The ruthless Fey attack a helpless island, only to find that the magickless people have a weapon that can cause horrendous death if they can’t figure out a cure to the poison.

The setup and initial invasion were exciting and showed us all the different ways the Fey could use their magick, as well as their ruthless nature. Throughout the book, that was the part that kept my interest, especially when things stopped moving. It was fun to see how each member fit into society. By far my favorite characters were Nicholas, who was restless and wanted to get into action, and the Rocaan, who tried to find an alternate solution. I found most of the Fey characters to be somewhat stilted, even Jewel, the main Fey protagonist. I wasn’t fond of the large time jump that brought us to a very slow part of the book, where most of the characters spun their wheels, and information was not flowing in any direction. When it finally did, through prisoners, it didn’t go anywhere. The final solution, the sacrifice, was hinted at from the start, but didn’t have enough buildup to justify it, especially for Nicholas. I think having so many point of view characters contributed to this, as there wasn’t enough time spent on Nicholas to show his frustration with his father, compared to Jewel, who got to do more complaining about the lack of progress.

I like having a lot of characters in a book, but here I think many of the ancillary point of view characters were given time at the expense of the two who would have to sacrifice in the end. A lot of time was spent showing secondary characters through their point of view, but not really doing much. I suppose that sets up the failure at the end of the book, where Nicholas and Jewel finally take control from their fathers to come up with a solution.

We are dropped into this world knowing nothing, and are left scrambling to catch up, which I quite enjoy. Still, something felt off in the way Jewel and Rugar were portrayed from the start, and I wonder if that was the author’s way of showing their alien-ness, especially when compared later to the helpless Islanders.

The Fey confidently traverse the ocean to Blue Isle, navigating the Stone Guardians with the help of prisoners who used to trade there before their own lands were subjugated. Hidden by storms and magic, they attack the capital city and slaughter people indiscriminately. Jewel’s argument with the Infantry leader amounted to nothing, and I think a lot of the character interactions were meant to show us their personalities, rather than advance the story.

At the Tabernacle, the religious leaders figure out by accident that holy water kills the Fey, and suddenly the tide turns against the invaders. The Rocaan hates using sacred water to kill, the King Alexander can’t make a decision, and the Fey, who have never lost a battle in recent memory, fake being dead so they can escape.

We also get the first meeting between Nicholas, the prince, and Jewel, who has just come into her visions. Before she left on this campaign, she saw Nicholas in a vision, so she recognizes him and protects him. It’s unfortunate that he hadn’t also had visions, because he is smitten immediately as they lock gazes, and then swords, with no ulterior reason except that Jewel is hot and he seems to be horny. He takes her prisoner when the religious sect arrives with holy water, keeping her safe until she’s taken to the dungeons and one of the doppleganger Fey, having taken over a Lord’s body, frees her and takes the body of the King’s swordmaster and most valued aide.

We then fast-forward an entire year, and nothing much has changed. The dopplegangers who have infiltrated Islander life seem to be useless. Rugar has created a Shadowlands to hide his people with magick (so spelt), and they have grown cozy. Despite his claims that they were bred for battle, we hear of only small skirmishes, and while the Fey hate the Shadowlands, they know it keeps them safe, and they are content not to leave. In that time, Alexander and his people, including Nicholas, have done nothing, learned nothing, and are content to leave the Fey in their mostly-hidden refuge, hoping they never come out.

When we pick up the story again, Nicholas is finally seeing strange behavior in his swordmaster (after a year?), and a failed attempt to get inside the Shadowlands results in an ambush, revealing a spy in their midst. They discover Stephen, but it’s nice that they draw the wrong conclusion, that somebody touched and turned by a Fey might melt just like them. It’s only when a Red Cap –a short pudgy Fey with no magick who is resigned to stripping the skin from people to fuel Fey magick, comes to them freely wishing to offer information that they learn of their mistakes. Unfortunately, while Scavenger gives them all the information they could possibly want, it doesn’t help, and he escapes after promising to kill Rugar, at which he fails. I was really hoping he would show up at the Rocaan's ceremony later, but it didn't happen.

The Fey also take three people alive from the raid, and hold them captive, insisting they know something about the holy water and why it kills Fey. Adrien agrees to tell the Fey everything about Islander culture in exchange for his son’s life, to which Jewel agrees. But she gets nothing from him because he knows nothing! In all this time, the Warders under Caseo have failed to learn a way to counter-act the poison, and everybody laments this –because of the setback, which has lasted a full year, everything is stalled. They can’t get off the Blue Isle to get help because of the fatal currents while being attacked by Islander fleets, and they can’t stay in the open for fear of being doused.

One of my favorite characters was the old Rocaan, who is the only one who knows how to make holy water, though he teaches Matthias because he can’t make it fast enough to save the Island. Through him, we learn of the strange religion that is based on a man called Roca who drew his enemies in to him and then surrendered to god, being absorbed somehow. The entire thing is based on faith of course, despite the many gaps in the oral and written history, The Words Written and Unwritten, which is a hilarious name for their holy book. After a year of fighting, the Rocaan finally thinks of asking people about other stories of Roca, and learns that his religion was incomplete.

There are mysteries left, but I believe Roca was either Fey or part-Fey, or else his people were humans with magick who died out long ago. One Aud breaks out in hives at the touch of holy water, similar to an entire region of the Isle, which he hadn’t thought anything of until now. He decides to repeat the ceremony of Roca, inviting his enemies to a small chapel. He doesn’t know that two dopplegangers have infiltrated the Tabernacle though, and plan to absorb him to get the secret of the holy water. At the ceremony, the Fey have arrived with plans to kill the Rocaan, while the Rocaan has arrived in good faith.

The doppleganger slits the Rocaan’s throat, gaining humans nothing, while dying at the hands of an Aud, losing the Fey the secret.

After the debacle on both sides, Jewel takes matters into her own hands, leading her people to a carefully coordinated meeting with the king and Nicholas, and proposed marriage. Nicholas heartily agrees, mostly because he’s been having wet dreams about Jewel, but also because it makes sense.

There is an undercurrent of what would happen if ever the Fey were able to escape the Blue Isle. In their defeat, they would undoubtedly bring back an overwhelming force. From the Islander perspective, the fact that it hasn’t happened yet implies the Fey force may have been abandoned. From Fey accounts, they know the Black King will want his granddaughter back, and will eventually want to know what happened to his son. It’s only a matter of time. I suppose given a large enough force they would be able to overwhelm the magick of the stone guardians.

Unfortunately, this reasoning is too one-sided, restricted to Jewel’s inner thoughts and her conversations with her father. There is no widespread fear on either side, so the grand climax, which was obvious from the start and from Jewel’s vision, is underwhelming –especially given the lack of speculation on the part of the humans. Still, it leads into the future of the series, where Jewel will undoubtedly try to influence her vision and subvert the humans.

There is an unrelated subplot about a Fey shapeshifter, Solanda, who can turn into a cat. On the day of the invasion, a woman rescued a neighbor’s baby while they were being murdered, and nurtured him until a year later, when Solanda follows a magickal voice leading her to it. I liked Solanda and the way she interacted with the other Fey, the way she had very feline qualities even when in her Fey form, and the way she thought like a cat while in both forms. She discovers that the baby has magick, which implies that there are magickal strains in the Islanders, and that maybe the Roca was of this strain, perhaps even had some Fey blood. I assume the truth will be revealed in one of the later books.

I may return to this universe at some point, as this was a decent start, and despite the numerous characters, it gave us a good idea of what the Fey were capable of with their magick.