Never-Contented Things

by Sarah Porter

[Quirky Cat]

3 1/2 stars

I received a copy of Never-Contented Things through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

If I was giving out awards for beautiful book covers, you can bet that Never-Contented Things would be getting one. The cover is absolutely striking, and immediately gave me an impression of the sort of story that it would have.
Never-Contented Things was written by Sarah Porter, and it’s an interesting shift on the whole fae/changeling/human dynamic. That’s not to say that the typical hierarchy isn’t there, because it absolutely is. More that the perspective is different. Everything is from the human side, and it really makes you realize just how hard it could be to identify fae actions.


Warnings: Two of the main characters in this novel are foster children. One of them had a pretty horrible life before she ended up where she did. Her backstory starts out as hinting, but will eventually outright state the fact that she was raped. There are no details, but it does come up from time to time. And it results in a few uncomfortable scenes. Also, like any true fae story, there are some kidnappings that occur throughout. That’s probably more expected though.
Never-Contented Things was such a different experience to read. It had fae, and I believe changelings as well, and of course there were plenty of humans. Together it was and always is a recipe for disaster. Yet Sarah Porter managed to make her telling unique, despite the rules she based it on.
The whole story is set in this perspective you don’t really get when it comes to fae stories, and I love that. I spent half the novel trying to convince myself that I wasn’t imagining things, and the other half worrying about how they would get out of their situation.
I loved the different perspective on this tale. If I could get more stories like this, I would be thrilled. There are big bad fae as well, and not the type that appear to be bad, but are truly nice on the inside. I mean they are truly horrible creatures, through and through. It’s refreshing that Porter stuck to her guns there.
I’ll admit that at times the novel did drag on more than was needed. The subtlety was appreciated at first – it was refreshing not just seeing the fae jump out and go ‘boo!’ to the main characters. But after a while I found myself wondering if they would ever actually see them - which might make for an interesting book, but it’d have to be done carefully.
There was a lot of raw human nature in this book, both the good and the bad. I actually loved the juxtaposition between all the human emotions and reactions and the fae just doing their thing. It added a complexity to the world that I hadn’t expected.
It took me a while to become attached to the main perspectives in this novel, but it did happen. Once I was invested in what was happening to them, I couldn’t stop myself from worrying and theorizing about what was going to happen next.
The ending came as a bit of a relief to me. I was happy to see how everything played out – especially since not everyone got what they wanted. Likewise, not everyone got what they deserved…but that’s to be expected. Life is hardly ever that clean, especially when the fae have become involved.


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