Blodeuedd's Tuesday Review: The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire

 

Series: October Daye (#18)

Format: 419 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published: August 27, 2024 by DAW

UF/own

Did we really need Tybalt´s view? Eh, maybe not. I would honestly just had a new book and not the same story just from this pov. Sure it brought more to the story, the plight of the Cat Sidhe and everyone else not worthy.

Right, same story as in book 17 but here Tybalt is not under the illusion as the rest of the Fae and he must find his wife and set the world right.

It was still good.

For one bright, shining moment, Tybalt, King of Cats, had everything he had ever wanted. He was soon to set his crown aside; he had married the woman he loved; he was going to be a father. After centuries of searching for a family of his own, he had finally found a way to construct the life of his dreams, and was looking forward to a period of peace—or at least as much peace as is ever in the offing for the husband of a hero.

Alas for Tybalt and his domestic aspirations, fate—and Titania—had other ideas. His perfect world had been complete for only a moment when it was ripped away, to be replaced by hers. Titania, Faerie’s Summer Queen, Mother of Illusions and enemy of so many he holds dear, has seized control of the Kingdom, remaking it in her own image. An image which does not include meddlesome shapeshifters getting in her way. Tybalt quickly finds himself banished from her reality, along with the Undersea and the rest of the Court of Cats.

To protect his people and his future, Tybalt must find the woman he loves in a world designed to keep her from him, convince her that he’s not a stranger trying to ruin her life for no apparent reason, and get her to unmake the illusion she’s been firmly enmeshed in. And he’ll have to do it all while she doesn’t know him, and every unrecognizing look is a knife to his heart.

For Tybalt, King of Cats, the happily ever after was just the beginning.

B's Tuesday Review: Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire

Series: October Daye (#16)

Format: 400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published; August 1, 2023 by DAW

UF/own

I...I love Toby, but omg this is book 16, please let it end and let Toby have her peace. I took a look at the next two books and everything turns to hell for her.

And what can I say after 16 books?! An enemy shows up, one too big. Toby just got married! It has taken ages! And now blood will flow and, sigh, poor Toby.

I liked it, but at the same time I am getting tired of them

October Daye is finally something she never expected to married. All the trials and turmoils and terrors of a hero’s life have done very little to prepare her for the expectation that she will actually share her life with someone else, the good parts and the bad ones alike, not just allow them to dabble around the edges in the things she wants to share. But with an official break from hero duties from the Queen in the Mists, and her family wholly on board with this new version of “normal,” she’s doing her best to adjust.

It isn’t always easy, but she’s a hero, right? She’s done harder.

Until an old friend and ally turns out to have been an enemy in disguise for this entire time, and October’s brief respite turns into a battle for her life, her community, and everything she has ever believed to be true.

The debts of the Broken Ride are coming due, and whether she incurred them or not, she’s going to be the one who has to pay.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

ebook, 208 pages

Published January 12th 2021 by Tordotcom

Series: Wayward Children #6

Fantasy

Own

It was good, like the rest of the series, but it felt like it missed some magic. Maybe cos we didn't visit the school at all?.

Regan goes through a door to a land of centaurs, kelpies, unicorns and more. A land that says a human is there to save or doom them.

But yes not a lot happens in a way, she meets some centaurs, she befriends them (I still wonder about male centaurs, like what do they do? Sit around and spend money?) And then she must save the land, and well, the door always comes back....

I liked it, but yes it did lack some magic and explanations. 

Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late.

When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to "Be Sure" before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines―a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem…

B's Monday Review: Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Seanan McGuire

Series: Wayward Children, Book 5

Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 01-07-20

Language: English

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Portal fantasy

Library

Either this one was the worst one, or it was the fact that the author narrated. I just could not focus or be interested. And I adore this series. I never felt invested.

Blah blah adventure, Jill and Jack are back. Have to go back to the moors. I, yeah I was just not that invested. I love her books, but maybe her narrating just wasn't for me.

You can just skip this one in the series.

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children, she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister - whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice - back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Kindle Edition, 190 pages
Published June 13th 2017 by Tor.com
Series: Wayward Children #2
Fantasy novella
Own

Wohoo, free!! Thak you TOR.

I Liked book 1, and I liked this one. This one happens before book 1, and I had honestly forgotten what happened in that novella.

Jacqueline grows up a princess, Jillian grows up a tomboy, and they both start to chafe at the roles given by their parents. They are twins, yet so different.

Jack and Jill went up a hill, and all fell apart...

I liked where they ended up, it was dark. There are doors, and all those lost children around the world, might have fallen through those doors. And the other side is not always or ever pleasant.

Great novella! I need more

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children.

This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

B's Monday Review: The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Robinette Kowal

Series: October Daye, Book 13

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 10-22-19

Language: English

Publisher: Audible Studios
Uran fantasy
To review

My first Toby in audio! And omg, yes it worked great! I did feel like the last book was a filler, but this one was great, was it the audio? Maybe, or maybe because things started to happen again.

The Sea witch are calling all selkies to a final judgement, and in the last book Toby's daughter became one. So stakes are high.

Let's get back to the audio thing. I really enjoyed Robinette's narration. I might not have been the fondest of Tybalt, but then I guess I pictured him in another way (sexier *cough*) and now he was just so old timey, but hey I even grew to like it, because it is Tybalt after all. And the Luideag was very rough sounding, but still she almost brought tears to my eyes at one point. She put in so much emotion. All the feels. And Toby was just right. SO yes, great narration.

Back to the story. The selkies are scared. Duchess Dianda is in trouble when her brother comes sniffing around. Toby is in danger, as always (and omg, poor Toby!). I am disliking her daughter now, I get it, sure be angry, but Gillian is just cruel, so cruel.

A lot is happening and I could not stop listening. I have no idea how many hours I listened to today, it was a lot I tell you. A lot! I will definitely do the next on in audio. Everything is even greater in audio.

Hundreds of years ago, the Selkies made a deal with the sea witch: they would have the sea for as long as she allowed it, and when the time came, she would call in all their debts at once. Many people assumed that day would never come. Those people were wrong.

When the Luidaeg—October "Toby" Daye's oldest and most dangerous ally—tells her the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of the bargain, and that Toby must be a part of the process, Toby can't refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren't the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else. They will travel to the fabled Duchy of Ships and call a convocation of the Selkies, telling them to come and meet the Luidaeg's price...or face the consequences.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When Dianda Lorden's brother appears to arrest Dianda for treason against the Undersea, when a Selkie woman is stripped of her skin and then murdered, when everything is falling apart, that's when Toby will have to answer the real question of the hour.

Blodeuedd's Monday Review: The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire

Mass Market Paperback, 354 pages

Published August 28th 2018 by Daw Books (first published September 5th 2017)

Series: October Daye #11

UF

Own

My Thoughts:

I loved this book. She was back on her A game! I kind of feel I should give it a 5. Right! I mean I could not put it down. I made time for me to read it when I should have done other things cos I HAD TO FINISH! SO I am gonna be freaking nice, 5!

Gosh I love this series. Toby rocks!
F her mum!

She is sent on a quest with an enemy (whom I grew to understand.) And well I just could not put the book down. It was so exciting.

And I do want an end now, no more books. I love this series but I am always afraid it will start to stagnate. And I really want to see if they can bring Faery back and what happens if the big guys come back.

Great installment in this series!

Synopsis:

Things are slow, and October "Toby" Daye couldn't be happier about that. The elf-shot cure has been approved, Arden Windermere is settling into her position as Queen in the Mists, and Toby doesn't have anything demanding her attention except for wedding planning and spending time with her family.

Maybe she should have realized that it was too good to last.

When Toby's mother, Amandine, appears on her doorstep with a demand for help, refusing her seems like the right thing to do...until Amandine starts taking hostages, and everything changes. Now Toby doesn't have a choice about whether or not she does as her mother asks. Not with Jazz and Tybalt's lives hanging in the balance. But who could possibly help her find a pureblood she's never met, one who's been missing for over a hundred years?

Enter Simon Torquill, elf-shot enemy turned awakened, uneasy ally. Together, the two of them must try to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the Mists: what happened to Amandine's oldest daughter, August, who disappeared in 1906.

This is one missing person case Toby can't afford to get wrong. 

Book Review: In Sea-Salt Tears

Author: Seanan McGuire
Title: In Sea-Salt Tears (October Daye #5.1)
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Drama
Pages: ebook (only about 22 pages)
First Published: August 23rd, 2012
Where I Got It: Free online (at the author's website)

"It was 1972, and a teenage girl named Elizabeth Ryan thought that her world was coming to an end. Elizabeth was the daughter of two Selkies, you see, and she had just been passed up for a skin. But then a mysterious cousin who calls herself Annie appears, and Elizabeth finds other things to think about...

It can be easy to forget that worlds don't wait for heroes before they begin. It can be easy to forget that things happened before the lights came up and the story started. This is one of those things that happened: this is one of those tales that slipped through the cracks. It is the story of a girl named Elizabeth, and a girl named Annie, and what they were to one another, in the sight and sounding of the sea.

Maybe it isn't fair. But fairy tales never really are."

This is a short story, so things are going to happen, well...in short amount of times.

This was an interesting read. It was a weird and dark spin on mermaids, but it was pretty good. I liked the twist and I liked that it was a love story, but a tragic love story. I loved the references to Edgar Allen Poe (as you know I'm a sucker for that man and his stories/poems). 

Poor Annie....that is all I will say on that....

The only complaint I have is that I was confused from time to time. Especially when it came to the little girl at the end...WHERE THE HELL DID SHE COME FROM? Her mother is a lesbian and I don't recall her mother ever hooking up with a guy. I was baffled. Also, I do wish this was longer...it would make a great series. 

In conclusion, this was a nice and fun book. It was dark, but good. I loved the twist on the mermaid tale mixed with some good ol' Edgar Allen Poe. ^.^ Sorry this review isn't too long, but one can only say so much about a short story without giving away some major spoilers. Anyways...I shall recommend this for those that like short stories and mermaid tales. I shall stamp this with 4 stars. 

Favorite Character(s): Annie and Elizabeth
Not-so Favorite Character(s): No one really...everyone was a victim in some way