Review: The Brightest Fell

EricMesa

April 14, 2025 - 4 minutes read - 739 words

Up until now we’ve barely seen much of Amandine the Liar. We know that she is considered spoiled by The Ludiaeg and that Winterrose looks down at her. Toby’s relationship and desires to know her have changed as Toby has learned more about who she truly is and what her mother did to her (psychologically and physically). Well, she makes an appearance here and we realize that Toby is lucky she has not been too involved before.

This book continues the storyline that started a book or so ago and was elaborated upon in the short stories - Toby’s discovery that she has a half-sister and that, in the eyes of the fae, Simon is her step-father. If there are two things Toby is known for at this point - it’s being an overthrower of fae monarchies and a finder of lost things. She is tasked with finding her half-sister. We see how bullies take when they could simply ask and leave heartbreak and sorrow in their wake.

I’ve been reading the short stories as I go along so I don’t remember how much emphasis has been placed on the Ludaeg’s binding in the main series vs the short stories. Essentially, the reason the Sea Witch demands high prices for her boons is that she was cursed by one of Oberron’s Sister-Wives (not her own mother) to never be able to refuse a boon. Her only way to prevent the ones she doesn’t want to grant is to offer an exchange rate so high that the person is more likely to refuse. This is key to this story, more than once.

Also, it was almost a throwaway line in one of the novels (and maybe reinforced in the short stories), but it will be someone from Amandine’s line who will bring back Oberron and his Wives. It’s why The Sea Witch and Winterrose have taken such a large interest in the changeling Toby. They should care because they are her aunts, but (especially with the Firstborn) fae don’t really see familial relations like we do - partly because they live so long. Narratively, what I like about this prophecy is that it doesn’t necessarily make Toby a Chosen One. It could be her Sister (that certainly set things into motion a hundred-ish years ago). It could even be one of their kids - how ironic if it turned out to be Gillian (even with all the fae burned out of her). Truly, the only bad thing about this prophecy coming to the forefront in the past few books is that it has (at least in my mind) set the end goal for this series. So either McGuire puts it off for a while and it begins to seem as if the intervening books are “busy work” for Toby and the gang or they start working towards it and the books stop being so episodic or they succeed and the next books are dealing with the fallout. (Similar to how Dresden finally split off from our timeline with the events of the last Dresden Files book)

The ending of this book was pretty rough. I don’t know if I was just in a certain frame of mind or something, but I wasn’t as moved as I thought I would be. I think perhaps that the character involved had too quick of a heel-face turn and we hadn’t had time to sit with their character growth before it was ripped away. It was certainly sad and tragic, but similar scenes have at least made my breath hitch, if not make me shed a tear or two. (So far no book or TV show has racked me with sobs, but I have definitely felt strong emotions for fictional characters) I wasn’t a huge fan of where it puts Toby. I also feel that another relationship she was in the process of fixing also got reset in a way that made sense, but just felt like such a rug pull.

I’m still curious to see what happens to Toby and Friends. I’ll definitely keep reading the series, but it’s a bummer she keeps getting hit so far. I guess I hadn’t realized it since her PI work is usually in the background, but this truly is a noir Urban Fantasy series. (I wouldn’t go so far as to call it GrimDark)