Blog Tour: The Brightest Fell

I’m so excited to be taking part in the blog tour for The Brightest Fell, the eleventh installment in the October Daye urban fantasy series by Seanan McGuire.

You can see my glowing review for the book here. 

Today I bring you a Q&A with the author, as well as an excerpt from the upcoming book, which releases on September 5th, 2017.

Q&A with Seanan McGuire

There are so many details and twists revealed throughout the series – did you plot them all out back when you were working on Rosemary & Rue, or make it up as you went along?

Both.  What I call the “big picture” has been plotted since the beginning, but I try to let everything else flux and breathe as necessary.  I’ve grown as a writer since the series started, and I have to leave myself room to keep improving.

How was the experience of writing this book, now that you’re 11 (amazing!) books in? Is it easier to slip back in to a familiar world, or more difficult to keep the momentum going?

It’s honestly easier to slip back into a familiar world.  I’m better at writing that many words in a row, and returning to Toby is always like coming home.

Without spoilers, can you describe a little about the book in terms of what it means for our characters, Toby in particular – especially in terms of the ultimate endgame?

No, I really can’t.  The endgame is still coming into focus for most characters—and most readers—and if I say “here is the thing that is important,” suddenly everyone’s attention shifts.  It’s better to read for yourself!

Your supporting cast are all so vivid, and the many novellas you’ve written to supplement the series are testament to that. I get the impression that there’s so much more of the universe/character stories that for obvious reasons can’t make it into the final cut?

The books are inherently limited to what Toby sees.  We’ve started doing the novellas in part because people don’t stay frozen when she’s not looking—they move and grow and change, and I don’t want that to be confusing for readers.  So we’re starting to widen what we see a little bit, to make things easier to follow.

Which character is the most fun to write? (Or write about? Spike always makes me chuckle, for one!)

Most fun to write is, thankfully, Toby.  It would be awful if she didn’t make me happy, given that I’m sort of stuck with her for the foreseeable future.  Good thing I love her so much.

Excerpt

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell .—William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

THE FETCH IS ONE of the most feared and least understood figures in Faerie. Their appearance heralds the approach of inescapable death: once the Fetch shows up, there’s nothing that can be done. The mechanism that summons them has never been found, and they’ve always been rare, with only five conclusively identified in the last century. They appear for the supposedly significant—kings and queens, heroes and villains—and they wear the faces of the people they have come to escort into whatever awaits the fae beyond the borders of death. They are temporary, transitory, and terrifying.

My Fetch, who voluntarily goes by “May Daye,” because nothing says “I am a serious and terrible death omen” like having a pun for a name, showed up more than three years ago. She was supposed to foretell my impending doom. Instead, all she managed to foretell was me getting a new roommate. Life can be funny that way.

At the moment, doom might have been a nice change. May was standing on the stage of The Mint, San Francisco’s finest karaoke bar, enthusiastically bellowing her way through an off- key rendition of Melissa Etheridge’s “Come to My Window.” Her live-in girlfriend, Jazz, was sitting at one of the tables closest to the stage, chin propped in her hands, gazing at May with love and adoration all out of proportion to the quality of my Fetch’s singing.

May has the face I wore when she appeared. We don’t look much alike anymore, but when she first showed up at my apartment door to tell me I was going to die, we were identical. She has my memories up to the point of her creation: years upon years of parental issues, crushing insecurity, abandonment, and criminal activities. And right now, none of that mattered half as much as the fact that she also had my absolute inability to carry a tune.

“Why are we having my bachelorette party at a karaoke bar again?” I asked, speaking around the mouth of the beer bottle I was trying to keep constantly against my lips. If I was drinking, I wasn’t singing. If I wasn’t singing, all these people might still be my friends in the morning.

Of course, with as much as most of them had already had to drink, they probably wouldn’t notice if I did sing. Or if I decided to sneak out of the bar, go home, change into my sweatpants, and watch old movies on the couch until I passed out. Which would have been my preference for how my bachelorette party was going to go, if I absolutely had to have one. I didn’t think they were required. May had disagreed with me. Vehemently. And okay, that had sort of been expected.

What I hadn’t expected was for most of my traitorous, backstabbing friends to take her side. Stacy—one of my closest friends since childhood—had actually laughed in my face when I demanded to know why she was doing this to me.

“Being your friend is like trying to get up close and personal with a natural disaster,” she’d said. “Sure, we have some good times, but we spend half of them covered in blood. We just want to spend an evening making you as uncomfortable as you keep making the rest of us.”

Not to be outdone, her eldest daughter, Cassandra, had blithely added, “Besides, we don’t think even you can turn a karaoke party into a bloodbath.”

All of my friends are evil.

As my Fetch and hence the closest thing I had to a sister, May had declared herself to be in charge of the whole affair. That was how we’d wound up reserving most of the tables at The Mint for an all-night celebration of the fact that I was getting married. Even though we didn’t have a date, a plan, or a seating chart, we were having a bachelorette party. Lucky, lucky me.

My name is October Daye. I am a changeling; I am a knight; I am a hero of the realm; and if I never have to hear Stacy sing Journey songs again, it will be too soon.

So there you have it, my lovelies. And if you are not up to date with this awesome UF series, might I suggest beginning your journey with the first book, Rosemary & Rue?

Review: The Brightest Fell (October Daye #11) – Seanan McGuire

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. 

Rating: 4/5

I think it speaks to the sheer quality and entertainment value of this series that ELEVEN books in I still eagerly anticipate each installment, and delve into all the short story extras that McGuire blesses us with. Of course, being eleven books in, it also gets subsequently harder and harder to review without giving away plot spoilers from earlier books, but try I will.

We start out with some delightful scenes of domesticity – Toby and her bachelor party, with some acquaintances you’d never believe would belt out karaoke hits on a public stage – but this is Toby’s world, and nothing in it ever fits the definition of what constitutes as ‘normal’. Also, the interaction between Tybalt and Raj when Toby finally makes it home just melted my stone cold heart.

But then, there is a knock on the door. And everything takes a sudden turn for the worse. Mother dearest has come calling – one of the firstborn, far more powerful than Toby, and fairly merciless, like most of her kin. She makes no bones about the fact that Toby is the lesser daughter, living in the shadow of her missing elder sister, August. After the years of mistreatment at the hands of her mother, Toby naturally refuses to help. Bad move. This displeases Amandine, and she takes two hostages, people close to Toby, and refuses to release them until October returns with her missing sister.

No mean feat, of course. It’s not like others haven’t tried to find her in the decades that have passed. One thing that wasn’t clear, at least at this point in the story, is Amandine’s motivation for pitching up at Toby’s door now. Is she just a sadist? Impatient? Knows that October is now powerful enough to perhaps attempt, and even succeed at such a task?

This is as far as I’ll go describing the plot, and leave the rest for you October Daye fans to discover. Suffice to say, she is forced to co-operate, however unwillingly, with a former enemy from her past on the journey to hunt down August, while her usual sidekicks take a backseat in this novel.

I think I get a sense of where the endgame is going – but of course, I could be entirely wrong! I really love how meticulously plotted the series as a whole is – details from earlier books which suddenly reveal their relevance in later sequels.

And while I know that series ultimately have to end at some point, especially because they eventually start to diminish in quality (although McGuire has maintained her form here!), I will still be sad to leave the world of October Daye. I’m overjoyed to know we have at least two more books to look forward to.

Free copy received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: White Hot & Wildfire (Hidden Legacy 2 & 3) – Ilona Andrews

Book 2:

Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she’s used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family’s detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor “Mad” Rogan.

Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice.

&

Book 3:

Just when Nevada Baylor has finally come to accept the depths of her magical powers, she also realizes she’s fallen in love. Connor “Mad” Rogan is in many ways her equal when it comes to magic, but she’s completely out of her elements when it comes to her feelings for him. To make matters more complicated, an old flame comes back into Rogan’s life…

Rogan knows there’s nothing between him and his ex-fiance, Rynda Sherwood. But as Nevada begins to learn more about her past, her power, and her potential future, he knows she will be faced with choices she never dreamed of and the promise of a life spent without him.

As Nevada and Rogan race to discover the whereabouts of Rynda’s kidnapped husband and are forced to confront Nevada’s grandmother, who may or may not have evil motives, these two people must decide if they can trust in each other or allow everything to go up in smoke.

Rating: 4/5

This is a combined review for books 2 and 3, since I read them one after the other in a matter of days, so it’s hard to disentangle my thoughts of one from the other.

Ilona Andrews are one of my go-to authors. They’re reliable, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I know I’m set for a good time – action, romance, some smut, interesting worldbuilding, humour… it’s the whole package!

I finally understood why he was called Mad Rogan. It wasn’t because he was insane. It was because he drove you nuts with sheer frustration.

I have to say though – the covers for this series are utterly cringeworthy. I know the authors have no control over them, but hot damn. I would be embarrassed to whip them out in public. (Yes, I’m a cover snob. Working on it.)

It was a rather long wait for the continuation of the series, but I truly did enjoy the next two installments, and dare I say it, the epilogue of book 3 certainly left room for more.

“Don’t be mean. He had one social network account.”
“Oh?”
“Pinterest.”
“Tell me it’s porn. Please.”
“He saved pictures of mushrooms to it,” Cornelius said helpfully from the backseat. 

So what did I like about Hidden Legacy?

• The worldbuilding. Finding out about the different powers, the hierarchies and the houses. How they work, the limitations, and the society in which they navigate.
• The family dynamics. This is something the duo are consistently good at, across all their work. I really enjoyed the relationship Nevada has with her various relatives (barring one grandmother, for reasons which will become obvious when you read the books!)
• The characters. You know it’s good when you want to know more about all the supporting cast as well. Nevada’s siblings/cousins reveal their own abilities,  which is interesting to witness, and there are a couple of major players who also have me intrigued.
• Le romance. Because I like me some UST (which soon became very, uh, resolved) and happy endings (pun oh so absolutely intended). I love the push-pull between Nevada and Rogan, along with their glorious banter. I also like that Nevada pushes back, and refuses to be coddled.
• The plot. Having to unravel mystery after mystery, while avoiding death, dealing with shady characters and unlikely bedfellows, and keeping friends and family safe.

“I can’t believe I have to say this. You there, dashing male secretary! Drop the frying pan.”

Some of the conspiracies felt a little weak, especially since we don’t get a resolution as to the real mastermind behind the plot that began all the way in book 1. Also, the romance/smut did get a bit cheesy at times. But that wasn’t enough to dampen my, uh, enjoyment (terrible pun entirely UNINTENDED!).

I’m going to stop now before this gets any worse.

ARC of Wildlife received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication. 

Review: Etched in Bone (The Others #5) – Anne Bishop

After a human uprising was brutally put down by the Elders—a primitive and lethal form of the Others—the few cities left under human control are far-flung. And the people within them now know to fear the no-man’s-land beyond their borders—and the darkness…

As some communities struggle to rebuild, Lakeside Courtyard has emerged relatively unscathed, though Simon Wolfgard, its wolf shifter leader, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn must work with the human pack to maintain the fragile peace. But all their efforts are threatened when Lieutenant Montgomery’s shady brother arrives, looking for a free ride and easy pickings.

With the humans on guard against one of their own, tensions rise, drawing the attention of the Elders, who are curious about the effect such an insignificant predator can have on a pack. But Meg knows the dangers, for she has seen in the cards how it will all end—with her standing beside a grave.

Rating 3/5

This series started out as one of my favourites, but Etched in Bone was a let down for me. My first complaint is similar to that of many other reviewers who read this book – this final installment feels more like a long, drawn out epilogue, where the plot really had nothing much to do with the arc of books 1-4. There was very little action, and it felt more like a character study of sorts. In short, it felt disconnected from the rest of the series, seeing as the great defeat, as it was, occurred in book 4.

I could, however, have put up with that – since I really do enjoy the characters and this particular urban fantasy world – if it wasn’t for the whole ‘traditional gender roles’ thing. I mentioned it in my review for book 4, when it finally came to my attention, but it was really prominent, front and centre in book 5, and grated on my nerves no end.

Of course, it’s the author’s book and she can do what she damn well pleases. But when you are creating an amazing urban fantasy world, where you don’t have to conform to the conventions of our current society…and you bring in the same old tired gender dynamics? Quite frankly, that’ s just bad craft.

Of the ‘powerful’ characters, we have an entire cast of men, and only two women – Nyx and Tess. (On my review of the previous book, a Goodreads commenter tried to refute my issue with the lack of representation of strong women by pointing out these two – congratulations for pointing out the exceptions THAT PROVE THE RULE?!)

And of course, ‘strong’ doesn’t necessarily mean physically strong. Plenty of the human women display qualities of mental strength, for instance. But when they are all cardboard cutouts of the other, in need of protection, squeaky and shrieky  and constantly chattering, with one lone soul going against the grain…well, I’m less than impressed. I did think I was reading too much into it, but the author makes it explicit in this book that her world conforms to the ‘women’s work and men’s work’ paradigm. And there’s really no reason for this? When you’re in a world with beings who could crush you with a breath of air, and we’re still saying women should do the cooking?

It may have been cute and funny in the beginning to have Meg’s crew of female companions described as ‘exploding fluffballs’ or whatever, but 5 books in and it’s a tad insulting. There are just so many examples here:

• When Officer Debany finds out his sister may be living with a guy, and he freaks out, asking Simon and co to investigate
• The men being the only ones who are capable of offering protection
• “Twenty-four men to work on the ranges and deal with the horses and cattle, and five women who will tent the ranch houses and cook”;
• “Simon breathed in her scent and thought she might be in season. That would explain the snappishness.” Because haha, women are cranky on their periods, get it? We can’t have any rational reason for our bad moods.

Also, “This could be nothing more than a somewhat introverted child wanting to feel settled. Or she could be in real danger of being pimped by her own brother.” But yes, we’re totally going to wait for a child to be sexually assaulted before we intervene because the higher powers want to observe dodgy human behavior. I can’t even.

So yes. My issues with this book detracted from my enjoyment. I thought this series had so much potential, and I was really invested in the supporting characters, the fantasy elements and the relationship between Meg and Simon, but we got very little of any of those.

Mini Reviews: Magic for Nothing (InCryptid #6) – Seanan McGuire + The Burning Page (The Invisible Library #3) – Genevieve Cogman

Improbable, adjective:
1. Not very likely to happen; not probable.
2. Probably not a very good idea anyway.
3. See also “bad plan.”

As the youngest of the three Price children, Antimony is used to people not expecting much from her. She’s been happy playing roller derby and hanging out with her cousins, leaving the globe-trotting to her older siblings while she stays at home and tries to decide what she wants to do with her life. She always knew that one day, things would have to change. She didn’t think they’d change so fast.

Annie’s expectations keep getting shattered. She didn’t expect Verity to declare war on the Covenant of St. George on live television. She didn’t expect the Covenant to take her sister’s threat seriously. And she definitely didn’t expect to be packed off to London to infiltrate the Covenant from the inside…but as the only Price in her generation without a strong resemblance to the rest of the family, she’s the perfect choice to play spy. They need to know what’s coming. Their lives may depend on it.

But Annie has some secrets of her own, like the fact that she’s started setting things on fire when she touches them, and has no idea how to control it. Now she’s headed halfway around the world, into the den of the enemy, where blowing her cover could get her killed. She’s pretty sure things can’t get much worse.

Antimony Price is about to learn just how wrong it’s possible for one cryptozoologist to be. 

Rating: 4/5

Another entertaining instalment of Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series, a dazzlingly original and imaginative world of weirdly wonderful creatures, as well as weirdly wonderful family members – and the weird but less wonderful faction of purists that want to hunt them down.

This is the first time we are introduced to youngest sister Antimony (Annie), who feels pretty hard done by as a result of older sister Verity’s antics – essentially outing them to the entire world on live television. Annie ends up getting sent on a super dangerous mission to infiltrate the family’s enemies, due to the fact that she looks nothing like the rest of them.

It’s an enjoyable romp from start to finish, with some more serious moments thrown in, a hint of romance, and a dash of the delightful talking Aeslin mice. I particularly enjoyed the carnival setting in this one – the atmosphere was so authentically evoked.  While I prefer the author’s other UF series, October Daye, InCryptid is its light-hearted cousin with plenty of humour and a strong focus on family, persecution and subterfuge.

Maybe finding a body had been the icebreaker we needed. In which case, wow, was I staying the hell away from him. Some ice is not meant to be broken.

**

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication.

**

Librarian spy Irene has professional standards to maintain. Standards that absolutely do not include making hasty, unplanned escapes through a burning besieged building. But when the gateway back to your headquarters dramatically malfunctions, one must improvise. And after fleeing a version of Revolutionary France astride a dragon (also known as her assistant, Kai), Irene soon discovers she’s not the only one affected. Gates back to the Library are malfunctioning across a multitude of worlds, creating general havoc. She and Kai are tasked with a mission to St Petersburg’s Winter Palace, to retrieve a book which will help restore order.

However, such plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy – particularly when the enemy is the traitor Alberich. A nightmare figure bent on the Library’s destruction, Alberich gives Irene a tainted ‘join me or die’ job offer. Meanwhile, Irene’s old friend Vale has been damaged by exposure to Chaotic forces and she has no idea how to save him. When another figure from her past appears, begging for help, Irene has to take a good hard look at her priorities. And of course try to save the Library from absolute annihilation. Saving herself would be a bonus.

Irene’s adventures feature stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies – think Doctor Who but with librarian spies!

Rating: 4/5

I really love the concept of this series – librarian spies? Secret bookish organisation that spans worlds? And indeed, the world building has been well thought-out, in terms of how things can happen, when and why. And I definitely enjoyed this book more than its predecessor, mainly because we were back in the world of the library, discovering the ins-and-outs of Irene’s employer.

Irene is a delightful character. She comes across as quite stoic, but she is a professional to the core and will do whatever she needs to in order to get the job done, and bring home the people she loves safely. Sometimes these two elements are in opposition, in which case she prioritises the latter. And while Irene is bloody competent, she is perfectly willing to step back when necessary and let the person with the  required skill set get to work. No unnecessary dramatics from Irene. And that is not to say she doesn’t get emotional – many near-death experiences really put her through the wringer – but she is a loyal Librarian and friend to the core.

In this instalment, the Library, and Irene, are under threat from a former enemy who made his appearance in book one. It’s a race against time to try and preserve this institution from complete annihilation. Poor Irene just can’t catch a break, can she? It was great getting insight into the different factions as well – I have to say, I’m quite fond of the dragons:

Kai had explained, in tones of kindly condescension at human convention, that social gender among dragons was what the dragon in question said it was. And since Li Ming said he was male, then he was male. 

There were some romantic overtures in this one that came out of absolutely nowhere, at least in my opinion. Rather curious to see where it goes, since I had another ship in mind. But I’m absolutely open to polyamory as an option, so there’s always that! Another facet of the book I really enjoyed is how Kai, Irene and Vale work together to solve whatever obstacle they’re facing. Overall, knowing there are two more books in the series, I’m intrigued to see where Cogman takes our favourite trio and their extended crew in future instalments.

The only problem is that it’s difficult to imagine something entirely new. We use the words and definitions of the past to shape our ideas. Something that is genuinely the next evolutionary step is unlikely to resemble anything we can imagine. 

**

ARC received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication.

Mini reviews: The Perfect Stranger – Megan Miranda, Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day – Seanan McGuire

In the masterful follow-up to the runaway hit All the Missing Girls, a journalist sets out to find a missing friend, a friend who may never have existed at all.

Confronted by a restraining order and the threat of a lawsuit, failed journalist Leah Stevens needs to get out of Boston when she runs into an old friend, Emmy Grey, who has just left a troubled relationship. Emmy proposes they move to rural Pennsylvania, where Leah can get a teaching position and both women can start again. But their new start is threatened when a woman with an eerie resemblance to Leah is assaulted by the lake, and Emmy disappears days later.

Determined to find Emmy, Leah cooperates with Kyle Donovan, a handsome young police officer on the case. As they investigate her friend’s life for clues, Leah begins to wonder: did she ever really know Emmy at all? With no friends, family, or a digital footprint, the police begin to suspect that there is no Emmy Grey. Soon Leah’s credibility is at stake, and she is forced to revisit her past: the article that ruined her career. To save herself, Leah must uncover the truth about Emmy Grey—and along the way, confront her old demons, find out who she can really trust, and clear her own name.

Everyone in this rural Pennsylvanian town has something to hide—including Leah herself. How do you uncover the truth when you are busy hiding your own?

Rating: 3/5

But suicide season is the spring. My theory: The world sheds its layers, life springs anew- but you do not. Or you do, and you don’t like what you find.

Unremarkable. Which is unfortunate, since this is the first book of the author’s that I’ve read and I was expecting great things based on the praise for All the Missing Girls, but alas, it left me fairly unmoved. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy it, but it’s two weeks after I read it and it barely left an impression on me.

While I can appreciate books that aren’t all murderous action and take a more subtle approach, I felt that The Perfect Stranger went too far in the other direction – it was a little too underwhelming and understated.

I will say, however, that the author has a talent for evoking an extremely insidious, unsettling atmosphere in this novel, and showcases an extremely plausible case of just how easily an identity can be constructed.

Amazing how something that happened so long ago can feel so fresh. How it could come back to haunt you from nowhere – the innocuous ring of a telephone, the past come to call from the other end.

**

ARC received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication.

**

When her sister Patty died, Jenna blamed herself. When Jenna died, she blamed herself for that, too. Unfortunately Jenna died too soon. Living or dead, every soul is promised a certain amount of time, and when Jenna passed she found a heavy debt of time in her record. Unwilling to simply steal that time from the living, Jenna earns every day she leeches with volunteer work at a suicide prevention hotline.

But something has come for the ghosts of New York, something beyond reason, beyond death, beyond hope; something that can bind ghosts to mirrors and make them do its bidding. Only Jenna stands in its way.

Rating: 3.5/5

This was a rather haunting book, no pun intended. It’s a poignant and sensitively done tale with a focus on the theme of suicide – the ones left behind, and the ones who follow.

As usual, McGuire’s creative worldbuilding is on full display; a world of ghosts who can turn themselves tangible at will, and work their way to the other side by ‘stealing’ the time from humans until they reach their death-due date, as it were.

It’s certainly one of the more unique ghost stories that I’ve ever read, but with an emphasis on the very real ideas of community, penance and basic human kindness. And there’s an undercurrent of sadness, but it ends on a hopeful note, and Jenna is someone who you can’t help but root for.

People aren’t so good at being good to one another. We try hard enough, but something essential was left out in the making of us, some hard little patch of stone in the fertile soil that’s supposed to be our hearts. We get hung up on the bad, and we focus on it until it grows, and the whole crop is lost.

**

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication.

Review: One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #3) – Ilona Andrews

Dina DeMille may run the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, but she caters to a very particular kind of guest… the kind that no one on Earth is supposed to know about. Guests like a former intergalactic tyrant with an impressive bounty on her head, the Lord Marshal of a powerful vampire clan, and a displaced-and-superhot werewolf; so don’t stand too close, or you may be collateral damage. 

But what passes for Dina’s normal life is about to be thrown into chaos. First, she must rescue her long-distant older sister, Maud, who’s been exiled with her family to a planet that functions as the most lawless penal colony since Botany Bay. Then she agrees to help a guest whose last chance at saving his civilization could bring death and disaster to all Dina holds dear. Now Gertrude Hunt is under siege by a clan of assassins. To keep her guests safe and to find her missing parents, Dina will risk everything, even if she has to pay the ultimate price. Though Sean may have something to say about that!

Rating: 4/5

It was so wonderful to be back in this universe – the world building is utterly creative, and the concept of sentient homes continues to be my favourite, harking back to the days of Hogwarts castle. (Although the inn featured in this series is a lot less murderous.) While the book was released as a free online serial, anticipation is not my thing, so I decided to rather wait until the book was released and then binge read it in one sitting. Which is exactly what I did.

In this instalment, Dina has to weigh up the safety of herself, her inn and her business against saving a species hunted down to almost extinction. Her good heart wins out, of course, and the stage is set for a bloody war in her backyard.

“You’re up early, Your Grace.”

“It’s a lovely day and we’re under siege. People are trying to murder us.” Her eyes shone with excitement. “Isn’t it marvellous?”

Things I loved about this book:

1. Getting to see more of Dina’s family. Thus far, they’ve always been mentioned in the background, but in One Fell Sweep, we meet Dina’s sister Maud, and Maud’s daughter Helen.
2. Arland and Sean going from rivals to friends
3. The humour, as always.
4. Arland meeting his match. It was a tad instalovey, but *hand wavey motion* I’ll roll with it.
5. Sean and Dina taking things to the next level
6. More mysteries.
7. The sentiment and message beneath the action and banter was touching

“There are killings that are justified. Killing someone who is trying to kill you is self-defense. Killing a being who is suffering and is beyond help is mercy. Killing someone because you don’t like the way they look is murder. There is no room for murder in this inn.”

Horror of horrors, I thought this was a trilogy, but with THAT ending, I’m hoping there’s going to be more in the future…right?

Review: Mostly Void, Partially Stars (Welcome to Night Vale Episodes #1) – Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

From the authors of the New York Times bestselling novel Welcome to Night Vale and the creators of the #1 international podcast of the same name, comes a collection of episodes from Season One of their hit podcast, featuring an introduction by the authors, behind-the-scenes commentary, and original illustrations.

In June of 2012, the creators of Welcome to Night Vale began airing twice-weekly podcasts. By the anniversary show a year later, the fanbase had exploded, vaulting the podcast into the #1 spot on iTunes. Since then, its popularity has grown by epic proportions, hitting more than 100 million downloads, and Night Vale has expanded to a successful live multi-cast international touring stage show and a New York Timesbestselling novel. Now the first two seasons are available as books, offering an entertaining reading experience and a valuable reference guide to past episodes.

Mostly Void, Partially Stars introduces us to Night Vale, a town in the American Southwest where every conspiracy theory is true, and to the strange but friendly people who live there.

Mostly Void, Partially Stars features an introduction by creator and co-writer Joseph Fink, behind-the-scenes commentary and guest introductions by performers from the podcast and notable fans, including Cecil Baldwin (Cecil), Dylan Marron (Carlos), and Kevin R. Free (Kevin) among others. Also included is the full script from the first Welcome to Night Vale live show, Condos. Beautiful illustrations by series artist Jessica Hayworth accompany each episode.

Mostly Void, Partially Stars is an absolute must-have whether you’re a fan of the podcast or discovering for the first time the wonderful world of Night Vale. 

Rating: 4/5

And listeners: Night Vale is an ancient place, full of history and secrets, as we were reminded today. But it is also a place of the present moment, full of life, and of us. If you can hear my voice, speaking live, then you know: We are not history yet. We are happening now, How miraculous is that?

Utterly bizarre yet somehow surprisingly profound and interspersed with philosophical gems , this collection is a must for fans of the podcast. I basically read this entire thing with the gloriously deep, sonorous tones of the audio narrator, Cecil, in my head, which made for an interesting experience.

In breaking news, the sky. The earth. Life. Existence as an unchanging plain with horizons of birth and death in the faint distance. 

It’s the kind of weird that you just have to roll with – it’s all presented so matter-of-factly. You can tell the creators had a helluva lot of fun letting their imaginations run wild, but they somehow make it work. And despite ominous glowing clouds and secret government agencies and conspiracies galore, the inhabitants of this strange little town face dilemmas we too can identify with – love, loss and the existential nature of life.

And really, I think it’s appropriate that I let the genius of Night Vale speak for itself, pardon the pun:

• The past is gone and cannot harm you anymore. And while the future is fast coming for you, it always flinches first and settles in as the gentle present. This now? This us? We can cope with that. 
• And night falls on you too. You too have survived, survived everything up to this moment. 
• May you, too, find love in this dark desert. May it be as permanent as the blinking lights and as comforting as the dull roar of space. 
• And we are healing. Those of us, whoever we are, who survived. Those others of us, whoever we are, who conquered. Whoever you are now, you are home. We are home, Night Vale. 
• We are all poetry, Night Vale. Every breath or branch or sigh before another hopeless night of uneasy slumber is itself a verse in a great poem. 
• We are in a moment that is still falling, still volatile, and we will never be anywhere else. We will always be in that most dangerous, most exciting, most possible time of all: the now, where we can never know what shape that next moment will take. 
• The present tense of regret is indecision.

From the weird one-liner intros that set the scene, to the hilariously solemn adverts, completely out-there news stories, the weather in the form of a song,  unspeakably beautiful conclusions and witty proverbs, Welcome to Night Vale is certainly an experience in creativity, and I’m so glad I have this collection to remind me of some of my favourite moments from the podcast.

There’s a thin, semantic line separating weird and beautiful, and that line is covered in jellyfish. 

Review: Once Broken Faith (October Daye #10) – Seanan McGuire

Politics have never been October “Toby” Daye’s strong suit. When she traveled to the Kingdom of Silences to prevent them from going to war with her home, the Kingdom of the Mists, she wasn’t expecting to return with a cure for elf-shot and a whole new set of political headaches. 

Now the events she unwittingly set in motion could change the balance of modern Faerie forever, and she has been ordered to appear before a historic convocation of monarchs, hosted by Queen Windermere in the Mists and overseen by the High King and Queen themselves. 

Naturally, things have barely gotten underway when the first dead body shows up. As the only changeling in attendance, Toby is already the target of suspicion and hostility. Now she needs to find a killer before they can strike again—and with the doors locked to keep the guilty from escaping, no one is safe. 

As danger draws ever closer to her allies and the people she loves best, Toby will have to race against time to prevent the total political destabilization of the West Coast and to get the convocation back on track…and if she fails, the cure for elf-shot may be buried forever, along with the victims she was too slow to save. 

Because there are worse fates than sleeping for a hundred years.

Rating: 4/5

I think it’s fairly obvious to long-time readers of my blog that I’m a giant fan of Seanan McGuire. I adore the sheer scope of her crazy wonderful imagination. She’s given me one of my favourite urban fantasy series (and couples!) of all time. She’s a writing machine, with an extensive list of titles and series behind her. I appreciate the diversity that she incorporates into her books. I highly respect, and applaud, this blog post of hers, where she outlines exactly why her female characters won’t be raped to meet some people’s warped ideas of “realism”. (If you haven’t read that post yet, do it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.)

Furthermore, once you get so far in a series, and invested in the characters and the world that you inhabit, it gets to the point where you’d be happy to read 300 pages of your faves sitting around eating breakfast, or something equally as mundane. So I fully declare myself a biased reviewer at this point. Of course, this is the world of Toby Daye: changeling, hero of the realm, affianced to a shape-changing cat, secretly squired to by the heir of the kingdom, living with her death omen… things are never destined to be quiet for too long.

But the tenth book in this series starts out with one of this delightful mundane slices-of-life that we fans covet so much – Toby arranging a slumber party for her teenage squire and acquaintances, a chance for them all to be normal and forget the responsibilities of life for a few short hours. And then, of course, Things Get Real, and Toby is forced into the world of pureblood protocol and politics, a direct result of the discovery during the events of the previous book. But alas! There is murder! Mayhem! Mystery! And some unfortunate near-death experiences, as is par for the course.

“What happened?” she asked.
“The same thing that always happens,” I said. “We were having a perfectly nice evening until it got ruined by a corpse.”

What I like about Toby’s character is that even as she’s become pretty much indestructible over the course of the series – it comes with a price – pain. Not that I’m a sadist, or anything, but it makes a refreshing change from the heroines who can instantly shake off some kind of injury that would fell the rest of us mere mortals and continue on as if nothing has happened.

Without giving away too much of the plot of this instalment, fans can rest assured the series is continuing on strong. We get more insight into some of our regular favourite characters, along with the appearance of some new players. Toby and Tybalt continue to make my heart flutter without becoming boring. While this book wasn’t a game-changer, the Luidaeg certainly hints at a major role that Toby will be playing in the grand scheme of things, a role that will directly affect our favourite snarky fearsome sea witch.

“When you decide it’s time to make enemies, you don’t fuck around,” said the Luidaeg. “I’ve always respected that about you.”

Finally, I must mention that I adore the Shakespeare-inspired titles. Long live the Bard! If you haven’t checked out this series, and you enjoy urban fantasy, do give it a chance. There’s tons of snark, creative world building, and fallible but lovable characters.

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication. 

Review: Chaos Choreography – Seanan McGuire

Fifth book in Seanan McGuire’s funny and fast-paced urban fantasy InCryptid series featuring ballroom dancer and monster expert Verity Price.

Verity Price is back on the West Coast and getting back into the swing of the family business: cryptozoology. She’s rescuing cryptids from bad situations, protecting them from monster-hunters, and generally risking life and limb for the greater good, with her ex-Covenant partner/husband, Dominic, by her side. Her ballroom dance career is behind her—or so she thinks. When Verity gets the call from the producers of Dance or Die, the reality show she almost won several years before, she finds the lure impossible to resist, and she and Dominic are off to L.A. for one last shot at the big time.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When two contestants turn up dead, Verity will need every ally she can find with the investigation, without blowing her cover…

Rating: 3.5/5

“Ah, yes; I’d missed this phase in our relationship. The intrigue. The subterfuge. The frequent need for tetanus shots.”

Seanan McGuire has a crazy wonderful imagination, as evidenced by her huge body of work in completely different, original settings. She’s become one of my favourite authors, primarily due to her October Daye urban fantasy, which just hits all the right buttons. Her Incryptid series, while not my favourite, is still loads of fun, with the author’s own take on creatures of lore. Along with a family full of eccentrics, you can’t help but enjoy the ride.

And we’ve never made any deals with demons. A few deals with my Aunt Mary the crossroads ghost, but she always recommends against it, and for the most part, we listen. She knows what she’s talking about.

“Once again, I have to ask: how many dead aunts do you have?” asked Dominic, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

In this fifth installment in the series, we’re back to Verity as our narrator, she who introduced us to the world of cryptozoology in the first and second books. I much prefer her to her brother, narrator of books #3 and #4, and it was great getting back into her world again.

Each of us in the family has our own computer – how else could we ever have felt comfortable looking at porn?

Torn between her love for dance and her duty to her family, Verity gets the chance to once more assume her dance identity on a reality tv competition, but very quickly, her two worlds inch uncomfortably close together when contestants end up dead in what appears to be some kind of dodgy snake-god summoning ritual. Yeah, I know. Just go with it.

“My mama didn’t raise no fools. We ate them.”

Despite the serious subject matter, the humour in this book is spot-on. I also adore the continual romance between Verity and her now-husband, Dominic. He starts to understand her passion for dance a lot more, and supports her all the way in pursuing this unexpected second chance.

It may not be what I recognize as important, but that doesn’t mean it’s worthless.

The cheering mice are, as always, delightful, and it was interesting getting to know another one of our MC’s relatives, who makes an appearance as Verity’s much-needed back-up.

“Ours is a friendship born of unstable footing and guilt.”

Snark, inter-species co-operation, the glamour of dance and some murderous cultists – what more do you want?