Sometimes shattered, never open. Nothing matters when you’re broken. Let’s restore Once Broken Faith, by Seanan McGuire.
Synopsis:
Politics have never been October “Toby” Daye’s strong suit. When she traveled to the Kingdom of Silences to prevent them from going to war with her home, the Kingdom of the Mists, she wasn’t expecting to return with a cure for elf-shot and a whole new set of political headaches.
Now the events she unwittingly set in motion could change the balance of modern Faerie forever, and she has been ordered to appear before a historic convocation of monarchs, hosted by Queen Windermere in the Mists and overseen by the High King and Queen themselves.
Naturally, things have barely gotten underway when the first dead body shows up. As the only changeling in attendance, Toby is already the target of suspicion and hostility. Now she needs to find a killer before they can strike again—and with the doors locked to keep the guilty from escaping, no one is safe.
As danger draws ever closer to her allies and the people she loves best, Toby will have to race against time to prevent the total political destabilization of the West Coast and to get the convocation back on track…and if she fails, the cure for elf-shot may be buried forever, along with the victims she was too slow to save.
Because there are worse fates than sleeping for a hundred years.
Source: Goodreads
SPOILERS BELOW
In the course of her last adventure, October Daye discovered a cure for elf-shot. Since that’s kind of a major world-shaking innovation, the High King has called a convocation where all the movers and shakers of the fairy world will assemble to discuss what is to be done about it. But wouldn’t you know it, but no sooner has Toby arrived than a monarch is murdered. Now, for the sake of making the elf-shot cure available to those who need it, she’ll have to uncover who is behind the assassination – hopefully before anyone else gets offed.
This was a particularly strong entry in the series. It’s a really good setup for a mystery, and good pacing with steadily rising tension as people close to Toby are targeted. It also delivers some good worldbuilding for the setting, such as a map showing how the Kingdoms of the Westlands map to the west coast of the United States.
This was a great installment in the October Daye series, one of the best so far.
Final Rating: 5/5
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