Week 22 Reviews: Sleep No More, Candles and Starlight

From Goodreads:

October is very happy with her life as the second daughter of her pureblood parents, Amandine and Simon Torquill. Born to be the changeling handmaid to her beloved sister August, she spends her days working in her family's tower, serving as August's companion, and waiting for the day when her sister sets up a household of her own. Everything is right in October's Faerie. Everything is perfect.

Everything is a lie.

October has been pulled from her own reality and thrown into a twisted reinterpretation of Faerie where nothing is as it should be and everything has been distorted to support Titania's ideals. Bound by the Summer Queen's magic and thrust into a world turned upside down, October has no way of knowing who she can trust, where she can turn, or even who she really is. As strangers who claim to know her begin to appear and the edges of Titania's paradise begin to unravel, Toby will have to decide whether she can risk everything she knows based on only their stories of another world.

But first she'll have to survive this one, as Titania demonstrates why she needed to be banished in the first place—and this time, much more than Toby's own life is at stake.

My Review:
I absolutely loved reading this book! After the ending of Be the Serpent, I needed to know how this story would go! That this reality that Titiana had created, and how it put Toby in this servile role to August, as sisters, because Toby's a changeling...it was infuriating! 

Tatiana is the basis of everything wrong with Faery. Sure, Oberon didn't make things better, but that's because he was clueless. Which is bad in its own right, that kind of neglect, but he didn't chose all these wrong things. I don't think Maeve, wherever she is, is causing this harm, but she hasn't done anything as of yet that says, I am Maeve, and I disapprove of this, I fight against this. And that first part is the key qualifier there. 

It was interesting to see Toby like this, it was almost like the first book, where she didn't know much about her magic. She does know that she's the daughter of a Firstborn, and that her talent lies with blood, she's just never been allowed to use it, let alone train with it. So watching her learn to use it again was really great! 

The thing is, that Toby made a life for herself, that she's very close with August, and there are good things and bad about what she knows about the true reality. But it was still hard, because seeing Tybalt, and knowing what he's worried about, that was hard to read! 

Loved how everything worked out! I'm so excited to see how this is going to affect things going forward. I mean, I think it's supposed to last that certain amount of time, but who knows? I love that we're getting another full length book this year and maybe it will go a bit further in time then this one, but I can't wait to see what happens next! 

The story of Candles and Starlight was really fantastic! I loved that we got to be in this character's head at this point in time, right before, and the aftermath of, Tatiana's created reality, and why things were the way they were when Toby and company collected them in the main story. 

Loved reading these stories, and I can't wait for Tybalt's story of this time! I just love this world and this series so much!  

Author: Seanan McGuire 
Series: October Daye #17, 17.5
Read: June 1st, 1st, 2023
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: I love her writing and this series, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Books, and Sleep No More is a WoW Book! 
Publisher: DAW
Expected Publication: September 5th 2023, September 5th 2023

Sleep No More:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Candles and Starlight:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars