Seanan McGuire

'Top of my urban-paranormal series list!' Felicia Day, author of You're Never Weird on the Internet Politics have never been 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.

Once Broken Faith (Toby Daye Book 10)

When King Anthony Robinson of Angels is murdered during the grand convocation to discuss the newly-discovered elf-shot cure, Toby works to solve the murder, clear her own name, and unmask a killer with his own agenda.

Once broken faith

Maggie Gordon

As I keep saying, I very much enjoy reading Toby stories where the POV character is not Toby. In Dreams and Slumbers, Arden takes the lead for the first time, giving readers a chance to get to know her better. She has finally received permission to wake her brother, but the process does not work as planned as he is hit by a secondary curse that puts him to sleep once more. Arden's first move is to visit Walter, and she meets Cassandra, Karen's older sister. From there it is off to the sea witch to make a deal...

The main plot of Dreams and Slumbers is simple: save Nolan. It is the tidbits we get about the greater issues happening in the background that are super interesting. Cassandra is a type of fae that Arden doesn't recognise, and the girl is a seer just like her sister (but of air, rather than dreams). Two changelings seers in one family when seers are extraordinarily rare? Sounds a bit fishy to me. (Given the book has mentioned briefly just how not particularly fertile fae couples are, perhaps Karen and Cassandra are adoptees or more traditional changelings. I wonder if they are connected to the Roane given their furred ears). The sea witch also says some interesting things about needing Toby free from Arden-related distractions in the coming day, and Arden ends up paying a heavy price for the antidote to her brother's curse. So many important things and I have no clue what they mean! 

Merged review:

I am both full of glee that I finished the first 9 Toby books just before the 10th came out, and utterly devastated that I have to wait an entire YEAR before I get another! Woe!

Once Broken Faith is one of my favourite in the series so far. It features a nice balance between plot and world building, with Toby attending a conference of royals from around the country trying to decide what to do with the recent elf shot cure. Of course, since Toby is there, someone is murdered soon after the conference starts, and she is tasked with trying to figure out whodunit and why. 

The mystery in this book is quite enthralling. Often Toby's job as a detective is outshone by her political maneuvering, but the narrative gets back to her "roots" and requires her to spend a lot of time interviewing people and trying to track down who would would have the guts and the motive to murder and elf shot other royals during such an event. 

I applaud McGuire for continually showing readers that social problems are often complex and difficult to navigate. The cure for elf shot is much needed to help restore innocent victims to life, but it also might lead to even more reckless use of the poison. The debate over mixing blood is one again brought up, and while certain characters seem to care about purity only because of a thoughtless adherence to tradition, there are good reasons for the fae world to be worried about mixed and halfing children. At no point does the series make it easy for readers to decide what "side" to be on.

For those who adore McGuire's world building, Once Broken Faith shows readers what many of the other US kingdoms look like, and introduces a fair number of new types of fae. There's even a nifty new map at the start of the book!

As always, there are moments of heartache. Beautiful, well-crafted heartache is a staple of the best McGuire works. I really appreciated Toby's reaction to Tybalt's near death as the issue of her mortality is one that really needs to come up given the fact that most of her allies are pure bloods and likely to live much longer than she. Or... well, perhaps not given the fact that Toby discovers just how extensive her regeneration powers actually are by the end of the book. 

All in all, Once Broken Faith was such a suspenseful, well-plotted book with a tonne of little shout outs to the larger story happening just outside of Toby's sight. It shows that McGuire's narrative is definitely not slowing down, and tantalizes readers with many more reveals and adventures to come.

Nickie Mohler

New York Times-bestselling October Daye series • Hugo Award-winning author Seanan McGuire • "Top of my urban-paranormal series list!" —Felicia Day Includes a brand-new map and original bonus novella! 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.

Once Broken Faith (Toby Daye Book 10)

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