Scan barcode
kathydavie's review
3.0
Seventeenth in the October Daye urban fantasy series and revolving around a former half-changeling, half-fae knight. The focus is on a perfect Titania-created Faerie.
Unless you’ve read the entire series, you’ll miss a lot of how this land of Faerie has changed.
My Take
I really did NOT like this story at the start but I did get into it better as it went along. I still don't like it. I hated the concept that McGuire put forth, showing us how awful Faerie could be under Titania. The whole idea of bearing a child you'll turn into a servant, the disgust for whole branches of fae. It was bad enough in the old "world", but this one is so much worse. Even if August and October are living together in the same household.
It's October’s conflicts over “knowing her place” and being happy about it versus her desire to get out and see things that makes things interesting, although that opening chapter was quite confusing. I was under the impression that the Hamadryad family was on the move during Moving Day — “We departed on the first hour of the Moving Day festivities”. My confusion about this world only grew deeper — which is why I gave Sleep No More a low rating. I gotta say McGuire did a great job of obfuscating why what was happening was happening.
McGuire is using first person protagonist point-of-view from October's perspective, and I do think McGuire could of used it better. Sure it was well done, but . . . it was too easy in some ways. It felt as if October was accepting things too easily OR at least not fighting the truths she learns very much. Maybe I'd've liked it better if there'd been more angst . . . I dunno.
Amandine. Yeah, that’s a fae at whose death I would rejoice. She is the nastiest woman! She’s bringing up October to be comfortable as a servant in someone’s household, maybe August’s. It’s a law in this Faerie that each noble house and Firstborn bear a changeling child to ensure there’ll be servants. What the Luidaeg reveals about Amy's actions during October's childhood made me want to scream!
The twists and turns McGuire does to “explain” why things are the way they are in this new world are enough to make me gag. Although, I did enjoy Arden’s revenge on Oleander!
Toby does get her wish for adventure and McGuire uses this to show up how medieval Toby’s life is. It also begins to open Toby’s eyes to other truths. This traveling about also shows us how different life is in Sleep No More compared to all the previous stories in the series.
Chrysanthe has a nice agreement with her fae and others, as does Duchess Zhou. Simon hasn’t had his experiences and has had a, ahem, hypocritical family life in which he’s fooling himself about October. Nice that some aren’t suffering too badly. Then again we learn about the Cait Sidhe being trapped and the Undersea's trauma.
This story holds a version of Luna that never ran away from home. I can see why she ran. There's also a bit of back history on the Cait Sidhe and how the Cat Courts were formed which is fascinating. Poor Tybalt. He’s so confused and angry!
That Etienne is something of a hypocrite as well, as you’ll learn when you read some of his back story. Hmph.
Oh, wow. The Luidaeg summarizes up Titania’s reasons for doing what she’s done, and how October is at the heart of so much of it. Her explanation is riveting. Ah, geez. We also learn more about October’s childhood and what Amy was doing to her, a drop at a time. It does bring up a question. The Luidaeg tells October that changing someone’s blood balance to human meant death. Does she mean that now that person would eventually die or that they died on the spot? It does serve to point up Amy’s selfishness. Yeah, really, that woman should just die.
It’s noted that Titania doesn’t create but does decorate.
There is wisdom at the end in terms of love and friendship, about true parentage,
Oberon. Oh, brother. What a mess he’s made. He didn’t think anything through and created a murdering monster.
It’s a Faerie shaped to Titania’s “perfect” preferences . . . *shudder*
The Story
Something is very wrong in Dreamer’s Glass and Duchess Zhou requires someone of Sylvester’s bloodline to cope with it. Luckily, it’s Moving Day and therefore safe for a changeling to be on the move between lands.
It was a mistake to let October out into this new Faerie . . . where she encounters people who knew her before. They know that she can save them, as she always has before.
The Characters
Mother’s Tower is . . .
. . . home base for Amandine the Liar, the Firstborn of Oberonand Janet Carter and August and October’s mother, who has the power to balance someone’s blood. Father is Simon, Count Torquill, Sylvester’s twin and sworn alchemist to the Rose of Winter, a Simon who had been born a changeling. The easily bored August is the elder and “true” daughter while October, a.k.a. Aunt Birdie, is the required changeling servant daughter; both are Dóchas Sidhe, blood balancers.
Shadowed Hills is . . .
. . . a backwater duchy ruled by a bachelor Duke (and uncle and hero) Sylvester Torquill. Sir Etienne is Sylvester’s seneschal and has a new squire, Quentin, a blind foster who hates and despises changelings. Bridget “Bess” Ames is Etienne’s human wife and a professor of folklore; Chelsea is their “changeling” daughter. Sir Grianne is a Candela with a crew of Merry Dancers and Sir Garm is a Gwragen, known for their illusions. Kerry is a Hob changeling and October's friend; Melly is her mother, the unofficial chatelaine of the knowe. Meriel. Ilya is a Bannick who works in the laundry. Helen is an unaffiliated changeling. Ormond. Sir Tavis is a Bridge Troll. Jin is an Ellyllon healer.
Dame Eloise Altair, a minor local Daoine Sidhe noble, pretends to be nice. Kyle, a Bridge Troll, runs with her in the night. Luna is a Blodynbryd who owns the Summer Roads Key that had belonged to her grandmother; Blind Michael is her father. January ap Learainth, who still lives at her father’s halls in Briarholme, would have been cousin to October. Rayseline, in the “other” story, was supposed to serve a year in October’s household.
Golden Shore is . . .
. . . a kingdom of refuge for changelings where King Theron and Queen Chrysanthe are Ceryneian Hinds. And there’re no extradition treaties. Arden and Nolan Windermere, brother and sister, who can trace their lineage back to Armorica, are working for them, rescuing changelings. They used to live in Muir Woods. Madden, a Cu Sidhe, is the Windermeres’ best friend. King Gilad and Queen Sebille Windermere had been Arden and Nolan’s parents and the rulers of the Kingdom in the Mists before they were murdered by Oleander de Merelands.
The Duchy of Cattails is . . .
. . . within Golden Shore. Dame vch Gwenlan has a farm here.
Wild Strawberries is . . .
. . . a kingdom from which a lot of changelings are fleeing.
The Kingdom of Silences requires . . .
. . . Amy's services.
Dreamer’s Glass is . . .
. . . a duchy ruled by Li Qin Zhou, a Shyi Shuai, a luck fae. Siôn is a Coblynau with a gift of finding. Terrie-Alexander is a Gean-Cannah changeling. April O’Leary is a cyber dryad who hasn’t changed and reminds an unknowing Toby of too much and hurts Li Qin with what she doesn’t remember. Avebury, a Barrow Wight, is a familiar! cook. Minna is Avebury’s sister who has never come back to visit. In the other world, the duchy had been ruled by Duchess Riordan.
Tamed Lightning is . . .
. . . the county ruled by January O’Leary, the Countess of Tamed Lightning, who is April’s other mother and Li Qin’s wife . . . but not here. Yui had been January’s talented alchemist.
The Undersea is . . .
. . . an entire kingdom cut off. The impossible Dean Lorden is the son of a Merrow, Dianda, and her beloved Daoine Sidhe, Patrick Lorden. Peter is Dean’s younger brother.
Chained Thunder had been . . .
. . . a failed fiefdom.
Oberon is the Lord of all Faerie with two queens: Titania, the Summer Queen, a.k.a. the Lady of Flowers and Mother of Illusions, and the “dishonored” Maeve, the Winter Queen, a.k.a. the Lady of Frost and the Traitor Queen.
The Luidaeg, a.k.a. Antigone of Albany and the sea witch, is a banished, dead?, daughter of Oberon and Maeve. Other siblings included Ismene, Hirsent, and Mug Ruith was her youngest brother, who became Blind Michael whose hunts stole and transformed children into Riders and Ridden. Blind Michael married Acacia, the Mother of the Trees, Firstborn of the Dryads and of the Blodynbryd, and Titania’s daughter. Eira Rosynhwyr, a.k.a. the Rose of Winter, is a Firstborn of Titania. The Cait Sidhe are the only line descended from all of the Three: Erda is a daughter of Titania, Malvic is a son of Oberon and Titania and the first King among Cats, and Jibvel is a son of Maeve.
Tybalt is one of Malvic’s, a Cait Sidhe and king of the Court of Dreaming Cats in San Francisco. He’s also Toby’s husband after events in When Sorrows Come, 15. Raj (of Erda’s line) is Toby’s nephew and heir. Depending on which story we’re in, Ginerva is either a visiting Princess from the Court of Whispering Cats or Queen Regent to the Court of Dreaming Cats.
Know that the Cait Sidhe have been extinct for centuries . . . in Titania’s Faerie. None of the beast kind walk in Titania’s Faerie.
The Browns had been Stacy and Mitch’s children. Seers all. Anthony, Jessica is no more, and Andrew are those who appear. May Daye had been October’s Fetch in the other world until she was simply Toby’s sister. Jazz is May’s significant other. Poppy is the oversized pixie who is the Luidaeg’s apprentice.
The Queen of the Mists is the false one. Moving Days are Samhain and Beltaine when the courtiers, changelings, and servants could move between demesnes without giving offense. Lughnasa is a banned festival. Eion and Maia are Hamadryads, descended from Melia. Their beloved changeling children are Ashla and Gable. The Library of Stars. In either world, changelings are lesser, born to be servants to the fae. The Iron Tree is the ultimate execution device. Night-haunts eat dead fae and leave behind a simulacrum. “Devin” is here and runs Home where changelings can find refuge.
There are Roads that were opened by or for specific groups: the Blood Road, the Thorn Road is for Maeve’s children to escape Titania’s, the Road of Rust is for the Gremlins, and the Shadow Roads belong to the Cait Sidhe and are used by the Candela. The Moorland Trail had been a shortcut. The Rides — a true Ride is always a sacrifice — occurred every seven years to deliver a sacrifice to the Heart (the very core of Faerie) to heal the wound that happened when the Three were made. The Changeling’s Choice is when a changeling must choose between being fae or human.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a gloomy brown wallpaper, well-suited to the storyline with an oval mirror reflecting a grim, forward-facing Toby. In front of the mirror is another grim long-haired Toby in her black leather jacket and a long green gown, holding a sword. At the top is an info blurb in yellow with the author's name in white below it. To the left of Toby's hips is a black badge with an inner yellow border and another info blurb. The title is a'slant below Toby's hips in a yellow distressed font. Trapped between the first and last words of the title is the series info in yellow.
The title is the heartfelt wish of many who wish to Sleep No More in Titania's "perfect" world.
Unless you’ve read the entire series, you’ll miss a lot of how this land of Faerie has changed.
My Take
I really did NOT like this story at the start but I did get into it better as it went along. I still don't like it. I hated the concept that McGuire put forth, showing us how awful Faerie could be under Titania. The whole idea of bearing a child you'll turn into a servant, the disgust for whole branches of fae. It was bad enough in the old "world", but this one is so much worse. Even if August and October are living together in the same household.
It's October’s conflicts over “knowing her place” and being happy about it versus her desire to get out and see things that makes things interesting, although that opening chapter was quite confusing. I was under the impression that the Hamadryad family was on the move during Moving Day — “We departed on the first hour of the Moving Day festivities”. My confusion about this world only grew deeper — which is why I gave Sleep No More a low rating. I gotta say McGuire did a great job of obfuscating why what was happening was happening.
McGuire is using first person protagonist point-of-view from October's perspective, and I do think McGuire could of used it better. Sure it was well done, but . . . it was too easy in some ways. It felt as if October was accepting things too easily OR at least not fighting the truths she learns very much. Maybe I'd've liked it better if there'd been more angst . . . I dunno.
Amandine. Yeah, that’s a fae at whose death I would rejoice. She is the nastiest woman! She’s bringing up October to be comfortable as a servant in someone’s household, maybe August’s. It’s a law in this Faerie that each noble house and Firstborn bear a changeling child to ensure there’ll be servants. What the Luidaeg reveals about Amy's actions during October's childhood made me want to scream!
The twists and turns McGuire does to “explain” why things are the way they are in this new world are enough to make me gag. Although, I did enjoy Arden’s revenge on Oleander!
Toby does get her wish for adventure and McGuire uses this to show up how medieval Toby’s life is. It also begins to open Toby’s eyes to other truths. This traveling about also shows us how different life is in Sleep No More compared to all the previous stories in the series.
Chrysanthe has a nice agreement with her fae and others, as does Duchess Zhou. Simon hasn’t had his experiences and has had a, ahem, hypocritical family life in which he’s fooling himself about October. Nice that some aren’t suffering too badly. Then again we learn about the Cait Sidhe being trapped and the Undersea's trauma.
This story holds a version of Luna that never ran away from home. I can see why she ran. There's also a bit of back history on the Cait Sidhe and how the Cat Courts were formed which is fascinating. Poor Tybalt. He’s so confused and angry!
That Etienne is something of a hypocrite as well, as you’ll learn when you read some of his back story. Hmph.
Oh, wow. The Luidaeg summarizes up Titania’s reasons for doing what she’s done, and how October is at the heart of so much of it. Her explanation is riveting. Ah, geez. We also learn more about October’s childhood and what Amy was doing to her, a drop at a time. It does bring up a question. The Luidaeg tells October that changing someone’s blood balance to human meant death. Does she mean that now that person would eventually die or that they died on the spot? It does serve to point up Amy’s selfishness. Yeah, really, that woman should just die.
It’s noted that Titania doesn’t create but does decorate.
There is wisdom at the end in terms of love and friendship, about true parentage,
Oberon. Oh, brother. What a mess he’s made. He didn’t think anything through and created a murdering monster.
It’s a Faerie shaped to Titania’s “perfect” preferences . . . *shudder*
The Story
Something is very wrong in Dreamer’s Glass and Duchess Zhou requires someone of Sylvester’s bloodline to cope with it. Luckily, it’s Moving Day and therefore safe for a changeling to be on the move between lands.
It was a mistake to let October out into this new Faerie . . . where she encounters people who knew her before. They know that she can save them, as she always has before.
The Characters
Mother’s Tower is . . .
. . . home base for Amandine the Liar, the Firstborn of Oberon
Shadowed Hills is . . .
. . . a backwater duchy ruled by a bachelor Duke (and uncle and hero) Sylvester Torquill. Sir Etienne is Sylvester’s seneschal and has a new squire, Quentin, a blind foster who hates and despises changelings. Bridget “Bess” Ames is Etienne’s human wife and a professor of folklore; Chelsea is their “changeling” daughter. Sir Grianne is a Candela with a crew of Merry Dancers and Sir Garm is a Gwragen, known for their illusions. Kerry is a Hob changeling and October's friend; Melly is her mother, the unofficial chatelaine of the knowe. Meriel. Ilya is a Bannick who works in the laundry. Helen is an unaffiliated changeling. Ormond. Sir Tavis is a Bridge Troll. Jin is an Ellyllon healer.
Dame Eloise Altair, a minor local Daoine Sidhe noble, pretends to be nice. Kyle, a Bridge Troll, runs with her in the night. Luna is a Blodynbryd who owns the Summer Roads Key that had belonged to her grandmother; Blind Michael is her father. January ap Learainth, who still lives at her father’s halls in Briarholme, would have been cousin to October. Rayseline, in the “other” story, was supposed to serve a year in October’s household.
Golden Shore is . . .
. . . a kingdom of refuge for changelings where King Theron and Queen Chrysanthe are Ceryneian Hinds. And there’re no extradition treaties. Arden and Nolan Windermere, brother and sister, who can trace their lineage back to Armorica, are working for them, rescuing changelings. They used to live in Muir Woods. Madden, a Cu Sidhe, is the Windermeres’ best friend. King Gilad and Queen Sebille Windermere had been Arden and Nolan’s parents and the rulers of the Kingdom in the Mists before they were murdered by Oleander de Merelands.
The Duchy of Cattails is . . .
. . . within Golden Shore. Dame vch Gwenlan has a farm here.
Wild Strawberries is . . .
. . . a kingdom from which a lot of changelings are fleeing.
The Kingdom of Silences requires . . .
. . . Amy's services.
Dreamer’s Glass is . . .
. . . a duchy ruled by Li Qin Zhou, a Shyi Shuai, a luck fae. Siôn is a Coblynau with a gift of finding. Terrie-Alexander is a Gean-Cannah changeling. April O’Leary is a cyber dryad who hasn’t changed and reminds an unknowing Toby of too much and hurts Li Qin with what she doesn’t remember. Avebury, a Barrow Wight, is a familiar! cook. Minna is Avebury’s sister who has never come back to visit. In the other world, the duchy had been ruled by Duchess Riordan.
Tamed Lightning is . . .
. . . the county ruled by January O’Leary, the Countess of Tamed Lightning, who is April’s other mother and Li Qin’s wife . . . but not here. Yui had been January’s talented alchemist.
The Undersea is . . .
. . . an entire kingdom cut off. The impossible Dean Lorden is the son of a Merrow, Dianda, and her beloved Daoine Sidhe, Patrick Lorden. Peter is Dean’s younger brother.
Chained Thunder had been . . .
. . . a failed fiefdom.
Oberon is the Lord of all Faerie with two queens: Titania, the Summer Queen, a.k.a. the Lady of Flowers and Mother of Illusions, and the “dishonored” Maeve, the Winter Queen, a.k.a. the Lady of Frost and the Traitor Queen.
The Luidaeg, a.k.a. Antigone of Albany and the sea witch, is a banished, dead?, daughter of Oberon and Maeve. Other siblings included Ismene, Hirsent, and Mug Ruith was her youngest brother, who became Blind Michael whose hunts stole and transformed children into Riders and Ridden. Blind Michael married Acacia, the Mother of the Trees, Firstborn of the Dryads and of the Blodynbryd, and Titania’s daughter. Eira Rosynhwyr, a.k.a. the Rose of Winter, is a Firstborn of Titania. The Cait Sidhe are the only line descended from all of the Three: Erda is a daughter of Titania, Malvic is a son of Oberon and Titania and the first King among Cats, and Jibvel is a son of Maeve.
Tybalt is one of Malvic’s, a Cait Sidhe and king of the Court of Dreaming Cats in San Francisco. He’s also Toby’s husband after events in When Sorrows Come, 15. Raj (of Erda’s line) is Toby’s nephew and heir. Depending on which story we’re in, Ginerva is either a visiting Princess from the Court of Whispering Cats or Queen Regent to the Court of Dreaming Cats.
Know that the Cait Sidhe have been extinct for centuries . . . in Titania’s Faerie. None of the beast kind walk in Titania’s Faerie.
The Browns had been Stacy and Mitch’s children. Seers all. Anthony, Jessica is no more, and Andrew are those who appear. May Daye had been October’s Fetch in the other world until she was simply Toby’s sister. Jazz is May’s significant other. Poppy is the oversized pixie who is the Luidaeg’s apprentice.
The Queen of the Mists is the false one. Moving Days are Samhain and Beltaine when the courtiers, changelings, and servants could move between demesnes without giving offense. Lughnasa is a banned festival. Eion and Maia are Hamadryads, descended from Melia. Their beloved changeling children are Ashla and Gable. The Library of Stars. In either world, changelings are lesser, born to be servants to the fae. The Iron Tree is the ultimate execution device. Night-haunts eat dead fae and leave behind a simulacrum. “Devin” is here and runs Home where changelings can find refuge.
There are Roads that were opened by or for specific groups: the Blood Road, the Thorn Road is for Maeve’s children to escape Titania’s, the Road of Rust is for the Gremlins, and the Shadow Roads belong to the Cait Sidhe and are used by the Candela. The Moorland Trail had been a shortcut. The Rides — a true Ride is always a sacrifice — occurred every seven years to deliver a sacrifice to the Heart (the very core of Faerie) to heal the wound that happened when the Three were made. The Changeling’s Choice is when a changeling must choose between being fae or human.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a gloomy brown wallpaper, well-suited to the storyline with an oval mirror reflecting a grim, forward-facing Toby. In front of the mirror is another grim long-haired Toby in her black leather jacket and a long green gown, holding a sword. At the top is an info blurb in yellow with the author's name in white below it. To the left of Toby's hips is a black badge with an inner yellow border and another info blurb. The title is a'slant below Toby's hips in a yellow distressed font. Trapped between the first and last words of the title is the series info in yellow.
The title is the heartfelt wish of many who wish to Sleep No More in Titania's "perfect" world.
yousei's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
5.0
bookworm5732's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
okevamae's review against another edition
5.0
IT’S FINALLY HERE. This cliffhanger has been a killer.
In this latest novel in the series, we finally get to see what twisted world Titania’s magic has created. Toby in this reality is the obedient changeling daughter, raised entirely in Faerie, and knows her place in the pecking order (at the bottom.) In this version of reality shaped by Titania, the Faerie queen is worshipped, descendants of Maeve have been banished, and changelings are disdained and treated as disposable – the best that someone like October can hope for is to be well-treated as a servant in her mother’s household. As a result, October was raised to be something of a bigot, with a self-loathing streak a mile wide, pathetically grateful for her meager position. And that’s just the beginning of Titania’s warped version of reality.
It’s really interesting to take characters we've gotten to know so well over so many novels, give them completely different backstories and circumstances, and throw them back together to see how different everything is. It’s very weird to see Toby so meek, and fascinating to then watch as she slowly starts to change as she is removed from the influences that kept her down (primarily Amandine.) I loved the book except for the very last chapter. For that reason I’m docking it half a star to 4.5 (but rounding up because it was still a really good book.)
The short story included at the end of the print and ebook versions is a look at Rayseline’s story immediately before Sleep No More. It was good! Very interesting to get Raysel’s POV.
Now on to The Innocent Sleep and Tybalt’s side of the story!
CW: faerie bigotry and blood (though if you’re squeamish about blood I’m not sure how you got this far into the series without passing out)
I received an ARC of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In this latest novel in the series, we finally get to see what twisted world Titania’s magic has created. Toby in this reality is the obedient changeling daughter, raised entirely in Faerie, and knows her place in the pecking order (at the bottom.) In this version of reality shaped by Titania, the Faerie queen is worshipped, descendants of Maeve have been banished, and changelings are disdained and treated as disposable – the best that someone like October can hope for is to be well-treated as a servant in her mother’s household. As a result, October was raised to be something of a bigot, with a self-loathing streak a mile wide, pathetically grateful for her meager position. And that’s just the beginning of Titania’s warped version of reality.
It’s really interesting to take characters we've gotten to know so well over so many novels, give them completely different backstories and circumstances, and throw them back together to see how different everything is. It’s very weird to see Toby so meek, and fascinating to then watch as she slowly starts to change as she is removed from the influences that kept her down (primarily Amandine.) I loved the book except for the very last chapter.
Spoiler
It skips the complicated aftermath and jumps ahead a few months, and I was disappointed because I wanted more resolution than that, especially with Quentin. And I wanted to see more people reacting to the news that Toby is pregnant! I feel like we’re missing a lot in those three months that I really would have liked to read, and that was kind of needed after the trauma of this book, hot on the heels of the trauma of the last one.The short story included at the end of the print and ebook versions is a look at Rayseline’s story immediately before Sleep No More. It was good! Very interesting to get Raysel’s POV.
Now on to The Innocent Sleep and Tybalt’s side of the story!
CW: faerie bigotry and blood (though if you’re squeamish about blood I’m not sure how you got this far into the series without passing out)
I received an ARC of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
charliemoo's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
katieinca's review against another edition
3.0
I love this series, but this was kind of a slog, especially the first couple chapters. You know that people have been messed with, and you start to sort out the details of how many people, whether it's just their memories, how much of the world, etc. But that becomes pretty clear early on, and you always know who's responsible, and you have a general sense of how it's going to be resolved. Meanwhile, Tybalt, who's usually delightful, is annoying.
accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition
5.0
So many complications! I had a great time but with the way it ended I'm wondering what the point of book 18 is.
b_m_thompson's review
adventurous
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0