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Unperfect Souls
in Paperback edition on January 26, 2010 and has 352 pages.
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Fourth in the Connor Grey urban fantasy series set in Boston and revolving around a powered-down Druid getting disability checks from the Guild.
My Take
I have really grown to enjoy Connor Grey. We all like underdogs and Franco has given his champion an interesting twist. An arrogant, powerful man brought low who is learning how the other half lives and is treated.
Connor is discovering quite a bit about himself that he dislikes and he’s turning it to the good. Along the way, he’s finding people, beings, who think as he does. Some more than others, but with roughly the same goal in mind.
He’s also getting quite cocky in his powerlessness. I know, I do seem to emphasize this. It’s a combination of Connor’s own thoughts about himself and the irony that he’s actually learning quite a bit and accumulating power of which he never knew. What I love about Eagan is that he keeps sending Connor out to discover things, partly because Connor “irritates people who need irritating” as well as an outside-the-box thinker.
That said, whoa. There is so much that happens in this one that…well, let’s just say I am chomping at the bit to read Uncertain Allies.
The Story
Boston’s mayor and its police commissioner are blaming an entire race for the disasters which have cast the city into such disarray. The Fey Dead have been cut off from TirNaNog and are wandering (Unfallen Dead). It’s also causing a dilemma of faith for the Catholic Murdock. Now, the Dead are targeting Solitaries, fey who can’t pass in a human world. And the police do nothing. The Solitaries, well, they’ve figured out what they see as fair payback.
Meanwhile, Guildmaster Eagan’s illness has factions quietly agitating for his replacement. The High Queen has sent her preference while Eagan has his own choice for his replacement. He doesn’t trust macGoren “to answer the phone without a hidden agenda”. It’s that and what the human civil authorities’ agenda is that he wants Connor to ferret out. He’s a tricky bugger as he’s leaving it to Connor’s conscience as to how far he is willing to go to acquire the information. He trusts Connor because he doesn’t like the Guild or Maeve and he cares about the fey and humans. Part of it means that Connor will again attend Eagan’s Winter Solstice party .
The former marchgrafin, now Grand Duchess Eorla, also has a request to make of Connor—I think this is why I keep emphasizing Connor’s lack of power. He may have lost most of his original Druid powers, but he has gained some powerful allies as well as new magics.. Eorla has been dreaming of events in Unquiet Dreams and is worried. She also warns Connor that when the most powerful fae in the world are watching him, others will also take an interest. Enough of an interest, that the Guild is colluding with the police and they may be looking to detain Connor.
It turns into rioting with the police and Guild leading the charge.
The Characters
Connor Grey was a very powerful druid who lost almost all in an altercation with a bioterrorist elf. He retains a few minor powers and currently collects disability checks from the Guild. To supplement these checks, he takes on consulting jobs with the Boston PD through Leo Murdock. Stinkwort, a.k.a., Joe, is a flit and, as everyone knows, flits tend to follow families, so Joe has always been with Connor. Briallen ab Gwyll is a very powerful Druidess and Connor’s friend.
Detective Leo Murdock is a Boston cop who truly wants to understand the Fey and stands for justice. He’s picked up a fey power (Unshapely Things) which he hasn’t mentioned to his dad, Police Commissioner Scott Murdock, who despises the Fey. And we learn why in this installment. Ooh, boy. His brothers include Gerry, Bar, Bernard, and Kevin is the youngest while Faith and Grace are their sisters. Captain Ruiz is his immediate supervisor.
Meryl Dian is a druidess and the chief archivist for the Guild and a friend of Connor’s. Yeah, they’re knockin’ boots, but she likes to keep Connor off-balance. A lady with many facets. Tibbet is a brownie and aide to Guildmaster Manus ap Eagan, a Danann fairy who is fatally ill. She and Connor have been friends and on/off lovers for years. Ryann macGoren is a Danann fairy sent by Maeve, High Queen of the Fey, to sit on the Guild’s board; with Magnus so ill, he is the current unofficial Acting Guildmaster. Nigel Martin is a powerful druid and once Connor’s mentor. Now, he almost goes out of his way to insult or ignore him.
Keeva macNeeve is sleeping with macGoren and she is the current Community Liaison Director and intensely interested in working her way up. She’s also a former working partner of Connor’s.
Moira Cashel is the High Queen’s Herbalist. She’s been sent to see if she can cure Eagan. Gillen Yor is the High Healer in Boston and seems to be missing. Amy Sullivan was Connor’s first lover many years ago.
Sekka is a giantess who’s missing; she’s also a double agent. She stood up to the Dead, protected people. Heydan runs Yggy’s a bar in the Weird where all fey are welcome. Where the rule is that words may start, but fists go outside. Shay is a human prostitute and artist who lives in the Weird, but he has a new job working at the Children’s Institute. Uno is a hellhound, a Cu Sith. If you see one, it means your death is nigh. Robyn, Shay’s lover in Unshapely Things had promised to protect Shay, but he was murdered by the serial killer. Uno was sent by Robyn, a.k.a., the Hound, to protect Shay, not escort him into death. Jennifer Grant is the mayor’s daughter and is in direct opposition to his actions. She’s challenging the lack of support or care for the people of the Weird. Zev leads the Solitaries, seeking justice. Callies are a Scottish clan of winter women who rescue Murdock and a jotunn warms his heart. Hel, formerly known as Helmet, is a bar in the Weird with new patrons, the Dead. Joe does not recommend the chili.
The Marchgrafin, Eorla Kruge, is the most powerful elf in Boston and the Teutonic representative on the Guildhouse board of directors. With her husband’s death, she has reverted to her maiden name and title of Grand Duchess Eorla Kruge Elvendottir of the Elvin King’s Court. Donor Elfenkonig is the king of the elves, the Teutonic fey, and he and Maeve are in a quiet war with each other. Ceridwen was an underQueen sent by Maeve in Unfallen Dead to investigate events in Unquiet Dreams. She and Boston were betrayed by Maeve and Ceridwen died.
Bastian Frye is the Elven King’s most trusted advisor and assassin while Brokke is his dwarf. Bergin Vize is the bioterrorist who destroyed Connor’s powers. He’s been on the run for books now. Turns out the Grand Duchess raised Vize as her son.
Janey Likesmith is a Dark Elf who works in the Office of the City Medical Examiner handling the fey cases. Jark, son of Ulf, is a Dead berserker who wakes in the morgue and turns out to be an important clue in this. The Hound of the Dead is hunting the Dead who cross the line. Banjo leads a group of mercenary dwarves; he currently works for Moke, a fey gangleader.
Druse is a leanansidhe, a solitary fey who feeds on living essence. Each has its own method of attack. She calls Connor her brother, like a “serial killer calling someone a hunting buddy”. The dark mass that inhibits Connor’s abilities is a thing she recognizes.
The Weird is a down-and-out neighborhood in Boston near the harbor which has attracted the supernatural to it. It’s where the normals go to slum and the only place where Connor Grey can now afford to live. The Guild is Celtic fey while the Consortium is Teutonic fey. Think Cold War.
The Cover and Title
The cover is perfect as the bridge is a symbol for the growing bigotry of the human population of Boston and its cops. The bridge’s overhead structure forms the frame which focuses our attention on the Weird burning as Connor strides across it on a mission of vengeance.
The title may refer to the Dead who are trapped on this side of the veil. Prevented from returning to TirNaNog.
