Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by mels_reading_rook
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
3.0
After losing fourteen years of her life as a fish, October Daye is finished with her career as a PI and is done working with the fae that lives among us. Or at least, that's what she would like. However, life has other plans as her old frenemy, Countess Evening Winterrose, curses her: discover who murdered her and why, or face her own death.
There is a lot to be liked about this book, but unfortunately, there was a lot I did not like as well. Let's begin with the good.
The underlying plot, being cursed into investigating the murder of a pureblood fae and the mystery that unfolded, was really interesting. I was invested in finding out the answers. The world is very interesting as well, learning how the fae molded their society and culture around ours when they arrived, the way the magic works, and how they keep themselves hidden from humans. October Daye is also an interesting character. She has lost everything twice, and at the beginning of this book, she is a broken person. When the main events of the book begin, she is forced to pick up the pieces of herself and confront some of the difficulties she has been avoiding. October is an interesting character with a lot of potential for growth, and by the end of the story, she's better than she was before but there is still room for more.
Amidst all the interesting stuff, however, were things that took me out of the story. A lot of the plot feels like setup for the rest of the series. October runs around meeting every single important person in the area, creating or collecting debts to be explored in the future. Each of these characters are introduced in quick succession, leaving very little breathing room time before being shuffled off to the next one. I had a hard time keeping all of them straight in my head. Also, there was a lot of references to October's time as a fish, and so often the characters would stop and reminisce about it or talk about what happened in her time after turning back into a person that the pacing suffered from it. Much of my issues with this book simply has to do with the amount of exposition being presented to the reader in such a short amount of time that my brain felt overcrowded with information.
Overall, this is a fun and quick urban fantasy read, and I think it is going to lead into a fun and interesting wider series.
There is a lot to be liked about this book, but unfortunately, there was a lot I did not like as well. Let's begin with the good.
The underlying plot, being cursed into investigating the murder of a pureblood fae and the mystery that unfolded, was really interesting. I was invested in finding out the answers. The world is very interesting as well, learning how the fae molded their society and culture around ours when they arrived, the way the magic works, and how they keep themselves hidden from humans. October Daye is also an interesting character. She has lost everything twice, and at the beginning of this book, she is a broken person. When the main events of the book begin, she is forced to pick up the pieces of herself and confront some of the difficulties she has been avoiding. October is an interesting character with a lot of potential for growth, and by the end of the story, she's better than she was before but there is still room for more.
Amidst all the interesting stuff, however, were things that took me out of the story. A lot of the plot feels like setup for the rest of the series. October runs around meeting every single important person in the area, creating or collecting debts to be explored in the future. Each of these characters are introduced in quick succession, leaving very little breathing room time before being shuffled off to the next one. I had a hard time keeping all of them straight in my head. Also, there was a lot of references to October's time as a fish, and so often the characters would stop and reminisce about it or talk about what happened in her time after turning back into a person that the pacing suffered from it. Much of my issues with this book simply has to do with the amount of exposition being presented to the reader in such a short amount of time that my brain felt overcrowded with information.
Overall, this is a fun and quick urban fantasy read, and I think it is going to lead into a fun and interesting wider series.