Cindy P. (eclecticfirefly) - , reviewed on 8/3/2011 + 94 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

I loved this book.

Lara starts out as someone who tries to fade into the background. She limits her interactions with other people because the half-truths and polite lies we all use make her very uncomfortable. She does have a good friend, Kelly, who seems to understand (at least to some degree) how Lara feels. Kelly often tries to get Lara to open up to others, especially men. She wants Lara to be happy.

Enter David Kirwen and Dickon Collins. David is a local weatherman and Dickon is his cameraman. They meet one day, but Lara feels uneasy when David introduces himself. Something isn't true. It doesn't take long for Lara to coax David's true name from him. David is a Seelie Prince, looking for a Truthseeker to help him clear his name in his brother's murder.

This book seems to have at least a little bit of everything! Fae, court politics, a battle between the Seelie and Unseelie, portals between worlds, magic, even a little bit of courtship and the loyalty of good friends. But the whole is so much more than the parts. The way the story is put together is wonderful.

My favorite part of the book is the way Lara "hears" the truth. She hears it as music. Half-truths and lies are discordant and ugly sounding. Truth is like an orchestra perfectly in tune. Here is my favorite passage in the book:

"'You live in a world made of truth's song, cradled by music, all the time. And it sounds so appealing,' Kirwen murmurred. 'It sounds so appealing when it's phrased that way.'

'But what people forget is that music has a power all it's own, doesn't it? A life beyond any granted to it by notes written on a page. Music, unleashed, can uplift and create and destroy, stripping away pretenses and leaving raw, exposed vulnerability behind. It's a gift, but not one to be envied."

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