Book Review: SLEEP NO MORE

TITLE: Sleep No More (October Daye #17)

AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire

369 pages, DAW Books, ISBN 9780756416836 (hardcover; also e-book and audio)

MY RATING:  5 stars out of 5

MY THOUGHTS: Many, if not all, of us have wondered what our adult lives would be like if some important fact or event of our childhood had been different. It is not an unusual thing to daydream about even if we never discuss it with another person, but no matter how vivid our imagination we can never really know how that other life would play out. Time travel and the ability to peer into alternate Earths are not tools we currently possess. Luckily, they do exist in the worlds of fiction – along with many other ways for us to see what those other lives may have been like. One of those methods, a grand illusion that affects not just the Kingdom of Mists but the bordering kingdoms as well, was set in motion by the long-missing Titania, Queen of Faerie, at the very end of the sixteenth book in the October Daye series (Be the Serpent), and in book seventeen, Sleep No More, we get to experience the depth and breadth of that illusion. Which means we, along with our narrator Toby, get to see firsthand what Toby’s life would have been like had she been raised not just by her emotionally abusive and magically manipulative mother, but also by a father who loved her and with a doting older sister who didn’t go missing before October was born.

For long-time Toby fans, this book is a double-edged sword. It’s cool to see what a close relationship October and her sister August might have had if their lives had been a little different, or to see a Simon Torquill who never descended into evil as far as he did in the real world. It’s also painful to see how a Sylvester Torquill devoid of love and a Quentin absent Toby’s influence might have turned out. McGuire does a fantastic job of pacing out the reveals of how our series regulars are different with altered memories.

But all of that is balanced by the reader’s knowledge of the real world the characters are shielded from by Titania’s working, and the pain of watching Toby, and much of her extended family, come to realize that the real world needs to return, not because their lives were necessarily better in it but because if Titania succeeds in making her illusion world-wide and permanent things will get much, much worse.

Because make no mistake – Titania is a faerie Supremacist. She’s never liked the shapeshifters and part-animal descendant lines among the Fae, and she’s not very fond of changelings (half-human, half-fae) either. McGuire has never pulled her punches in expressing Titania’s unsavory qualities – but most of the time we’ve seen them, it’s been in novellas and short stories as opposed to on full display as the centerpiece of a novel. And of course, not everyone thinks Titania’s vision for Faerie is bad, which adds levels of complication for Toby and the few allies she has.

There are those who might question why, seventeen books into a series, we would need an entire book where our lead character is not herself. Could this have been done earlier or maybe not at all? I don’t think it could have been done earlier – Toby and her found family needed to be in a certain formation and at a certain point in their interpersonal development in order for this story to work. And so did the readers. Any earlier and the impact of a complacent Toby who accepts her place, who doesn’t recognize most of her loved ones would not be as effective. And I do believe this story needed to be told – while I have no insider information, I think the things Toby and her gang have learned about themselves by the end of this book will heavily inform their actions in upcoming books, for better or for worse.

There are so many moments I want to call out as effective character-building or relationship-changing moments or just really cool scenes – but they would all be spoilers. Suffice it to say that I cried once or twice, but also cheered. The final chapters are a whirlwind of action and emotion. And, for those concerned: NO CLIFFHANGER. Everything important is resolved. Which doesn’t mean there aren’t unanswered questions – it’s an on-going series, after all.

The book contains the usual bonus novella, this time narrated by Rayseline. I don’t want to say too much about it so as to not spoil certain moments in the main novel, but I will say this: while I am not a believer that every villain needs a tragic backstory followed by a redemption arc, I do think Rayseline, like Simon before her, deserves the redemption arc she is on. This novella is an excellent start to that, the events of the main novel notwithstanding.

Final note: The eighteenth book in the series, The Innocent Sleep, releases in October of this year, and tells many of the events of this book from the POV of Toby’s husband Tybalt. I’ll be posting my review of that close to, if not on, release date.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Sleep No More released September 5, 2023.

Book Review: BE THE SERPENT

TITLE: Be the Serpent (October Daye, Book 16)

AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire

368 pages, DAW Books, ISBN 9780756416867 (hardcover, e-book, audio)

MY RATING:  5 stars out of 5

SHORT REVIEW: Be the Serpent, the sixteenth book in the October Daye urban fantasy series, is everything Seanan McGuire promised it would be: a major game-changer for the characters, answering at least one long-standing mystery at the heart of the franchise, and at times utterly heart-breaking. It is also, in my opinion, the best entry in the series so far. Content warning for child death. This is the book that begins to answer the question of what really happened to the Queens of Faerie, and I found it to be a highly satisfactory reveal, totally in line with clues that have been dropped since almost the very beginning of the series.

LONGER REVIEW: Be the Serpent, the sixteenth book in the October Daye urban fantasy series, is everything Seanan McGuire promised it would be: a major game-changer for the characters, answering at least one long-standing mystery at the heart of the franchise, and at times utterly heart-breaking. It is also, in my opinion, the best entry in the series so far. Which is saying something considering how much I love these books.

Let’s start with a content warning: one of the inciting incidents of this book involves the death of a child. The death is handled with tact and care and is not gratuitous. It is absolutely necessary for the story to progress the way it needs to. The reader experiences the death at a slight remove (via Toby’s ability to “ride the blood” and see people’s memories), which blunts the pain a little bit – but it still hits hard, as it is meant to. McGuire is known for not killing characters just for shock value; every character who dies in the October Day series does so because the plot demands it or because their story is done and so every death counts regardless of whether the dead character is someone the readers liked or hated. This death is no different, it just feels worse because the victim is a child. So there you are: fair warning.

Every fourth book in this series is a “big one,” changing things irrevocably for Toby, her friends, and sometimes the world of Faerie at large. Very often, this has meant Toby gaining new information about the way Faerie works. One of the series’ long-standing mysteries is “What really happened to the Queens of Faerie, Maeve and Titania?” This book is the beginning of the answer to that question. This is something fans of the series have been speculating on almost since book one, with deeply considered theories and very strong opinions. Of course, I’m not going to spoil the reveal. Some people will love it, some will hate it; I found it highly satisfactory and totally in-line with all the clues McGuire has dropped in the preceding 15 books. And as heart-breaking as many fans assumed it would be. The death of a child may incite the action, but the big reveal and its aftermath are just as tear-inducing.

This is not to say the book is a depressing slog. Despite, or perhaps because of, the heartbreak, the book is fast-paced and exciting. Certain characters’ actions and behavior are infuriating (long time readers can probably guess who I’m referring to) and certain other characters’ responses are heartwarming. There’s the usual amount of humor sprinkled throughout as well – it’s not a Toby book if there isn’t some snarky banter among her found family and appropriate flirtatious tension between Toby and her Tybalt. There are also a few interesting developments for members of the supporting cast starting with the opening scene.

I’m posting this review far enough after the publication date that most fans of the series already know this, but ---SPOILER ALERT--- the book ends on a cliffhanger, the only entry in the series to do so. Sub-plots have carried over across books, but this is a real “oh my god, what’s going to happen” ending. The good news is the next book comes out in under a year and the author has a strict “no more than one cliffhanger per series (if any at all)” policy. So this will wrap up in the next novel, which I believe is titled These Violent Delights.

As is also standard now for the October Daye series (as well as McGuire’s Incryptid series), this book contains a stand-alone novella expanding on the lore of the world in some way. This time, we get another glimpse into the largely tragic life of the Luidaeg, better known as the Sea Witch. I love every story Seanan has written expanding on this character’s long life, and this one is no exception. Like the novel that precedes it, this is not an easy novella to read – it centers emotional abuse levied against the main character by her own family and it lays open wounds that the Luidaeg still hasn’t healed in the present day of the series – wound that may in fact never be healed. Seeing such a formative moment in her life play out is heart-wrenching for those of us who love her despite (or again, perhaps because of) how scary she is.

I received an advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This review is also very late. Be the Serpent published on August 30th, 2022.

Review of A KILLING FROST (October Daye Book 14)

TITLE: A Killing Frost (October Daye #14)

AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire

351 pages, DAW Books, ISBN 9780756415082 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook)

DESCRIPTION: (from the inside cover): 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. Also featuring an all-new novella!

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: I received an electronic Advance Reading Copy from DAW Books via NetGalley.

It should be obvious since I’m about to review the FOURTEENTH book in a series, but: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE OCTOBER DAYE SERIES! DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU ARE STILL READING EARLIER BOOKS AND DON’T WANT SOME BIG STUFF TO BE SPOILED FOR YOU!

Also, though, I am very much attempting to NOT spoil any of the big moments of this particular book. Because I don’t like writing reviews that spoil everything. But regardless, people should proceed with caution.

Okay, with the legalese out of the way…

A Killing Frost contains everything readers have come to expect from an October Daye Novel. There’s some adorable domesticity to start things off, then Toby gets a job/assignment/mission (verbiage dependent on who it is telling her to go do what needs doing) and then it’s pretty much pedal-to-the-metal action with occasional deep breaths to let the readers’ heart-rate (and Toby’s blood loss) slow down a bit right up to the big final scene where everything comes together.

But I’ll admit, Seanan had me scared for a little while. Things were moving so fast, and with such twists and complications thrown in Toby’s way, that I seriously thought this book was going to end on a major cliffhanger. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: I think after fourteen books (and a contract in place already to give us at least one more), Seanan has earned the right to maybe end a book with a Big Whopping Oh Shit Cliffhanger. There’s precedent, after all: Butcher’s done it twice now in the Dresden books, and Seanan has done it herself recently in her InCryptid series. BUT, in true Seanan style, the story takes one last swerve and boom – all is right with the world because the mission Toby starts the book with is more than fully wrapped up by the end. I will NOT be telling you HOW it gets wrapped up, but I will say this:

This book is a game-changer for the characters. Most of them don’t know it, but their world has just been rocked in an even larger way than the return of the Roane in The Unkindest Tide. And let’s face it: that was a pretty big change for the world Toby lives in. I really am excited to see reader response once they get to the end of this book and have time to process what this book means for the remainder of the series.

I think it’s also okay to reveal, since Seanan has said it on her Twitter, that the game-changing event of this book is not the big Toby-Tybalt Wedding. We get to wait at least another book for that. But we do get to see Toby and May discussing wedding dresses, and we get to see Toby’s internal monologue about marrying Tybalt (she never quite says they’ve gone from “frenemies to lover,” but she comes close). And of course there’s both romance and conflict between our star couple throughout the book. I love their banter and their more serious talks. I also love how Toby admires Tybalt in leather … I love Tybalt in leather myself … wait, where was I?

While Toby and Tybalt may act as we expect them to throughout the book, some other characters manage to surprise us, which is often not easy to do in a series as long as this one without the moment feeling contrived or out of character.  One of Seanan’s many strong points is her ability to give us unexpected character expansion at key moments without derailing the narrative. In A Killing Frost, for instance, there are three characters whose selfishness, which we’ve not seen before or at least not seen the depths of, propel the action of the book. The first selfish action kicks off Toby’s mission to find Simon Torquill (amnesiac and returned to his evil ways after earlier events) and comes from a man who has, up until now, been one of the most self-less and giving supporting characters of the series. He’s had some small moments where he emotionally put his family’s needs first, but nothing compared to this moment. It took me completely by surprise, even made me a bit angry (how dare he put Toby in this position?) until I thought about the character’s history as seen in stories on Seanan’s Patreon … and then his action made perfect sense to me. The second act of selfishness comes from a character we sort of expect it from by now – but the depths of her selfishness, the length she is willing to go to assuage her own pain, is what surprised me. It’s a heart-rending, brutal scene for Toby and for those with her in the moment. I wasn’t just angry as the scene ended, I had angry tears. But again, the behavior made perfect sense for the character once I had a chance to think about how she got to this point. The third character exhibiting unexpected selfishness never even appears in A Killing Frost, but her off-screen behavior is mentioned just often enough that I realized even after fourteen books, Seanan is still seeding in new sub-plots for the supporting characters.

There are also characters who behave exactly as selfishly as we have come to expect (Oh, Amandine…), characters who act exactly as self-less as we expect them too (Hi, May!), and characters who are as impulsive as we expect them to be (Quentin, dude…), so Seanan hasn’t turned the entire world upside down. But she has tilted it quite a bit. Even with all the action, there’s almost more than the usual humor and some time spent showing us romantic relationships outside of the Big Three. (For the record, I consider Toby-Tybalt, May-Jazz and Quentin-Dean to be the Big Three Romances of the series. Your mileage may vary) Plus, Spike the rose-goblin gets some great moments, and who can resist an adorable rose-goblin?

As is normal for the Toby Daye books now, the novel comes with a bonus novella at the back. These novellas usually tie to the main action in some way, so it’s not really a spoiler to say that this one focuses on Simon, Patrick and Dianda at a turning point in their lives back before the Great Earthquake wreaked havoc in the Kingdom of Mists. It’s a lovely three-character piece that tugs at the heart in a number of ways.