War for the Oaks

A fantasy novel by Emma Bull and one of the pioneering works of Urban Fantasy, War for the Oaks is the story of Eddi McCandry, a Minneapolis rock singer who's just been kicked out of her band and breaking up with her boyfriend. There's also the matter of The Fair Folk moving in—quite literally—with her, and an impending war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts into which she's just been drafted.


 * A Good Name for a Rock Band: Eddi & the Elves.
 * The Baroness: the Queen of Unseelie Court.
 * Black Best Friend (and a Muggle Best Friend): Carla.
 * : Eddi and phouka.
 * Dancing Is Serious Business.
 * Duet Bonding: Eddi and Willy.
 * Elemental Barrier: around the battle area.
 * Elvish Presley.
 * The Fair Folk: Two courts: the Seelie and Unseelie courts, roughly corresponding to good and evil.
 * Fairy Companion: phouka and Meg to Eddi.
 * Fairy Sexy: many examples.
 * Gender Blender Name: An offbeat one, too.
 * Ice Queen: two of them.
 * Interspecies Romance.
 * In the Style Of: Eddi and her band like to try it as a kind of exercise.
 * Invisible to Normals.
 * Killed Off for Real:.
 * Like Reality Unless Noted.
 * Loveable Rogue: Most of the (non-evil) faeries, but the Phouka in particular.
 * Magic Music: True to folklore, the music of the faeries is impossible to resist, as audiences soon find.
 * The Mole:.
 * Mundane Utility: the magic of phouka and Meg.
 * Myspeld Rokband: InKline Plain.
 * Nature Spirit: glaistig and many other fairies.
 * Never Trust a Title: there are no strategically relevant oaks in the novel.
 * Not Quite Saved Enough: Poor, poor.
 * The Power of Friendship: the special bond between Eddi and phouka, created by Eddi's answer to the Queen, gives her a special power over fairies' fate.
 * The Power of Rock: Present throughout the novel.
 * Twin Cities: The setting of the book; all the places mentioned in the novel are real.
 * Urban Fantasy: One of the Trope Codifiers.
 * Your Mind Makes It Real: that is why phouka warns Eddi against doubt.