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War for the Oaks A Novel Emma Bull 9780765349156 Books

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War for the Oaks A Novel Emma Bull 9780765349156 Books

First published in 1987, War for the Oaks is one of the pioneers of the urban fantasy genre. On the night that Eddi McCandry breaks up with her boyfriend and leaves his band, she has a run in with the fey. Turns out, she’s been chosen as a pawn in the war between the Seelie and Unseelie courts.

War for the Oaks draws upon what’s nowadays fairly familiar aspects of fairy folklore. The Seelie and Unseelie courts, the fey’s love of mortal musicians, creatures such as brownies and phoukas, and so on. However, the story focuses just as much on Eddie forming a new band as it does on her role in the fairy war.

Music plays a huge role in War for the Oaks. Eddi’s life revolves around music and creating music. I’m not much of a music person (to the point where I rarely listen to it on my own), so I think it’s a testament to the strength of Bull’s writing that I enjoyed these sections as much as I did. Let me be clear – I found War for the Oaks excellently written. The descriptions were lush and vibrant, and the dialog snappy.

I’m the wrong generation to have eighties nostalgia, but War for the Oaks did remind me of the eighties movies I’ve seen. Obviously, none of the musical references outdated 1987, but there were also a lot of descriptions of clothes that seem specific to the era. It’s not exactly specific to the time period, but there was also a bit of casual background racism, and Eddie just accepted that Stuart would react violently to the breakup.

My favorite character by far is the phouka, a shapeshifter who turns from man to dog. He’s exuberant and flamboyant, and his dialog for some reason reminds me of a Shakespearean play. I realize only now that I never became strongly attached to Eddie herself, although I did like her friendship with Carla, the drummer in her band. Maybe it’s because so much of Eddie’s life revolves around her music that it’s hard to get a sense of her outside of that?

The climax of the book felt like it was over with very quickly. It was also a lot more vaguely mystical than the rest of the book, in a way that reminds me of Robin McKinley’s writing.

I’d really like to know more about the influence War for the Oaks had on the genre. I know it was one of the very first urban fantasy novels, and I can clearly see it’s touch in books like Holly Black’s Tithe. If anyone ever comes across some sort of essay on the subject, I would love to read it.

I don’t think War for the Oaks will feel particularly novel to anyone familiar with fairies in today’s urban fantasy. However, I’d still suggest it as a well written example of the genre and to anyone interested in a fantasy book centering on music.


Tags : War for the Oaks: A Novel [Emma Bull] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>“A contemporary fantasy classic.”—Publishers Weekly Guitarist Eddi McCandry has just dumped her boyfriend and their band when she finds herself running through the Minneapolis night,Emma Bull,War for the Oaks: A Novel,Tor Teen,0765349159,Fantasy - General,Fantasy fiction.,Children's 12-Up - Fiction - Fantasy,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9),Juvenile Fiction Fantasy & Magic,Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,Young Adult Fiction Fantasy General,Fantasy - Contemporary,Fiction

War for the Oaks A Novel Emma Bull 9780765349156 Books Reviews

After she read and loved this book for years, I finally bought this copy for my sister for Christmas, per her request. Others can give a good summary. I just want to say that this is one of the few books that I was getting out of the library on a regular basis, so I bought my own copy (and I don't buy many of the books that I read). I lent it to my sister years ago, and it quickly became one of her favorites as well, which led to her requesting a copy as a gift.

For those looking at this book for a teenager, it does have sexual content, but it is very much less graphic and more tasteful than a lot of the other urban fantasy books that have been springing up lately.
This is now third time I’ve acquired this book (I got it on kindle this time so now I won’t lose it-hopefully).

Many people complaining about how this book has ripped off *insert their fave magic by way of music urban fantasy book* don’t realize this book is over 30 years old and is one of the books that paved away for their favorites of today.

Is it perfect? Not by any means, but it’s a fun story, a wonderful world, and a great ride. Plus it helped birth the genre as we know it, so it deserves some respect for that.

I read this at a time when I was burnt out of the UF genre and it reinvigorated my love for it. The characters are fun and I love the story, I highly recommend it for fans and newbies to the genre.
First of all let me say that I liked this book well enough, and would say that it's worth a read.

The small elephant in the room is that this story shares a LOT of similarities with 'Gossamer Axe', by Gael Baudino--magic by way of music, human rocker girl battling eldrich fae for the fate of a lover, the cold inflexibility of the fairies vs. the improvisational passion of the humans, tons and tons of 80's rocker fashion, and the backdrop of a quirky locale, not the usual New York or Los Angeles or wherever.
To be fair, Gossamer Axe came after this, so it was Baudino who was riffing on this rather than vice-versa, but I couldn't help contrasting and comparing them as I read. It actually makes the pair of them more interesting, taken as a set, than either would be alone.

As for this book on its own merits, it's... okay. The writing moves well, and the characters are sketched in well enough to serve, if only just barely. The Fae are interesting; if anything I was left wishing we'd seen much more of them, as the majority of the time they're off doing their own thing, or looming threateningly during battles or a celebratory gathering.
I'll also admit that I LOVED the simple fact that one of the 'good guys' smoked. Not that I'm pro-smoking, irl I'm anything BUT a fan of the habit, but it's such a fierce trope that only bad guys touch cigarettes that it's become groanworthy whenever a villain lights up in a book or a movie, and it was awesome to see a typical human woman do such a typical human thing, and have it mean NOTHING as regards her morality or agenda--she's a drummer in a rock band, in the 80's, and she smokes, period.

As for weaknesses...
Too much description... of two things in particular. I actually LOVE it when an author describes a character, even when they do it more than once. I want to know what these people look like, I want to know what someone is wearing when they dress up to go to that ultra-important social event, or when they're gearing up to go into battle--I WANT to see that, absolutely.
But seriously, the love interest gets described over and over and over and over. Not the main character, just the love interest, and it gets tired. I will concede that part of what made this a groaner/source of giggles is the fact that this was written in the late 80's... and the author clearly had an incredible crush on Prince. Because this guy looks exactly like Prince. EXACTLY. And dresses like him too, right down to his stylish, high-heeled boots and ruffled shirts. And we get his outfits described to us at least ten times through the course of this short novel. Which is too much, seriously.
In the same vein, and even more annoying, are the descriptions of the city where all this takes place. I'm guessing the author lived here, at the time? Or else she slept with an atlas of the place under her pillow, because it's the place where Prince was based. Either way, too much description. We don't need to know street names, we don't need a running commentary of the streets and geography and layout of the city, delivered to us in exhaustive details EVERY time anyone goes anywhere. We really don't. It got tiresome, then it got annoying. Show us the action, tell us the STORY, rather than giving us accurate directions to the place we're going in order to do the thing or rescue the person.

Lastly, the ending.
It's weak. Really weak. For something that's so important, and so infused with dread and anticipation, it falls mighty flat. If it had been handled better, I might have bumped this up a full star, but as it is, it felt like the author got there, and jotted down some quick notes, and then decided they'd rather be working on something else, and just went with what they had down, without bothering to fill it out, give us real closure, and polish things in a final draft.

In general, and for a casual read, this isn't bad at all, but for every part I liked there was a part that bugged me, and at times it felt like I was watching a stage magician try and distract me so they could pull off some sleight of hand--"don't look at THIS hand, look over here instead! Listen, as a rattle off long lists of songs, to convince you this musician character is really musical! Watch me draw detailed maps of the city, to make you believe this is a real place, as opposed to using actual writing skill to sell that feeling in a better and more natural way! Look at all these descriptions of the love interest, which are designed to make you think the lead character has an actual reason to love him, because of his... fashion sense?"
I didn't like that feeling, of being tricked, or scammed, even in so minor a way.
Write from the heart, make me feel what these people are feeling, don't tell me that I should be feeling it.
First published in 1987, War for the Oaks is one of the pioneers of the urban fantasy genre. On the night that Eddi McCandry breaks up with her boyfriend and leaves his band, she has a run in with the fey. Turns out, she’s been chosen as a pawn in the war between the Seelie and Unseelie courts.

War for the Oaks draws upon what’s nowadays fairly familiar aspects of fairy folklore. The Seelie and Unseelie courts, the fey’s love of mortal musicians, creatures such as brownies and phoukas, and so on. However, the story focuses just as much on Eddie forming a new band as it does on her role in the fairy war.

Music plays a huge role in War for the Oaks. Eddi’s life revolves around music and creating music. I’m not much of a music person (to the point where I rarely listen to it on my own), so I think it’s a testament to the strength of Bull’s writing that I enjoyed these sections as much as I did. Let me be clear – I found War for the Oaks excellently written. The descriptions were lush and vibrant, and the dialog snappy.

I’m the wrong generation to have eighties nostalgia, but War for the Oaks did remind me of the eighties movies I’ve seen. Obviously, none of the musical references outdated 1987, but there were also a lot of descriptions of clothes that seem specific to the era. It’s not exactly specific to the time period, but there was also a bit of casual background racism, and Eddie just accepted that Stuart would react violently to the breakup.

My favorite character by far is the phouka, a shapeshifter who turns from man to dog. He’s exuberant and flamboyant, and his dialog for some reason reminds me of a Shakespearean play. I realize only now that I never became strongly attached to Eddie herself, although I did like her friendship with Carla, the drummer in her band. Maybe it’s because so much of Eddie’s life revolves around her music that it’s hard to get a sense of her outside of that?

The climax of the book felt like it was over with very quickly. It was also a lot more vaguely mystical than the rest of the book, in a way that reminds me of Robin McKinley’s writing.

I’d really like to know more about the influence War for the Oaks had on the genre. I know it was one of the very first urban fantasy novels, and I can clearly see it’s touch in books like Holly Black’s Tithe. If anyone ever comes across some sort of essay on the subject, I would love to read it.

I don’t think War for the Oaks will feel particularly novel to anyone familiar with fairies in today’s urban fantasy. However, I’d still suggest it as a well written example of the genre and to anyone interested in a fantasy book centering on music.