You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
I don't think a book long alternate universe of the Worst Possible End for all of our main characters was originally in Seanan's plans for this series overall, but man, how fucking awesome is it as a premise to go and write a spell-generated alternate universe for your main character and take the worst possible route for her development and existence in the world (because FUCK Titania) and then write her fighting herself out of it, however unknowingly? If nothing else, this book is going to seal for you that Titania is going to be our biggest bad here, and I'm admittedly mildly terrified of what is going to end up coming further down the route for this series with her as her our ultimate villain. We also get an idea of how the transition happened thanks to a novella in back that focuses on Raysel as all of this happens. Also long term interested to see how a major point we find out about in the back of the book plays out. (Being as vague as possible because again, major stakes raising again here.) In summary: seventeen books in and I still fucking love this series, let's goooooooooo.
Too much of this book felt... boring, I guess. Which is a bit strange, considering what was happening, but there was no real sense of urgency, and too many contrived convenient escapes and such. I dunno. This series has been a bit up and down in general, and this book is far from the worst, but I was hoping for more from this one. I'm not sure if I'm going to bother reading the parallel novel, since I've read that it's basically the exact same story with not much extra info.
I loved this book! I’m obviously preaching to the choir as we’re at book #17, so that means only super fans are still in the club! In this installment, Titania’s curse has landed and we encounter an alternate reality for October and the gang. Some of them are in this reality and others are missing or only come into play at the end. It was such a compelling “what if” scenario where changelings are bred to be the servants of pureblood fae. October was groomed to be her sister August’s helper. Simon Torquill was their loving father and Amandine was the ever aloof/narcissistic mother. Along the way, we see a very different October who has been conditioned to serve and not speak. It was definitely a departure!
When I was listening to Be The Serpent, I felt like October was often going too far in her verbally critical interactions with Oberon and others. It stood out more than previous books. I was still dwelling on that before my reading of Sleep No More, and then we spend almost all of this book with a meek and self-effacing October who doesn’t have any snarky comments or disrespectful jabs!! When October finally goes after Titania during her Ride, she just takes care of business with no additional commentary— even after her memory has been restored. Who is this person? Will this change linger going forward?! I’m also left wondering if I’m always Goldilocks— spend one book feeling like October has pushed too far only to spend the next missing all the witty repartee. Too hot, too cold, and we’ll see if the next books are just right. I said book*s* here because it appears that #18 is all Tybalt so we’ll have a wait ahead of us for the next October POV!!
*Thanks to DAW publishing and NetGalley for this advance reader copy for review.
When I was listening to Be The Serpent, I felt like October was often going too far in her verbally critical interactions with Oberon and others. It stood out more than previous books. I was still dwelling on that before my reading of Sleep No More, and then we spend almost all of this book with a meek and self-effacing October who doesn’t have any snarky comments or disrespectful jabs!! When October finally goes after Titania during her Ride, she just takes care of business with no additional commentary— even after her memory has been restored. Who is this person? Will this change linger going forward?! I’m also left wondering if I’m always Goldilocks— spend one book feeling like October has pushed too far only to spend the next missing all the witty repartee. Too hot, too cold, and we’ll see if the next books are just right. I said book*s* here because it appears that #18 is all Tybalt so we’ll have a wait ahead of us for the next October POV!!
*Thanks to DAW publishing and NetGalley for this advance reader copy for review.
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
4.5 hearts
Sleep No More is the seventeenth novel in the October Daye series and it is a trip. This is a well established series and you will need to read all the books in order to understand most of the storyline in this one. Titania is back with a vengeance and she might not be able to physically harm Toby, but that leaves a lot of latitude on what she is allowed to do. Being the Queen of lies, she had woven a huge one where Toby never met Tybalt, changelings all know their lowly place and purebloods rule. What would a faery look like if all those things were true and Toby is the submissive servant child of Amandine and Simon, born to serve her pureblood sister August.
It has been four months that October has lived in this lie and for the reader an October that has forgotten all of her history and how awesome she is, well it is a struggle. She doesn't understand why the man they call the King of Cats looks at her with something that looks both like pain and hate when they meet. She can't tell why when she accidentally tasted her blood different memories flood back of things she doesn't remember and when she rode someone else's blood it was the same. There is definitely something wrong but does she really want to give up this life and the family she has for the other version of Faery. We the reader are screaming yes...but Toby oh Toby isn't so sure and it takes some convincing from our favorite character the Sea Witch to assist her in coming out of this lie and possibly saving Faery before it helps Titania set this lie as fact.
Again a fantastically original story from Seanan McGuire. She really has created an intricate world and it was fascinating to see where all our favorite characters were and what they would be doing in an alternate Faery. It was also terrifying to see what Titania was capable of. I still hope we someday get to see Maeve as we now have two of the three in current time. Oberon while present is still somewhat of an enigma and we only get a few glimpses of him. There are a few issues with Titania's world, since in her version all the Sea Fae have been destroyed so she had to stash their land ridden halflings somewhere while trying to make this reality stick. As new horrors come to light Toby is driven more and more into the woman she really is and finds the version of herself as Sir October Daye who is willing to dive into danger, cause trouble and be the disruptive force she always is to set right what once was wrong.
Seventeen books into the series and again I am really wowed by the imagination and storytelling brought to life. I really look forward to reading the companion book to this one from Tybalt's PoV, since we don't get a lot of time with him in the story. But I'm sure there are going to be some great nuggets in that one as we see this world of lies through his eyes as he tries to get the love of his life back and hopes she remembers the news shared with him right before this nightmare happened.
If you are a fan of stories with Fae mythos in modern day, I have not found a better one. The first few books of the series are a little dark but by book three I was hooked and never looked back.
Bonus story:
Candles and Starlight is a bonus story told from Rayseline Torquill's PoV about her journey in Blind Michael's lands while she was tucked away with all the other halfling kids that aren't supposed to exist in Titania's world and the things they did to survive. I liked this story and how Rayseline is a different person than the one she used to be while she was going crazy. With her blood balanced she has a chance to become something else and she took this situation to really explore some of who she could be in the future. She may have even made up for some of the bad deeds of her past.
Review copy was received from . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
4.5 hearts
Sleep No More is the seventeenth novel in the October Daye series and it is a trip. This is a well established series and you will need to read all the books in order to understand most of the storyline in this one. Titania is back with a vengeance and she might not be able to physically harm Toby, but that leaves a lot of latitude on what she is allowed to do. Being the Queen of lies, she had woven a huge one where Toby never met Tybalt, changelings all know their lowly place and purebloods rule. What would a faery look like if all those things were true and Toby is the submissive servant child of Amandine and Simon, born to serve her pureblood sister August.
It has been four months that October has lived in this lie and for the reader an October that has forgotten all of her history and how awesome she is, well it is a struggle. She doesn't understand why the man they call the King of Cats looks at her with something that looks both like pain and hate when they meet. She can't tell why when she accidentally tasted her blood different memories flood back of things she doesn't remember and when she rode someone else's blood it was the same. There is definitely something wrong but does she really want to give up this life and the family she has for the other version of Faery. We the reader are screaming yes...but Toby oh Toby isn't so sure and it takes some convincing from our favorite character the Sea Witch to assist her in coming out of this lie and possibly saving Faery before it helps Titania set this lie as fact.
“The truth is, four months ago, Titania wrapped as much of Faerie as she could reach in an illusion so seamless that it’s taken us this long to find a way to reach you. We need your help if we’re going to put Faerie back the way it’s meant to be. We need you so we can save our world.”
“Oh,”I said faintly. “Is that all?”
Again a fantastically original story from Seanan McGuire. She really has created an intricate world and it was fascinating to see where all our favorite characters were and what they would be doing in an alternate Faery. It was also terrifying to see what Titania was capable of. I still hope we someday get to see Maeve as we now have two of the three in current time. Oberon while present is still somewhat of an enigma and we only get a few glimpses of him. There are a few issues with Titania's world, since in her version all the Sea Fae have been destroyed so she had to stash their land ridden halflings somewhere while trying to make this reality stick. As new horrors come to light Toby is driven more and more into the woman she really is and finds the version of herself as Sir October Daye who is willing to dive into danger, cause trouble and be the disruptive force she always is to set right what once was wrong.
Courage isn’t knowing everything will be fine. It’s knowing everything might not be, and doing what needs to be done anyway, because someone has to.
Seventeen books into the series and again I am really wowed by the imagination and storytelling brought to life. I really look forward to reading the companion book to this one from Tybalt's PoV, since we don't get a lot of time with him in the story. But I'm sure there are going to be some great nuggets in that one as we see this world of lies through his eyes as he tries to get the love of his life back and hopes she remembers the news shared with him right before this nightmare happened.
“Why are you in my dream?” I asked, challenging.
Lowering his hands, he looked at me. Without anger, without hate, with only sorrow and love in his eyes. “Because, little fish, a man is allowed to weep for the loss of his heart,”
If you are a fan of stories with Fae mythos in modern day, I have not found a better one. The first few books of the series are a little dark but by book three I was hooked and never looked back.
Bonus story:
Candles and Starlight is a bonus story told from Rayseline Torquill's PoV about her journey in Blind Michael's lands while she was tucked away with all the other halfling kids that aren't supposed to exist in Titania's world and the things they did to survive. I liked this story and how Rayseline is a different person than the one she used to be while she was going crazy. With her blood balanced she has a chance to become something else and she took this situation to really explore some of who she could be in the future. She may have even made up for some of the bad deeds of her past.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I'm physically unable to give an October Daye book anything less than a 5-star rating.
Everything that's great about the October Daye series continues strong in #17. I started off swallowing the pages down as fast as possible to get to the end and I was not disappointed. Seeing Toby's world through the haze of what-could-be was the story I didn't know I wanted, but am so glad Seanan knew needed to be told.
this was a very interesting toby book but i felt it wrapped up too quickly
Very frustrating at first but as always an amazing read! Can't wait for the next one!