Glimmerglass

Main Characters:

Dana Hathaway – The book is told from Dana’s point of view.  She’s 16, living somewhere unknown during the prologue.  He mother is an alcoholic which has kept them from settling down anywhere in particular.  She’s 16 and had no real friends but has a beautiful singing voice because she is half Fae.  She gets the courage to run away after she becomes terribly embarrassed because her mother shows up drunk to a voice recital.  She gets to know Ethan and Kimber and shares her first kiss with Ethan.  We discover that she can feel magic as it builds up and so she can sense when someone is about to do something magical.  She is a “Faeriewalker” – which is someone who can move between Faerie and Avalon and bring technology into Faerie and magic into the human world.  As a result, all the political factions want her for their own purposes.  From the minute she steps foot in Avalon, it is unclear who she can trust and everyone is trying to influence her for their own good.

Ethan – A member of the UnSeelie faction.  An 18 yr old Fae who is attending Avalon U in Avalon.  He seems to have some sort of attachment to Dana but it is unclear which side he is really on.  He is a magical prodigy and a contentious relationship with Kimber as a result.

Kimber – Ethan’s younger sister.  She says early on that she got the brains and Ethan got the magical ability.  She forms a friendship with Dana.  But, like with Ethan, is is really unclear what side she is on.

Keane – Finn’s son.  Dana seems to be a little taken by him after getting through the rough outer edge.  He quit Knight training but is teaching Dana some basic self-defense.

Finn – a Knight of Faerie.  Serves as Dana’s protector after Dana finally gets to her father’s.  An imposing man, who takes quite a beating to protect Dana.  He doesn’t speak much but Dana comes to like him.

Seamus Stuart – Dana’s father.  Brutally honest with Dana and very powerful.  And he’s a Sidhe (Fae aristocracy) who is a potential candidate for Counsul, which politically speaking seems to be a really big deal.  Although we don’t get a ton of detail as to why.  He is bent on protecting Dana, but it is unclear if it is really for her own good or because he needs her.

Aunt Grace – Seamus’ sister.  She is out to get and use Dana for her own purposes.  She kidnaps Dana in the beginning and again near the end.  She wants to kill one (or both ) of the Fae Queens and take over.  She will stop at nothing to get the power she wants.  At the end, she has escaped to Faerie after attempting to kidnap Dana and bring Dana into Faerie.

Lachlan – A troll of some sort who has a relationship with Aunt Grace.  Although he seems sympathetic as he doesn’t appear to want to do the bad things Grace wants him to (including locking up Dana in the beginning).  Eventually, during Dana’s stay in the hospital after her run-in with the water witch, he alternates shifts with Finn protecting Dana.

Alistair – Kimber and Ethan’s father.  The other leading candidate for counsul.  We only see a little of him at the end – when he helps save Dana from Aunt Grace.

Cathy Hathaway – Dana’s mom.  She’s unstable and an alcoholic.  She apparently grew up in Avalon and Seamus thinks this might be part of why she became an alcoholic, since it is so hard for people to adjust to living outside of Avalon if they have spent their lives in Avalon.

Main Premise:  Dana runs away from home to Avalon to meet her father, who she knows is Fae.  She is kidnapped and kidnapped again.  She learns that being a Faeriewalker is extra special and Ethan and Kimber take her to the edge of Faerie where we learn she is such a Faeriewalker.  We also learn that Faeriewalkers are extremely rare and are desired by all in power.  Dana’s father, her aunt and Kimber and Ethan’s father are all vying for a power political position and Dana is key to earning that position.

Locations:  Avavlon, which is like the Vatican, in that it is within England but is it’s own sovereign nation.  It is the only place on earth where the human world borders Faerie.

Other important things to remember later:  Dana’s father gave her an object of power – a cameo with a white rose on it.  At first she thinks this is why she can feel the magic, but after speaking with Ethan (after being attached by Grace and almost killed by a water witch), she and Ethan realize that she is special and may have an affinity for magic.  This makes her even more powerful and Ethan convinces her to keep it a secret.

Ethan and Kimber seem to have befriended Dana.  Cathy is now under Seamus’ – ummm…. – oversight.  He had her declared legally incompetent due to her alcoholism.  And Cathy has signed over legal custody to Seamus.  Dana is back off to Avalon to live with her father – and she is due to be put “somewhere safe” where she will have limited freedom and lots of protection.

We are left knowing that Dana is important, that she will probably have some sort of power related to magic (given her secret ability to sense it – tingly skin and the cameo heats up), and that the battle for power has really only just started.  So, we don’t know where we are headed next.