Faery in Shadow

C. J. Cherryh’s Faery in Shadow, a fantasy novel published in 1993, follows her earlier novella “The Brothers” and draws on Celtic mythology, including the Sídhe and creatures like the pooka. The book blends high fantasy with horror elements and was nominated for the 1994 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. A heavily revised version, retitled Faery Moon and with a new copyright, was released by Cherryh as a self-published e-book in December 2009.

The realm of Faery

Cherryh’s Faery is a separate plane of existence inhabited by the Sídhe, connected to the mortal world but increasingly withdrawn from it as humans abused nature and lost respect for the fay. Most Sídhe can freely step between realms, but only a few mortals can do so, usually under a fay’s control. The Sídhe work with silver and shun iron.

Two broad types exist: the “bright” Sídhe, including the Daoine, and the “dark” Sídhe, such as pooka, often old creatures corrupted by evil and later reclaimed by the bright ones through bargains and geas. The Sídhe are pragmatic, not inherently good, and will harm mortals to achieve their ends. They speak in riddles, keep bargains to the letter, and can control humans, heal them, put them to sleep, touch their dreams, or steal their time.

Plot summary

The plot centers on Caith mac Sliabhin, condemned by the Sídhe for patricide, who wanders the river Guagach with Dubhain, a tormenting pooka. They reach Gleann Fiain, where a river beast chases Caith to a cottage inhabited by twins Ceannann and Firinne. Unbeknown to Caith, the twins’ birth 21 years earlier set off a chain of events that damned the region. Their mother, Queen Fianna, unable to conceive, bargained with the wise-woman Moragacht: twins in exchange for one child, if Fianna lay with a selkie.

When the twins—one human, one selkie—were born, Fianna denied the bargain, and her husband turned Moragacht away. Grief and ruin followed; the family fled to a hilltop fortress, but a loch beast under Moragacht’s control killed the parents, leaving the 14-year-old twins to escape to the cottage. Moragacht then seized Dun Glas and damned Gleann Fiain.

The cottage’s protective wards fail when Caith and Dubhain arrive. Riders from Dun Glas capture the twins. Caith and Dubhain (as a horse) give chase, but Dubhain is overwhelmed by the witch’s magic and falls into the loch. Caith and the twins are imprisoned in cells by the loch.