Alethea Kontis is a storm chaser, world traveler, and New York Times bestselling author. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children's Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and Dragon Award. Alethea narrates stories for multiple award-winning online magazines, contributes book reviews to NPR, and does freelance work for Writing the Other. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida where she watches K-dramas with her teddy bear, Charlie. Together they are ARMY, VVS, and Black Roses.

Trix & the Faerie Queen by Alethea Kontis

—2016 Dragon Award Finalist—

Fey magic and animal magic: that troublemaking imp Trix Woodcutter has both, if not the ability to use them to their full potential. While traveling with his companion—the golden girl Lizinia—to see the King of Eagles, Trix is sent a vision of the Faerie Queen, who is in desperate need of his help. An evil sorceress has stormed Faerie and trapped all the fey magic under the Hill, leaving the Faerie Queen powerless! Trix's talent for communicating with animals is desperately needed…but before he braves the wild world of Faerie he must arm himself, with nothing less than the bow and arrows of a god.

With the help of his gilded companion, her ghost-cat godfather, a blind brownie and a sister or two, the Boy Who Talks to Animals must befriend a mischievous leprechaun, best a wolf, and journey into the depths of Faerie to restore order and free the fey magic before the imbalance destroys the world.

 

REVIEWS

  • "While TRIXTER had more of a "going off on an adventure" vibe, TRIX AND THE FAERIE QUEEN is up to par with the Woodcutter Sisters series in the tone of its adventure."

    – Bonnie, A Backwards Story

  • "What makes the book special is the loving and creative way Alethea Kontis draws her world and the inhabitants in it. The brownie, so bitingly funny. The leprechaun, so quirky and dubious. But my fave is the fawn, daughter of the Great Stag."

    – Alexandra Baginsky

  • "If you like fairy tales, this is the stuff."

    – Barry Simiana
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

"Hello," Trix greeted the birds. "I am looking for my sister. Can you tell me, have you seen her?"

"No humans, no humans," twittered the birds.

"Save you," chirped the first. "Save you."

"Slightly human," chirped the second.

"Terrible archer," chirped the first.

"Gee, thanks," said Trix. Birds were known for their gossip. Trix wished fewer people trusted their skewed versions of the truth.

The wind picked up and the birds lifted their wings.

"Save us," chirped the first as it fluttered away.

"Save us all," chirped the second.

Trix wasn't entirely sure if he had heard the birds correctly—echoes of the Faerie Queen's vision had been swimming unceasingly around his head since he'd seen her. He sent two arrows into the trunk of the tree to his left: one high, one low. The third did not have enough force behind it—it simply hit the tree and fell to the ground.

"I'd find another line of work if I were you," said a squirrel.

"My arm is tired," said Trix. "I'm actually looking for my sister. Have you seen her?"

"Are you going to shoot her?"

"Not at first. But she can be a bit surly."

"Mmm," said the squirrel. "I have a sister like that."

"Is there a path through these woods? Maybe something that runs westward to Faerie? My sister would be on a road like that."

"If she is, may the gods help her," said the squirrel. "There's a wolf on that path. No mistaking that smell, no sir."