I fell in love with Emma Bull's first book -- War for the Oaks , and stupidly lent it to a friend who was (unbeknownst to me) a book thief.

It was nearly three years before I finally found another copy, and then ACE released a reprint - I bought three.

And, my online name is from this book - Phouka. (See, I knew you wanted to know where it came from!)

I think the reason I really loved the book was that it was set in Minneapolis, where I grew up, and I recognized the places in the book. I've been to the bars, the parks, and the café's in the story. Of course, I never ran into any of the Sidhe, but...

I've read her other books (most notably Finder) and enjoyed them immensely, although not as completely as I did my first foray into her works.

My only complaint is that the phouka is described several times in the book as looking like Prince (or the "Artist formerly known as Prince, whatever that is!) and I couldn't get that picture out of my head. Ugh. Well, not that Prince is unattractive, but it was not the picture that I had in my head.

You know how you have a very clear picture of the characters in your head, with the voices etc, all done? I don't think I could ever see this book as a movie because they would never be able to match those pictures. Ah, well. That's the problem with most movies-from-books.

Book list

• War for the Oaks
• Bone Dance
• Double Feature
• Falcon
• Finder
• Freedom and Necessity with Steven Brust

Links

• Bibliography
• Other books of elves in the real world plus other interesting sci-fi/fantasy booklists.
• Flash Girls homepage
• Misreading Bonedance : an essay on hermaphrodism and gender in Bone dance