Ah, the book where Toby should really learn to follow etiquette before opening doors. First it was Amandine, and that resulted in trauma for everyone in the household; now it’s the Luidheag, and that results in the calling in of debts. See, the Luidheag has decided it’s time for the Selkie to end and the Roane to exist again in greater numbers, and Toby is the only member of her family willing to put forth the necessary effort. The fact is (and I think it’s a very important and very wonderful fact), Toby would do it even without the debt; as a mother (and as someone who honestly likes the Luidheag), Toby would do anything to help a mother start to heal over her missing children. So off to the Duchy of Ships they go, to end the Selkies; if only Dianda’s brother didn’t decide to stage a coup on the Undersea in the process and someone didn’t decide to start killing the Selkies.
Oh, this book; I absolutely loved this book. First off, we get the fact that Jazz croaks like a crow when she really gets laughing, which is something I never thought of but now absolutely love. We get Tybalt pointing out he has a mortal bank account, so contrary to what Toby may believe, he is not a kept man/cat (the fact that Tybalt makes a joke about basically being a gigolo is so unexpected and yet perfect).
But the true joy is when they get to the Duchy of Ships, because there they meet Amphitrite, Daughter of Titania, Firstborn mother of the Merrow, also known as Captain Pete. I would kill for Captain Pete, I truly would.
She and the Luidheag are everything I never knew I needed in Firstborns, and the fact that no one realized that Amphitrite was a daughter of Titania because she was water-based and everyone believe Maeve had just fallen in love with a shipwreck or something is the icing on the cake; Titanina loathes her and Amphitrite loves it. In Captain Pete you can tell where Dianda gets her personality from, and I am sorry we have yet to have the Luidheag, Dianda, and Pete in the ocean merrily slaughtering anyone who annoys them, being sarcastic all the while. Not that Dianda’s alone in the happy murder in her marriage; there is a scene towards the end of the book where Patrick has a speech that makes Pete approve of his marrying her descendant, and makes me realize how truly a fish out of water (pun intended) Dean is in this family. (Peter is as bloodthirsty as his parents) This book also goes even further into hinting towards Patrick and Simon and how well they knew each other, and the end result was shocking the first time I read it, and still slightly shocking on the re-read.
Not that Toby doesn’t have some great scenes here: on top of her usual sarcasm, there is a heartwarming scene of Toby and Tybalt cementing their wish to have children of their own one day, had while Tybalt is removing a knife (and part of her spinal cord) from Toby’s back. In anyone else that would be a shock; for these two it’s unfortunately just another Tuesday. Of course, if children and Toby are going to be discussed, you know that has to involve Gillian, and this book continues my desire to just shake her until her teeth rattle. Yes, yes, I know, you’ve suffered, and your birth mom was mean to you and not your real mom and her world is too violent for you and blah blah blah, wah wah wah; maybe if you shut up long enough and had an honest conversation with Toby you could both heal and find peace and a middle ground, but I guess being a whiny brat is just easier for you. On a happier note, it’s nice to see Tybalt comfortably switching between man and cat again.
One of the mysteries that gets put in the center of this book (briefly, but it’s not resolved by the end) is who exactly Dean’s Seneschal, Marcia, is; Pete doesn’t recognize her magic, and Marcia’s insistence that she’s nobody is a bit suspicious to Luidheag and Pete both. I have my own guess (or two) who Marcia is, but only time (or an as-yet-unpublished book) will tell if I’m right.
The situation with the Selkies gets neatly (and ingeniously) dealt with, and Toby ends the book with only a mild debt owed to the Luidheag; unquestioning obedience for one day, a day worth of bleeding (and no asking why), and bring Simon Torquill home again. Hopefully that last can wait until after the wedding, can’t it?
You won’t call Arden by her name, because her title is more important, but you’ll back-talk the Luidaeg? I just want to be clear on where your sense of self-preservation. – Toby to Quentin.
I’m the motherf**king sea witch. I don’t have to answer your question.-Luidheag, obviously