While taking yet another box of my junk (ahem…I mean treasures), that I had temporarily housed in my parent’s basement, I came across a book I hadn’t seen in a while, “Artemis Fowl” by Eoin Colfer. For all us 90’s kids that title will definitely ring a bell. I don’t think I read past the first two books, but they left an impact on me that I feel to this day. Elves, fairies, magic, but with a modern twist. I was hooked to say the least. Previously for me, these fantastical beings had only lived in the classic works of Tolkien, and also Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They marked our childhood through their roles in Disney movies such as Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty. But this, this was a modern take on the faeries originated from European folklore and mythology. They weren’t just sprinkling magic glittery dust and granting wishes, but now they were tactical, had firearms, and dismantled international crime rings. This was a new breed of elf ready to John Wick themselves out of any hairy situation.

Before reading Eoin Colfer’s best seller, I had mainly stuck to the aforementioned classics in terms of fantasy, or good ol’ science fiction such as Harlan Ellison, Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. But this mesh of mythology and the modern world proved a hit. I learned to appreciate the juxtaposition of ancient fae speaking in modern dialects. Take “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas. First it was handsome vampires we wanted to have sink their teeth into us, but with the ACOTAR series, a new craze emerged, sexy faeries letting us live our our wildest romantasy fantasies. When I started reading her “Crescent City” series, I felt myself back in a world similar to Artemis Fowl, where the mystical lived among us. It wasn’t escapism to an ancient imaginary land, but by having the story take place in a world similar to ours technologically, it makes it all the more “real” to the reader. Similar to the appeal of Harry Potter. It was a setting familiar to us, that we could feel, touch, and smell as it was described in the books.

I write this reflection as I giddily await the sixth installment in ACOTAR series. To me the popularity of these books shows how important mythology still is in so many modern day cultures. Science may say that mystical beings don’t exist, but our imaginations don’t have to listen to reason. So grab your favourite modern day fantasy novel, a cup warm cup of tea, and let the characters jump off the page and into your world.