Two Worlds Changed (The Fair and Fey, #5) by J. Ellyne

It's taken J. Ellyne two years to write this book since publishing Book 4 of The Fair and Fey, The Elves of Avalon. There are two main reasons it took so long. This is the final book in the series and she wanted a conclusive ending, not leaving any plot threads dangling. Everyone knows if there are dangling threads, people will pull on them and the whole fabric unravels. There were soooo many dangling threads in the Fair and Fey series at the end of the fourth book.  She didn't want to contrive ways to tie them all up. Ms. Ellyne's usual manner of writing is to dream about the books first.  These are lucid dreams in which the characters are real and do whatever they want. They aren't puppets under her control. She had to wait until her characters decided to wrap everything up into a conclusive ending.


The second reason for this book taking so long was the lack of research material to help guide these dreams. Ms. Ellyne has been accustomed to reading the research first and then dreaming about it. She found only one book covering what might have happened, with actual evidence, after Arthur's final battle to unite Britannia under a single high king, driving out all the foreign invaders. It's a great book: "Arthur's Battle for Britain" by Eric Wamsley. It contains half true history, backed up by historical documents and archeological findings. The other half of Wamsley's book is a story, filling in the gaps that history and archeology have left in what might have been the true life and adventures of Arthur Pendragon, War Leader but never a king.


There are twelve famous battles Arthur won to unite Britain. In books three and four of The Fair and Fey, the Elves are his allies, helping him win. Did you know that real ancient historical documents claim that Arthur's mother, Igraine, was half Elven? Evidently there used to be Elves in Northern Britannia and one of them was Arthur's grandmother. The Elves helped both Arthur and his father Uther Pendragon win their battles and they helped the Elves win their battles with Orcs and Demons -- well most of them anyway. The rest are where the "Fey" part comes in. "Fey" means to have a sad destiny. It is also the word that the word "Fairy" derives from -- an alternate historical term for Elves.


The battle of Camlan, in which other authors such as Mallory wrote of Arthur's death, happened after his 12th victory and as you know, it was a devastating and final defeat. The events that led to that battle, the battle itself, and what happened to Britannia after Arthur's death were covered in Wamsley's book but he admits the evidence as to their reality is scant. That's okay; Two Worlds Changed is fiction, based loosely on fact -- alt history if you will, These events in Britannia are only half of the story. All legends say Arthur was taken to Avalon after his death to see if he could be healed by Avalon healers. Didn't you always want to know if the healing succeeded? Well now you can, thanks to my fifth novel.


In book four, "The Elves of Avalon," Avalon is in Otherworld, which also agrees with other legends. The Elves have left our world to reside there. Without revealing a spoiler here regarding all that happens to them in Otherworld, it can be said that Otherworld changes drastically due to the experiences of the Elves there.. Just as Britannia changes drastically after Arthur leaves our world. As we know from real history, the Anglo-Saxons returned and reconquered Britannia many decades after his departure. This happened because, without a leader to keep them in line, all the kings of the many British Kingdoms started warring with each other again and weakening Britannia, leaving it vulnerable to foreign attack. It didn't happen right away. Arthur's United Kingdom lasted for over a hundred years after he was taken to Avalon for healing. This is what the title Two Worlds Cg hanged means -- how and why Otherworld and Britannia both changed is revealed in book 5.