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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
Another excellent Toby Daye book, and with some genuinely unexpected twists and turns.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
I love this series and I'm really happy that Ms. McGuire keeps the quality level high. The writing in this book is excellent and often deep: "But Gillian had chosen to be human, to give up any trace of the fantastic in her heritage, and, because it was only a choice if I honored it, I'd done as she asked." and "Your head. It's got its own undertow, you know, and if you swim too deep, it can suck you down." This is a much more thoughtful book than the others. Sure, Toby has always angsted a lot, but this time she's more philosophical than usual.
This story brings together a lot of threads from prior books and Ms. McGuire works hard to make the complicated events clear and concise. I really like that Tybalt is deeply affected by what happened to him in book 11. With most books you just have to suspend your disbelief when the characters bounce back from the most horrific experiences, but in this series people need time to recover.
The novella that is included with this book is also excellent and surprising. It's the same story, but from Toby's daughter's POV.
This story brings together a lot of threads from prior books and Ms. McGuire works hard to make the complicated events clear and concise. I really like that Tybalt is deeply affected by what happened to him in book 11. With most books you just have to suspend your disbelief when the characters bounce back from the most horrific experiences, but in this series people need time to recover.
The novella that is included with this book is also excellent and surprising. It's the same story, but from Toby's daughter's POV.
2.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary:
October Daye, blood-magic adept and knight of the realm finds herself in over her head when her daughter is kidnapped – again.
Review:
I was under-impressed by the first Seanan McGuire book I read, the YA series novel Beneath the Sugar Sky, but still prepared to be wowed by this more adult outing. I’m sorry to say that didn’t happen.
McGuire’s prose is perfectly functional, and at times very effective. But even the best lines tend to fall by the wayside, run over by sardonic asides and displays of Attitude before they have a chance to flourish. At times, the entire book feels like a collection of asides. In deadly peril while saving your loved ones? No no reason not to mix in a throwaway comment about flower arranging or baking or whatever it may be. In short, I felt the central adventure missed out on much of the adventuring because McGuire was so intent on showing us how cool the narrator is.
Our hero suffers, unfortunately, from Good Guy Arrogance – a condition in which the good guys (because they are Good Guys) can do anything they want, and it’s okay, whereas Bad Guys are castigated for the same behaviour. To choose the easiest example, in a book about how Toby’s estranged daughter has been cruelly and wickedly kidnapped. causing all sorts of pain and harm, Toby … kidnaps someone. But it’s okay, because she and her cohort have Good Intentions. High-handed doesn’t even begin to cover it. This isn’t a flaw unique to McGuire, of course; Good Guys have been kidnapping, torturing, and stealing for a long time. But in this more enlightened age, I’d hope for better.
McGuire also makes a continued point that Toby continues to put herself and others in danger because,… well, that’s just the way she is, but she’s plucky and adorable, so everyone forgives her. To me, that’s not much different from the pulp era he-man putting his love interest in a safe place to wring her hands while he goes off to Fight Evil. Neither one should be appealing now. I’m all for strong, plucky characters, but adorable doesn’t excuse poor choices any more than protective does.
This is a late volume in a long series, so there’s a lot of backstory. McGuire does a decent job of working that in without trying to cover everything that’s gone before. At the same time, she goes far deeper into mythology and worldbuilding than seems warranted. It seemed every page required naming a New Kind of Fae and describing its powers, to the point that I wanted the Dungeon Master to just give us a run down of the creatures first. An early reference table in the book that could have served that function, mostly just gives us pronunciation.
Finally, the book is intensely political, to the extent that it recalled Ursula Le Guin’s comments about Katherine Kurtz. That is, it’s not (mainly) a reference to current politics, but to Machiaveliian machinations. For me, at least the result was tiresome and tedious.
Unfortunately, ‘tiresome and tedious’ largely sums up my response to the novel as a whole. It’s a shame, because there’s some good writing here, and a carefully conceived world. However, (as with Beneath a Sugar Sky), I felt the whole effort could have benefited from subtlety and depth. I can’t see reading another book in the series.
The book throws in a bonus novella, but it largely retells some aspects of the story from the point of view of Toby’s kidnapped daughter. I didn’t feel it added much.
Summary:
October Daye, blood-magic adept and knight of the realm finds herself in over her head when her daughter is kidnapped – again.
Review:
I was under-impressed by the first Seanan McGuire book I read, the YA series novel Beneath the Sugar Sky, but still prepared to be wowed by this more adult outing. I’m sorry to say that didn’t happen.
McGuire’s prose is perfectly functional, and at times very effective. But even the best lines tend to fall by the wayside, run over by sardonic asides and displays of Attitude before they have a chance to flourish. At times, the entire book feels like a collection of asides. In deadly peril while saving your loved ones? No no reason not to mix in a throwaway comment about flower arranging or baking or whatever it may be. In short, I felt the central adventure missed out on much of the adventuring because McGuire was so intent on showing us how cool the narrator is.
Our hero suffers, unfortunately, from Good Guy Arrogance – a condition in which the good guys (because they are Good Guys) can do anything they want, and it’s okay, whereas Bad Guys are castigated for the same behaviour. To choose the easiest example, in a book about how Toby’s estranged daughter has been cruelly and wickedly kidnapped. causing all sorts of pain and harm, Toby … kidnaps someone. But it’s okay, because she and her cohort have Good Intentions. High-handed doesn’t even begin to cover it. This isn’t a flaw unique to McGuire, of course; Good Guys have been kidnapping, torturing, and stealing for a long time. But in this more enlightened age, I’d hope for better.
McGuire also makes a continued point that Toby continues to put herself and others in danger because,… well, that’s just the way she is, but she’s plucky and adorable, so everyone forgives her. To me, that’s not much different from the pulp era he-man putting his love interest in a safe place to wring her hands while he goes off to Fight Evil. Neither one should be appealing now. I’m all for strong, plucky characters, but adorable doesn’t excuse poor choices any more than protective does.
This is a late volume in a long series, so there’s a lot of backstory. McGuire does a decent job of working that in without trying to cover everything that’s gone before. At the same time, she goes far deeper into mythology and worldbuilding than seems warranted. It seemed every page required naming a New Kind of Fae and describing its powers, to the point that I wanted the Dungeon Master to just give us a run down of the creatures first. An early reference table in the book that could have served that function, mostly just gives us pronunciation.
Finally, the book is intensely political, to the extent that it recalled Ursula Le Guin’s comments about Katherine Kurtz. That is, it’s not (mainly) a reference to current politics, but to Machiaveliian machinations. For me, at least the result was tiresome and tedious.
Unfortunately, ‘tiresome and tedious’ largely sums up my response to the novel as a whole. It’s a shame, because there’s some good writing here, and a carefully conceived world. However, (as with Beneath a Sugar Sky), I felt the whole effort could have benefited from subtlety and depth. I can’t see reading another book in the series.
The book throws in a bonus novella, but it largely retells some aspects of the story from the point of view of Toby’s kidnapped daughter. I didn’t feel it added much.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Grief
Some new revelations, many of them clearly building from the start. I love the character development in this one, and am eager to read how the events of this book affect future books.
I envy people just starting the series. They're in for such a treat.
I envy people just starting the series. They're in for such a treat.
Again a great book in this series. And while I suspected something like this would happen to Gillian, I did not suspect this particular thing to happen. But somehow it fits. I like this a lot.
Easily one of my favorites in the series thus far!
Disliked a few things about the general plot of this, but the short story at the end helped to raise it up.