The Faery Series is a series of 5 books by author Dennis L. McKiernan, writer of the Mithgar series. Each book is a notable retelling/retooling of an old fairy tale, often with elements from other tales thrown in.
The setting is essentially the "normal" human world that connects to the faerie realm via a wall of twilight. And different realms within faerie are also separated by these walls of twilight.
The main protagonists of the series are Camille and her prince Alain and his three siblings, the four of which rule over the seasonal realms which are Color-Coded Characters.
The first four books follow each of the siblings in their quests of love (the first book however is a bit inverted in that it's Alain's wife Camille who has to save him), while slowly uncovering more of the mystery surrounding the Big Bad. After each one is paired off, the fifth book details their final showdown with the Big Bad.
The five books are:
- Once Upon a Winters Night (East of the Sun and West of the Moon)
- Once Upon a Summer Day (Sleeping Beauty)
- Once Upon an Autumn Eve (The Glass Mountain)
- Once Upon a Spring Morn (Le Bel Inconnu and Childe Rowland)
- Once Upon a Dreadful Time
This series provides examples of:
- All Myths Are True: McKiernan brings in myths and legends from a lot of sources, but heavily from celtic and greek roots.
- Big Bad: the wizard Orbane
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The rulers of the four seasonal realms have colorings respective of their region. Prince Borel (winter) has white hair and grey eyes. Prince Alain (summer) has dark hair and eyes. Princess Liaze (autumn) has auburn hair and golden eyes. And princess Celeste (spring) has blonde hair and green eyes.
- Creation Myth (with Leaning on the Fourth Wall): in universe, the creation of the faery realm is said to be by gods who overheard stories being told and liked them so much that they actually manifested them.
- Creepy Crows: Default messenger minions of the evil witches
- Evil Sorcerer: the Big Bad Orbane is this
- The Fair Folk
- The Hecate Sisters
- Once Upon a Time: The titles of the first four books are plays on this phrase
- Rule of Three
- Wicked Witch: Orbane's apprentices are this
- Year Outside, Hour Inside: Everyone knows this is how time flows in the fae king's realm
