Midwinter... by Matthew Sturgess

Another epic fantasy... I've read more epic fantasies this year than I can ever remember. This one is a mythology that weaves the human and faerie/elf worlds together; where travels from one world to another is through these 'holes' .... kinda like the Stargate SG1 (Richard Dean Anderson) way of traveling from one world to another. And you need the same sort of gate to return.

Mauritane a decorated captain of the Seelies was sentenced to jail after being framed. The Seelies are a faction of the faerie, the other faction being the Unseelies. His queen, Queen Titania sent him on a mission. Success would mean his freedom. Together with his band of chosen aides (who were also promised freedom), he set out into the Uncontested Lands.

The epic is interesting because of the way the author was able to incorporate everything in quite nicely. There is this portrayal of Aba, their God. I see a lot of parallel comparison with the concept of God the Father. And the faes were free to make their own choices. Also that of changeling myth where human children are exchanged for fae at a young age. Then there is the bogeyman, the Thule, which reminds me of the stories from the Greek mythology, Cyclops.

I get the feel of fantasy and science put together in this novel. One of Mauritane's aides is a human (Satterly) who somehow got sucked into the fae land while trying to rescue his niece who was exchanged with a fae (changeling myth at work). He is a physicist. And in the story, we come across humans who wandered into the fae land by accident and got stuck there.

As in novels of this nature, good is always up against evil. That is also the main theme in this novel... good prevails in the end but there is always a price to be paid.

Overall, I'd give this book a read... I googled the author and discovered that he is an acclaimed comic writer and this is his first attempt at novel writing. This is Book 20 so far.