Well that was just....bleak. You want a book that will absolutely rock you every time you pick it up, this will most likely do the job. I'm not even mad about where the story went, as I'm a big lover of dark fantasy in the vein of Gaiman and Del Toro, whose works this story has been compared to.I will agree that it shares the same dark, atmospheric tone of Gaiman's style, and perhaps the ruthlessness of the monsters gives a touch of Del Toro vibes, but it feels more like the former. 

Honestly, I'm glad to have a faery story that is just absolutely relentless in its attempts to be as disturbing as possible. Most people forget how truly messed up these creatures are, how bloody their older stories get and how extremely few there are with good intentions. Cargill writes with such a great attention to visuals, which makes sense given that he's also a screenwriter. Some scenes come off very cinematic, especially in the climax, and overall made the story more engaging.

When thinking about the characters, I'm not going to say they were written with a tremendous amount of depth. In the first part, their child selves showed more endearing qualities and opened themselves up to more personality, while, with the second part focusing on their adult lives, it does feel like something went missing along the way. Perhaps that was the point, seeing as they all grew in different ways while the traumas they all went through left a lasting mark. I was most interested in Colby, who grew from a cute kid to a truly terrifying adult and I'm definitely going to check out the next book to see where he goes next. Blame the Dresden files for getting me hooked on powerful to the point of scary wizards.

The epilogue was also a bit of a great treat to end the story, as it's all too easy in join in Coyote's amusement when you see that he essentially made a bogeyman for faeries. Gotta love a trickster that's always pulling the strings.