Fangs For The Fantasy

Since the much publicised events of Grave Witch, life has got much better for Alexis. She has steady work, her name is well known (a mixed blessing) and things are much less desperate than before. But she also has some odd repercussions from it – a ghost sidekick for one, and her newly awakened fae blood means she has to do some more adjustments to help her round the iron-saturated world and dance around the fae codes of obligation and language.

But a quiet life can’t continue as the police call her with a curious case of disembodied feet which even she can’t raise a shade from. Further investigating quickly leads to the fae – which pulls her hip deep into fae politics where the Winter Queen is looking to snatch up the independent fae however she can. Alexis’s new status as feykin puts her more at risk; her new people can make demands of her and have expectations of her should her fae blood become known. Then there’s her developing magic which makes her in high demand among the courts – and the subsequent pressure for her to pick a side.

As if that weren’t enough, the Soul Collectors are also involved, magical glamour monsters are running rampant through the streets and seem to be targeting her, her best friend is caught in the cross fire, she may be in the middle of police politics, one of the fae agents is gunning for her, her old friend and now fae changeling wants her to inherit a castle and her long absent lover, Falin has reappeared with very conflicted loyalties.

It’s complicated to say the least.

I love this world. I really really love it. The fae and their courts are always a favourite of mine. The different magic systems, the Soul Collectors, the difficulties of fae language and the web of obligations around them – it just has so many elements I love

I can also feel that it’s really well built – just the way the different law enforcement agencies with their various acronyms are described makes me sure of it. The different and detailed way magic works, the different planes of existence and, so far, everything being extremely consistent. It’s a rich world, a deep world and a very well put together world. It’s one of those worlds that makes me think that Kalayna Price has books upon books of notes into which she’s poured a lot of effort to make sure her world works.

And there are a lot of unique elements – I love the idea of the Awakening causing these new lands to open up. The fae are very very vivid and the magic system is extremely original, being powerful but with limits and rules. And the use of Grave Sight – of death sight and reaching the land of the dead without the usual Necromancy trappings of zombies et al is really new and very different from anything else I’ve seen before.

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