2022 urban fantasy, eighth and at the time last of its series. Lydia
Crow knows who's causing all her problems, so she will continue to
ignore them.
No, that's not entirely fair. But there are these problems that
would seem to demand urgent attention (like, a specific person is
actively ruining your reputation with everyone whose opinion you care
about, and you need to do something about him while it's still
possible to recover) and, well, don't seem to get that attention. Yes,
there was the sudden appearance of a whole new problem in the
cliffhanger of the previous book, and that gets priority at first
which is fair enough, but… perhaps I've just fallen out of enthusiasm
for this series. Book four in particular redeemed the slog of 2-3, and
since that was a conclusion of sorts I was hoping book eight would
redeem the slog of 6-7… but to my perception at least that didn't
happen.
Everything's very step by step. Lydia takes a while to find out that
her dubious MI6 contacts aren't keeping That Person locked up (which
she knew already by the end of last book, since he was getting stuff
done against her, but it has to be made explicit). A meeting to
reaffirm the truce between the four magical Families of London gets
laid out in some detail, then is over in a few confused paragraphs.
And while Lydia comes out at the end with what she wants, she achieves
very little of it through her own actions or qualities. People who
despise her still pick her side rather than That Guy's, because… she
doesn't know, she was just looking on while the NPCs solved the plot
for her.
Also it's the Vale of Health, not of Heath. Quite possibly a
misprint, perhaps even just in the edition I read. But if you're
trying to impress me with your knowledge of London and its history,
you really need to get these things right.
Once more, it feels as though Painter is giving each plate of plot a
fresh spin and then ignoring it, then right at the end catching one
and resolving it. Other problems are still out there, and it does seem
that there's now a ninth book (The Gilded Nest), presumably setting
off a new sub-series. But this is where I part company from it.
Frankly, and with regrets because this all started out with great
promise, I think I might have done better to stop after book four.