Unseelie gives neurodivergent and autistic readers Iselia, a heroine who embarks on a quest that allows herself to accept her power and embrace her identity.

A powerful read, Unseelie captures the reader’s attention all while following Iselia, also known as Seelie, on an adventure to find treasure with her twin sister.

Brilliant Characterization

What I loved most about Unseelie was Iselia and what she represented. Iselia is autistic. She is high functioning, but at times, it also appears that she is neurodivergent. Iselia struggles a lot with her identity as a changeling. As a changeling, she is not her sister’s twin but a fae imitation. Their mother went into the fae courts and left with both children instead of choosing one over the other.

This incident also gave Seelie fae powers that she sometimes struggles to control, resulting in an incident that forced her and her sister to go on the run and turn to a life of thievery.

Seelie struggles with the magic that runs through her veins and feels less than human. Her sister, Isolde, loves her dearly, and together they have carved a life for themselves in their enchanted wagon. But when a heist goes wrong and not only saddles them with a pair of partners and the ire of a powerful enemy, Seelie is forced to learn to embrace her magic.

I love her personality and her struggles, not to mention how she sees the world. Through her mannerisms and thought process, anyone reading this can tell that she is on the spectrum. However, that is not because it relies on stereotypes or tropes.

Iselia is a very real person, and the reader can tell the author, who is autistic, used her personal experiences to give her life. The way Seelie processes the world and information, the way she struggles to express her feelings and thoughts, show the reader who she is and how she struggles every day, not only with others but also with accepting herself.

This makes Unseelie very descriptive, but that only adds to the story and plot, making for some tense moments and some humorous ones.

What also worked really well were those character dynamics. The characters push Iselia, accept her, and together they form their little family, saving one another from their enemies.

Final Thoughts
From beginning to end, Unseelie was immersive. Seelie is on a journey toward acceptance and embracing her power. And the cliffhanger and baby dragon at the ending has me itching to get my hands on the sequel.

Although I am a huge fan of a YA fantasy, Unseelie seems to hold my interest, but there is something missing. Learning of the changelings are considered children on the spectrum is a positive aspect of the story as well as a young woman fighting to find herself among lies and mystical creatures. As I moved through the story, I just couldn’t grasp the purpose of their adventure and who they were running away from. The book is entertaining, but I think we have read much better fantasies.

This book is a pure example of a comfort read. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end!! I will he continuing this series as well as checking out other works from this author.

Ivelisse Housman's "Unseelie" is a mesmerizing journey into the depths of darkness and enchantment that will captivate readers from start to finish. This novel, the first installment in the "Fae Court" series, stands as a testament to Housman's exceptional storytelling prowess, weaving together elements of urban fantasy, folklore, and romance into a tale that is both hauntingly beautiful and relentlessly gripping.

3/5

Many thanks to Netgalley for an eARC of this book for me to review.

While the book sounded really interesting, I simply could not get into it. The beginning felt like a whirlwind and I remember losing interest, and ultimately wasn't able to finish it. Having a physical copy might help me finish it, so my opinion might change, but for now it was nothing that I would recommend only because I wasn't captured by it.

The book is refreshing by exploring fantasy tropes in ways that haven’t been done before. I enjoyed that the book touched on characters who are changelings being coded as autistic. I would’ve loved a deeper exploration of the main character. Despite enjoying some aspects of the book, I think it leans toward a younger YA audience which made it more difficult for me to connect to. I won’t continue on with the series, however if the author published an adult series I’d be interested in picking it up.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I walk recommend middleschool to high school ages. The fae world was not as indepth as I would have liked it to be, but it still had that fun element of supernatural. Seelie was a great character and I loved that the author created character with autism. Seelie faces a lot of different hardships between friends and her sister, which was fun to read, but also relatable. I will very excited to continue reading her story in the next book.

Sisters. Autistic rep. Fae. I love fae. Can we have more fae books please? That get trad rep.

The writing was good, the characters were excellent, I enjoyed the world and the pacing. The read was fun, it was immersive l, and I can’t wait until the second one.

dnf @ 37%. not for any particular reason, just wasn't compelled to pick it up ever. might return to at a later date, just not the vibe rn.

This was a great story of family and adventure, with beautifully explored characters, rich world building, and lush writing. There was a variety of very much so appreciated representation, particularly in having an autistic MC written by an autistic author. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

"Stories tell of children stolen away by faeries, replaced by inhuman lookalikes. These look-alikes, they say, could be identified by their strange speech or silence. They cried without reason or never showed any emotion at all, and struggled to relate to a world that seemed foreign to them. Folklorists theorize that these stories were early descriptions of autistic children — proof that autistic people have always been here. But once, they called us changelings."

Following the story through the eyes of Iselia (Seelie), we learn about the fantastical world they live in, where the human and faerie world exist side-by-side. Once they were able to move freely between these worlds, but after a war where a fae wanted to rule both, this was taken away. There is only certain places and times when there is the ability for moving between these realms. When Seelie and her sister, Isolde, ran away from home after Seelie's changeling magic got out of hand. They steal to make a living, moving from place to place. When they break into the home of the greatest enchantress, Leira Wildfall, they find a compass and an entity tied to this compass, which could lead them to a 'great treasure'. Thing is that the compass doesn't work, until Seelie touched it and it melted into her hand. Now she is the compass. There is a great adventure with a lot of fights along the way to find this treasure.

Learning what the author wanted to accomplish with this book and the character she created in Seelie, makes all the difference. Once you know you read this book through a different lens. I am more than ready to read book two, and having to wait is no fun at all. The world, the story and the characters are wonderful, strong, and strange, in all the best ways. I just want to fall back into this world the minute it ended.

As someone who is autistic, I think this novel was an amazing way to incorporate this representation into fantasy. I will be buying the next book as soon as I hear about it!

Quick Review: More In-depth review will be written

Pros:
- Beautiful Cover
- Autism Representation

Cons:
- Slow Pacing
- Excessive Details
- Unable to connect with characters
- Uninteresting Romance
- Messy Plot.

This is just not for me. I won't be continuing the series.

I enjoyed this title and purchased for our collection. It was originally requested for a program, to be shared at book talks.

Love the ND rep! The sister relationship was very strong and I appreciated the reality of how it was portrayed. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story.

This YA fantasy features an autistic main character with newfound magical abilities. Seelie and her twin sister Isolde embark on a wild adventure, discovering more about faeries along the way. Unseelie was slow to start, though it kicked up the pace eventually. I struggled to fully get in to this story, but am happy to see neurodivergent representation in a YA fantasy.

I think this is an awesome book. I would recommended it to anyone who enjoys YA Fantasy, books with faeries good and bad, books with interesting female characters with powers, and anyone who wants to experience a little bit of what it is like for an autistic person in their daily life. Please, don't go into this book expecting a lot of romance (there is just a touch of romance) or even a huge heist plot because honestly the heist they originally botch is over in the first few pages, but this is a book about four characters on an adventure to find treasure, find themselves, and make a found family.

Title: Unseelie
Author: Ivelisse Housman
Release Date: January 3rd, 2023
Page Count: 387
Format: Netgalley
Start Date: December 15th, 2022
Finish Date: December 30th, 2022

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

Before I start my review, I want to state that I feel that it's very important that you read the author's notes in this book. It sheds some light on this book in ways I couldn't tell you. It also gives a glimpse of who she is as a person. That said, I want to start by saying that I'm so in love with this cover. I can't remember how I came across the book. I can say that I'm glad I did. The story was amazing. I connected so well with Seelie. I have ADHD. Seelie is autistic. I never realized how many parallels there are between the two. It was so wonderful being able to read a book that represented an autistic character. I'm sure there are others out there, but this is the first one that I've personally come across. I fully recommend this book and I really can't wait to get my hands on the sequel!

Unseelie was definitely a solid debut!

Things I loved:
* The fae and changeling elements
Seelie's narration + autistic rep (I really loved this part and thought it was so well done. It was also the reason I requested an arc)
* Heist + quest vibes
* Sisterhood/ Sisterly bond
* Found family + bickering
* A house brownie disguised as a cat
* TINY dragons!!!

I did feel like it had a bit of a slow start, and I had a bit of hard time getting into the story at first but the story quickly picked up, and I found myself drawn into it later, loving all the fantasy vibes!
I especially love Seelie and her story and narration. All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I'm very much looking forward to the sequel.