Review of A Far Better Thing by H. G. Parry

This faerie-centric reimagining of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy undercurrent that is key to the plot. I felt bogged down by the explanations of the workings of the faerie system, its punishments, and its policies.

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

H. G. Parry's novel A Far Better Thing is a twist on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, and Parry introduces a rebellion against faerie powers that takes place against the mayhem of the French Revolution (which is also the backdrop of the Dickens story).

In this historical fiction-fantasy, characters from Dickens's tale are plunged into a dark, powerful magical world. Here, Sydney Carton was abducted by faeries when he was a small child, and his doppelgänger Charles Darnay is a changeling.

Carton's eventual self-sacrifice, which emerges as unlikely from the boozy, smart but lazy, bitter character, remains in place within this fan-fiction version of the tale. But in Parry's novel he must also reckon with his fantastical origin story (stolen by faeries and pressed into service, including his own baby snatching and other dastardly tasks). He must also face his innate hatred for his counterpart Darnay, which he feels simply because of Darnay's very existence--not to mention Darnay's more handsome, less world-worn version of Carton's appearance, and his romance with the desirable Lucie Manette.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

Carton is more capable than he initially seems, and he becomes more engaged than seemed likely at the start of the story; he is in fact clever enough to reimagine the tiers of control within the faerie-controlled underbelly of society and powerful enough to potentially shifting long-held power structures. He bands with other disillusioned parties abused by faeries with a grand scheme that they hope will end with a surprise shakeup of the entire magical system.

I don't recall reading A Tale of Two Cities, so the value of the allegories is lost on me. The story largely stands on its own, but I did get bogged down by the extensive explanations of the workings of the faerie world and what felt to me to be tedious sidebars about rules, punishments, power structures, and policies. This took me out of the story and killed the momentum for me as a reader.

The ending is dramatic, noble, and heartwarming.

More Books by this Author and Other Bossy Reviews of Retellings

If you like retellings, you may want to check out my Bossy reviews of these titles.

H. G. Parry is also the author of The Magician's Daughter, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep, The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door, Heartless, and The Shadow Histories series.