Am I glad I read it? Wow! I repeat, wow! I haven’t read ATOTC and don’t plan to, so my interest in this book stemmed purely from the fact that Parry wrote it and added faeries.

Parry’s blending of history and fantasy is fantastic, the conniving faeries and magic woven so organically into the original story. It is, for me, the most impressive part of the book: how Parry uses the faeries to explain major plot points (and even character traits, for narrator Sydney Carton) in a way that elevates the key themes.

Admittedly, it took me a while to settle into the story. It is immensely complex and very slow-paced, and, as a result, I found that I needed to read it in long stretches (e.g., while walking the doggos) to become absorbed in the story. Once I was, though, I hardly wanted to put the book down.

It’s not necessary to have read ATOTC before reading this, despite A Far Better Thing being a close retelling, but I do think familiarity with the plot enhances the reading experience, because A Far Better Thing is a close retelling. Prior to beginning, I read a thorough plot summary of ATOTC and character descriptions. Doing so helped immensely in keeping track of the complex goings-on and also upped the anticipation because I knew where the story was headed. And even knowing that, I sobbed at the end, reread to the last two chapters, and sobbed all over again.

I received an eARC from Tor Books and Netgalley (thanks so much!) but ended up listening to it, which was truly a fantastic decision because Nathaniel Priestley’s narration is STELLAR. Highly recommend reading in this format.

Rating: 🖤 (loved)

This took me months to get into and I feel like it's a little underbaked but I do see that the author had a clear vision for this. Sadly, it just didn't work for me.

The historical context of the French Revolution feels true to the era, marked by dank streets, civil unrest, and bloody guillotines. The pacing is slower, more like cozy fantasy, with hazy stakes at the outset and muddy character motivations. In the end, the juice was worth the squeeze. The writing is excellent, although similar to the classics, it takes a bit for the plot to develop. I think this is definitely a fantasy book that students would enjoy and look forward to adding it to our library collection. Thanks NetGalley for the ebook to preview.

I love H.G. Parry so much, but I need to stop reading her books that are set in the French revolution because I have never once liked a French revolution book. The characters were good in this, and I was initially realy intrigued, but my interest waned. I am also not familiar with A Tale of Two Cities!

DNF @ 40%

I went into this book thinking it was going to be something it wasn't (which was definitely my own fault), but this lead to me being fairly disappointed. I also realized that I didn't have any emotional attachment to the main character, so the things he was doing really meant nothing to me. I was excited to see dark, tricksy faeries, which I got, but that wasn't enough to hold my attention when I didn't care much for the characters or plot.

Unfortunately, this one didn't work for me. I went into A Far Better Thing hoping for an immersive, character driven retelling, but found the pacing slow and the narrative style difficult to connect with. Despite multiple attempts, I struggled to stay engaged and ultimately chose to DNF.

That said, H.G. Parry's writing is clearly thoughtful and ambitious, and I can see this appealing to readers who enjoy dense, literary reimaginings of classic works. Just not the right fit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Ok so I have not read a tale of two cities, and I am wondering if that would have impacted my appreciation for this book. I have read two books by H.G. Parry, one I did not love, and one I absolutely adored. So I went into this thinking it could be anyone's guess. Sadly, it was one that I did not love, and I ended up DNFing about halfway through.

This book follows Sydney Carton, a human who was switched at birth with a changeling, and is now a mortal servant to the fairies. Interesting enough. His friend Ivy, another replaced-human, died as a child, and he wants revenge for her death, when he was saved instead. However, this book was focused on neither character nor plot, so I felt completely disconnected from Sydney's path. He wants revenge for Ivy... ok, but why? Her death didn't seem quite as revenge-worthy as I would have expected, and it seemed he more felt survivor's guilt. And there were random time jumps, that made me feel like nothing that was happening was truly important. I just felt like nothing was really important, so I didn't feel compelled to spend another few hours reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was read as a buddy read with ACOFAE Podcast (https://www.instagram.com/acofaepodcast/?hl=en) cohost, ACOFAE Laura (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62880998-laura-marie-acofae-laura).

This book is a reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities, and as someone who is not a fan of the classics and has very minimal knowledge of them, this was a lovely exposure to the class itself by making it more palatable. Especially if you are someone who prefers and leans into fantasy.

A reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities, this story sees the reader encountering now only the classic characters like Sydney and Lucie but also fairies, goblins, and kings. Meeting your Changeling is something that is not done, but when Sydney meets not only his Changeling but his childhood loves as well, plots are revealed and past crimes must be paid for with blood. ACOFAE also touches on accessibility, required reading, retellings, and movies that borrow from the classics.

ACOFAE Laura (https://www.instagram.com/acofaelaura/?hl=en) and i discuss and dive into the book itself a bit more on an episode discussing this book below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/211-a-far-better-thing-2025-it-was-the-worst-of/id1544053785?i=1000717121630

I've never read A Tale of Two Cities, but I really feel that adding faeries into it would only have improved it.

Sidney Carton was taken as a child to the Realm and a changeling was left in his place. Spit out into the human world at thirteen, he becomes a human servant for the Fae – stealing children for them and other errands. When he meets his changeling Charles Darnay, he thinks he wants revenge on Charles, but he is drawn into faery plans for his world.

This is the Fae of the old tales, child stealers, beyond mortal ken and amoral. The French Revolution is the backdrop to this story and Parry conveys much of what it must have been like masterfully. A thoughtful read, I'd recommend this for older teens and up.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

As I started reading A Far Better Thing, I feared I might have to DNF it. That would be a shame, as I hate doing so with eARCs from NetGalley. Fortunately, after a few chapters, something shifted. H.G. Parry hooked me, and I was extremely invested in this tale of faerie changelings during the Reign of Terror.

Sydney Carton was switched at birth with a changeling, and now he exists as a mortal servant to the faeries. He was allowed to train as a barrister, but from time to time, the faeries send him on tasks that range from acquiring mortal remains to switching out babies with changelings. He despises his existence and loathes his masters, yet there is no escape. Or is there? When a faerie conspires to have Sydney cross paths with his own changeling, it sets off a chain reaction of events that will have far-reaching consequences for Sydney, his allies, and all of faerie. Oh, and the French Revolution is happening too.

Parry spends very little time establishing or describing the setting. I don’t visualize things when I read, but I do enjoy reading scene description, and if I didn’t know we were in the middle of the eighteenth century, I would be hard pressed to tell from the narration. In the same way, though this book is split across London and Paris (with a little time in faerie), the two cities don’t feel any different.

I also didn’t like Sydney at first—he’s a bit of a sad sack—and so that didn’t dispose me well to the beginning of the book. Now, I know this is based loosely on A Tale of Two Cities (which I haven’t read yet), but that’s only more reason why the pressure is on to reify your setting with as much verve as Dickens.

I was just reading on, hoping it would get good.

It got good.

Specifically, the plot turned into one of political intrigue within the faerie court. Plus, I was worn down by Sydney’s irascible refusal to give up and his irrational conviction that one day perhaps he could win himself free of his faerie servitude.

In the end, I can’t say I adored this book. The plot’s pacing, the dearth of description that I noted above, the way it took me so long to warm up to it … A Far Better Thing is far from one of my favourite reads of the year. But it ended up being a decent enough tale.

Thank you to Netgalley, Tor Books and Macmillan Audio for a copy provided for an honest review.

This is my fourth read by this author. The story is told in first person by Sydney Carton during the French Revolution. As a child, Sydney was stolen by the fairies, a changeling replacing him, and taken to the Faerie Realm where he was made a mortal servant. He now lives in the human realm living his life but still at the whim of the faeries doing their bidding upon request while secretly plotting revenge for the life that was stolen.

Once again, I was swept away into the creative fantasy worlds of Parry. The characters were complex with all sorts of ulterior motives and secrets. Sydney’s plight filled me with empathy and desire for him to lead the life he yearned for while leaving his tormentors behind with nothing, but also sympathy for innocent bystanders caught up in the conflict.

I primarily listened to the audiobook narrated by Nathaniel Priestley. This was my first audiobook listen by this narrator. I found the narrator’s voice to be pleasant and distinctive, portraying the conflicting emotions of Sydney and others in a very compelling manner.

Recommended to fantasy readers that enjoy a historical setting.

What a brilliant, enthralling, dark, and weirdly cozy novel! I have not read a Tale of Two Cities but this book has themes to it and is slightly based off of the classic. It makes me wanna pick up my copy and actually trying reading for once.

My first impressions of the book was "what is happening here" because we are thrown into the middle of some action with no idea what's going on. But I was so HOOKED! I found the book so captivating and I wasn't able to put it down every time I read a chapter. It's dark and moody in a way where it really shows the complexities of humanity. We see Memory constantly fall down, the most gray area MMC I have ever seen, with very little to like about him- but his heart is truly made of gold. His loyalty and dedication to those he loves and cares for is really remarkable a he fights to save them. The ending is pretty sad and bittersweet, I felt like we could have totally made some changes to help the man who helps everyone, but oh well.

I'm probably rambling but please read it! If you like history, mystery, dark faeries, and intricate plots this will be your book. It's a little slow reading but totally worth it.

This was such a fun and unique read! All the characters were fully developed and had their own motivations, which was veyr fun to read and unpack as the plot progressed. The worldbuilding was so well crafted

You definitely don't need to read or enjoy a Tale of Two Cities to read and enjoy this one. Sydney is a mortal servant to the fairies; when children are abducted as infants they are given a choice at the age of 13: return to the mortal world as a servant of become a fairy. Sydney's closest friend Ivy was killed in fairyland before she turned 13, and Sydney has sworn vengeance against the fairy that killed her. The book opens with Sydney meeting the changeling that replaced him when he was stolen in a London courtroom when he defends him. The story spans two cities over 11 years, with Sydney's story intersecting with Lucie Manette, and Charles Darnay (and many others) according to Dicken's tale. The book is set during the French Revolution and it was a really rich backdrop for the story. The story almost has a cozy vibe to it and was a really enjoyable read!

I will start this off by saying that I have never read A Tale of Two Cities that I can recall. That being said this book was fantastic and I don't feel that I missed out on any of the story by not having been familiar with the original story. I thought that the dual plot lines was easy to follow along with and that they ran side by side seamlessly. I enjoyed the characters and the world building and was invested up until the last page. Also someone may have been cutting onions when i finished this one. I cannot wait to see what Parry writes next as she has solidified herself as an auto read author for me.

While not my favorite H. G. Parry work, this book helped solidify her as an all time favorite. In this novel, Parry seamlessly transforms the classic A Tale of Two Cities into a faerie story. She makes it almost impossible to tell that this book was published in 2025 not 1860 and I loved it.

It’s possibly an embarrassing admission, but I have to confess, I’ve been on this planet for two score (haha I had to!), and still haven’t read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. But this historical fiction fantasy retelling of a Dickens’ classic made me want to! I absolutely loved A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry. Not being super familiar with the source material, I’m not sure how much it strayed from the original story, but I believe the main characters are the same. It’s set just before and during the sparks of the French Revolution, and I found this story to be utterly tragic. If you don’t mind bittersweet endings, a slower pace, and fairies interfering in our world, you might love this too. It definitely had an interesting take on traditional fairies. They’re the typical narcissist characters caring only for themselves, their agenda, and amassing power while toying with human lives. However, there hasn’t been a full-blooded fairy for centuries. Instead human children are spirited away to The Realm, with changelings left in their place, and upon reaching a certain age they have a choice: stay in The Realm and have your memories of humanity erased, becoming an unfeeling, probably devious fairy and continuing the cycle, or be placed in the mortal world and become a mortal servant, doomed to do any fairy’s bidding. Our MMC doesn’t have much of a choice in this matter, but I won’t spoil it, you’ll just have to read and find out. Oh, and above all else, it’s a death sentence to meet your Changeling IRL…

Things to Know:
Standalone
Historical Fiction Fantasy
A Tale of Two Cities retelling
Traditional Fairies
Unrequited love
Tragedy
Revenge

I’ll say it again: we need more fantasy standalones. It was so refreshing to have a fully fleshed out story in one book. We meet our protagonist Sydney Carton doing something rather devious: procuring a human bone for a fairy. Apparently, they ask for this kind of thing all the time from their mortal servants, of which Carton is one. He’s clearly super smart, but doesn’t always apply himself. He drinks too much, and doesn’t take care of his appearance, and he lets everyone around him take advantage of him. Within the first few pages, he finds himself in court, shocked to see he’s come face to face with his changeling. And everything in his life quickly unravels.

We’re taken all over England and France, there is war and unrest brewing, and much of it can be blamed on interfering fairies. But what could possibly be their motivation? This is a tale of revenge, but there are so many layers of revenge and vengeance to sift through and at each reveal, I found myself being more and more invested in this alternate world. What if fairies were responsible for sparking the French Revolution?

The side characters were wonderful, and if you loved the vibes of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (another five star read for me!), I think you’ll absolutely love this book. It’s not a fast paced novel at all. Sometimes it moves at a languid pace, but I was still invested in the story, and the writing style felt very classic, but easily readable. I think it’d be a great book for people not quite ready to read the actual classics yet.

Side note, I loved all the chapter titles as well. They were super clever. The attention to detail with this book was just so well done.

Overall, definitely reach for this book if you love historical fiction fantasy as a genre, or you’re a classics lover who wants to dabble in some fantasy reads. I think you’ll be connected to Memory, Charles Darnay, Lucie, Ivy, Shadow, and the rest! Shout out to the narrator, I absolutely LOVED the audiobook as well. It was so well done, complete with accents. Many thanks to Tor and MacMillan Audio for providing ARCs to review. All opinions are my own.

Favorite Quotes:

“I learned her in glimpses as I might a book repeatedly snatched up over a period of time.”

—

“You really don’t know very much of the world you walk in, do you?”

“I don’t walk in it. I’m not a sightseer. I live in it. I try to do so without going mad.”

—

“From the moment I saw her, I knew that I would die for her.”

—

“Perhaps for us, love is always an act of revenge.”

—

“"I’ll set your horrid little mind at rest at once, shall I?”

I really loved this book! Faes, magic, dark, atmospheric and emotional. The blend of historical fiction and fantasy was done to well.

This book reads so much like Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell and as a fan, I ate this book up!

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this book captures the era with vivid authenticity—from dank alleyways and political unrest to the ever-present threat of the guillotine. The historical atmosphere is immersive and richly drawn.

The story unfolds at a slower pace, more in line with cozy fantasy than high-stakes adventure. Early on, the plot feels a little aimless, and character motivations are murky. But if you’re patient, the threads come together in a satisfying way that makes the journey worth it.

The writing is elegant and reminiscent of classic literature. Like a Dickens novel, it takes time to build momentum, and readers unfamiliar with that style may find it challenging at first. But for those willing to sink into its rhythm, this is a rewarding and beautifully crafted read.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door. That's why I picked up this book to begin with; I wanted to see what else the author wrote. But I do think that A Far Better Thing is even better.

This follows A Tale of Two Cities fairly closely but asks, what if every event of that book were actually orchestrated by faeries? That, by itself, is such an interesting concept. The characters are deeply developed, with both flaws and very understandable reasons for those flaws, plus struggles to do better. Sydney in particular was a really interesting take.

This is slow paced, almost cozy if it weren't taking place during the French Revolution. It is complex and I'm not entirely sure whether it would be as successful without a base knowledge of ATOTC, though I haven't read that book in many years and could follow fine so perhaps it's not a prerequisite. I found this emotionally deep and moving in a way that ATOTC never was, though.