Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton

Meredith Nic Essus, Princess of the Faerie, heir to the Unseelie Throne, has finally won the race for the throne with her cousin, Prince Cel. She is pregnant, with twins, each with three fathers. But her heart is sore. One of the fathers, Frost, has been transformed into a stag, depriving him of ever knowing his child. And her Uncle, King Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, has raped her with his magic, and believes that he is the father of her children. He also wants to make her his queen.

Meredith is in the hospital, recovering from the rape and her Uncle's attempt at kidnapping, hoping and believing that her pregnancy will keep her safe from the malice of other fae, as the fey have always protected children. But that belief is cruelly shattered when her own grandmother, half brownie, attacks her and the men that would be the fathers of her children. And when Meredith realizes that her grandmother has been magicked to do so, her anger leads to her calling up the Wild Hunt to punish the Fae responsible, her sister, Cair.

But Cair is not responsible for this alone, and questioning those responsible reveals that Cair was led into her actions by another Lord of the Faerie, who promised his son to Cair as a husband if Cair could take care of the "problem" of Merry. Cair, who was born with a noseless face that forever makes it clear she is part Brownie, has been rejected by the nobles of the Seelie court for her looks, and considers the more accepting Unseelie Court to be corrupt and vile.

But that doesn't save her from Merry's righteous anger. She also learns of another plot to kill Mistral, another one of her children's fathers, and hurries off to save him after dealing with Cair. She gets there just in time to save him, but Mistral is badly injured with cold iron, and the goddess and the chalice that has attatched itself to Merry can only heal him so far. Merry turns to Sholto, another one of her children's fathers, who has accompanied and aided her so far, and asks him for help.

He agrees, and takes her to the court of the Sluagh and Nightfliers. Here, Mistral is healed, and she, Doyle, Sholto and Mistral get to know each other better. But when the court is beseiged by the Seelie forces, Merry will have to come up with a solution that will disarm the fight without getting all the Fae kicked out of the US.

And when she is attacked by her cousin, Prince Cel, Merry will find out the true meaning of betrayal as hidden secrets come home to roost, and signal the end of the fight for the throne of the Unseelie Fae. But after all that has happened, will Merry end up wanting it? And can she make the decision to just walk away?

This may well be the last Meredith Gentry book, at least, according to the ending of the book itself. Make no mistake, there may be more, as not all the threads are neatly tied up at the end of the book. Certainly Taranis isn't taken care of, nor Merry's charge from the Goddess of the Fae, but that can certainly be pushed into the future.

As the possible ending to the series, this book does it right, with lots of conflict, fighting, and gifts from the Goddess in the form of weapons and crowns. But the theme for a lot of the book is sadness: Merry's sadness over losing her lover, Frost, to being a white stag, and the sadness of the Goddess over the way the Fae are rejecting her chosen one- Merry.

Lots of people compare this series to Laurell K. Hamilton's other series, the Anita Blake series, and like neither of them. The way Anita has become so different from the character so many people liked and fell in love with, and the way she seems to acquire new powers and new, powerful lovers in every book. They point to Merry as being more of the same, but I see a difference. Merry is more of a conduit for powers to the Fae from their goddess. It's not Merry who gets the powers, but she who unlocks them for the Fae.

And let's face it- the Fae, at least so far as Hamilton writes them, are more accepting of multiple lovers in the first place, although we see some resistance to the idea of multiple husbands and fathers of children. Merry might be carrying twins, although they only strictly fit the idea of twins in that she is the mother of both. Each child has three very different fathers, making them the most super-fraternal twins ever!

The book starts off slow, but builds into a fast ride to the end as Merry takes care, in a permanent way, of those who have wronged her and her family. By the end of the book, she is finally safe from those who have schemed and plotted against her for most of the series... except for Taranis. And there is still that pesky charge from the Goddess to consider that provide an out for Hamilton to continue the series.

And yet, I am still left feeling that this book wasn't completely satisfying, maybe because Merry considers her story ended, and yet there are those two hanging storylines. I forsee more books for Merry, and because of that, this one fell flat for me. But I can't wait to read more, so if this is truly the end, then I'll just have to remain unsatisfied.