toby daye | Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Book Characters I’d Love to Be Besties With. For me, this translates pretty much to characters I think are talented or cool or fun — just awesome people I’d want to spend time with (even though some of them are WAY out of my league in terms of supernatural abilities, but anyway…

1. Claire Fraser, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: Of course. A strong, passionate woman, who’s creative, smart, and scientific.

2. Sophronia Temminnick, The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger: A true friend, who’ll defend you to the death. With a bladed fan, if necessary.

3. Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have a friend like Anne during our childhoods?

4. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling: I love Hermione, and I always felt a little bad that she didn’t have more girl friends at Hogwarts. I’d sign up in a second to be her partner for Herbology or Potions, or just to hang in the common room or the library.

5. October Daye, October Daye series by Seanan McGuire: Toby is all sorts of awesome, and I’d love to just live in her world for a while. And maybe hang out with May and the Luidaeg too.

6. Anna Cornick, Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs: I love so much about Anna, especially her devotion to her loved ones, her inner calm, her ability to bring peace, and her fierceness when her mate and her pack are threatened.

7. Verity Price, Incryptid series by Seanan McGuire: A competitive ballroom dancer who’s also a master of weaponry and free running? Yes. Just all sorts of yes.

8. Lara Jean Covey, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han: Lara Jean is so sweet and fun, and would probably be hilarious to hang out with in high school.

9. Elma York, The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal: Elma is amazing! She’s got Ph.D.s in math and physics, loves to fly planes, and is determined to go into space. She’s brave, loving, and smarter than I can even comprehend.

10. June/Offred, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood: If I had to live in a horrifying dystopian misogynistic society, it would be a good idea to have a tough rebel like June by my side! (I realize I may be combining the book and TV characters in my head, but so be it.)

What fictional characters would you want as your bestie? Please share your links!

Save

As I’ve probably mentioned once or twice or a thousand times, I’m head over heels in love with the fantasy world of the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. And among the rich assortment of amazing characters, one who truly stands out is Tybalt, King of the Cait Sidhe, ruler of the Court of Dreaming Cats (of San Francisco), formerly King of the Court of Fogbound Cats (of London).

This week, I indulged in a glorious Tybalt-fest, and it was SO MUCH FUN. First I re-read two stories about Tybalt’s origins:

In Rat-Catcher, we learn about Tybalt’s youth as a Prince of the Cait Sidhe, when his name was Rand. In order to evade notice by his sadistic adopted father, he hid out in the Elizabethan-era theaters of London and played the foolish fop when forced to be at court. Eventually, Tybalt is forced to challenge his father and assume the throne, but it’s never an easy fit for him. We see his early days as king in Forbid the Sea, when a brief break from London enmeshes him in a romantic affair with someone in hiding from a very different fae family.

The stories are available to read online: Rat-Catcher can be found here, and Forbid the Sea is available for download from the author’s website, here.

As good as these stories are, I’d read them already. The true joy for me was reading nine (NINE!!!) Tybalt stories via Patreon… And for those not familiar, Patreon is a platform where artists can offer their works to subscribers for a sponsorship fee. In my case, I’ve joined at the $1 level, which means that once a month I’m charged a dollar on my credit card, in exchange for which I get access to Seanan McGuire’s newest Patreon-exclusive content. It’s awesome. Check it out, here.

The Patreon page banner

I’m relatively new to Patreon, and had only read the stand-alone pieces by Seanan McGuire so far (including a super scary piece about viruses and a creepy horror story involving marshmallows — yes really, marshmallows!). This month’s new story was a Tybalt story, and I decided to dive in, find all the earlier Tybalt pieces on Patreon, and read them in order. And so I did. And they rocked.

The titles are (in publication/story order):

Stage of Fools
The Voice of Lions
The Act of Hares
Instrument of Darkness
With Honest Trifles
In Deepest Consequence
Jealous in Honor
Quick in Quarrel
Of Strange Oaths

The stories follows Tybalt through the years of his reign over the Court of Dreaming Cats. As I started these, I wondered how Tybalt ended up leaving London, because when we meet him in the modern-day world of October Daye, he’s king of the Cait Sidhe in San Francisco. This question is answered by the 9th of these stories, although there are plenty more questions to be answered in what I hope will be many more stories to come!

I’m so glad to have read these. Tybalt is a beautiful, loving, moral being with an iron will and the ability to rule a kingdom — and with the arrogance and ease of a cat. These stories show us the family he loved, back in the early years after his ascent to the throne, and the sacrifices and sorrows he endures to keep his loved ones safe. There’s tragedy, but also joy in seeing Tybalt’s devotion and unconditional love. Sigh.

I’m feeling all happy and content at the moment, having just finished the 9th story… and also strangely unsettled, because I want more, dammit — and right now, there isn’t any more!

Here’s hoping that the author-lady graces us with more Tybalt before too long, because I absolutely need to know what happens next! And meanwhile, there are all sorts of Toby-related works for me still to explore… so here I go!