Saturday, June 24, 2023

Week 25 Reviews: The Brightest Fell, Of Things Unknown, Night and Silence, Suffer a Sea-Change, The Unkindest Tide, Hope is Swift, A Killing Frost, Shine in Pearl, When Sorrows Come, And With Reveling, Be the Serpent, Such Dangerous Seas









From Goodreads:
For once, everything in October "Toby" Daye's life seems to be going right. There have been no murders or declarations of war for her to deal with, and apart from the looming specter of her Fetch planning her bachelorette party, she’s had no real problems for days. Maybe things are getting better. 

Maybe not. 

Because suddenly Toby's mother, Amandine the Liar, appears on her doorstep and demands that Toby find her missing sister, August. But August has been missing for over a hundred years and there are no leads to follow. And Toby really doesn't owe her mother any favors. 

Then Amandine starts taking hostages, and refusal ceases to be an option.

This is an April O'Leary Novella. In it, April, as well as her living mother Li Qin have finally come to terms with the need to deal with all of the dead left in the aftermath of the earlier events in Tamed Lightning. For this plan, they will need to call a certain Blood Worker by the name of October Daye to assist them.

From Goodreads:
The twelfth installment of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling Toby Daye urban fantasy series!

Things are not okay.

In the aftermath of Amandine's latest betrayal, October "Toby" Daye's fragile self-made family is on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Jazz can't sleep, Sylvester doesn't want to see her, and worst of all, Tybalt has withdrawn from her entirely, retreating into the Court of Cats as he tries to recover from his abduction. Toby is floundering, unable to help the people she loves most heal. She needs a distraction. She needs a quest.

What she doesn't need is the abduction of her estranged human daughter, Gillian. What she doesn't need is to be accused of kidnapping her own child by her ex-boyfriend and his new wife, who seems to be harboring secrets of her own. There's no question of whether she'll take the case. The only question is whether she's emotionally prepared to survive it.

Signs of Faerie's involvement are everywhere, and it's going to take all Toby's nerve and all her allies to get her through this web of old secrets, older hatreds, and new deceits. If she can't find Gillian before time runs out, her own child will pay the price. One question remains:

Who in Faerie remembered Gillian existed? And what do they stand to gain? No matter how this ends, Toby's life will never be the same. 

From Goodreads:
Follows Gillian's POV through some of the events of Night and Silence, and afterwards.

From Goodreads:
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.

Is she going to sink? Or is she going to swim?

From Goodreads:
When October is informed that Simon Torquill—legally her father, due to Faerie's archaic marriage traditions—must be invited to her wedding or risk the ceremony throwing the Kingdom in the Mists into political turmoil, she finds herself setting out on a quest she was not yet prepared to undertake for the sake of her future.... and the man who represents her family's past.

Toby's getting married! Now in hardcover, the fifteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

It's hard to be a hero. There's always something needing October "Toby" Daye's attention, and her own desires tend to fall by the wayside in favor of solving the Kingdom's problems. That includes the desire to marry her long-time suitor and current fiancé, Tybalt, San Francisco's King of Cats. She doesn't mean to keep delaying the wedding, it just sort of...happens. And that's why her closest friends have taken the choice out of her hands, ambushing her with a court wedding at the High Court in Toronto. Once the High King gets involved, there's not much even Toby can do to delay things...

...except for getting involved in stopping a plot to overthrow the High Throne itself, destabilizing the Westlands entirely, and keeping her from getting married through nothing more than the sheer volume of chaos it would cause. Can Toby save the Westlands and make it to her own wedding on time? Or is she going to have to choose one over the other?

Includes an all-new bonus novella!

Toby and Tybalt's wedding reception, and the blessing that they need to receive from their wedding guests. 

From Goodreads:
October Daye is finally something she never expected to be: 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.

My Review:
I wasn't planning on rereading these books. But I just read the 2 2023 October Daye releases, the joint story of Toby and Tybalt, and  I had to reread at least some of it. And I'm so glad that I did, because so much happens! 

These are the books where thing have really gotten serious. It starts with Toby being forced to look for her sister that she's only recently known about her existence, and it goes until Titiana pokes her head up and causes trouble. These are game changers in the world, and it was so great to read! 

I love how close that these characters have grown, the family that Toby has gathered around her. And how supportive and progressive they are. I love seeing Toby comment on how things are, how right or wrong it is, things that make commentary on life. 

So there's a few things that I would really like to see. Like Toby creating something to replace Home, for changelings to have a safe place to go. I want to see if the theories that I agree with, that Marcia is Maeve, is correct or not. And I'm pretty sure we're going to see why Faerie needs Seers-I need to see why! 

This series is just so fantastic, and I can't wait for more! 

Author: Seanan McGuire
Series: October Daye #11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, 13, 13.5, 14, 14.5, 15, 15.5, 16, 16.5
First Read: June 27th, 27th, 2017, September 5th, 5th, 2018, June 24th, 24th, 2019, June 24th, 24th, 2022
Second Read: July 29th, 29th, 29th, 29th, 31st, 31st, 2018, April 16th, 16th, 2019, March 4th, 4th, June 4th, 4th, 2020, September 14th, 14th 2021, June 12th, 12th, 2022
Read: June 18th, 18th, 18th, 18th, 19th, 19th, 20th, 20th, 21st, 21st, 21st, 21st, 2023
Source: Own, Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Rereading, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Books!
Publisher: Daw
Published: September 5th 2017, September 5th 2017, September 4th 2018, September 4th 2018, September 3rd 2019, September 3rd 2019, September 1st 2020, September 1st 2020, September 14th 2021, September 14th 2021, September 6th 2022, September 6th 2022

The Brightest Fell:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Of Things Unknown:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Night and Silence:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Suffer a Sea-Change:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








The Unkindest Tide: 
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Hope is Swift: 
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








A Killing Frost: 
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Shine in Pearl: 
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








When Sorrows Come:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








And With Reveling:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Be the Serpent:
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars








Such Dangerous Seas
5/5 Hearts
5/5 Books
5/5 Stars






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