I am getting through the reviews of the last three books at a fevered clip because if I don’t force myself to read them, I will probably just skip over them. And I have expanded too much time and energy to quit this close to the end. But buckle up reading these books, because if you thought An Artificial Night was brutal, than honey, do I have news for you.
After the events of the last book, Toby and Tybalt (naively) thought their lives would go somewhat quietly for awhile. Sure, they had Rayseline’s trial, but that ended fairly well; they just gained another housemate for a year, at minimum. (It was nice to read Gillian and Toby joking at the trial together, especially seeing as the Luidheag was the cause of the humor, and she didn’t mind).
And that was the end of good and happy times for the majority of the book.
Reading through this was just about as much of an emotional slog as it was the first time; it is painful to read a book where the main character is behind the 8 ball from almost the beginning until the very end. Yes, Sylvester had a modicum of character growth; I think it’s too little, too late, but I’m not everyone else having to deal with him (Toby and Simon especially). True, Toby has news for Tybalt that is wonderful, and exciting, and I was so happy to read. But the Luidheag’s continual house guest continues to grate my last nerve, Luna continues to be someone who I went from liking to someone that I just want to hurt every time she comes onto the page, and this is once again the book that makes me wonder who exactly Toby pissed off in an earlier life to keep having her life go this way. Newsflash, world: if you want Toby to not have commitment issues and terror that the moment she’s happy life is going to kick her in the fork (to quote Terry Pratchett), then don’t have events like what’s in this book happen to her. It’s really quite simple.
The shame is I can’t even really go that far into the plot because this is one book where more than a scant recap is giving away major spoilers. Suffice to say, I finished reading the book at 4:30 the morning after it was released, and immediately tweeted Seanan McGuire to express my shock, disbelief, and just general feeling of
.
But now it’s on to Sleep No More, and it’s all downhill (mostly) from here.
Favorite Quotes:
- One of the few mercies of Faerie is that the purebloods like ritual and tradition so much that they have predetermined ways of saying almost everything from “Bob’s dead” to “Bob’s pregnant” to “Bob’s overthrown the rightful ruler and if you don’t recognize him as King right now, you’re going to regret it.” It’s sort of like having a society run by greeting cards.
- My life got weird at some point, is what I’m saying, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
- If glaring at things made them go away, the world would be a very different place.
- Time isn’t fair. Never has been, never will be. It’s a lot like Faerie that way.
- We don’t do family reunions, but I bet they’d be fun, in the “entrails all over the lawn” sort of sense.
- The only thing worse than attending a formal Court is attending a formal Court where I’m expected to participate in legal arguments. Normally, I come in, get into a fight with the nearest noble, stab something, and leave. It’s very efficient and dramatic and entirely inappropriate when you’re trying to convince the Queen to authorize the early awakening of someone who may not have broken Oberon’s Law in a way that anyone would hold against her, but who had definitely behaved in an inappropriate and impolite manner, possibly racking up several charges of offense in the process.
- Faerie is built on a foundation of falsehoods and hidden truths, and we’d be healthier if we started talking to each other, but sometimes it feels like we don’t want to do that because once we
- start, we can never shut up.
- That’s not even splitting hairs. That’s twisting a technicality until it cries.
- Usually, like any sleeping cat, he either woke up at the slightest motion or slept with such total dedication that nothing short of an earthquake would disturb his slumber.
- Making sense is something that happens to other people.