Domnall and the Borrowed Child

After a shaky start, the Tor.com novella lineup has been nothing short of excellent. I haven't read all the titles yet (working on it) but I want to tell you about this new addition which comes out - drumroll - today! If you've been reading big, epic books with ambitious world-building and multi-layered characters, if you just need a break, some time to breathe with a short fun tale, pick this one up.

DOMNALL AND THE BORROWED CHILD
by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

Published by: Tor.com, 2015
Ebook: 112 pages
Standalone novella
My rating: 6,5/10

First sentence: For centuries - more than that, millennia! - since the beginning of time itself, the fae had celebrated the Spring by finding the bluebells and creating a faerie ring.

The best and bravest faeries fell in the war against the Sluagh, and now the Council is packed with idiots and cowards. Domnall is old, aching, and as cranky as they come, but as much as he'd like to retire, he's the best scout the Sithein court has left.

When a fae child falls deathly ill, Domnall knows he's the only one who can get her the medicine she needs: Mother's milk. The old scout will face cunning humans, hungry wolves, and uncooperative sheep, to say nothing of his fellow fae!

Domnall doesn't have it easy. He's one of the Fair Folk, but few remain that hold with the old ways. Fairies nowadays are scared and careful and hide away under their hill, not like it used to be. But whenever there's trouble, who do they run to? Domnall, of course. No need to be sneaky and hide from the humans - he's a fae, after all, and proud of it. They used to run about all over the place, making fairy rings, enchanting humans, drinking fresh dew...

Domnall and the Borrowed Child tells exactly the story you'd expect from the title. Domnall has to exchange the sick Sithein girl for a human child, so the fae can get human mother's milk - a cure-all for fairy diseases. But of course, things don't go smoothly. Domnall manages to swap babies somehow but forgets that the human baby, now under the hill among the Sithein, also requires milk or else it will scream its head off. But he can't exactly milk the mother, so sheep will have to do. And milking sheep is no easy task. Domnall stumbles from one disaster into the next, just trying to do the best he can.

Along the way, he gets help by the young Sithein Micol and I think there were supposed to be romantic undertones in their relationship. I didn't feel those at all, because to me, Domnall was much, much older than Micol (and he is, 100 years older at least) and so I was rather hoping for a friendship. Domnall's character is lovable, if somewhat one-dimensional. The plot was fun and quick-moving and adorable in many ways. It also fell a little flat because it was such a straight-forward fairy story. This may very well be my own fault because I have been spoiled rotten with wonderful subversions of fairy tales, lately, so Domnall is not to blame.

I have very little to say about this book, other than that it was cute and I'd totally pick up another of Sylvia Spruck Wrigley's stories. This wasn't the kind of story that sticks in your mind, not the kind that makes you think deep thoughts or question the world around you. But it was highly entertaining, a romp through the fairy hills, with a Sithein who's essential just a good guy with a grumpy exterior. Lovely.

MY RATING: 6,5/10 - Quite good