I’m catching back up with Toby Daye, who’s settling back into life after the events of A Late Eclipse. Tybalt has done another of his disappear-for-months-on-end acts, but Toby now has a knowe of her own to take care of, and has taken up with Connor again following his separation from Rayseline.
But then someone goes and kidnaps the sons of the ruler of Saltmist, from the Undersea, tipping the factions of faerie towards war. Into the breach steps Toby, who not only needs to find the kids but also work out who’s taking potshots at her and the denizens of Undersea, while also avoiding getting herself killed by the always angry Queen of the Mists.
This was another enjoyable outing in the series, with the Undersea being an interesting new feature of faerie that tickled rather a lot of my glee spots (the image of Toby hurtling down a hill while riding a screaming mermaid in a wheelchair will stay with me for a while).
I’ve never really been a fan of love triangles, no matter how well they’re done, and so I must admit that the important twist of events at the end, with the death of someone close to Toby, didn’t have as much of an impact on me as it may have otherwise done – instead I was just glad that it means that the coast is now clear for my preferred pairing to take place (although I’m happy to savour that build for a few more books yet).
From not being quite so keen on the first couple of books, I’m really glad that I’ve stuck with them, although my new problem is that I’m struggling to stop myself from inhaling the rest of the series in one sitting (if only all of our problems were that nice).
Yeah, I am not sure if that one corner ever stood much of a change – he was so bland.
There’s a really cool selkie/luidaeg novella/short story on the website. Not sure when would be the best time to read it from a “giving too much back story away too early perspective” but McGuire’s website usually states when it’s a good time to read the extras.
Ooh, good to know. Extra Luidaeg can only be a good thing.
Yeah, count me among the people who were all “glad X is gone”. He was super bland and I never cared for the character. I like Toby in the Undersea, though.
I admire your restraint in trying not to binge read the whole rest of the series. I forget when I actually got caught up. It was years and years and years ago now. Each new release is a “drop everything and just read” event now.
So, so bland. I kept feeling like I was supposed to like him more, but he was as interesting as wallpaper to me.
I think this one has been one of the stronger books in the series so far.
And that screaming mermaid, Dianda Lorden, is one of my favourite characters.
She’s pretty ace.