My thoughts were running on a different track. While the news programs were showcasing the rough training and the statistics for this group (75% of those who start fail to finish), I was wondering about all the missions they’d completed quietly, out of the public eye. The bin Laden mission was by nature destined to become public knowledge, but much of what they do is less well known.

I was also thinking about a set of fiction books that follows a different team, the Fey team, an intense team of military professionals who also complete most of their missions quietly, out of the public eye. This is the team featured in The Fey, Learning to Stand, and Who I am by Claudia Hall Christian. The series takes its name for the main character, Alexandra Hargreaves, also known as Alex The Fey for her uncanny knack for solving unusual cases.

When I’m reading, the characters have to become real in my mind. They can be unusual, they can be over-the-top off-the-charts types, but if the characters feel real to me, I take them into my head and follow their paths through various plots. Alex is a strong character. She’s tough, yes, but it’s an internal strength that carries her through her missions and her personal challenges. She can be female and be in charge. I buy into her character, flaws and strengths together. Her coffee addiction may be the only trait we share, but I can see into her mind and feel her emotions as Hall’s books progress.

The Fey series ventures into an area of life I know not at all: military life, special ops, green berets. The adventures of the team may or may not be realistic, but I don’t have the experience or knowledge to judge. And that’s fine; my job as reader is not to judge, but to enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed following the challenges, failures, and successes of Alex the Fey.