Once Upon a Time, Season 6, Episode 16: Mother's Little Helper

Let’s begin with a flashback that finally hits Gideon’s dubious motivation with some reality and shows us more of the Black Fairy

Also is it wrong of me to be Team Black Fairy because of Jaime Murray?

Black Fairy tried to raise Gideon as her son, convincing him that he was abandoned by his parents but it didn’t really go all that well. She’s not very convincing and the whole putting her child in a cage thing didn’t exactly sell it. We see the scene that Gideon described – how she tortured his friend Roderick as proof that he couldn’t save him and Gideon is not a hero

Yup, I can’t think why the whole “I’m your mother!” attempt failed!

As Gideon grows up he seems to become a loyal, magical servant of the Black Fairy and calls her mother. So he is the one she dispatches to find someone who has stolen a key to her vault of shiny things. And lo, it turns out to be Roderick who is not dead and definitely wants to lead and anti-Black Fairy rebellion from the mines (how come fairy tale, dystopian and general fictional slave owners always have mines?)

Roderick tells Gideon all about the Saviour who can totally vanquish the Black Fairy with her Saviourness (he knows this because reasons) and they make a plot to enter said vault to find necessary saviour-finding shinies. Instead they find the Black Fairy being all awesome and Jaime Murray not happy to see that her son is not a good little minion. Instead she pulls out his heart so she can control him

C’mon parents, admit that you’ve been tempted

She also squishes Roderick

Now the true nefarious plan – using the magical sword, Gideon will imbue it with Emma’s Saviour magic which will then open a portal to the Black Fairy’s realm where she is trapped except for brief, forays. Like living in a rural village and the only bus route takes you to Tescos once a week. (But with more baby stealing. Well, unless your Tescos is especially well stocked)

Suddenly Gideon’s completely bizarre actions make a little more sense

The Guardian, a Sword, & Stilettos (The Enlighten #1) by Kristin D. Van Risseghem

Zoe Jabril is a typical teenage girl, or at least that is what she thought before she found out that her best friend is an angel and that he was assigned to watch over her.  That should be enough oddity in the life of one young woman but it's only the tip of the iceberg for Zoe.  After being attacked by demons, Zoe learns that she is destined to bring the Enlightens together and bring an end to the Devil's plot to take over the world.  That's a lot for anyone to handle, especially when one has prom to worry about and the mean girls at school just won't leave you alone.

As you may have guessed from the description, The Guardian, A Sword & Stilettos is YA. When I pick up a YA book, I expect a lack of maturity and experience from the protagonist but Zoe takes the cake.  The devil is sending demon assassins to kill Zoe and what is she concerned about?  Well, finding the perfect prom dress naturally and of course her first kiss. If that were not enough, Zoe keeps bringing up learning to defend herself but somehow never gets around to that, what with all the angst about which of her immortal male love interests to choose from.

Speaking of immortal love interests, I have to say for the record that the idea of an 80 year old Nephilim and an ancient angel in love with and pursuing a 17 year old girl because she is the chosen one is just wrong.  First off, both Shay and Kieran have been watching over Zoe since the day of her birth and when she became a teenager, they both suddenly began to feel an attraction to her.  Ummm creepy, in fact, super creepy.  Zoe does actually call Shay a stalker but still yet continues in her relationship with him because - well - woo woo naturally.  Shay causes her to tingle, so the fact that he watched her from the cradle and is actually old enough to at the very least be her grandfather is supposedly no big deal.  Had the nature of Zoe's relationship with Shay and the age difference actually been something Zoe actively thought about and tried to negotiate, I could have tolerated it better.  Instead, what we got was Zoe angsting about the fact that she has feelings for Shay and not for her best friend.  I suppose I should simply be thankful that  VanRisseghem didn't drag out the love triangle for too long.

If you can get over the creepy pedophile type feeling of both Shay and Kieran, there's also the issue that they read like teenage boys.  Yes, in terms of immortals they are young but neither one of the two should actually sound or feel like they fit in at high school.  On their first date, Shay even plays a One Direction song for Zoe.  What teenage boy listens to One Direction, let alone a Nephlim who has been alive for eighty years?  When Shay was 17, WWII was just starting.  How does someone like that relate to One Direction?  It's ridiculous and feels like Van Risseghem was just trying to squeeze in some youthful references.  Look, teenagers are just as diverse as adults and perhaps Van Risseghem should spend some time with a few to get a better sense of what they are like.  Yes, some are going to be obsessed with the latest boy band and prom while others are goal oriented and have real awareness of this world.  All in all, much of Van Risseghem's characterisation feels forced, unrealistic and trite.

The Lady in Pink (Deadly Ever After #2) by J.A. Kazimer

Blue and Izzy’s new detective agency is going from strength to strength and has become a household name (even if your house is a shoe). They have offices now and a staff and are a growing success

But when one of their interns is murdered it looks like Blue could be the target – and even so, losing an employee just has to be investigated. But as they delve deeper the opposition becomes stronger as they uncover more connections with Blue’s mysterious past. And his curse.

The plot of this book is interesting but I’m in two minds about it. The whole mystery of Blue’s origin, how it fed the conflict between Izzy and Blue, the whole opposition against their discovery and how it pops up in several different ways all work really well. I like how it’s related to several parts of the story and is both part of their profession and personal lives and allowed for some character growth

It also has a series of excellent Noir-style cross and double cross as victim and suspect constantly changed and changed and changed again. It had some really good twists and unexpected endings. I honestly didn’t have any idea where it was going or who the culprit was and I was completely surprised several times. I appreciate that in any book, especially a book with a murder mystery. Being kept guessing is always an achievement.

 So lots of positive. On the negative side I feel the ending was sprung on me without any real back up to it. I didn’t see it coming – but how could I? All the relevant information was dumped in the last part of the book – there was no way to extrapolate to this and that whole revelation felt abrupt and rather sudden. There’s a twist and an abrupt change of direction. Still I am curious as to what that means for the future

I also quite like the whole debate over whether Blue’s abilities are a curse or a blessing – and I think it’s actually done really well (after I’ve read a huge number of books where the “curse” has had no real downside).

For me there’s a strange disconnect with this book’s – this series’ – world building which I’ve touched on before. On the one hand, the original elements of the story are excellent. The whole idea of fairies that produce dust and need dentin to exist – that’s an excellent original concept I really like. It takes the idea of the tooth fairy and elevates it and explains it. It’s interesting and it’s original and there’s some genuine thought behind it that I appreciated.  There are other hints of things that I think have high potential – like the very original Trolls. There’s a lot of really unique elements I’m interested in here

Ever After (Hollows #11) by Kim Harrison

 Rachel is faced with a crisis that hits very close to home – Rosewood babies are being kidnapped. Babies like her, with too many demon enzyme who normally die very young, are being stolen – each with the potential to become a day walking demon.

But it is just one move in Ku’Sox’s plan against her – the created and lethal supposed saviour of demon kind has his eyes fixed on Rachel and is determined to bring her – and, in fact, all of the Ever After down with him. The demon collective is too afraid to dare challenge him, and willing to accede to his demands even as his plans set to destroy the Ever After, render demons extinct and even end magic itself.

And he’s using children – those nearest and dearest to Rachel and Trent – to get his way, forcing hard choices and sacrifices on the people she cares for. It seems she can keep no-one safe and the entire force of the demon collective is poised to fall upon her as they panic and the Ever After shrinks.

There was a lot to love here. The world building grew immensely – but never in a way that derailed the plot or even slowed it down (though there were other factors that put on the breaks). We learned so much more about the world – the history of the gargoyles, the history of the ley lines and the Ever After and, most stunning of all, the history of the demon/elf conflict and the demons’ origins. The full nature and revelations of the demon/elf war, its origins and the nature of the demons who managed to survive since then was a wonderful shift in our perceptions of who the good and bad guys are – and suggests strongly that good and bad are just far too simplistic for this conflict. It added a lot of wonderful nuance and depth to this world. I’m sitting here rewriting this paragraph several times over because I am desperately trying not to spoil the awesome revelations but equally desperately want to talk about them – because they were so good. Even aside from the main plot line, Jenks and Belle’s ongoing revelations of fairy and pixie culture and Ivy’s storyline showing exactly what they mean when they say older vampires tend to kill themselves – it’s now very evocatively shown rather than just told.

And we got a full sense of that nuance and the epic implications of what these revelations meant in the story. Trent wants to make peace with Dali, which he’ll consider – but, given Dali’s own history – he can’t just accept the outstretched hand. Rachel’s epic speech about common demon history, about what they’ve endured, matching her own experiences to that and using it to shame Ku’Sox

We’re also definitely going to see more about the Elven goddess – which I really want to see.

The story itself was a roller coast – despite some elements I’ll discuss in a moment – it was very good at building tension and emotion. I won’t spoil, but some of the things that happened outright shocked me and added to the demand for action and excitement this book built excellently. There were also some excellently emotional scenes – the mourning, Rachel’s speech, Trent’s revelations that, for all his lofty goals, he’s a father first, Al’s drunken little binge, Rachel’s look into Al’s dreams, the rings – there was incredible emotion throughout this and I really felt for the characters

I have to criticise the writing and pacing of the middle of this book – but preface this with saying that part of the problem with this is how well written some of the rest of the book is. See, throughout this book there’s a strong sense of a big epic show down coming up. Something epic is coming. The Ever After rests in the balance. The future of magic rests in the balance. Rachel’s life rests in the balance. Not only that, but Ku’Sox has done some things (which I won’t spoil) that will make anyone who has read the Hollows series from the beginning want him dead. Twice. Slowly. The emotion is very well maintained and made me desperately want to read Rachel’s vengeance against this demon. I was eager for that show down – very very eager. The pacing was set with a tight deadline, everything was delicately balanced and had to be solved in time!

So when we hit the great big flabby pudding of writing in the middle of the book it was like getting stuck behind a tractor on a narrow road when you’re running late. Why is it going so slow? What is this? Get out of the waaaaay?! MOOOOVE! While some of these delays were spent with Rachel’s emotional state – that was already apparent and didn’t need so much time spent on it; we were already shown, abundantly, what she was feeling, we didn’t need to be told repeatedly. Ivy came back with her whole new storyline encompassing Felix as well – and while I can understand a hint about it, a hint and then moving it to the next book would have been far better. It was a distraction in this book and, with me waiting for the big show down with Ku’sox, I was yelling for Ivy to get her story out of the plotline so we could move forwards. Then we had the theft at the museum. It was fun, it was a nice little reminder to earlier Rachel adventures as well – but it didn’t add anything. Quen could just as easily got those rings from the original owners as was initially planned. It was an unnecessary scene in a long book that could have been cut to get us to the epic conclusion I was hungering for.