Camille D’Artigo is the protagonist in this book, facing the every growing and worrying effects of the war against Shadow Wing and the civil war in Otherworld – a war that is now affecting their family as well as bringing chaos to the Otherworld, allowing all kinds of monsters to break through the portals and wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Earth.Now she has a unicorn gifting her with an artefact of legend of immense power that may be one of their best hopes against Shadow Wing – except it’s been lost and it’ll work just as well for their enemies as against them.And there’s a new spirit seal to find – and this one is being hunted by a lethal and cunning Rakshasa, far more dangerous than any of the other demons they have had to face. Added to that, Morgaine is back and the ancient, power-hungry sorceress has her own plans involving Titania, the long defunct Seelie queenTo complicate all of that – Smokey, the ancient and mighty dragon, is demanding her attention as well, as per their agreement. But Smokey wants into her heart and not just her bed – which is difficult with her current lovers to take into account.My only major complaint with this book – in fact the series in general, is its poor pacing and the easily distracted protagonists. I think this book is especially bad for it. There’s one moment in particular that stands out. They are trying to find the Pixie with the Black Unicorn’s horn before anyone else, since this is an artefact with massive, incredible power. It simply cannot fall into the wrong hands. Menolly, after working at the bar, gets a lead on the horn (and it turns out to be true) so she goes home and…… watches Jerry Springer with Delilah, waiting for Camille to get up rather than waking her. When she does get up (early because something else entirely interrupts her) she, Delilah and Menolly start weeding the garden. No, really – the horn could right now be heading into demon hands but they’re doing some gardening. Then they have breakfast. Then Iris regales them with a tale from when she was a House Sprite in Finland. Then Camille potty trains their pet gargoyle. And I am sat there reading this book and restraining the urge to yell at it because the world is supposed to be on the brink of collapse, demons are supposed to be invading, civil war is breaking out in Otherland, the world is in Serious Peril so some urgency may be required.An additional problem with that is it makes me less happy with the variety of plots. We have a lot of different threads in this book – we have the Rakshasa and his minions looking for the spirit seal, we have the Unicorn and the horn, we have the problem of the Cryptos and the unguarded portals, we have Morgaine and Titania, we have Camille with Smokey as well as big insights into Camille’s past. All of these plot lines add to the overall story and are wonderful threads of the plot that really go together well. And individually I like each one. They really add to the richness of the world and the much greater sense of the coming battle – but because the pacing is already slowed down by random domesticity it makes me less patient with anything that might stop the main plot line actually moving forwards.Read More
