Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by catalogthis
Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
1.0
October "Toby" Daye is a half-human, half-faerie changeling living in modern day San Francisco with her human (and faerie-oblivious) boyfriend and their mostly-human kid. The novel begins with a prologue: in 1995, Toby is trying to solve the mysterious kidnapping of a faerie Duke's wife and daughter. She bumbles into a trap set by the perps, and ends up cursed to live as a fish in a koi pond in Golden Gate Park. For fourteen years. Sounds like a good beginning, right? Magic, mystery, intrigue...
We are re-introduced to Toby about 6 months after her de-enchantment. She's itching to get revenge on the people who put the carp in her diem, solve the 14-year-old kidnapping mystery, and reunite with her family.
Except, no. She's not itching to do any of that. She's working the night shift in a convenience store and avoiding everything to do with her former life. She ends up investigating a murder mystery which has no apparent connection to any of the events in the prologue. (And by the way, I don't know how she ever got her private investigator's license, because most of her investigative techniques seem to involve little more than getting knocked unconscious.) Even here, in the urgent pursuit of a killer, there are buckets and buckets of backstory mucking up the plot rather than contributing to it.
Overall, the balance between backstory and this-story felt lopsided to me. Too much tell, not enough show. Recommended only for people who prefer to spell fairy as faerie.
We are re-introduced to Toby about 6 months after her de-enchantment. She's itching to get revenge on the people who put the carp in her diem, solve the 14-year-old kidnapping mystery, and reunite with her family.
Except, no. She's not itching to do any of that. She's working the night shift in a convenience store and avoiding everything to do with her former life. She ends up investigating a murder mystery which has no apparent connection to any of the events in the prologue. (And by the way, I don't know how she ever got her private investigator's license, because most of her investigative techniques seem to involve little more than getting knocked unconscious.) Even here, in the urgent pursuit of a killer, there are buckets and buckets of backstory mucking up the plot rather than contributing to it.
Overall, the balance between backstory and this-story felt lopsided to me. Too much tell, not enough show. Recommended only for people who prefer to spell fairy as faerie.