Jo has good friends, she has her tiny apartment and she
has her awful job cold calling people. It’s not a great life but she manages –
until a night out partying leads to a duel with a fae knight
Which she wins.
She is now responsible for Ysabel. The Bride. Fairy princess and the centre of so much intrigue – and it’s Jo’s job to keep her safe. And fed. And entertained.
This book has an excellent concept – Portland split
between 4 very different fae factions, the political manoeuvring between them,
the ritual and the scheming and the propriety all maintained. And under that
the underlying game of it all, with none of them actually able to cause real
damage to each other – until the rules of the game change.
Then there’s the princess, forced by circumstances to
live with Jo in her tiny apartment and join her on her dead end job. A faerie
princess forced into such low standards – forced to work in a call centre – how
can that not be a recipe for hijinks and shenanigans (and interesting class
commentary)?
The concept is great. The idea for the story is great. The characters have potential.
The execution is appalling.
Firstly, while I can see why the author wants to write
this story, it simply doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand why the Chariot
entered a duel with Jo, I don’t understand how that was remotely to do with
honour (hey, let’s hit a civilian with a sword for HONOUR!), I don’t understand
the whole ridiculous “losing” of it.
I don’t understand why Jo played along. I don’t
understand why Jo seemed to take the whole existence of the fae as something so
minor and easy to get used to. I don’t understand why, if she had chosen to
play their games, she didn’t take the Out that was offered her since it would
have cost her nothing.
I don’t understand why she allowed the princess to move
in with her. I don’t understand why, as a woman of such limited means, she
accepted the idea of monetarily supporting the princess.
I don’t understand why Jo has so few questions. She never asks about the fae, the courts, why they are there, how long, what they mean even what a Gallogas is (which is apparently her).
It doesn’t make sense.
