Thought the last one was stressful? Try this one on for size.

After the events of An Artificial Night and the vanquishing of Blind Michael, you’d be forgiven if you thought that Faerie might give Toby a brief reprieve. But the Queen of Mists has other ideas, first elevating Toby to nobility as Countess of Golden Green, and then putting her on trial for Blind Michael’s death. And if that all wasn’t bad enough, someone is trying to kill Toby’s closest friends, first taking aim at Lily before turning their attentions to Luna. To top it all off, they’ve framed Toby for all that too.

Taking the events of An Artificial Night and then somehow raising the stakes even higher, this was another excellent outing in the Toby Daye series which has now very definitely found its feet. The villain is another good one, Tybalt features heavily again (although Toby still seems dense when it comes to why Tybalt might value her so much) and, even better, we get to finally meet Toby’s mother – who pulls an incredibly strange trick to save Toby’s life, changing her in the process and making it clear that Toby isn’t what she’s always believed (Daoine Sidhe) but something altogether stranger (even if we’re not quite sure what that is yet).

After a slightly shaky start to the series, this is now quickly becoming another favourite of mine (thank you, Cannonballers, for the recommendation), and a delightfully imaginative place to spend time in between heavier books. I’m pleased to see there are still so many more to be read in this series – even if my wallet isn’t.