Toby and Tybalt are still planning on getting married someday (the stick, get on it), but while Toby keeps Tybalt waiting they do manage to get to romantic dinners in between Toby’s needing to bleed to save Faerie.
He had never been more handsome. This was the man I was going to marry. This was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, and raise my children alongside, whenever we decided it was safe enough for us to risk having them.
On the day of one such date (while Toby and May are debating whether the fact that blood is inevitably going to wind up on the wedding dress means it doesn’t matter what it looks like), Cassandra Brown calls Toby to tell her that a Quest is coming she won’t like, and to make sure it goes off without a hitch, just bring Spike, Quentin and May along. Because that’s not both horribly vague and instant anxiety-causing. Not that life makes Toby wait long to find out how the hammer is going to fall: Patrick and Dianda Lorden swing by during the date to drop the bombshell that Faerie considers Simon Toby’s father, and if she doesn’t invite him to the wedding Evening Winterrose could claim offense. Not wanting that to happen, Toby has to go and find a father she doesn’t know if she wants, who doesn’t remember her existence, never mind that they ever got along.
I wanted to find Simon. I wanted to come home and get married. And yes, I actually wanted him to be there when I did that, if it was even remotely possible. I had little enough family who could realistically be in attendance. If Faerie was going to make him my father, he could d**n well act like it.
Will she be able to? What exact reason do Patrick and Dianda (especially Patrick) have to be this concerned about Simon? And is Toby going to be finding anyone else’s family members along the way?
I enjoy this book, but then again it means I’m one book closer to where this series’ happiness level takes a steep nosedive. Toby is thankfully firing on all cylinders for 98% if this book, or at least until near the ending, where Toby does something with a certain Mr. Mystery Guest (I really do not want to give away spoilers here) that just causes me to want to slap her every single time I read this book. Fourteen books in, and Toby still seems to be having a problem realizing that she’s no longer going about this alone, that her actions have consequences for people other than herself; I love them as a couple, but sometimes I think Tybalt should rethink whether or not he actually thinks marrying Toby is a good idea. Putting that aside, most of the characters in this book are just great; exceptions are (almost as always) Sylvester, Evening, and Luna. The day I read the last of those three is the day I will be extremely happy. August, I run hot and cold on, mostly cold; she just comes across at times as a mini-Amy: spoiled, petulant, and not understanding the world isn’t there for her and her alone. Rayseline, who makes a brief cameo, has actually grown in my esteem; when I first read this book the scene with her and Toby made me want to see when the bombshell gets dropped on Luna, and luckily two books later McGuire does not disappoint. Tybalt I just want to hug; he really loves Toby, and to a certain extent he gets kicked around in these books; not that he hasn’t been flawed, but still. You’re engaged to the man Toby, think about him more than occasionally. The Luidheag I have no words against ever, my entire opinion on her is, and has always been:
Quentin, Jazz, May, Walther, Cassandra, Arden (three more people that I like 98% of the time): this are people that are more family to Toby than Amy and August (and by extension, the Duchy of Shadowed Hills rulers).
The ending though? Well, it’s certainly an ending; I both saw it coming and was completely taken by surprise, and I loved every moment of it.
Now on to When Sorrows Comes, aka “The One Where They Finally Tie the Knot”.
Quotes I love:
-
I know you’re faithful, as you’ve never come home covered in another man’s blood without telling me about it, and I can’t imagine any lover of yours getting close to you without someone bleeding at least a little. – Tybalt
-
I’d say I thought better of your mother, but it would be a lie. I never once in all my days thought better of Amandine. And no matter how poorly I’ve thought of her, she’s continually found ways to disappoint me. Truly, that woman is an artisan of letting people down. – Patrick
-
Chelsea speaks of the warmth and comfort of your house as if she were talking about the halls of Caer Sidi. I’m jealous of my own daughter, that she gets to keep your company while I must keep my distance. Our hearths are colder for your absence. – Etienne to Toby
-
Are you usually expecting to get stabbed?” “When we’re out in public, yes.” – Quentin and Toby
-
I know you were a hero, Sylvester. I’m a hero now, too. When did you forget what that means?
-
My wife is changed beyond recognition. I fear she no longer knows what it means to love me. My daughters sleeps in a glass casket, and I can’t wake her because my brother chose a monster over his own flesh and blood.” “I think the first monster he chose was my mother.” – Sylvester and Toby
-
The perfect murder isn’t one where no one knows. It’s one where no one cares.”
-
I’m a friend of your daughter’s. Antigone, I mean. The eldest. A good friend. I helped her bring back the Roane. She’s not sad all the time anymore.” – Toby, talking to Maeve’s roses
-
Yeah, yeah, brag about how fast you can grow a liver.” – May
-
What the f**k did you people do to me?” “We loved you. That’s all. The rest, you did to yourself.” – Toby and the Luidaeg
-
I’ll have you know that this is behavior entirely unsuitable for a lady.” “Good thing I’m a knight, not a lady.”- Simon and Toby