Fangs For The Fantasy

Elena is walking in the middle of the street by herself and for some reason, she decides to lie down. In the house, Stefan is worried that they are going to lose her because Elena’s humanity is one of the things that makes her who she is.  Damon tells Stefan that it’s only been a couple of days and reminds him that Elena is a vampire and that shutting down is one of the perks.  Stefan reminds Damon that Elena burned down her family home with her brother’s dead body still inside but Damon flippantly replies, “it saves us the trouble of having to do it ourselves, I call that a win. Worse case scenario, I’ll invoke the sire bond and tell her to turn it back on.”  Stefan is not convinced and says again that Jeremy just died and that if they force all of that grief on her all at once that it is going to overwhelm Elena.  Stefan suggests that they need to give Elena a reason to turn it on.  Damon says that they will show her a good time and that people like to have fun.  Outside a car approaches Elena and a woman comes running assuming that Elena is injured.  When she runs back to get a blanket for Elena, Elena attacks her.  Damon has to pull Elena off the woman and she explains that this woman is the first person she has seen in days whose body is not laced with vervain and that she is hungry. Damon points out that if she is going to start leaving bodies all over the place that people are going to start asking questions. Elena replies that she does not care and moves to feed again. Damon pulls her away again and says, “I can’t believe you’re making me say this, show a little restraint.” Elena drops the woman on the ground and walks away.

Hayley is at a truck stop and stops when she hears a noise. A vampire begins to attack her and Klaus pulls him off saying, “that’s no way to treat a lady,” before making short work of the vampire. Hayley is happy to see Klaus who comments, “you did say that it was urgent.” He adds that she was foolish enough to make a deal with Katherine and now she is nothing more than a loose end and will be lucky if Katherine lets her live. Hayley reminds Klaus that he promised to protect her and Klaus replies, “I will, just as soon as you tell me everything you know about Katherine.”

Elena is in the shower, while Damon and Stefan discuss plans for her.  It seems that Damon wants Elena to go back to school, but Stefan is not keen on the idea of going and playing chaperone and reminds Damon that he has to go and find the cure because Elena needs it now more than ever.  Caroline walks into the room and says that she believes taking Elena back to school is a fabulous idea.  Damon is surprised to see Caroline, who explains her presence by saying that their house has the only vervain free showers in town, thanks to their fancy water filters. Caroline says that Liz believes things are going to get worse and so Damon agrees to go after Katherine and instructs Caroline to take Elena to school.  Stefan and Damon head into the bathroom to tell Elena the plan and she says that she has nothing better to do.  Damon then uses his sire bond to tell her to go to school, learn, study hard and not eat anybody.

Elena is now at school and she takes down a flyer announcing a memorial for Jeremy.  Caroline is on the phone leaving yet another long message for Tyler.  Matt approaches Caroline to ask about Bonnie and Caroline says that Bonnie is fine and that she’s just a little drained from everything.  Elena interrupts the conversation to ask about getting her old spot on the cheer leading squad.   Caroline replies that she thinks this would make Damon really happy.

Damon is now at Klaus’ and says that he has come up with a list called, “things you suck at: number one, finding Katherine.  Number two, covering up your secret conversations with that backstabber Hayley. So where is she and what does she know about Katherine?” Klaus asks why he should help them, since they killed his brother and then imprisoned him in the Gilbert living room.  Damon tells Klaus that he needs to prioritize because Katherine has the cure and his guess is that she is going to want to use it on him.  Damon suggests that he gets the cure and gives it to Elena so that everyone wins.  Klaus replies, “I can’t help you mate, Hayley’s off limits.”

Liz and Stefan are talking and she tells him that the entire blood supply from the hospital is missing.  Stefan asks if she is accusing the vampires and Liz replies that this town is at a tipping point and that one more unexplained house fire and things are going to tip over.  Liz then apologizes and says that it’s been a rough week.  She adds that Miranda Gilbert was one of her best friends in highschool and to see what’s happened to her family.  Stefan promises that he will do whatever he needs to, to help. Liz replies that he needs to because whoever stole that blood put a lot of people in danger and risks exposing all of the vampires, including her daughter.  Liz asks if Stefan can think of who wants blood that badly.

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Mercy is settling into life as Adam’s husband, back from her honeymoon, fully recovered and facing a dread foe – Black Friday midnight shopping with Jesse, her new step-daughter. To add to the fun, she gets in a car wreck as well and has to write off her Rabbit.

If only that was the least of her problems. Almost the entire pack has been kidnapped, she can’t reach anyone over the phone, not even werewolves outside the pack, the one person she can find is injured and drugged – and there are unpleasant people with guns looking for her and targeting her friends on the edge of the pack.

Her small team has to try and find Adam – while Adam must try and escape before he’s blackmailed into doing something that could have all werewolves destroyed. Additional help from the government she doesn’t trust and a werewolf that may lose it at any time doesn’t necessarily help things

Then there’s some fae assassins, mystical weapons and a whole load of vampire politics to add to the mix.

And she’s stolen the vampire queen’s car. And broken it. Oops.

Reading the synopsis and the first few pages I had a lot of hope. Here was Mercy going to charge into battle on her own, her own actions, her own decisions, free from Adam’s often stifling shadow. And she was reconnecting with characters we haven’t seen in a while, like Kyle, while at the same time advancing the political meta plot.

That hope is now dead, tried to rise from the coffin, was staked, beheaded, burned and had its ashes scattered across four different bodies of water.

We start the story – drama drama, action (ish), the pack has been kidnapped. Mercy starts doing stuff without consultation (ish) and generally doing her best (sort of) to save everyone (well, some of them). And then Adam wrangles his own plan (well, no, opportunity falls in his lap) and loo, all is solved.

Sure, there’s a few loose ends to tie up, we’d kind of like to know who is behind it, but with one set of bad guys running and the other dead, it’s not a pressing or especially pertinent concern. And that’s how the book is written. I kind of expected the book to be over – the story was after all – but rather than working in a conclusion I discovered I was only 40% in. Not even half way through but the story was over – so what was happening? We kind of wallowed in limbo. Sure, one of those loose ends ballooned out into a full plot eventually – at about 65%. 20% of this book in the middle was just waffle and empty flailing with no real plot at all. Right in the middle of the book. It was like 2 books pasted together and some kind of mushy glue stuffed between them. There wasn’t so much a speed bump interrupting the story so much as a vast sink hole, sucking in all plot and leaving us directionless, lost and a little confused.

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Merit and Ethan have recovered from the chaos that ravaged the city not long ago, but that hardly means things are stable. After a tumultuous vote and far too many demands, Cadogan House is leaving the Greenwich Presidium and being considered Rogue. This is a major and difficult step for the vampires, as they reach out to the rogue community to build new ties.

The Greenwich Presidium itself is not pleased with the defection and is determined to make things as difficult as possible. They’re in town and doing their very best to cause as much pain to Cadogan House as they can as punishment and a warning to others. And from sheer pettiness.

But there are also vampire dying in town – Rogues to begin with but it escalates. With the new anti-vampire administration in charge they can’t rely on the authorities, but nor can they let the murderer continue their killing. Especially since it would solidify their place with the Rogues.

Then there’s the Red Guard. Without the Greenwich Presidium, their resources may be more important to Merit than ever, but how can she handle potential divided loyalty from Ethan?

There was another conflict between Merit and Ethan this book and I’m kind of torn about it. On the good side every part of it is reasonable. Ethan has every right to feel the way he does and to be angry about it. His emotions, his reaction and his beliefs are reasonable and justified. Similarly so are Merit’s, a reasonable person would do what she did, feel what she did and act like she did. The whole argument and resolve between them makes perfect sense and fits neatly with the story, the characters and their relationship.

But, this follows from the last book which had a completely unreasonable and rather ridiculous falling out between them. For me, it meant I was a lot less patient and a whole lot more irritated by this book having another relationship drama – no matter how reasonable – especially with everything else going on. I think it especially grates because Ethan and Merit have only just really got into a relationship – every time we get close to them being settled in relationship mode something happens – Ethan dies, or Mallory cast the spell that messed with Ethan’s head and now this. I want to see a baseline for their relationship without the constant storms, even when those storms are reasonable.

The plot is divided into 2 parallel and unrelated plot lines – though they come together at the end. And I like both of them, though I think they could have actually got going a bit faster than they did – I like the vampire murders and how it both opens both some of the world building in terms of the vampire’s history as well as the nature of vampire creation and how it can go badly wrong. I like the ongoing politics with the Greenwich Presidium, what the organisation means, what it means to House Vampires, what it used to mean and the manoeuvring around the contracts and devious manipulations are great fun. Both storylines also connect strongly with past events, the city’s ongoing loathing for vampires and the GP’s ongoing antipathy for House Cadogan. Both stories also contain plenty of hooks for the next book while still being full resolved as plotlines in and of themselves. It takes a lot of work to make stories so integral to the ongoing meta, not close that meta and still have them fully resolved within the book. I can’t complain about the pacing, the action – any part of it, it all worked.

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This episode opens three months in the past and Alex is dressed to go on her date with Hal but she is at a fair with a little boy.  He wants to know if Alex is going out tonight, who is going to wash up and make dinner.  Alex says that it’s her holiday as well and promises to return to the fair with him the next day because they have all of the time in the world.

In the present, at the hotel, Alex is chattering away and Tom and Hal are trying to organize their chores. In frustration, Hal says, “Alex please!”  When she asks if they want her to shut up, Hal gets all smooth and says that she is “vibrant and entertaining company and is distracting them.”  Alex replies, “what am I supposed to do? I can’t eat and I can’t sleep.” What none of them know is that the devil is pretending to read a newspaper in the lobby and is watching them.  Tom asks Alex what she used to d do before and Alex replies that she looked after her brothers, went off the piss with her mates and played the piano. It turns out that Alex was going to be a concert pianist. Alex realises that Diagnosis Murder is on and disappears.

Patsy is arranging some flowers and the Captain (read: the devil)  asks if she has an admirer but Patsy replies that she picked them up at the petrol station thinking that it might brighten the place up a bit. Patsy goes on to add that she keeps thinking about Sophie (the girl the captain talked into committing suicide) and the captain asks, “that poor girl, was it something I said?” Patsy tells him that Sophie adored him and that he cannot blame himself. The captain replies that he has a plan to lift the spirits and as he and Patsy leave the room, the flowers that she just laid out appear visibly dead.

Alex is sitting at an organ playing when the hand of a child touches her shoulder.  When she turns around, no one is there.

Patsy talks to Hal and Tom and says that she will be watching them and that whoever impresses her the most, will be named employee of the month. She wishes them the best of luck but winks at Hal. Patsy then turns and leaves. Hal says that this is why the world is going to hell in a hand basket and cannot believe that people need competition for them to do their jobs properly. When he turns, Hal finds that Tom has straightened his clothing. Tom says, “game on, you will have your work cut out if you want to beat me buddy boy.”  At first, Hal says that he is not going to compete, but Tom counters saying that Hal doesn’t want to try because he knows he will be beaten.  Tom says that it would be the easiest thing in the world for him to win this ridiculous competition. The two start bickering, until Hal says that he accepts the challenge. The two head into the kitchen grab cleaning supplies and head out.

Alex decides to venture downstairs.  As she looks around, she hears a voice calling her name.  When she heads into the bathroom, she sees a sink and turns on the water and the noise gets deafening.

In the main room, Tom tosses out the dead flowers.  Patsy enters and asks where the flowers are, so Tom says that he has taken care of it. Patsy is not impressed and informs Tom that this is 7.99 down the drain and will be coming out of his wages.  Hal snarks that this has put Tom in Patsy’s bad books. Alex bursts into the room and says that she believes their house is haunted.

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Rachel is faced with a crisis that hits very close to home – Rosewood babies are being kidnapped. Babies like her, with too many demon enzyme who normally die very young, are being stolen – each with the potential to become a day walking demon.

But it is just one move in Ku’Sox’s plan against her – the created and lethal supposed saviour of demon kind has his eyes fixed on Rachel and is determined to bring her – and, in fact, all of the Ever After down with him. The demon collective is too afraid to dare challenge him, and willing to accede to his demands even as his plans set to destroy the Ever After, render demons extinct and even end magic itself.

And he’s using children – those nearest and dearest to Rachel and Trent – to get his way, forcing hard choices and sacrifices on the people she cares for. It seems she can keep no-one safe and the entire force of the demon collective is poised to fall upon her as they panic and the Ever After shrinks.

There was a lot to love here. The world building grew immensely – but never in a way that derailed the plot or even slowed it down (though there were other factors that put on the breaks). We learned so much more about the world – the history of the gargoyles, the history of the ley lines and the Ever After and, most stunning of all, the history of the demon/elf conflict and the demons’ origins. The full nature and revelations of the demon/elf war, its origins and the nature of the demons who managed to survive since then was a wonderful shift in our perceptions of who the good and bad guys are – and suggests strongly that good and bad are just far too simplistic for this conflict. It added a lot of wonderful nuance and depth to this world. I’m sitting here rewriting this paragraph several times over because I am desperately trying not to spoil the awesome revelations but equally desperately want to talk about them – because they were so good. Even aside from the main plot line, Jenks and Belle’s ongoing revelations of fairy and pixie culture and Ivy’s storyline showing exactly what they mean when they say older vampires tend to kill themselves – it’s now very evocatively shown rather than just told.

And we got a full sense of that nuance and the epic implications of what these revelations meant in the story. Trent wants to make peace with Dali, which he’ll consider – but, given Dali’s own history – he can’t just accept the outstretched hand. Rachel’s epic speech about common demon history, about what they’ve endured, matching her own experiences to that and using it to shame Ku’Sox

We’re also definitely going to see more about the Elven goddess – which I really want to see.

The story itself was a roller coast – despite some elements I’ll discuss in a moment – it was very good at building tension and emotion. I won’t spoil, but some of the things that happened outright shocked me and added to the demand for action and excitement this book built excellently. There were also some excellently emotional scenes – the mourning, Rachel’s speech, Trent’s revelations that, for all his lofty goals, he’s a father first, Al’s drunken little binge, Rachel’s look into Al’s dreams, the rings – there was incredible emotion throughout this and I really felt for the characters

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Jack was a normal 13 year old boy looking forward to his upcoming 14th birthday. Until he starts going through some changes – greater strength, greater speed, greater fighting skills, it’s like a super hero’s origin story. Though becoming a hero isn’t nearly as fun as he expected it to be, not when people are frightened of the new, different you.

Far less appealing are the monsters, the Creach. Disguised among humanity, they’re watching him and beginning to show themselves to prepare for his 14th birthday. They time when he comes of age in the monster world – and becomes fair game to hunt.

Suddenly he’s on the run, backed up by hunters he knows nothing about, learning new, shocking things about his family history, finding out the family he does know are completely different from what he imagined and discovering that so many of the people around him were secretly monsters, watching him, waiting for their chance.
 
This book has a rather unique  writing style – and I think it’s going to be a “love it or hate it” moment. It’s written as if the protagonist were remembering his story. It’s also written as if he is presenting a warning/guide to other hunters: Jack is warning the reader against reading the book, giving hints and tips on how to kill various monsters, little mini-lectures as if an experienced hunter were recounting an experience to a new hunter. It’s something that is maintained even on the author’s website (with a password found in the book to allow real hunters in without the “creach”) It’s an interesting and certainly unique style and has a very strong spoken word feel to it as well. You’re either going to love its unique feel, or you’re going to find it frustrating.

The plot itself is very action orientated – and the action is done well. We have monsters hunting the newly of-age monster hunter just as his physical abilities kick in

I can’t say I like how the story came together – I think the big bad was defeated too easily and rather anti-climactically, I think Jack had a massive about-face of personality and character pretty close to the end. I’ve seen a lot more extreme a 180 character turns and it had some justification, but this felt very abrupt. It almost felt like the author wanted to hurry the story along or was afraid of losung momentum. I also found the villains a little cartoony – not necessarily in a bad way; it had a cheesy style that was fun in its own right.

I think this book is setting up a series. There’s a lot about the world, the hunters, why jack’s so special, that all needs explaining. A lot about origins, a lot of questions unanswered, a lot of hints without back up. It was well paced in terms of keeping the action moving, but I think a lot was leaped over in the process – but all of that can be easily addressed in a second book in the series. There was definitely enough world building to keep this story moving. I think we needed some pauses though, not just for the world building but to absorb the impact of the losses - of the sacrifice. Especially since the rather awesome, powerful and poignant slogan of the hunters is “Do your duty, come what may.” With the hunters willing to die - not even hesitating - when needed to save Jack, I think that would have had far more impact if they’d had more chance to reflect on the loss and relate it to that saying. There’s a powerful theme there and it’s done well - but far more could have been done with it and with these really good scenes.

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Aidan

The gang is all together cooking dinner – which only Josh eats of course. Yet that doesn’t stop Sally and Aidan doubting the Jewish werewolf with inept knife skills ability to prepare it appropriately. They also have a fun snarky conversation about terrible ways to die, Aidan and Josh listing something that happened to them that was the other’s fault and poking fun at Sally’s balance of the universe killing people thing. And Aidan gets more and more serious insists that they don’t have to die and they’re not going to die.

And Aidan wakes up from his little odd hallucination underground where Mother buried him. He isn’t looking good and has clearly been buried for some time, going by the raging facial hair.

He is dug up (while he babbles apologies to Mother) by someone who claims to be a friend (and carries a stake, so not that friendly. Or maybe just sensibly cautious). His name is Micky and he puts some kind of metal contraption over Aidan’s head.

When he wakes, it seems the contraption is some kind of prop from Saw or Silence of the Lambs that covers his jaw and stops him nibbling on people. He’s in a nasty dank basement with blood bags and blood stained rags and other unpleasant things you really don’t want to wake up to. The man tells Aidan that he’s one of the few left that “they’re all dead” (I assume the other vampires) and those left want his blood because he’s “pure” and they believe it will cure them. And Micky is going to sell that blood.

Of course, dealing with vampires isn’t the most sensible option and when his customer arrives – Atlee (one of the Amish vampires who are part of the Dutch we have seen before) and stakes him with his own stake, unable to pay Micky’s prices. He rescues Aidan, empties the fridge of blood and helps Aidan leaves – but Atlee stops him feeding on Micky, telling him the blood can kill him.

They drive off and Atlee explains the situation. Mother’s dead, they’re all dead or disappeared searching for untainted blood. Apparently the latest flu epidemic left human blood tainted and any vampire who feeds on it gets sick – including Atlee who already has lesions around his face.  Atlee thinks Aidan may be the answer. Which is when Aidan’s hallucinations kick in again, with Hallucination!Sally pointing out he’s about to be eaten by a pack of rabid, virus stricken, Amish vampires (which sounds ridiculous no matter how you phrase it). In fact can we keep them around? Hallucination!Sally and Hallucination!Josh are waaay more fun than their reality counterparts. They’re joined by Hallucination!Bishop and after some hilarious banter (I love these, we gotta keep them) they encourages Aidan to fight – he attacks Atlee but in his weakened state the other vampire wins and bites him, hoping Aidan’s blood will save him (Hallucination!Bishop apologises).

Having drunk from Aidan, Atlee is shocked to realise that his blood isn’t the cure – and crumbles to death in the driver’s seat, causing the van to crash.

Aidan lies by the side of the road, not looking well, while Hallucination!Josh and Hallucination!Sally watch him and get angry over him dying. Aidan insists he’s not going to die, gasping and fighting and willing to live.


Sally

Sally is in limbo, which has a nifty fuzzy black and white ghosty effect, running with 2 companions, Nick and Stevie (old shredded ghosts – actually ghosts Sally shredded, he who constantly drowned in the Dr. Who scarf and the kid she went to school with). They’re trying to get back to the living world and it isn’t going well. After her failed attempt to get through the door of the house, Stevie and Nick disappear.

She goes and finds them – Nick in a lake, drowning again, and Stevie (who committed suicide, albeit with pills) hanging from a tree, watching his family go on without him; their personal limbos. They return to the house, the door doesn’t open, again, and her companions disappear, again. Looks like this is Sally’s personal limbo. Nick and Stevie try to talk her out of continually trying again and again.

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I normally summarise books before reviewing them, a brief synopsis. I can’t do it with this one, it just devolves into sarcasm every time I try.

Anyone who has read Fangs for the Fantasy for any length of time will know we have something of a love/hate relationship with The Vampire Diaries TV show and are frequent critics. Well, let me take this opportunity to say something good about the TV show and its writers – I am impressed, no, amazed – that you managed to extract anything even semi-redeemable from this book. I thought pulling the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series from that awful film was impressive, but this is downright miraculous. With book reviewing there’s always a strong element of the subjective, though I have to say, in the past I have been bemused that some people can be such fans of things I’ve hated. This book doesn’t leave me bemused, it leaves me wanting to hold its fans, comfort them and assure them that they’re good people and don’t need to punish themselves like this.

So why do I hate this book? Let me count the ways!

First and foremost is Elena herself, one of the most unpleasant protagonists you’ll ever have the displeasure to meet. And this is from someone who has read Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse and even The Aurora Teagarden Series (previous candidate for “protagonist we’d most like to chop up and bury under the rockery” prize). You know those YA novels with the ridiculously over-the-top popular mean girls, the Satan Cheerleaders? That’s Elena! I can’t imagine how anyone is supposed to sympathise with this girl. She’s unbelievably selfish and self-absorbed – everything is about her. People who aren’t her friends fawn after her (especially if they’re “plain”) and are treated like servants, she just dishes out orders and expects to be obeyed. Her 2 friends Bonnie (who is characterised by having woo-woo) and Meredith (who isn’t characterised at all) and her ex Matt (the one person who accuses Elena of being a self-centred manipulator, then apologises when her lip starts wobbling and the waterworks begin) exist to serve. Matt goes to the prom with her knowing she’s stalking Stefan, Bonnie and Meredith abandon their dates to go find Elena, everything they do is about Elena. They have no independent purpose in life – they serve Elena and she expects them to.

The way Elena treats her friends is appalling. Not just the servants she deems unworthy of friendship (though those are servants – and flirting with a boy even while his girlfriend watches in tears? Totally ok), but Bonnie and Meredith as well. After the second or possibly third attempt to stalk an unwilling Stefan, they both suggest that maybe, just maybe she might want to let it go – to which she loses her ever loving shit and storms off telling them both she’ll find new best friends (and they still follow her! Aaargh!) The way she speaks to them is appalling, it really sounds more like a boss to employees they don’t like very much. And Matt? When she breaks up with him she tells him what he feels (because it’s easier for her to pretend he doesn’t care) and then uses her ex as a servant to help her snare her new man. And then is actually jealous of him because of his friendship with Stefan. She had a friend, Caroline, who has turned into someone I’m supposed to hate, I guess, and stopped fawning after Elena but I want to cheer her on. Go Caroline, escape the terrible Elena servitude. Of course, Elena doesn’t care WHY her friend is angry and forgets about her for weeks on end, focusing on Her Man She Will Claim. And it’s not just friends – with someone in town attacking young people, Aunt Judith is often worried about Elena. Does Elena care? Not a jot! Judith’s worries are brushed aside with contempt – she stays out until 2:00am without calling and when Judith is upset it’s a side reference at best.

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Silas is an Arcadian, a blood drinking, sun avoiding, earth dwelling child of the Mother, on a mission from her and the Grove to desperately try and combat the tide of destruction humanity inflicts on the planet. It’s a desperate fight, one they seem to have already lost, but the Arcadians have many gifts to help them.

Despite this, Silas’s latest mission falls apart, badly. So badly that it’s impossible that it was merely an accident. It seems the Grove itself may have been compromised and he cannot return to the Mother. Worse, his opponents had a new weapon, a chemical that burns Arcadians and does far more damage than simple bullets ever could to the ancient warriors.

He frees the only person he feels he can trust, Mere; an investigative journalist with strong experience in challenging large, multi-national agricultural companies and they begin unravelling the knot of what is actually happening

But as they travel the world, do the research and piece together Silas’s shattered memories, there’s clearly far more going on than they expected with at least 3 distinct players and it has ramifications far beyond Grove – and maybe even Mother isn’t what she seems.

I have to give this story all kinds of praise for its originality, because it has a truly remarkable concept. Vampires as environmental guardians, resisting the corruption and pollution of the world. The whole sleeping in native soil myth which Urban Fantasy often discards now brought back to have vampires connecting with the earth to heal, avoiding the sun because, combined with airborn pollutants, it harms their chemical sensitive bodies – it’s a wonderful twist on the old legends.

It’s tempting to think of these vampires, these Arcadians, as gentle because of their environmental leanings. Humans are over-consuming, polluting and, ultimately, disposable if not outright in need of culling. They are warriors and guardians, fully willing to use their deadly skills to protect the Mother.

The whole concept and the world here is incredible, and that’s just made more so by this globetrotting story across the southern hemisphere unveiling more and more of the mysteries around this multi-faceted conspiracy. It’s complex, it’s action packed, it’s extremely well paced and it’s huge – a true sense of being global about it.

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Menolly steps back up as protagonist in this book as the sisters come across an old potential crime while burrowing through the storerooms of the Wayfarer. Tracking down a missing elf from years ago isn’t easy, but is complicated by a missing vampire, a posse of undead, a friendly neighbourhood necromancer and his wandering ghouls, a demonic frat house who get exactly what they deserve and a whole new force of demons who fight on the astral plane

It’s a lot to juggle and, of course, behind it all is the politics from Otherworld and the eternal threat of Shadow Wing and his demons.

Menolly also has relationships to balance – Nerissa is finding her time taxed with the puma council demanding she assume a political role; while Vanzir and Rozuriel both pursue Menolly, their demonic natures fitting powerfully well with Menolly’s vampirism.

One of the main problems I’ve had with this series in the past is that it brings in a lot of extraneous issues, lots of side plots and lots of distractions that bogs down a very epic story – which is further exacerbated by the over-description, unnecessary recapping and constant talking everything through.

So I was really happy that this book managed to avoid a lot of that. I think part of it is that the world is so huge now there’s a limit to how much recapping and reiteration you can actually do. Similarly most of the storylines and elements were pretty much relevant to the plot without too much in the way of distraction. The writing was more concise, there was no need to reiterate the battle order every time they fought, less random anecdotes from Iris, less putting the end of the world on hold so they could have a meal – it was tighter. There was still some side references that made things longer than they needed to be, but they were relevant side references to things like the fae queens or Iris’s personal life. The story was much more contained and moved at a much brisker pace with a far greater sense of both the urgency and the epic consequences they face.

I wasn’t especially happy with how the story started, however. I can understand going after the astral demons since Delilah was targeted and people were dying. It was a nice reminder that, while Shadow Wing must be the priority, he’s not the only threat out there and they can’t focus on him when there are bodies on the ground. I can also understand Chase asking for information on the missing vampire from Menolly since she’s his vampire contact and it’s only a matter of asking questions. What I don’t understand is, with the ominous threat of Shadow Wing looming over them, they decided that it’d be great to search for an elf who may or may not have gone missing several years ago. Where’s the triage? Where’s the sense of priorities? I’m actually a little put out that it did all end up being related to Shadow Wing. Maybe it’s supposed to be a sense of how wide spread his power and influence is, but I felt it was a little “hey we got another spirit seal!” “How?” “Uh… we kind of stumbled over it, to be honest.”  The story itself was great – fun, well written, well paced – but the beginning and end were shaky.

I also think the friendly neighbourhood necromancer is really unnecessary in a cast that already has a rather large cast of characters. This is a wonderfully huge world with a massive, multi-layers epic storyline with so many factors and sides and forces that it always stands on the edge of becoming bloated.

Of course, it’s that world and epic story that keeps me coming back to this series. The fae, the devas, the different realms of fae, the demons and their factions, humans, shapeshifters, vampires – I don’t think there are many worlds I’ve come across that are as rich as this series. And it’s not just the sheer number of supernaturals that are present, it’s how all these forces are relevant to the plot line. All of them have an influence and all of them have a stake – they’re not just mentioned in passing, they are integral parts of the story.

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