Continuing my mad dash through Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series, today I bring you some thoughts on the 8th book, The Winter Long, as well as an overview of a few more of the Toby short stories.

Warning: Spoilers ahead! I can’t possibly talk about these books without referring to some plot elements, and since this is an ongoing series, it’ll be impossible to avoid spoilers for earlier works. You have been warned!

Book #8: The Winter Long

For once, it seems like the Kingdom of the Mists has reached a point of, if not perfection, at least relative peace. Queen Arden Windermere is getting settled on her family’s throne; no one’s going to war with anyone else; it’s almost like everything is going to be okay. Even October “Toby” Daye is starting to relax her constant vigilance, allowing herself to think about the future, and what it might entail.

And then Simon Torquill comes back, and everything begins to fall apart. In Faerie, nothing stays buried forever. No matter how much you might want it to.

My thoughts: All Toby is good Toby, but I have to say that I didn’t love The Winter Long quite as much as some of the other books in the series. Just to be clear, that simply means that I’d give this one 4 (or maybe 4.5) stars, rather than 5. I still loved it, but it’s not quite on par with some of the best of the best.

In The Winter Long, Toby’s hated tormentor Simon Torquill is back. Simon is the man who turned Toby into a fish years ago (yes, a fish), resulting in her spending 14 years trapped in a pond, under his spell, and subsequently losing the human family who meant so much to her. Simon’s return can mean nothing good, and yet he seems to be trying (awkwardly) to help Toby, or to at least warn her about a looming threat. As Toby quickly learns, both Simon and her trustworthy ally the Luidaeg are under a geas (magical binding) that prevents them from giving certain key pieces of information to Toby. Meanwhile, Toby learns about a crucial secret that her trusted liege Sylvester has been keeping from her, and ends up — again — covered in blood, with her life in danger. Of course, Toby covered in blood is pretty much a daily event, but things seem especially dire this time around.

Okay, can’t say more about the plot without giving away the major secret here, so I’ll just say that once again, there’s an excellent (and dangerous) adventure, and once again, we get to see Toby charge into action with Tybalt by her side. I’m completely gaga when it comes to Toby and Tybalt, and seeing their love deepen and strengthen with each passing book is one of the true pleasures of the series.

As I said, the overarching storyline of The Winter Long didn’t quite seem as dire or breathtaking as in some of the other books (especially #7, Chimes at Midnight), but it’s enjoyable all the same. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I love the writing in these books. Seanan McGuire does world-building, spell-casting, and action sequences incredibly well, but she’s also a master of cute and quippy lines and dialogue. Here are a few choice selections from The Winter Long:

“Once again you underestimate my ability to move you, while simultaneously overestimating your ability not to be moved.”

It was the middle of the day, an hour when all good fae were snug in their beds like happy little monsters.

“I’m not sure how relationships are commonly conducted in this modern age, but I am absolutely certain that a proper suitor does not leave his lady to be turned into a fish because she would feel more ‘comfortable’ were he elsewhere.”

Short stories:

I read a few more of the Toby-verse short stories:

Heaps of Pearl is pretty darn adorable — it’s the meet-cute story of Patrick Lorden and Dianda of Saltmist, who we first meet in One Salt Sea. In Heaps of Pearl, we get to see how the land-based Patrick, a bored tinkerer with a meaningless title, meets Dianda, soon to be Duchess of Saltmist, an undersea kingdom. The unlikely pair hate royal gatherings, and find themselves to be kindred spirits as they hide from a fancy ball in pursuit of sandwiches in the palace kitchen. It’s a very sweet story, available as a free download via the author’s website, here.

Never Shines the Sun is included in the print edition of Chimes at Midnight, and is a brief story of the Luidaeg’s early encounter with a very young Toby, and how this encounter led to Toby’s introduction to Faerie. I enjoyed seeing the Luidaeg’s POV, especially during her interactions with Amandine. This story can probably be read at any point after about book 5 or so in the series.

Full of Briars is a longer story (44 pages), available as a stand-alone e-book. Toby’s teen-aged squire Quentin is the narrator of Full of Briars, and we see his perspective as he faces a truly daunting challenge — standing up to his parents. It’s cute and sweet, and quite fun to see Toby, Tybalt and the others through Quentin’s eyes. Chronologically, it comes right after book #7, Chimes at Midnight — don’t read it any sooner!

Wrapping it all up:

I feel like I should apologize to anyone who reads my blog and expects me to talk about anything other than October Daye, because clearly that just isn’t happening! I love these books, and won’t be coming up for air until I finish #11… and then I’ll probably be busy obsessing over the wait until September and the release of #12.

And if you’ve stuck with my ramblings this far, but haven’t try this series yet — well, what else do I need to do to convince you?

But, seriously, thanks for bearing with me while I fangirl over October Daye. More to come!

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October Daye, the character, and October Daye, the series, both keep improving with each passing book. I’ve fallen hopelessly under the spell of this spectacular urban fantasy series, and there’s no escape for me! At this point, I’ll just have to keep moving forward until I’ve read them all — and then I can join the legions of fans waiting for the next book in the series to be released.

Over the past week or so, I’ve read three more novels in the series, plus four pieces of shorter fiction that add to the series overall and provide some backstory for beloved characters.

In this series wrap-up, I’ll include the synopsis for each book or story, plus a few thoughts of my own. Warning: Spoilers ahead! I can’t possibly talk about these books without referring to some plot elements, and since this is an ongoing series, it’ll be impossible to avoid spoilers for earlier works. You have been warned!

Book #5: One Salt Sea

October “Toby” Daye is finally doing all right—and that inevitably means it’s time for things to take a turn for the worse. Someone has kidnapped the sons of the Duchess Dianda Lorden, regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist. To prevent a war between land and sea, Toby must not only find the missing boys, but also prove that the Queen of the Mists was not behind their abduction. She’ll need all her tricks and the help of her allies if she wants to make it through this in one piece.

Toby’s search will take her from the streets of San Francisco to the lands beneath the waves. But someone is determined to stop her—and whoever it is isn’t playing by Oberon’s Laws. As the battle grows more and more personal, one thing is chillingly clear. When Faerie goes to war, not everyone will walk away.

My thoughts: October (Toby) can’t have an uneventful life for long, so naturally she gets pulled into an impending war between the kingdoms of land and undersea. There’s action, heroism, and sacrifice — just what we expect from Toby. This series continues strong, with deeper emotional tolls related to Toby’s quest. There’s a development in Toby’s romantic life that I wasn’t crazy about, but that’s probably just because I’m on a different ship altogether. While the romance ends in tragedy, there’s an opportunity for a new chapter in Toby’s love life to unfold in the future. Sadly, Toby also reaches an end (or so it would seem) in terms of the potential for her to have a relationship with her estranged, mortal daughter. All in all, I really enjoyed One Salt Sea, which provides answers to some of the ongoing mysteries, but leaves plenty still to explore in future volumes in the series. The introduction of the undersea is a fabulous addition to Toby’s world, with new settings, characters, and complications. I love how Seanan McGuire continues to find ways to broaden the scope of the kingdoms we know with each volume in the series.

Book 6: Ashes of Honor

It’s been almost a year since October “Toby” Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day’s sleep. She’s tried to focus on her responsibilities—training Quentin, upholding her position as Sylvester’s knight, and paying the bills—but she can’t help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest supporters.

To make matters worse, Toby’s just been asked to find another missing child…only this time it’s the changeling daughter of her fellow knight, Etienne, who didn’t even know he was a father until the girl went missing. Her name is Chelsea. She’s a teleporter, like her father. She’s also the kind of changeling the old stories warn about, the ones with all the strength and none of the control. She’s opening doors that were never meant to be opened, releasing dangers that were sealed away centuries before—and there’s a good chance she could destroy Faerie if she isn’t stopped.

Now Toby must find Chelsea before time runs out, racing against an unknown deadline and through unknown worlds as she and her allies try to avert disaster. But danger is also stirring in the Court of Cats, and Tybalt may need Toby’s help with the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.

Toby thought the last year was bad. She has no idea.

My thoughts: Ashes of Honor provides another excellent adventure for Toby, and marks a turning point for her in terms of her private life and looking toward the future. The kidnapping plotline provides for interesting challenges, and by the end, (SPOILER) Toby and Tybalt take a major set forward. Since I adore Tybalt, and I love Toby and Tybalt together, my poor little heart was beating faster and faster during the final chapters. The adventure at the center of Ashes of Honor didn’t grab me as much as the action in some of the other books, but all in all, it was another terrific read.

Book 7: Chimes at Midnight

Things are starting to look up for October “Toby” Daye. She’s training her squire, doing her job, and has finally allowed herself to grow closer to the local King of Cats. It seems like her life may finally be settling down…at least until dead changelings start appearing in the alleys of San Francisco, killed by an overdose of goblin fruit.

Toby’s efforts to take the problem to the Queen of the Mists are met with harsh reprisals, leaving her under sentence of exile from her home and everyone she loves. Now Toby must find a way to reverse the Queens decree, get the goblin fruit off the streets–and, oh, yes, save her own life, since more than a few of her problems have once again followed her home. And then there’s the question of the Queen herself, who seems increasingly unlikely to have a valid claim to the throne….

To find the answers, October and her friends will have to travel from the legendary Library of Stars into the hidden depths of the Kingdom of the Mists–and they’ll have to do it fast, because time is running out. In faerie, some fates are worse than death.

October Daye is about to find out what they are.

My thoughts: I had so much anxiety reading this book that I thought my heart would stop! I have never — seriously, never — been quite so tempted to flip to the end of a book just to make sure that the people I care about would all be okay. The fact that I was reading on a Kindle is probably all that stopped me. If I’d had a paperback in hand, it would have been too tempting to resist! I was so over-the-top worried about Toby in this book — becoming forcibly addicted to deadly goblin fruit, losing almost all of her fae nature and powers, facing exile and the possible loss of her place in Faerie — the anxiety was so hard to take! At the same time, the plot was fantastic. I love Toby to death, and I love her gang of allies and sidekicks, and seeing them undertake no less daunting a quest than overthrowing a reigning queen is truly amazing. I couldn’t put this book down — I just loved it so much.

And I need to add that one of the awesome things about having an author set a book series in the town where you live is not just seeing familiar landscapes — which happens all the time for me in this San Francisco-based series — but seeing the author include actual people from real life! In this book, Seanan McGuire makes my favorite bookstore, Borderlands Books, an important part of the plot, and includes the bookstore’s manager as a character, which is just so incredibly cool! Borderlands is an amazing place, and it’s made the news in all sorts of interesting ways in the past few years, as the owner developed a new business model as a means of keeping the store afloat against the odds. It’s worth reading about – here’s an article about it. And yes, the bookstore cat (to whom Tybalt has quite a reaction) is real too:

Ripley of Borderlands

Short stories:

In Sea-Salt Tears is a beautiful, sad story about the Luidaeg, one of Toby’s dearest allies and one of the most powerful beings in Faerie. In Sea-Salt Tears should be read after book #5 (One Salt Sea) and not before, as it provides the back-story just hinted at in the 5th book. The Luideag is a mysterious character whom I’ve loved since meeting her in book #1, and it was a treat to get to learn more about pivotal years in her life before Toby came along.

I really loved Rat-Catcher, which introduces us to a young Tybalt back before he was King of Cats. Tybalt is one of my favorite characters, and I loved getting to see his youth in London (Londinium), escaping the cruelties of his father’s court by hiding out in theater rafters watching productions of the latest Shakepearean play.

In Forbid the Sea, we see a lonely Tybalt about 10 years after taking the throne as King of Cats. In this story, Tybalt enters into a brief dalliance with a Selkie who seems to be hiding dangerous secrets. It’s a brief story, with an unavoidably sad ending.

No Sooner Met is set soon after the events of Ashes of Honor (book #6 in the main series), and focuses on Tybalt’s attempt to take Toby out on a special date. Because this is Tybalt and Toby we’re talking about, things go haywire pretty quickly. It’s fun and amusing, and I enjoyed seeing the story told from Tybalt’s POV.

Where to find the stories: Rat-Catcher was released in the anthology Fantasy Medley 2 from Subterranean Press, which is no longer available to purchase in print. However, the story is also included in Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 70 (March 2016), available for e-book purchase here. In Sea-Salt Tears, Forbid the Sea, and No Sooner Met are available as free e-book downloads via the author’s website, here.

Wrapping it all up:

Can you tell yet that I’m in love? Oh, maybe because I come right out and say so with every other breath? The October Daye series is amazing — definitely must-read books for urban fantasy fans. I did not expect to get this involved and emotionally invested when I picked up the first in the series (Rosemary and Rue, reviewed here).

Yes, there are still some unanswered questions, and areas of Toby’s life that I wish were explored more deeply. However, the fact that I don’t know everything yet just shows that there’s lots more to come!

I’m now about mid-way through book 8, with three more novels left to go until I’m all caught up! And then I’ll be yet another desperate fangirl anxiously counting the days until the release of book #12 in the fall.

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