It’s an annual thing now, isn’t it? Me announcing a new disclaimer for reviews in the October Daye series: There will be some spoilers. It can’t be helped. You’ve all been warned multiple tiles now, so you all probably know the risk
So it comes to the event that we have all been waiting for: in When Sorrows Came, our protagonist is getting married! Finally! I thought with all the drama seen in the last few books of the series, Toby and Tybalt were never going to get the chance to make it to the alter. It’s not just their fault that fairy politics and custom can be a real prick, but after A Killing Frost, I thought Toby had dismantled the biggest hurdle in the way of her impending nuptials—along with solving one of the series most longstanding mysteries. Surely it was going to be smooth sailing from there?
Yeah, no. That’s never the way with these folk. Solve one problem and the ostentatious little shits that make up High Fairie will throw you another. I really do feel for Toby at this point—she can’t catch a break.
Because both she and Tybalt are so high profile at this point, they can’t do the ‘I do-s’ by donning their favourite band shirts and jeans, saying a few words in front of some friends at the park, and nipping off for chips and beer afterwards. Unfortunately for them, they have been asked to do the opposite; a full ceremony at the high king’s knowe in Ontario.
Toby is oddly passive here. Sure, she really doesn’t seem like the kind of girl to get too giddy over wedding planning, but I was a bit surprised that she ended up being basically ambushed by her friends and spirited off to the ceremony. It just seemed so off-guard. But that’s what ends up going down; a bride with no clue about the ceremony, the dress or the cake. Not even a registry. That’s pretty uninvolved—even for Toby!—and I was starting to get a bit annoyed. There is indifference and then there is being callous. And our girl seems to be skirting too close to the latter.
Toby is also ambushed a second time—in a slightly different fashion—by Quentin. Quentin doesn’t want to miss out on seeing his Knight married and would love to keep the position he’s currently holding as her squire. But he’s also determined not to break his blind fosterage. So Quent Pulls A Stunt and makes a deal with the one fae entity who he really shouldn’t have. And that maybe isn’t the smartest thing he could have done.
Well done, kid.
So what’s the High Fairie drama Toby has to deal with this time? A Coup, it turns out. Three days before her wedding and someone has decided they want the High King gone. And to make things more complicated, we have to remember: Quentin has Pulled A Stunt.
The sheer audacity of it all.
I’m kind of in two minds over this instalment. I’ll confess, I am not the most romantically minded person on the planet, but even I was anticipating Toby and Tybalt finally—FINALLY—getting married. The pair of them deserve it. Wedding bells all around! Toby also gets to mend two damaged friendships from her reckless youth, which I was not expecting but loved regardless. So I was glad that, at least.
But on the other side of things, there’s the political part of the plot. As much as liked seeing the court in Canada and the High King and Queen, the coup attempt started to feel a little bit forced not too long into it, and it didn’t really seem to add much to the overall plot of the series. I have to say it, but When Sorrows Came is not on the same level as either A Killing Frost or The Brightest Fell. Which is a bit of a disappointment really, because—again—this is the book with the damned wedding!
But what is clear though is that while this is a story with fairies, it isn’t, in and of itself, a fairytale story. The wedding is not the end of anything. There are still things that need to be done (Hello Grandad of the Bride) and plot threads that need to be chased. Hopefully, there will be a honeymoon for the happy couple, but I fully expect both of them will be pulled back into action before too long.
(Also, like the last ime, there is a novella at the end. If you have questions about the cake (v. v. important) they are answered here)
For Bingo, this is Old Series, as Rosemary and Rue came out in 2009
