A Far Better Thing

By H. G. Parry

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell meets A Tale of Two Cities in H. G. Parry's A Far Better Thing, a heart-rending fantasy of faery revenge set during the French Revolution.

Most Anticipated SSF Books 2025--The Nerd Daily, BookPage

I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse.

The faeries stole Sydney Carton as a child, and made him a mortal servant of the Faery Realm. Now, he has a rare opportunity for revenge against the fae and Charles Darnay, the changeling left in his stead.

It will take magic and cunning--cold iron and Realm silver--to hide his intentions from humans and fae and bring his plans to fruition.

Shuttling between London and Paris during the Reign of Terror, generations of violence-begetting-violence lead him to a heartbreaking choice in the shadow of the guillotine.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250334187
• ISBN13: 9781250334183
• Release Date: June 2025
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Well done

This was definitely a Tale of Two cities with the addition of magic, changelings, and the machinations of fairies who were looking for revenge or to take down the Summer King. I must say I enjoyed those additions. And the characters are multifaceted, messy, making good choices and bad which sometimes leads to tragedy and heartbreak. It was easy to get lost in this story, traveling between London and various towns in France. You could feel how tired Sydney Carton is of the life of a mortal servant to the fairies having been taken and spending his childhood in Faerie with Ivy. That relationship really shaped him and helped Sydney get through his apathy to help out Darnay and Lucie during the very frightening time of the French Revolution. And while I knew kinda what the ending would be like, it felt not just tragic but also relief for Sydney, as he had accomplished so much to be at peace in the end. The ending was beautifully written and heartbreaking. The narrator did a great job in bringing the character of Sydney aka Memory to life and the worlds he traveled in during the course of this book. I enjoyed it immensely and many thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to this audiobook.