A review by jayshay
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

2.0

I doubt if I'd go on to the next book in the series. October Daye wasn't that interesting of a character and she didn't do enough in this book to engage me.

The characters surrounding her were also pretty flat. Maybe it is the whole fae thing. The problem with having a book populated with other-worldly beings is that you might leave some human readers behind. Thought that Devine her old abuser was an asshole who exploited and fucked teenagers and that didn't change over the course of the book which is fine - but it also contributed to a pretty unexciting book overall. Yeah, it is funny that the most distasteful character was the one that actually stands out for me.

I like the idea of changlings (part human-part fae) being an underclass of the fae, but I didn't really get an emotional engagement. Perhaps it is seeing things through the emotionally damaged grey view of October that made the book so... blah.

The pacing of the book is that picaresque wandering mystery thing, something that again I really need intersting/fun/engaging characters to get through happily. With my painfully slow reading speed I noticed how slow the book felt.

***Oh, I won't fault this book for this, cause it is slightly older, but I might be getting slightly sick of San Francisco in books. I love San Francisco but it seems like it is getting overused in books. At the very least you really need to bring your A game to make it stand out from all the other authors who layer on San Fran window dressing.***

McGuire is a good writer and I will look for some else of hers to try. Maybe something that is a complete story in itself? Or just a different genre perhaps - though I think her other genre might be horror and I'm not into that. Oh well, such a big book universe, so many authors!