I always find reading therapeutic, even if it’s just an escape into a story. Sometimes I read the perfect book at the perfect time. I’ve been going through a friend break-up and I picked up The Feywild Job at just the right moment for its magic to work on me. Saeldian and Kell have to come to terms with the way their partnership ended ten years earlier in order to survive the job they’ve been tricked into.
The Feywild Job opens with Saeldian as a child wishing they could meet the fae who fathered them and be protected from their mother’s husband. Instead they meet Osalor who grants them magic and power in exchange for their heart. Much later, we meet Saeldian again, as an adult and a con person, about to ensnare a mark when they are interrupted. They and their partner, Jubilee, are offered a job, a reverse theft. Complicating matters, Saeldian’s former partner in grift, Kell, is also part of the team. Worse upon worse, they are all enchanted so that if any of them try to back out of the job, they will die.
I love that Polk took this common story, ex-partners forced to work together, and really dove into the dynamics of a fractured relationship. Kell is so mad at Saeldian and lets everyone know how much he doesn’t trust them, how horribly he was betrayed, and how little he expects of them. Saeldian makes sure everyone knows how stoically they bear Kell’s disdain. At this moment in time, I often feel like I’m flip flopping between Saeldian and Kell, so reading about them struggling to repair their relationship enough to do the job while protecting their own hearts was like medicine.
When you read this (I really hope you will), pay attention to what seems convenient, because C. L. Polk has thought this heist through and isn’t hand-waving anything. Once you get to the end, the plotting is impeccable, the twists are soul satisfying, and the emotional arcs are flawless. I’ll take one in every format.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Random House Worlds and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.
