Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman Review

Title: Unseelie

Author: Ivelisse Housman

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Inkyard Press

Pages: 432

Release Date: 2 March 2023

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Hello all my fellow book lovers, today I'm sharing my review for the utterly enchanting, Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman.

A YA fantasy that explores themes of self discovery, sisterhood and found family in such a breathtakingly compelling fashion—examining faerie lore through a unique lens and treating us to an exquisite, action packed and thoroughly moving adventure I didn’t want to put down!

Synopsis

 Twin sisters, both on the run, but different as day and night. One, a professional rogue, searches for a fabled treasure; the other, a changeling, searches for the truth behind her origins, trying to find a place to fit in with the realm of fae who made her and the humans who shun her. 

Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove looks just like her twin, Isolde… but as an autistic changeling trying to navigate her unpredictable magic, Seelie finds it more difficult to fit in with the humans around her. When Seelie and Isolde are caught up in a heist gone wrong and make some unexpected allies, they find themselves unraveling a larger mystery that has its roots in the history of humans and fae alike.

 Both sisters soon discover that the secrets of the faeries may be more valuable than any pile of gold and jewels. But can Seelie harness her magic in time to protect her sister, and herself?

Review

Unseelie is a dreamy and utterly enchanting YA fantasy that's filled wicked fae, shape shifting love interests and a cat shaped brownie I absolutely adored—not to mention the Autism rep in our brave and compelling utterly compelling protagonist, Seelie. This is definitely a book that YA fantasy fans definitely need to add to their TBRs ASAP!

Written in the first person, Unseelie follows autistic changeling, Iselia “Seelie” Graygrove and her twin sister, Isolde as they stumble their way through realms (both human and fae) and a whole heap of trouble when a lucrative heist goes terribly wrong. I loved the dreamy, fairytale-esque quality to Ivelisse Houseman’s writing and the incredible detail that’s captured in the world building. Not to mention there’s dragons! From cute little pet dragons to guard dragons and firedrakes—I loved them all.

However, I think I loved the development and unique perspective of protagonist, Seelie the most. Given the complexity of her character as she struggles to accept her differences and fit in the the world (and people) around her.

As Houseman explains in her authors’ note at the start of her book, the lore surrounding changelings is theorised to be early explanation for autistic children—which really brings a level of insight & depth to Seelie’s character which I loved.

I really enjoyed delving into Seelie’s thought processes and emotions as she tries to conform to the “normal”societal norms and expectations everyone has of her. Getting to experience just how uncomfortable and overwhelming situations can be for her (and Houseman, who drew from her own experiences with autism) was both incredibly eye opening and utterly endearing.

The pacing is also a little slower as a result, but I really enjoyed the moments of reflection and processing of feelings/ emotions from Seelie’s POV—it’s not something we often get to experience first hand with a character and I genuinely really appreciated it.

The other characters were also quite interesting if not nearly as in depth as Seelie. Several of the supporting characters were super likeable, especially Isolde (Seelie’s twin), Olani (an adventurer verse in healing magic) and Raze (Seelie’s shapeshifting and smooth talking love interest) and I really enjoyed the banter, snarky dialogue and all around bond of friendship that we see grow between this rag-tag group—I definitely hope to see even more shenanigans in the sequel.

Overall, this was a really fun, magical and utterly insightful read full of incredible autism/ neurodivergent rep that fans of YA fantasy, the found family trope and Holly Black should definitely check out!

Also a huge thank you to Harper360ya/Inkyard Press for the arc.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

About The Author 

Photo by Sam Housman Creative

Ivelisse Housman has been writing stories her whole life.

At all seven schools she attended throughout her childhood, she was infamously “that kid who gets in trouble for reading during class, but stubbornly refuses to stop.” Raised in a Puerto Rican-American home, she’s always been fascinated by stories about standing between two worlds. She was diagnosed with autism when she was 15, which made everything before and after that make a lot more sense.

After switching majors way too many times, she remembered that writing was actually a career that people can have, and wrote her first novel while finishing her degree in graphic design.

She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains with her high school sweetheart/archnemesis and their two beloved rescue dogs.

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