I think the problem with "Faerie/fairies/the Fae/Sidhe/etc.," is that so many authors just toss them in because they're "familiar," with without really making them pertinent, so we get irritated becaus it's there just to be there. (I have a similar problem with vampires and urban fantasy.)

I struggled a bit with the first 100 or so pages because it felt "politics first, story second" to me (good politics, but still...) but it's one of my favorite reads this year.

I think Brennan said at her LJ a while back that she plans to write a series touching on the court every 100 years.