After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...
The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.
Comment: I've had this book in the pile for years and I finally started it. I was especially curious since I know a friend that shares my reading preferences has loved the series, but I will have to confess I wasn't so impressed that I feel like investing in the rest.
In this story we meet October "Toby" Daye, a changeling woman, with heritage from both the human and fae world. Toby is a private investigator but one day something goes very wrong and Toby looses years of her life, including connections she had with others. Now she is back, trying to lead a quieter life, but it does seem the problems come after her and once again, someone from faerie requests her help through a spell she can't avoid. As she goes back to investigate, she can't help but deal with enemy actions... can she really fix this and keep her life the way she wanted?
It is true that the world created by the author is a fascinating one. The paranormal elements here are heavily linked to the fae and any reader who has read books with fae characters can expect tradition and rules and magic not always good. I felt this was precisely the case here, the world building is rich and very detailed, but with many things set on the usual fae/magical rules and what kind of consequences interpreting them can be originated.
I think I'd have liked the story more if the world was a kinder one, at least to the general population of people who we could label as being "good guys". Whether this is more or less engaging to the average reader of these genres - paranormal romance and urban fantasy, is irrelevant; Toby as the main character faces a lot of adversity and while this is the first of a series - so, better things might come her way at some point - I still hoped she could gain the upper hand or have something positive happening to her, to counterbalance the negative aspects.
I would not say this was a gritty story all the time, but it did divert more towards the harsh and uncompromising side, and I've missed more balance. It got to a point that, to me, it seemed as if everything had to be on the go, everything had to be big enough to cause a reaction and Toby barely rested or had time to really think. As a result, it felt as if the action levels were ongoing, and I also had no time to process things, to generate a more emotional or personal link with Toby, despite being sad over somethings happening to her.
Toby starts the novel by going through a situation I did not see coming. I can see why reading the first chapter of this book would feel energizing and a novelty; however, the second chapter opens up with Toby already dealing with the consequences after several years. I thought this would men we would slowly discover what happened, how she went through things but after all this was only a set up. I don't know how to explain it, but I would have preferred the plot to go into a different direction.
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