From Publishers Weekly
Wilkins, a star in her native Australia, strikes a tantalizing balance between pastoral and grotesque in her American fantasy debut. Christine Starlight lives in an artist's collective in Berlin with her lover, Jude, and their companions. She is haunted by two memories from childhood: the gruesome death of her parents and the abduction of her best friend, May. May, it turns out, was not abducted, but was lost by her mother in a bargain with a faery; in the enchanted world May now calls home--and which now calls her Mayfridh--she is the queen. Circumstances bring the two worlds together, and when Mayfridh crosses over and reunites with Christine, she also falls in love with Jude. Jude, though, carries with him a whopper of a secret, which Wilkins manages to conceal nicely. Meanwhile, Mandy Z., a madman who has hated faeries since childhood and who happens to own the building in which Christine and Jude live, is hard at work on a "Bone Wife," made from the bones of the faeries he has murdered. The brutal scenes involving Mandy Z. provide a sharp contrast to the gentle, often touching story of Christine and her inner battles. The well-executed conclusion ends this fascinating adventure on a high note. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Jacqueline Carey, author of Kushiel's Avatar
"Fairy tale macabre and postmodern expatriate artists collide…. Aficionados of dark urban fantasy will find this a fast-paced treat."


Lynn Flewelling, Author of Hidden Warrior and the Nightrunner Series
"THE AUTUMN CASTLE is a rich concoction, the perfect blend of sharp-edged realism and lyrically rendered folklore.


Charles de Lint, author of The Onion Girl
THE AUTUMN CASTLE draws the reader into a world of welcome magics and dark imaginings."


Liz Williams, author of The Poison Master
"Original fantasy with dark folkloric roots and a very modern twist . . . combines the best of both worlds.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins is a dark fantasy that blends the grotesque parables of northern European folklore with steamy contemporary romance. An intriguing hybrid of urban fantasy ￯﾿ﾽ la Charles de Lint's Newford saga and the supernatural erotica of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels, The Autumn Castle revolves around a complex love triangle featuring Christine Starlight, the orphaned daughter of '70s pop stars who were tragically killed in a car accident; Jude, a talented and hunky painter; and Miranda, a childhood friend of Christine's who was abducted by fairies when she was seven years old and taken to their realm.

The story begins in Berlin, where Christine and Jude have been happily living together for the last few years. Christine works at a bookstore, and Jude is in the midst of a prestigious fellowship that allows him to live in a hotel for free and paint full-time. The endowment's benefactor, a thoroughly detestable man named Immanuel Zweigler, owns the hotel and lives upstairs from Jude and the other fellowship winners. When a missing childhood friend suddenly reenters Christine's life, she is not only introduced to a dazzling immortal world filled with magic -- witches, shape-shifters, etc. -- but also to some very mortal perils: betrayal, jealousy, and murder.

While Australian native Wilkins may not be that well known yet in the States, with novels like The Autumn Castle, it's only a matter of time until she is mentioned in the same breath as dark fantasy luminaries like Hamilton, Anne Bishop, and Tanith Lee. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER