The Bitter Seed of Magic is the third book in Suzanne McLeod’s Spellcrackers series and therefore this review will contain spoilers for the previous books.

Faelings are turning up dead on the streets on London, their identities hidden by a glamour spell. The police bring sidhe fae Genny in to help peel back the spells but there’s no indication of cause of death. With the fertility curse still in place, Genny is convinced it is connected and is determined to help the faelings in every way but one; breaking the curse with a baby. Not that she doesn’t have a long line of suitors ready to court her… or worse, but she would like some choice in her life. So she sets out to find another way to break the curse.

Once again, I loved the world and the varied cast of fae Suzanne McLeod has created. As always, London plays a huge part too, with the ravens of the Tower of London coming into play. I always knew there was something funny about them! There was a bit more back story for both Genny and Finn which is always nice to have. Helen is still obstructing justice where Genny is concerned but I like that neither Genny or Hugh are blindly ignorant of what’s going on. They seem to have their heads screwed on well!

However, I did feel there were maybe a few too many characters being thrown into the mix. There are so many family connections being unearthed and it started to get a bit convoluted at one point. I’m still not entirely sure who is related to whom but I enjoyed the overall plot and mystery aspect.

I also like that there’s a practical reason for all the fae in London wanting to get into Genny’s knickers. It’s not that she’s just so hot they can’t resist, it’s because they want to reproduce when she’s the only option. Which is a bit creepy, but at least the main characters seem to acknowledge this. Perhaps that is also why I’m on team Malik; Finn is nice enough but he has ulterior motives and ex issues to boot. Don’t worry, despite the fertility curse, Genny doesn’t start having sex all over the place (unlike another urban fantasy series that shall remain un-named).

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