Another anthropomorphic novel series by acclaimed author Kyell Gold, set in a modern day world with just a twist of the fantastic.
Books in this series are:
- Green Fairy (March 2012)
- Red Devil (February 2014)
- Black Angel (May 2016)
Green Fairy focuses on Sol, a wolf who's just trying to make it out of high school in one piece so he can move to the big city with his best friend Meg and live with his internet boyfriend. One book report and a bit of absinthe later and Sol starts dreaming the life of a gay fox named Nikolai (Niki) who worked as a cabaret dancer at the famed Moulin Rouge in late 19th century Paris. When the dreams seep into his waking life, Sol adds "going crazy" to his worries, and the problems of a couple that lived a hundred years ago to the ever-growing list of his own.
Red Devil in set several months after the events of Green Fairy and focuses on Sol's friend Alexei, who was introduced in Green Fairy. Alexei is having his own problems, among which are the impending expiration of his student visa and his sister back home in Siberia. Seeking the same guidance that Niki provided Sol, Alexei tries to contact Niki's spirit but winds up in contact with an entirely different spirit, a fox soldier by the name of Konstantin.
Black Angel follows Meg as she struggles to find herself while Sol and Alexei move on with their lives, a struggle complicated by recurring visions of the lives of two spirits: a young girl who wants to be a voodoo priestess and another who wants to escape a Christian cult.
Tropes
- Always Someone Better: Sol's primary dilemma, as his place as starter on the baseball team is taken by someone else.
- Anti-Villain: Konstantin is highly antagonistic towards Alexei, but he's treated sympathetically, as Alexei comes to believe that he was lonely and too bitter about his own past to have a clear view of the situation.
- Attempted Rape: Carcy, Sol's internet boyfriend tries to pressure him into sex when they finally meet in person. Niki stops him.
- Casting a Shadow: The spirits are highly associated with shadows and darkness, and operate through them.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Niki's father receives a vague reference in passing in Green Fairy. Turns out it's Konstantin.
- Contrived Coincidence: Alexei and Sol come into contact with the spirits of two Russian foxes who prove to be father and son, despite all of them leading wildly different lives and their stories - especially Alexei and Konstantin - having virtually no connection.
- Dark Is Evil:
- Konstantin, a malevolent spirit of a highly highly bitter and angry man, whose shadowy powers only make him more terrifying.
- Zigzagged with Baron la Croix in Black Angel. Those that deal with him maintain that he's neither good nor bad, but he does tend to resort to killing people in order to fulfill his bargains. Marie-Belle wanted to be free of her impending marriage, so he tried to murder her fiance, while he tried to convince Meg to kill herself in order to convince her to move on with her life, then took credit when she survived the attempt. Even the voodoo priestess, Toutou warns Marie-Belle against dealing with him because of the high cost he expects.
- Dark Is Not Evil:
- Nikki, whose shadowy visage is indeed quite terrifying to Sol, but ultimately is a very kind and benevolent soul.
- Konstantin's appearance in Black Angel has him as this, having learned his lesson. He regards his time with Alexei as "educational" and has let go of his past.
- Deadpan Snarker: Meg never wastes an opportunity to snark about anything and everything.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Niki's friend Henri Trounoir hanged himself after a fight with Niki, believing that Niki was abandoning him.
- Sol almost kills himself as well, but Nikki's ghost saves him from this fate. Occurs also multiple times in Red Devil, in the form of multiple teen suicides in Siberia/Russia.
- Flat-Earth Atheist: Meg maintains her position on the reality (or lack thereof) of Sol and Alexei's spiritual encounters, even after witnessing it first-hand.
- Goth: Meg
- Heel–Face Turn: Konstantin at the end of Red Devil, thanks to the intervention of Alexei's sister, is made aware of what an asshole he is. When Meg speaks with him in Black Angel he has a much more positive outlook.
- Historical Domain Character: Konstantin knew Nicholas II and spoke with him several times.
- Honor Before Reason: Konstantin falls just short of considering any criticism against the Tsar to be nothing less than outright treason, and breaks several friendships by reporting them to his superiors when his compatriots comment that the Tsar, while a great man, does not have a God-given right to rule.
- Interrupted Suicide: Sol briefly considers suicide, though he never actually attempts it. Niki stops him either way.
- Jerkass:
- Jean, who cements his jerkassery by not only killing Niki, but taking credit for Henri's painting.
- Taric and his sister Tanny, who constantly bully Sol, though it's somewhat understandable given the prejudice against "trailer kids".
- When Alexei is being influenced by Konstantin, he acts this way, intentionally showing up Kendall and making snide comments.
- Sol's father, big time. And his uncle too.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Sol dreaming about Niki's experiences is subject to much deliberation on Sol's part, who isn't sure whether he's really been contacted by the spirit of a dead fox or if he's just having incredibly realistic absinthe hallucinations. Turns out it's all too real.
- Old Soldier: Konstantin was a guard for Tsar Alexander III, is fairly grizzled, highly cynical and even has a Rugged Scar.
- Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Owing to the death of his wife, Konstantin does not have a very positive opinion on love, considering it to be for dreamers.
- Starving Artist: Henri was one before his death. Meg jokes about being one as well in Black Angel.
- Undying Loyalty: Konstantin retains his loyalty to the Tsars even a hundred years after his death during the Revolution.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Niki dresses as a vixen so that he can dance at the Moulin Rouge.
