And another down. After being kicked in the teeth in the last book, Toby starts out this one in probably an even worse place. Jazz has PTSD, Tybalt is avoiding her, and neither she or May knows how to fix anything.
Seriously, is this ‘gang up on Toby’ night? Can you let me know when you schedule these, so I can arrange to be somewhere else? Like, I don’t know, another Kingdom?”
“Most other Kingdoms won’t let you in,” said Danny, almost reasonably. “You keep deposin’ their monarchs.”
“I’ve never deposed anyone who didn’t deserve it,” I said. “And I’ve only done it twice.”
And that’s when Cliff and Miranda show up to announce that Gillian is missing and they blame Toby. So now Toby has to find the daughter who wants nothing to do with her, while trying to piece her life back together. Easy, right?
This is the book where I wanted to slap Tybalt up the side of the head; I know you have trauma, but for someone who consistently told Toby that she’d heal better by leaning on the people who love her, you are horrible at following your own advice. At least when Tybalt makes a reappearance he’s the person both Toby and he needs him to be.
If you’re hurt, you let me help you heal,” I said. “If you’re damaged, we learn the ways around it together. I don’t care whether you can be fixed. I don’t care whether you flinch at shadows. All I want is for you to be with me—and let me be a part of whatever ‘getting better’ looks like now.
Which with Cliff also being in this book, really makes me double down on the thought that out all of the romances Toby has had in her life, Tybalt is really the one who’s always known her best. A man who admits to emotions and his problems and actively wants to work on them is always very attractive.
The day I cannot carry my heart along the Shadow Roads is the day I am King no longer, but only a man who has failed himself so profoundly that his days of peace are done.
I have not been able to stand Cliff from his introduction, nor Miranda, and this book just cements that. Especially with Miranda; she is truly as selfish as her daughter (and maybe step-daughter come to think about that), and one granddaughter, and I loathe her. Not that she’s alone in that camp, because this book pulls out another three or four people who I am so glad to see the back of.
At least this is offset by more Luidheag, May, Raj, and Quentin; no book can be truly bad if they are in it. There is a scene with Toby, Miranda and the Luidheag that is especially a treat to read, but that could be because the Luidheag has never had a bad scene. May is the sister that Toby needs (and deserves) and Quentin and Raj are the brothers that complete the family. Plus, there is a new character, Kennis, who I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of in later books; having already read the six books after this I know she hasn’t yet, but I still have hopes.
The novella that follows the book makes Gillian a slightly more likable character, but not by overly much. I want to like Gilly more than I do, but she makes it really, really hard. I’m glad that I’m re-reading the series before the release of the latest, and this book and the next three make it worthwhile. It’s the three after that that I’m not looking all too forward to…
As Sir Daye’s squire, I must apologize, again, for her having the manners of a kelpie.” “Don’t be silly, Quentin,” said Danny. “Kelpies are politer.” “Kelpies are aquatic murder horses that want to rip you apart and eat everything but your liver,” I protested. Danny smirked. “As I was sayin’.
Hearts are resilient. They can heal over and over again. That’s the good part. The bad part is that having a resilient heart means it can be broken so many times that it feels like it should never recover, like it should be nothing but a pile of shards in my chest.
Stop,” she said, not unkindly. “You’re chasing the tide again, and you’re never going to catch it.” “Excuse me?” “Your head. It’s got its own undertow, you know, and if you swim too deep, it can suck you down. You can’t chase the tide. You need to stay on the shore and let it come to you.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to tell you that everything is going to be fine. I wouldn’t do it even if I was still allowed to lie. Some things are too cruel even for a sea witch. But I will tell you that what’s on the other side of that door is never going to be as bad as the undertow in your own mind.
Well,” said May, after a long pause. “You’ve pissed off the Queen who’s actually in charge of us and convinced a Queen who isn’t that she should help us out. That’s . . . pretty true to form. You’re still you. I just checked.