that an author is able to make me forget that this isn't his or her own world, and Card didn't manage it here. (If I hadn't known that he is white, I might have felt differently, but he certainly wasn't able to make me forget that.)

Aside from that, the fantasy portions were haphazard: neither smoothly executed nor well explained. There were a few things that caught my attention, such as the roles of conscience and identity and the idea of people's deepest wishes coming true in the worst possible ways - which was the most intriguing part of the book - but they were not enough to bring the book together in a cohesive whole.

The first 50 pages of this book are so awesome, that when the rest of the book didn't live up to it, I wanted to cry.

Pros:
-Awesome, diverse, and differentiated African-American characters.
-Super descriptions of Baldwin Hills and L.A. in general.
-Cuh-ray-zee cool mash-up of contemporary L.A. with Fairyland.
-Lots of awesome poetry and Shakespeare references.
-Interesting handling of religion, very unique for a fantasy book.

Cons:
-Too many characters eventually appear for them each to really get the attention they deserve. In fact, many of the characters I liked most become sidelined as Mack gets older. Only, because Mack is so perfect, he's less fun. I really wanted to see the struggles of his rescuer/babysitter/substitute big brother, of his real-life father, and of his step-mom. And Puck.
-The middle act really, really drags.
-None of the descriptions of magic as the book progresses are anywhere near as magical as the ones that appear in the first few chapters.

I thought the fairy angle was a bit off, but I did get into it by the end.
Ending a bit of a flop for me, but there we go.
loved the real vs fairy realities.
can't decide to keep or not...