Opinions of a Wolf

Summary:
One of Toby’s oldest friends is in dire trouble.  Lily of the Tea Gardens is slowly fading away, and no one knows what’s causing it.  On top of that, one of Toby’s worst nemeses whose name is feared throughout Fae, Oleander, is back.  Are the two related or is something else going on? And can Toby save the day without losing herself?

Review:
I picked this book up expecting it to be another mystery of the week entry in the series, but what I found was a surprising development in the overarching plot that kept my heart in my throat but also left me dubious about the possible directions the next book could take.

The plot starts out similarly to the previous entry in the series.  Someone close to Toby is in danger.  In this case, it’s Lily, and she’s sick, slowly fading out of existence.  Over the course of the book, others close to Toby end up sick as well, as it soon becomes clear (this is really not a spoiler, it’s revealed early on) that someone is poisoning them.  When Oleander showed up, I nearly groaned at how obvious it felt that she is the one to blame for all of this.  But it’s not quite that straight-forward, and there’s also a sub-plot of Toby possibly going crazy….which changelings are known to do in this world.  The book then isn’t just about Toby trying to solve the mystery, it’s also about her trying to determine if her blood has doomed her to sink into insanity.  This gives the plot enough depth to keep it interesting.

Long-standing characters receive more depth of character development and new ones are added.  Toby cotinues to have the wit that keeps the book upbeat even when things are grim.  One quote in particular I think would work pretty well as a fitspo positive argument:

I promised myself that if I lived, I’d start working out. Better cranky and alive than cheerful and dead. (loc 1815)

As for the plot twist, I can’t talk about it much without spoilers.  The spoiler free review would be that I am concerned the big overarching plot twist moves things a bit too far into one hero to save us land, which isn’t a fantasy plot I personally usually enjoy.  For the spoiler version of this, see the next paragraph.

*spoilers*
It is revealed that Toby is not the type of Fae she thought, she is rather a very rare type of Fae.  This type of Fae is capable of changing the make-up of their own blood.  She can thus morph into more Fae, changeling, or human as she desires.  It also turns out her mother is from the first born, which makes her kind of Fae royalty.  My issue with this is one of the things I like so much about the series is that Toby lacks the magical powers to the extent the Fae have.  She also doesn’t fit into the human world.  But she fights for her right to be in the world she chooses to live in, and her value in the Fae world is due to how hard she tries and her brains, not her blood.  This plot development feels like it’s making it all about her blood.  Her power is due to whose daughter she is, not who she herself is.  That’s just not a message I’m as fond of.
*end spoilers*

Overall, this is an action-packed entry in the series that visits another mystery with enough different sub-plots and twists to keep it interesting.  Fans of the series will be surprised by the big overarching plot development toward the end of the book and will be eager to pick up the next one to see where this plot development goes.

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4 out of 5 stars

Length: 372 pages – average but on the longer side

Source: Library

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Previous Books in Series:
Rosemary and Rue, review
A Local Habitation, review
An Artificial Night, review