New York Times-bestselling October Daye faerie series • Hugo Award-winning author Seanan McGuire • “Top of my urban-paranormal series list!” —Felicia DayContains an original bonus novella, Of Things Unknown!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 … 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.
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Seanan McGuire continues to be one of my favorite urban fantasy authors.
In this latest addition to the October Daye series, Toby faces the threat of losing the family she’s created for herself if she can’t bring the family she was born into (but wants no part of) back together.
Toby is a snarky, practical woman who is easy to empathize with in most situations. She is joined on this adventure by her squire, who readers of the series will already know well, and Simon — Toby’s ex-nemesis turned savior and sort of father figure. Most of the internal arc of this adventure is about Toby getting to know Simon better, and realizing that even good people can make terrible decisions. She herself questions how far she’d go, what travesties she’d commit, to save someone she loves.
Toby’s world is a mix of modern day San Francisco and the magical realms of faerie hidden just beyond mortal perception. McGuire blends those two realities seamlessly, creating a rich and truly unique setting.
The writing is smooth, fast-paced, and engaging, creating a compelling story that’s hard to put down.
Great series. Always something going on and love that the storyline came back to threads that were woven long before!
Not the best October Daye book. A bit boring. Still felt like it needed to be read. Call it 3.5 stars.
Much as I love the October Daye series, and I really do, this one seemed a bit forced. I still enjoyed it and had no trouble reading it quickly as always, but her past volumes did more to capture me. I felt as if this were a catch up volume; like she was bringing us up to speed with all the characters while making it a story as well. Between her mother, sister, enemy Simon and all that was done to Tybalt before they had a chance to get married, it really felt like a filler book rather than a continuation of the series. But even so, I still got to have my dose of her humor, and she did leave it with something to look forward to in the next book. I could never call one of her October Daye books bad, and I’m not going to start with this one. So, not knock me off my seat great, but still every bit worth the read!
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
This book starts with a bachelorette party. Toby didn’t want one, But she went anyway. Once she gets home, she gets a unexpected visitor. She was having a ok night, until her mother Amandine ransoms her fiance Tybalt and Jasmine. Now Toby is forced to find her sister, who went missing in 1906. Toby has no choice but to go to Simon Torquill for help. Hopefully he still don’t want to kill her.
I just love this series… The latest installment (and the first in hardcover) doesn’t disappoint. October’s life is never what anyone would call ordinary (or quiet), but in this latest (the 11th book in the series), things take a rather dramatic turn that begins to tie in some of the dangling loose bits that have been threaded throughout the series. It never ceases to amaze me how authors like McGuire (and Jim Butcher, in his amazing Dresden Files) manage to keep hold of so many story lines and characters and plot directions and work them into, over, and through a dozen (or more) books – never leaving anything hanging for too long, never quite tying all the ends off, always leaving room for more intertwining and entanglement… It makes the books so much more entertaining, and makes re-reading almost as enjoyable as diving in for the first time, because there’s nearly always some “Aha!” moment that you don’t catch the first time ’round because you haven’t yet seen behind the curtain. I can’t imagine keeping it all straight over years and years of writing – but I’m oh-so-glad they not only can but do, because it makes for fantastic reading!
Another well-written and thought out October Daye book. However, I feel as if everyone is almost in a time-bubble. Little things happen but after 11 books, many of the people are stuck in the same place as after book 5…..