In Summer Lightning, the third book in Alan B. Gibson’s Magic at Myers Beach series, fairy prince Alias shoulders the weight of his people’s prejudice, but also their very lives.

Someone has poisoned the natural reserves of fairy dust ingredients, lacing it with deadly iron. With many of his people already dead, and others terribly ill, King Theos relies on his younger brother Alias to devise the lost recipe with ingredients found at Myers Beach, a small human town. Alias helps house the sick in Myers Beach, and dedicates himself to his research, he loses much of his own comfort.

Alias lives with his boyfriend, Christophe, a hero of the Third Kingdom– one of his own kingdom’s allies. He and Christophe can walk together freely in the human world, still Alias must worry about how his people see their prince. And now, with so many fairy eyes in his little town, he can’t even hold Christophe’s hand in public without the danger of being found out.

As Alias worries about fairy eyes on him, humans catch sight of the mystical beings in their midst.

Though Alias has created a functional fairy dust with only some of the ingredients, it leaves his peoples’ magical disguises unreliable. When famed actress and Alias’s childhood teacher, Dame Gabor, is found in her true form by a little girl, a media frenzy unleashes on the small town.

Summer Lightning shines a satirical light on the fads of modern mass-media, with an online group, Friends of the Fairies, arriving in town to find evidence for their various blogs and podcasts. The story morphs from one of a fairy, to a small bird, to a seven-foot monster, all with opportunistic tour guides and business owners looking to cash in on the town’s tourists.

More pressing than even keeping the true fairies hidden, however, is figuring out who poisoned the original dust.

Calling back to earlier books in the series, Summer Lightning menaces the protagonists with hints of their old villain, a powerful and vengeful witch. But, more personally, Alias has to face the traumatic memories of his old tutor–from the days he spent growing up in the Third Kingdom. Though he’s certain he’s seen the last of the man, Györfi, who tried to molest him as a teenager and outed his forbidden relationship with the young Third King, Alias begins to discover possible connections between Györfi and the current trouble.

Alias’s emotional journey will pull readers in, with his struggle between responsibility, personal connections, and the shadows of the past.

His relationship with Christophe takes center stage as they deal with homophobia from both human and fairy society. Christophe tries to bridge the gap between them, but Alias doesn’t dare make his relationship public, especially with so much attention already on him as the only hope for his people’s survival. In this story, the word ‘fairy’ pulls double-duty, both as the name for Alias’s people, and one of the slurs thrown at him by bigots.

Summer Lightning doesn’t shy away from darker subject matter, and as the story continues, readers will delve deeper into Alias’s memories of the cruelty he’s suffered–all while his old traumas resurface in new and dangerous forms.

But he and Christophe aren’t alone, with characters like Dame Gabor standing as a staunch ally both to their relationship and Alias’s work. And though the fights between Alias and Christophe can feel a bit rushed, their connection remains heartwarming and empowering in the face of adversity.

With a well-balanced mixture of comedy, intrigue, drama, and satire, Summer Lightning brings these magical characters to major crossroads as they try to keep up with the sinister forces ensnaring their homelands.