Midnight Never Come (Onyx Court 1)

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Evangelical Christians are used to thinking that there is a spiritual realm that overlays the physical world that we see and that angelic and demonic powers are contending with the people who govern to affect the affairs of the world. This book (and all of the books in the Onyx Court series) take a similar view of the world, substituting the Fae for angels and demons.

As above, so below. There is a struggle above. King and Parliament vie for power. Below, there is rebellion in the faerie realm and the Onyx Court. And in a humble bakery in London’s Pudding Lane, a spark will ignite and force all, Roundhead and Cavalier, human and fae, to set aside their differences to save their homes from annihilation. Since there was a major focus on how the age of industrialization treated the working classes in both Faerie and in London it made for a nice change of pace, but because of that class division (or a character's perception of such) some characters would just end up stonewalling each other and nothing moved, particularly with regards to Eliza. This was less of an issue with the fae characters overall but then again they also had an obvious streak of gaming the rules and finding interesting and unexpected ways of bending them. Besides, steal-your-baby elves are universally more fun than hippie elves. Disclaimer: I happen to know the author of this book. I don't think that this much changes my opinion of the book, and I don't think any of my readers are expecting journalistic standards of objectivity from me anyway, but I feel like I should note it. The plot follows the struggles of Lady Lune, a courtier trying to regain the favour of Invidiana, lost after negotiating a treaty during her diplomatic mission with the sea-folk (who in fact are the faeries' secret weapon in dealing with the Spanish Armada). Sent out to the mortal court, Lune crosses paths with Michael Deven, aspiring secret agent in debt of Sir Walsingham, and eventually, the spark between fae and mortal kindles in a powerful, fate-changing way.

England flourishes under the hand of its Virgin Queen: Elizabeth, Gloriana, last and most powerful of the Tudor monarchs. I'm intrigued enough to suss out the sequel, but this felt like a complete enough story that I'm satisfied with it for now. I like that in a fantasy series. In 1666, the Great London Fire is started by an errant spark from a baker's oven and goes on to completely destroy the old city as well as more beyond its walls. In the Onyx Hall, the Winter Hag breathes the cold wind of death through the palace at the behest of Nicneven. As a great Fire Dragon is born of the ever-increasing flames, so the threat from all sides increases and Lune is put in the untenable position of having to consider the sacrifice of her home, or her throne. When I first discovered this book, I honestly believed it may have been the most perfect fantasy book ever created. Firstly, it takes place during Elizabethan England, one of my favorite periods in English history. Secondly, it is about the Fey, and I feel that too few authors write truly great books about faeries.

That the faerie perspective is more compelling than the mortal one probably should not be a surprise. The Onyx Court is the primary constant throughout the (surprise surprise) Onyx Court series - which in and of itself is an interesting structural feature. Most contemporary fantasies that deal with the world of faerie tend to be either portal or intrusion stories where the focal lens is a human who finds themselves caught up in the magical world. In those stories where a human isn’t our lens, we often see through the eyes of a faery who – for all intents and purposes – tends to be indistinguishable from a super-powered mortal. While we’re on the subject of New Age teachings, I thought I would mention that there is a section where a character is lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is something that is possible for anyone to do and many people do it. For those who aren’t aware, lucid dreaming is when you have a dream and suddenly become aware that you’re dreaming which enables you to control everything that happens in your dream. As this series has developed there has been change in both worlds, though it is perhaps the human world that has changed most. After the removal of four-fifths of London in the Great Fire, it is here that we begin to see the reconstruction and urbanisation that leads to the historic elements of London today. There is also the social reconstruction after the debacle of the English Civil War. London here is a growing, thriving centre of commerce as well as ideas. As is always the case with Brennan's writing, her historical research is solid. As a retired computer engineer, I especially enjoyed the minor but significant part the works of Jacquard, Charles Babbage and Ada, Countess of Lovelace and Byron's daughter - yes THAT Byron - played in being adapted into a steampunk version of the Difference Engine, called here, The Ephemeral Engine. Finally, after spending time trying to conceptualize my review of Midnight Never Come, I have come up with the perfect metaphor for how I feel about this book. I feel like a Chopped judge (I’m sorry for anyone who hasn’t stumbled upon the food network and watched the show). Not just any Chopped judge, mind you, but one who has been presented with a plate of food described as one thing and after one bite the judge knows that that description is untrue. In plainer terms: they’ve been fed a big spiel of crap.ETA: There was one aspect of the writing style which was a bit odd. We would have 'memories' sections where we saw bits that had happened prior to the story, which set up the events we saw unfolding. A Star Shall Fall is the third book in Marie Brena's Onyx Court series, which follows a fairy queen's reign and how it impacts (and is impacted) by the history of England. Taking place in the mid 1700s, A Star Shall Fall is highly concerned with the dragon that was banished during In Ashes Lie. When faerie methods alone cannot stop the dragon, the court turns to the great thinkers of the Royal Society to try to find a solution. This is the sort of book which should be right up my alley - a historical fantasy, with Elizabeth Tudor, no less, and fae. However I do really enjoy reading about this era of history, so I very much enjoyed the blend of historical fiction and fantasy. The way they threaded together was absolutely a highlight of this novel. There's definitely more of a focus on the fictional queen, but the morsels of history made the whole thing feel more real, and lent that serious tone that this slightly dark fantasy needed.