If Tumblr had existed when this was published…

It would have been CRAZY. It is made for fanfic and fan art and OTPing. I am a little in love with this book that I was so fortunate to receive in the book exchange from JS.

The War for the Oaks is one of the first urban fantasies published in 1987; it is set in Minneapolis in the 80s, centring on a musician named Eddi who finds herself getting out of both a bad relationship and a bad band, and falling into the middle of a war amongst the Faeries. Bull, who is herself a musician as well as an author, does not waste any time kicking the story off. She efficiently sets the scene, introduces her heroine, and the action quickly kicks off. While Eddi feels trapped into participating in the war that most people are totally unaware of, to the extent that a phouka moves into her apartment to both protect her and make sure that she doesn’t run away, the little bits of magic she is exposed to seem to embolden her to make daring choices in both her career and her romantic life. There is romance and adventure, and some excellent quick world building, and this book just seems ripe for Tumblrfication.

This might be the most 80s book I have read in years. Even though I was younger than Eddi is during this era, I knew what she was talking about. I understood the clothes she was wearing, the music she was talking about, and the general feeling that the 80s had (shout out to the knowing statement about how cute Prince was – I then knew exactly what the phouka looked like). It didn’t make me nostalgic for the 80s, but it certainly felt familiar. There were some parts of the books, outside of the cultural references, that felt very of that time and now seem terribly jarring. There is some weird casual racism that I hadn’t thought about in years, and everyone’s casual acceptance of Eddi’s ex punching her in the face in anger is terrible to read now, but wouldn’t really have stood out when the book was written. We really have come a long way.

In any case, I really liked this book. It had a great mood, it moved quickly, and I always wanted to find out what happened next. Thank you, JS, for both the book and the personal notes you tucked in. I love the whole thing.