In Caye’s urban fantasy novel, a part-Faerie, part-human adventurer combats mythological friends and foes. Jude is a fiery, quick-witted young woman who’s been working as an all-purpose operative during what she calls a “supernatural cold war” between two organizations: the human Consilium and the Faerie Court. She’s quite literally thrown off her game when Spencer Aubrie, someone she thought was her friend, tosses her off a balcony and into a three-month coma. She wakes up to a dubious group of magical Faeries; Jude herself is half Faerie, half human. They have a daunting task for her: She must race to retrieve a spell that would allow the separate human and Faerie realms to merge and then stop her ex–best friend’s plan to rule both. All Jude wants is a carefree life on the beach: “I could almost taste the salt of the first margarita I’d have once I was safe on some sunny, far away beach. Okay, it’d probably be a tequila shot.” She doesn’t care how she gets there—she’ll do whatever job is necessary if it gets her enough money and a passport. The moment Jude receives this new assignment, the story proceeds at a breakneck pace, introducing a flood of new characters, creatures, and abilities along the way. As such, the book almost feels like a sequel, with readers left to play catch-up. Sirens, pixies, sprites, a dragon, and other magical beings flit in and out of the narrative. In this urban fantasy, however, it’s not the fantasy elements that make the novel stand out; in fact, despite taking place in a magical world, Caye develops the supernatural features rather sketchily. Instead, it’s the complex characters that make the story compelling. Jude, a fantastic antihero, is surrounded by equally mysterious players with subtle motives. Indeed, as the story goes on, readers are left to guess who the real heroes and villains are—or if notions such as good and bad even exist in the novel’s morally gray world. A brisk and often riveting fantasy thriller with a cast of cryptic characters.

Set in Toronto and Montreal, Caye’s debut is perfectly plotted to keep readers guessing how things play out. After being thrown off a balcony by her partner in crime, Aubrie, Jude wakes from a coma to discover the Faerie Court and the Consilium (a rival mortal gang) have decimated each other, creating a power vacuum she’d rather avoid. Now Aubrie is ideally placed to take over the world, but if Jude wants to reach sunny paradise with a stiff drink in hand, she’ll have to stop him. --Ella Bichon