Spotlight & Giveaway: Bex Hogan’s Owl King

Thanks to the very kind folks at Penguin Random House Canada and author Bex Hogan, I have the tremendous pleasure of presenting a guest post from the author, as well as a review of the author’s latest young adult novel, Owl King. Happy reading!

Author Bex Hogan on Storytelling, Faeries and more!

“Birds and fairy-tales have always gone hand in hand. My own first experiences with fairy-tales led me to believe the two were synonymous, as my favorites, The Juniper Tree and Aschenputtel, featured them prominently. While it’s certainly not true that all fairy-tales include birds, the frequency with which they appear is noteworthy.

Open a copy of Grimms’ Fairy Tales and you immediately see titles such as The Golden Bird,The Willow Wren and the Bear, The Three Little Birds, and The Golden Goose. Delve a little deeper and you’ll find stories where it’s perfectly accepted that birds can speak to humans. Sometimes they do so to help them, as in The Robber Bridegroom and Aschenputtel. Whereas in The Juniper Tree and The Dog and the Sparrow, they are positively vengeful. It wasn’t just the Brothers Grimm writing about birds, though. One of Madame D’Aulnoy’s most famous stories is The Blue Bird, and most people have heard of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. Regardless of author, whether they’re offering wisdom and guidance, inflicting punishments or seeking justice, the birds are always portrayed as intelligent.

So it’s no surprise that when I was writing a book about faeries, inspired by my love of traditional tales and folklore, I should make birds a central theme. In Owl King, the faeries can transform into birds — an idea that is seen frequently in fairy-tales. Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans has brothers cursed to turn to swans, and it is also brothers who are turned to ravens in Grimms’ The Seven Ravens. 

An owl and a nightingale are the birds mainly featured in Owl King - a pairing found often together elsewhere. Grimms’ tale Jorinda and Jorindel has a fairy witch who transforms into an owl in order to turn beautiful maidens into birds. She changes Jorinda into a nightingale and keeps her trapped in a cage. Going further back in history, there is a Middle English poem from the 12th or 13th century called The Owl and the Nightingale, where the two engage in a heated debate. They’re frequently written about separately too — most notably, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale and Grimms’ The Owl.

For many centuries, these beautiful creatures have fascinated storytellers. In the past, when the skies were unexplored by humans, they must have held such mystery and wonder. Before electricity, when night was a time to rest after a hard day’s labor, the song of the nightingale and the call of the owl must have possessed a strange allure and intrigue. They dwelled in a world that humans did not, and that in itself must surely have been part of how they became so integral to the stories told.

Nevertheless, they remain as captivating to modern-day writers, and whether the books are inspired by fairy-tales or not, I think it’s safe to say that birds themselves are truly just a little bit magical.”

Owl King Review:

A gorgeously written, darkly magical tale of faeries, love that defies, and supreme bravery, Bex Hogan’s Owl King transports readers into bewitching and oft-dangerous realms full of captivating characters.

”This became the way of the owl. To marry for magic, not love. To vanquish, not cherish. To take, not give. Over the many years there were countless brides…./…All the realm learned to hide from him, not quite understanding why, but sensing that to attract the owl’s attention was dangerous. His many queens were never seen again. But the owl remained strong, always searching, always watching, And he will come for you eventually”.

Upon receiving a royal summons to attend to court of their Owl King in the realm of the Hollows, faery sisters Ilsette and Lyla are worried to be attending the King’s ball: Lyla’s otherworldly, glorious beauty and compassionate heart easily attracts attention, and the sisters do not wish for the sinister Owl King to spot them. Alas, Cato, the Owl King, soon spies the sisters and decides, almost immediately, that Lyla will become his next bride. In utter terror, Lyla decides that she must go on a death-defying journey through the faery realms to bring back a source of magic to release her sister from the King’s nefarious goal: to slowly kill Lyla, deplete her feather by feather, to sustain and forge his own faery powers.

Readers should be sure to check out the author’s previously published young adult novel- a companion to Owl King called Nettle, part of Hogan’s Faery Realm series. Readers get the chance to meet the titular Nettle, who plays quite a memorable role in Owl King! Be assured that the novels can absolutely be read separately and in no particular order. I wholeheartedly recommend checking out both novels; they utterly transported my imagination and senses, while bringing me back to my earlier reading days of exploring iconic fairytales and fables (that I still think about to this day!). Owl King is genuinely beautifully, lyrical told: alternating between Ilsette’s valorous, purposeful, first-person narrative, Lyla’s peculiarly evolving time with the Owl Ling, and interwoven with incredible legends of the faery realms.

With great reviews from both Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal, Owl King is a terrific choice for fantasy fare. For readers who are interesting in young adult novels centred around tales of darker lore (with grand stakes!); for those looking to explore more tales based in mesmerizing faery worlds; or for any readers who love stories with their heart based in fairy tales, both Owl King and Nettle are fantastic picks.

Giveaway Details!

Penguin Random House Canada has very generously offered a giveaway to readers in Canada: a set of both Nettle and Owl King for up to 4 lucky readers! All you need to do to enter:

• Leave a comment with the name of your favourite fairy tale! I will be doing a random draw of four names from entries here on Fab Book Reviews, as well as my site’s Instagram page, @fabbookreviews
• You are welcome to enter with maximum one comment here as well with maximum one comment on the Instagram post (the Instagram post should go live on Monday, May 25th). Good luck!

I received copies of both Owl King and Nettle in exchange for an honest review and for the purposes of this featured post. All opinions and comments are my own. Penguin Random House Canada has generously offered to fill the giveaway for up to four readers, and will be taking care of mailing the books to the giveaway winners.