I’ve been trying and failing to get my hands on a copy of this on my Kindle for the longest time, but it seems that you can’t do so in the UK for love nor money, so in the end I had to smuggle the paperback into the house (since my book collection hit the double hundreds and we ran out of shelving space, I promised I wouldn’t buy any more. But let’s face it, promises mean nothing in the face of a serious series addiction). I’m glad I didn’t wait any longer, as it was the perfect start to a much needed break from work, ridding me quickly of all of the problems of a hospital support staff worker and gifting me with worries about near indestructible fae and their ruthless mothers instead.
Since the events of the last book, Toby has been able to take a break and breathe a little, to the point that we even first catch up with her in a karaoke bar, celebrating her bachelorette party. But, sadly for Toby (although excellently for us), the break is short-lived, as on her return home her long-talked about but rarely seen mother, Amandine, arrives on her doorstep. But she’s not there to wish Toby well on her upcoming nuptials, or to catch up on what’s she’s been doing since she withdrew from the world. Instead she’s there to make Toby search for her sister, August, missing since 1906, whether Toby likes it or not. Which Toby doesn’t – especially once Amandine takes Tybalt and Jazz as hostages. While their lives hang in the balance, and with the Luidaeg unable to help, Toby has no choice but to turn to an old enemy to track down her missing sibling.
As imaginative as all of the previous entries – I especially liked meeting the pixie colony and finding out more about the beings that are largely viewed by the fae as nothing more than pests – this one is also rather stressful. Anything that threatens Tybalt always gets me turning the pages faster (a cat with the wardrobe of Jim Morrison and the vocabulary of Shakespeare was always going to easily become my favourite), and our long-time-coming meeting with Amandine isn’t a disappointment (well, to the reader at least. Toby would be more than forgiven for rueing the day she was lumbered with such an appalling family). And whilst Toby may well have narrowly averted complete disaster this time around, The Brightest Fell makes clear that there will be a cost to the family that she’s chosen. Hopefully it won’t be too long until I can get my mitts on Night and Silence to find out…