Give me a classic, but make it Fae anytime! This was a great retelling with a fantasy twist. It's also fun to sometimes read fantasy in which the Fae are something to fear rather than swoon over.

A Far Better Thing is a slow, sorrowful reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities, woven through with changelings, fae bargains, and the ghosts of lives not lived. H.G. Parry doesn’t just retell Dickens—she reframes it, grounding her story in loss, identity, and sacrifice while introducing an entirely new mythological layer.
Sydney Carton is at the center of it all—broken, bitter, and tied to the faerie world in a way that makes his self-destruction feel inevitable. He’s not always likable, but he’s fully realized, and his grief and anger make sense in a world where he was stolen as a child and left to serve powers beyond his control. The character work here is careful and deliberate, and I appreciated how Parry lets the emotional beats breathe, even when the plot moves slowly.
The pacing is quiet and often heavy, more in line with cozy or literary fantasy than anything fast or action-driven. At times, the stakes feel distant, but the writing is consistently strong, and Parry’s attention to historical atmosphere—the chaos of revolutionary Paris, the weight of old London—grounds the more surreal elements.
There’s something deeply sad and strangely beautiful about this novel. It asks big questions but doesn’t overreach. It doesn’t try to resolve all the tragedy. The final chapters in particular left a lasting impression. I received a physical and audio ARC of this book and while I enjoyed the story both ways - the audio really is excellent. The narrator’s accents and tone really bring the story to life. Thanks so much to Tor, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley
4 stars. Thoughtful, layered, and quietly devastating. Worth the time it takes to settle into.

4.5 stars rounded up.

A fantastical retelling of A Tale of Two Cities, "A Far Better Thing" is the story of The French Revolution and the Reign of Terror told with the added twist of the background machinations of the Faery Realm. This book is, quite literally, asking the question of "What if Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay didn't just look alike - but Darnay was actually Carton's unknowing changeling replacement?" While I'd argue it isn't necessary to have read the original Dickens novel to understand what is happening here, it indeed does add something to the experience to have that knowledge in the back of your head to put the pieces together as you go! And it's so much fun to see how Parry has twisted the original novel into something new and altogether different.

Sydney Carton was stolen from his family as a young child and made into a mortal servant of the Faerie Realm. Now, years later, a chance (or not-so-chance) encounter with the changeling who was left in his stead, Charles Darnay, has given him the chance he's dreamed of to have his revenge. But Darnay is not the only changeling he finds; the beautiful Lucie is the spitting image of his childhood best friend, Ivy, who died in the Faerie Realm. So Sydney can have his revenge. But he also has to survive the machinations of the Fae, who have their own schemes occurring behind the scenes, while the revolution in France is turning more and more bloody by the day.

Genuinely, I just adored everything about this book. I wasn't quite sold on it for the first 25% of so because there was so much being thrown at me so quickly, between the original plot of A Tale of Two Cities PLUS all of the extra plot that has to be built in for the faerie lore. I found myself almost overwhelmed by it all. But then it all started to come together, especially once we travel to France for the second half of the book and the French Revolution and everything kicks into high gear. Parry managed to take a book that was, admittedly, not one of my favorite classics (I found it clunky and meandering, with too many side characters that got lost in the telling) and turn it into something downright beautiful.
These characters are still the characters we know from A Tale of Two Cities, mostly, but MORE. Sydney Carton is a damaged young man - a lawyer with a drinking problem and a deeply traumatic past that haunts him and leads him down odd paths, but eventually to the correct ending. The entire story hinges on his search for meaning and control after a lifetime of being a mortal servant to the fae. His agency, and the agency of other servants like him, is the entire focal point of the book, and it's a beautiful one.
I listened to the last two chapters of this with teary eyes at work. It was such a hopeful ending for all that it was a sad one, and I adored it.

The narrator, Nathaniel Priestley, was absolutely perfect! He brought so much vibrancy and character to each of the different roles to the point that each individual character was easily recognizable by sound alone. Truly a stunning job.

I adore H.G. Parry so much. Her Dickensian style, her thoughtfully created characters, her propulsive plots. I couldn't have imagined I could like one of her books more than I already had but A Far Better Thing takes everything I love about her work and intertwines it with a moment in history, in this case, The French Revolution.

There's a solid bit of world building in the first part of the book, but ultimately it all came together. Atmospheric, exciting, and truly original, A Far Better Thing is one of my favorite reads of the year.

H.G. Parry's audio versions are always top notch (kudos to whoever is producing them). This is no exception. I loved the narration, which amped up the pace and really added to the atmosphere. If you're looking for an exciting, new audiobook, this is sure to fit the bill.

Set during the bloody time of the French Revolution, this dark & magical story felt like a wonderful mix of Emily Wilde's historical fantasy, the Shadow of the Leviathan's convoluted mysteries and Honeycomb's sinister faerie tricks, bargains and tales.

The first half of the book felt slightly overwhelming; there was a good deal of character introductions & development with not a lot of plot movement. However, as I entered into the latter half of the book, all of the carefully placed bread crumbs and dominoes fell perfectly into place, resulting in a dizzying whirlwind of plot twists and satisfying (if heartbreaking) conclusions.

Equal parts brooding, atmospheric, emotional and comforting, whimsical, charming - if you're in the market for a deeply moving political fantasy with a reimagined twist on a classic, look no further.

Lastly, an absolutely transportive performance by Nathaniel Priestley for the audiobook!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book early and share my honest review. All reviews will be posted to my socials (Netgalley, Goodreads, Fable, IG).

A Retelling of a Tale of Two Cities, set in the French Revolution Era, with magic and faeries sounded too good to be true. But H.G. Parry nailed it. Full of complex characters, exceptional world-building, and vivid imagination, Parry manages to retell a classic while managing to make it her own as well. .This is a dark, angry book-full of wild emotions and vast storytelling. Told through the POV of Sydney-or Memory as the faeries call him, we follow his journey as he is replaced by his changeling to be an enslaved mortal servant. When he meets his changeling, he begins to realize the life (and woman he loved) was stolen from him.  I enjoyed this very much and am looking forward to reading more H.G. Parry in the future.
Nathaniel Priestley has an amazingly smooth voice that matches Memory very well. He narrates with such emotion and helps each character have their own personalities, even when there are several characters in each scene.

Thank you so much for the eARC and the early audiobook!

As someone who has not read "A Tale of Two Cities" and whose first introduction to H. G. Parry this was, I must say this was an excellent read. Parry is a generational talent whose voice and eye for detail make for a captivating story.

The narrator perfectly captures the voices and I hope to see further work from him.

The faeries stole Sydney Carton as a child and left a changeling, Charles Darnay, in his place. Now bound to serve the Faery Realm as a mortal servant in the Human Realm, Sydney finds himself defending Darnay in court – and watching helplessly as his changeling unwittingly lives the life that should have been his.

Set during the French Revolution, A Far Better Thing blends historical fantasy with a retelling of the Dickens classic A Tale of Two Cities. It follows Sydney’s dangerous double life, moving between London and Paris with magic, espionage, and slow-burn vengeance. His path – haunted by faerie cruelty and driven by regret – leads him to a heartbreaking choice in the shadow of the guillotine.

I read A Far Better Thing without realizing it was a retelling of A Tale of Two Cities – a novel of which my knowledge is limited to the opening line and NOTHING ELSE – and I don't think it negatively impacted my reading experience. If anything, maybe the opposite? There was something delightfully disorienting about being dropped into a world of faeries, French revolutionaries, and slow-burning revenge, only to have the literary scaffolding click into place at the end.

Told entirely from Carton’s perspective, the story simmers with quiet desperation, wry wit, and moral ambiguity. He's a perfect narrator for this version of the story: weary, clever, and deeply human in a world that often isn’t. His arc is beautifully realized and devastating by design – especially once you recognize where it’s heading.

I also loved Addison Thorne, a wealthy, faery-obsessed magician whose fascination starts as garden-variety eccentricity and slowly becomes something much more dangerous. Parry threads real-world history and fae lore so intricately that the book can sometimes feel more dense than immersive – especially during the revenge plots – but if you’ve got a working knowledge of Dickens (or just Google), the payoff is layered and clever.

And Nathaniel Priestley’s narration? Perfect. He nails Sydney's attempts at nonchalance, always shadowed by the weight of a heavy heart.

A Far Better Thing is a literary, layered, and emotional fantasy retelling – perfect for fans of historical fantasy, tragic heroes, or unique faery lore.

I was not certain what to expect when I picked up this book. I did read that there were to be fae and perhaps changelings but I tried not to spoil much more than that. I also knew after reading "The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door", I wanted to read more of H.G. Parry's writings. She has a particular style that resonates well with me.

Sydney Carton knows he was stolen from his bed when he was a child by the fae, He also knows that the only reason he is able to walk around in the mortal world is as their servant. Though he has been working as a lawyer in London, he is sometimes visited by a particular fae named Shadow who gives Sydney tasks to complete. The fae are mischievous but are unable to meddle in affairs without the aid of other mortals. They use their power to try and get their way and change the tides of fate to the way they want it to go.

Sydney finds himself face to face with the changeling who took his place when he was stolen, as well as the changeling who took the place of his childhood best friend, Ivy. However, this book is not as fantastical as I thought it would be it is much more dramatic and emotional and about the relationships between people, the suffering during the French Revolution, and some heart breaking choices which have to be made or accepted. I wish I could give partial stars because I want to give it 4.25*

Amazing story that doesn't romanticize fairies. It follows the life of changeling and his long plot for revenge while uncovering secrets about some fairies. It's a very character driven story with great friendship and found family. The fairy world is very well established and how this worlds magic and how the creatures conduct themselves. I absolutely enjoyed listening to this story. The narrator is well spoken, easy to follow, and does very well with the different characters.

A retelling of the Dickens classic, A Tale of Two Cities. Set during the French Revolution with a mix of fae magic. It's been many years since I read the original. In this telling I found the characters rich with emotion and intellect. The backdrop of the French Revolution adds to the atmosphere.

The narrator was great. The production quality was top notch,

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

This book was fantastical and poignant in today’s world. The ending was beyond beautiful. The storyline was interwoven so well that all the storylines felt not just interconnected but that they simultaneously built the story up and tore it down to the smallest details without seeming to slow the story down. It just felt like each new revelation answered questions you didn’t know you had until the answer was given to you. I loved it.
The narrator was almost too good. His voice was so soothing that I had to focus at times because I was so lost in the story that I felt like I was drifting off. His voice was relaxing and captivating.

4.25⭐️

...

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and TOR Publishing Group for an advance copy of this novel! I read this via immersion, as I also received a physical copy, and I adored it! This is my kind of faerie book (no six packs in sight), and also my first book by the author. I must say the audio narration was incredible, and it helped bring what was already gorgeous writing to further life! I loved the prose, which evoked the atmosphere of late-18th-century England but simultaneously was contemporary enough to read smoothly and flawlessly. It felt like reading a classic in modern times.

While this draws inspiration from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, it was made into something that was completely its own. I found this to be so compelling right from the start, as it pulled me into a world familiar yet different. It was darker and more sinister than one might expect, involving a great amount of sadness for many of the characters.

I need to go back through and find a few favorite quotes to add here later, but this was lovely!

I think this is great for fans of Half a Soul, Emily Wilde, or anything by Susanna Clarke.

I really tried to give HG Parry another chance after not finding their book The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door to be my thing (rated 3 out of 5). Now I love historical retellings, and I thoroughly enjoy dark stories about faeries. However, this story lost me so many times between being too wordy and full of unnecessary prose, and the lack of character development. I mean, who wouldn't love a story of revenge of a human being stolen into the faery world? The slow build up to a lack luster climax just does not do it for me, and unfortunately A Far Better Thing falls into that category.

If you a reader who love HG Parry, this book is for you: retellings, historical fiction and plot development with a dash of fantasy.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

Because I'm an idiot I was pretty deep into this book before I realized it was a fantastical retelling of A Tale of Two Cities.

Basically it takes the original story and adds in changlings, fairy magic, and other worlds. In my opinions it spices it up a bit, but still stands true to the original tale.

A good read.

H.G. Parry became one of my favorite authors after The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door and now A Far Better Thing has truly made me fall in love with H.G. Parry’s writing style. H.G. Parry has a unique was of story telling and the fae stories always feel so original.

This story is dark and moody with lots of tension and build up. I devoured this story and needed more immediately.

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.

( Rating = 4.5 stars)
A Far Better Thing is a fantasy retelling of A Tale of Two Cities. I haven’t actually read ATOTC, so I can’t speak on that much, but I will say that I don’t think knowledge of that book is necessary. I went in blind and enjoyed A Far Better Thing quite a bit!

First I want to talk about the fantasy elements/worldbuilding. This world is normal except for the influence of faeries. The faeries in this world are evil tricksters who prey upon humanity. Children are stolen away from their families and are brought to the faery realm, a changeling left in their place. If these mortal children survive the faery realm for long enough, they may be returned to the mortal world, but are forced to do the bidding of the faeries for the rest of their lives.

The main character, Sydney Carton, is one of these mortal servants. A Far Better Thing follows Sydney’s life after he finds his changeling - something that should not be possible - and begins to plot his revenge against the faeries who have wronged him. Sydney’s life is dark, his story is heartbreaking, and I cried more than once. There was a lot more emotional depth in this book than I was expecting, and I think it was done well!

The pacing of this book was pretty slow, but by the last 1/3 things really started to fall into place and gain momentum. I was really invested at that point, so even though the start was kind of slow, I think it was worth it.

Overall I really enjoyed A Far Better Thing. I recommend this book if you like:
- Dark/evil faeries
- Character-focused fantasy
- Tragic stories
- Crying

I listened to the audiobook and I think the narrator did a fantastic job. If you like audiobooks I definitely recommend it!

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me an ALC in exchange for a fair review.

H. G. Parry’s A Far Better Thing is a luminous triumph—a brilliant reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities that blends classic literature with rich fantasy and piercing emotional depth. It stands as both a tribute to Dickens and a powerful story in its own right, reworking familiar characters through the lens of magic, memory, and transformation.

In this version, Sydney Carton does not die for Charles Darnay. Instead, he awakens to find he has been replaced by a changeling Darnay, created by the eerie and mysterious Fairy Shadow. The Fairy Shadow, a near-mythical force of uncanny power and moral ambiguity, manipulates human lives by creating changelings to take their place and take the children to live in the fairy realm and at adult hood decide to be mortal slaves or become a fairy. Carlton comes face to face with Darnay working as a law clerk. Him and Darnay are never supposed to cross paths ever and sydney can sense this is more than a coincidence. It is this presence that sets the novel’s events into motion and turns Carton’s supposed sacrifice into something far stranger.

The relationship between Sydney Carton and Lucy Minette, Ivys changeling is at the heart of this novel, and it’s rendered with such nuance and tenderness that I found myself revisiting passages just to savor the emotional weight. Rather than a simple rivalry, Parry draws out a complex bond filled with mutual recognition, buried wounds, and moral reckoning.

Carton, alive but displaced, embarks on a journey of reckoning. He must face not only his past failures, but the unsettling fact that someone else—something else—is now living the life he forfeited. His interactions with Lucie Manette, the changeling version of Ivy Cartons childhood love that died in terrible circumstances, are at the heart of the novel. Mis Manette longs to understand love, pain, and purpose, even as the real Ivy lingers as an unreachable echo. Their bond is quiet but profound, exploring what it means to be real, to be human, and to make choices of one’s own.

Parry’s portrayal of the changelings—both Carton’s and Ivy’s—is full of nuance. They are not simple replacements, but fully realized beings shaped by the memories and lives they were made to imitate. The question of identity pulses through every chapter, intensified by the manipulations of the Fairy Shadow, whose quiet omnipresence casts both wonder and dread.

Sydney Carton, as ever, is the emotional axis. Parry deepens his character beautifully, showing a man who once believed his worth lay only in sacrifice, now faced with the chance to reclaim meaning through life instead of death. His internal struggle, substance abuse, paired with the changelings’ search for agency, makes this novel a meditation on redemption, individuality, and the cost of becoming.

H. G. Parry’s prose is elegant and evocative, her world-building precise and poetic. The narrator Nathaniel Priestley portrays each character and accent with extreme clarity and remarkable execution, even though it’s a male voice through you can feel the feminist and the fairies tones and accents honestly I thought each person was a different character which is really hard to do with one narrator for that many side characters’ id voice! I am glad i listened to this I also recieved the book arc through netgalley and recommend the audio book rather than reading. I truly felt as if I was in a movie! A Far Better Thing honors Dickens without being bound by him, offering a fresh and haunting new tale shaped by magic, memory, and the quiet courage of choosing to live.

An unforgettable story as I finished it with tears in my eyes and a full heart. One of the most powerful historical novels I’ve read in years if not my whole life.

I almost wish this book had been released in the fall... because it feels like a cold, windy, drizzly, rainy night. This book evokes a sense of melancholy, a feeling of early darkness, long nights and creaking old houses. Does that make sense? Probably not, but I don't know how else to explain the eerie feeling this story evokes.

I sometimes get annoyed when reading stories about "The Fae". The stories are usually so complicated, so many "fairie rules" to keep track of. Some authors over describe the realms which just make me confused. But in this book, the realm is just what I'd expect it to be...mysterious, hazy and horrifying.

This story is being touted as a retelling of A Tale of Two Cities. I think that's an accurate description, but its a remaining of a Dicken's novel set during the French revolution, with fairies, dark drinking rooms, heartache, love, horror and changelings. I listened to the audio and I highly recommend it. The narrator is PERFECT. I will be breaking this one back out in the fall to read during a dark stormy night.