Category: Seanan McGuire Page 2 of 7

10 Reasons You Should Read When Sorrows Come (& And With Reveling) by Seanan McGuire

When Sorrows Come

When Sorrows Come

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Toby Daye, #15

Hardcover, 304 pg.
DAW, 2021

Read: September 15-16, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“Look, I know we’re a feudal system and everything, but we’re living in a modern world,” I said, exasperated. “My underwear has elastic. I have a phone. We can talk like normal people. No one’s going to take points off the final score if we stop sounding like we gargle with bad BBC dramas.”

“Yes, but where’s the fun in talking like normal people?” asked Aethlin. “Half the time I’m a King of Faerie. The other half, I’m standing in line at Tim Hortons and some asshole in a hockey uniform has just taken the last sour cream glazed. We have to wallow in the aesthetic when we get the chance.”

“I will overthrow your kingdom myself,” I threatened genially. Not genially enough: several of his guard reached for their swords. High King Aethlin sighed and raised a hand for them to stop.

“Your reputation precedes you, Sir Daye. Could you please not make jokes about sedition?”

“Yeah, sorry,” I said.

I am just not capable of doing my typical post about this book, period. Instead, I’m going to give you a list of reasons why you should read When Sorrows Come. But first…

The Dust Jacket Flap

Because it feels wrong to start talking about a book without some sort of description, here’s the information from the flap:

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!

The (only?) Reason to Not Read When Sorrows Come

bullet You haven’t read the first fourteen Toby Daye novels—or you didn’t like them. The former I completely understand, the number of supposedly great series that I don’t have time for is large enough that I can sympathize. The latter? I can accept that people like you exist, but I don’t know if I can ever understand it

10 Reasons to Read When Sorrows Come

(In no real order whatsoever)
bullet If you’ve read books 1-14, reading this is a no-brainer, and you probably don’t need to be reading this.
bullet You get to see an incredibly Canadian knowe. How Canadian? Think Alpha Flight, The Kids in the Hall, Bob & Doug McKenzie, poutine, Tim Horton’s coffee, and extraordinarily polite people saying “eh”. That’s how Canadian I’m talking about.
bullet Getting to see the Luidaeg terrify a whole new cast of characters.
bullet The fun in seeing who actually shows up to see the wedding. (Hint: Just about everyone)
bullet The chance to see if Toby can make it through her wedding without bleeding all over her wedding dress.
bullet You can see what you-know-who from A Killing Frost is up to.
bullet You get to see Toby channel Harry Bosch:

Everyone matters. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from how hard Evening and her ilk have tried to convince me I don’t matter it’s that everyone matters. The alternative is a world where no one matters, and since I know that isn’t true, “everyone” is the only option we have left.

bullet Quentin gets a jaw-dropping makeover.
bullet A hint about a new squire…
bullet You need some joy.

And With Reveling

I’ve never talked about one of the bonus novellas that come with a Toby Daye novel, for reasons too complicated to get into (and frankly boring to me). But I have to say something about this one.

First, this is my biggest complaint in this volume—it shouldn’t be a novella. It should be the last chapter (or chapters) of When Sorrows Come. At the very least, an extended epilogue. It should not be read separately from the novel, and the novel shouldn’t be read without out it.

Essentially, it’s about the wedding reception. Toby and Tybalt relaxing, enjoying their friends and loved ones. Receiving gifts, blessings, and well-wishes—including one gift for Toby that made me laugh out loud. And another that

I absolutely loved it. It was the thick, buttercream frosting on the perfect cake of the novel.

A Final Thought about When Sorrows Come

I mentioned joy earlier because, on the eve of its release, Seanan McGuire tweeted:

…the purpose of this book is joy. I wrote it in 2020. I needed joy. Very, very badly.

I need joy even more now. And if I can’t make it for myself, I can damn well give it to my imaginary friend.

So you can pan the book for being simple, but I have no regrets. I needed joy. I think you need joy too.

Hopefully, McGuire got enough joy to keep going from what she gave her Imaginary Friend—I know she provided this fan with some, I imagine I’m not alone.


5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire: Toto, I Have A Feeling They’re Not In Kansas Anymore

I had more I wanted to say about this novel, but I’ve lost track of where I was going with a few of the paragraphs I started. Which is annoying. I could spend another two weeks to figure out what those points were going to be and get further behind, or I could post this with a lot of what I wanted to talk about and be able to move on with my To Write list.


Calculated Risks

Calculated Risks

by Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid, #10

Mass Market Paperback, 353 pg.
DAW, 2021

Read: February 26-March 3, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“I have so many knives,” said Annie. “I am the Costco of having knives. You really want to provoke me right now, cuckoo-boy?”

“I am not a good place to store your knives,” he said. “I don’t know how many times I need to tell you this, but sticking knives in living people just because they say something you don’t like is the reason no one likes you or the rest of your fucked-up family.”

What’s Calculated Risks About?

So, the cliffhanger ending of Imaginary Numbers led to Sarah Zellaby transporting herself, her adopted cousins Artie, Annie, James, and a fellow cuckoo, Mark, to an alternate universe. Part of that transporting resulted in Sarah being deleted from their memories.

Which is a pretty inconvenient thing to do. Sarah has to spend a lot of time convincing the Prices (and friends) to not kill her. And then she has to earn their trust. Just so they can all survive long enough to allow her to attempt to return them to their home dimension.

Of course, they have to learn how magic works in this reality, find ways to survive the indigenous flora and fauna, and try to keep the humans that were dragged along with them alive, without breaking their minds by realizing where they are.

The Mice!

You can’t talk about an InCryptid novel without talking about the Aeslin Mice. As usual, they were a delight. But better than that, their presence is important for the plot. But not important enough—they almost vanish for most of the book, but what they do at the beginning of the novel allows everything else to happen (and is frequently invoked), so it’s hard to complain. But I’d have like to see them a bit more.

Nature vs. Nurture

One of the givens of this world is that the Johrlac (aka cuckoo) are nasty, territorial, apex predators that must be killed. With the exception of Sarah and Angela Baker. And now, Mark. Something about their circumstances has allowed them to not fall into the mind-controlling sociopath mold that every other one has been fit into.

So…why? What’s made them different? It can’t be something inherent in them, as we’re told time after time after time, the various members of this species are so similar that they’re practically interchangeable. So is it something in their environment? Or are they just individuals like humans, gorgons, or dragons? And as such, shouldn’t the Prices abandon their stab first-ask questions later approach to these? Sarah starts to ask questions like this in this novel, and I’m hoping it’s revisited soon.

So, what did I think about Calculated Risks?

I hate it when people tell me not to be afraid. They never do that when something awesome is aout to happen. No one says “dont’ be afraid” and hands you an ice cream cone, or a kitten, or tickets to Comic-Con.

This was a fun adventure—making up for whatever reservations I had about Imaginary Numbers—and together they serve as a good follow-up to the Annie-trilogy that preceded it.

The last chapter was a perfect way to end it, a great mix of magic, hope, and heart. My heart didn’t grow three sizes or anything, but it was certainly warmed.

I have no idea where this series is headed, and I don’t care, I’m eager to find out. There’s nothing like this in Urban Fantasy, McGuire tells different stories with this series, the kind that show what the genre is capable of when it breaks outside the typical mold (nothing against that mold, I love it).


3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire: The Sixth Wayward Children Novel is a Let-Down

Across the Green Grass Fields

Across the Green Grass Fields

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children, #6

Hardcover, 174pg.
Tor, 2021

Read: January 25-26, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Regan slowed again, suddenly eager for her journey to take as long as possible. Maybe that was why the shape in the nearby growth caught her eye, and she stopped abruptly, sending a pebble clattering into the creek as she cocked her head and blinked at what was surely a trick of the light.

Two trees had grown around each other, branches tangling and twisting like the wicker of a basket. They looped in and out of one another’s embrace, until they formed what looked almost like a doorway. That was interesting, but not unique; branches often grew together, and the shapes they made in the process could be remarkably architectural. She’d seen castles in the trees when she was little, castles and dragons and all manner of fabulous things.

But she’d never seen a doorway before.

What’s Across the Green Grass Fields About?

Regan is ten-years-old when she finds this doorway, but we meet her when she’s a little younger. We see her making regrettable, entirely predictable (and understandable) mistakes when it comes to friendship, the kind of mistakes that shape her social future in ways she can’t imagine. We readers cringe, hope she’d make better choices, and then just wait to see how bad the damage is going to be when she realizes (probably too late) that she’s befriended and trusted the wrong sort of person. Other than that mistake, she seems like a sweet girl, she loves horses and riding, her family, and her friend.

The day after she learns something devastating from her parents, she learns that lesson about trust the hard way and runs away from school into the less-developed area between her school and home.

As children do in this series, she walks through that doorway and finds herself in a new world. The first person she meets (a centaur) tells her it’s called The Hoooflands. And she is excited to find a human. Humans arrive in The Hooflands when something is about to happen—when something that is plaguing their society will be confronted and defeated by the human (who have thumbs and can fit in places a centaur can’t, so there are two big advantages for the human).

But first, the centaur takes Regan to meet her family. And then years pass. She matures, she sees the errors she made in trusting the wrong people on Earth. She picks up skills, she learns who she is. Yes, she misses her family, but this is home to her and she’s content.

The Hooflands

…and there were people. Centaurs like the ones Regan knew. More delicate centaurs with the lower bodies of graceful deer and the spreading antlers to match. Satyrs and fauns and minotaurs and bipeds with human torsos but equine legs and haunches, like centaurs that had been clipped nearly in half. It was a wider variety of hooved humanity that Regan could have imagined.

On the one hand, I really like this world—of all the worlds on other sides of doors that we’ve visited in this series, it seems more viable than any of them (except maybe for maybe The Goblin Market), it takes a little less suspension of disbelief to see how the world works (once you accept the population, anyway).

At the same time…there’s something about this society that I don’t understand how it functions at all given the way that other species see each other. Obviously, this is a not-at-all-thinly-veiled metaphor for our society, but even metaphors should have some sort of air of believability. Maybe it’s just me, but every time that came up, it took me out of the story for a bit, because I couldn’t understand how the world functions (set aside justice and morality, I’m talking just in terms of practicality). It’d take too long to flesh this out, so I won’t. But it bugged me.

The individual people we spend time with in The Hooflands? Loved ’em.  They’re the best characters we’ve met in this series that weren’t connected to the School. I resented how much time McGuire let pass between chapters because I wanted to spend more time with them and to understand the Centaur culture a bit more.

So, what did I think about Across the Green Grass Fields?

It had been more than five years since Regan ran away from school on purpose and ran away from home by mistake.

So begins the endgame for this particular novella, Regan heads off to meet the Queen and do what she was brought to the Hooflands to do once and for all, and then (she assumes) to get her door back home. She doesn’t really want to leave the Hooflands, but circumstances are forcing her hand.

This is the crux of probably my biggest problem with the book—she’s spent five years telling anyone who’ll listen (primarily herself) that she doesn’t believe in Destiny, she won’t bend to Destiny. But in the end, that’s exactly what she does. I’m not going to get into a debate about determinism here, but Regan would be a great Exhibit A for my case if I wanted to.

This is not a subtle book, McGuire has things she wants to say about destiny, about the choices that others make on behalf of others that are just as binding as the choices they make themselves. And she goes about it in a blatant, almost ABC After School Special* manner. And this series is better than that. Or it usually is.

* Readers of a certain age might want to consult with a parent to fully understand that reference

I liked Across the Green Grass Fields, but this is not up to either McGuire’s standard or the standard of The Wayward Children series, and it was far enough short of those high marks that I’m having trouble generating much enthusiasm for it. The language, the storytelling style, the imaginative world were there. But they were overshadowed too frequently for my taste by the rest.

I was disappointed. Hopefully, you’re not, or if you were, it doesn’t put you off from trying the rest of this really wonderful series.

I fully expect (and hope) to see Regan at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children in the future and look forward to seeing what happens after she makes her way back home (even if I don’t think it’ll go well for her long-term). I’ll be back for the 2022 novella in this series, eager for what McGuire has in store, confident it won’t be like this.


3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire: McGuire’s Latest Will Satisfy—and Shock—All of Toby’s Fans.

A Killing Frost

A Killing Frost

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Toby Daye, #14

Hardcover, 302 pg.
DAW, 2020

Read: September 9-11, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

…I was about to do something monumentally stupid for the sake of potentially saving Simon.

Simon Torquill. The man I’d once considered to be be my greatest enemy The man I was now willingly risking everything I had for the opportunity to save. Faerie isn’t fair and the world doesn’t make sense.

“You sound scared.” [Danny said]

“I am.”

“If this is somethin’ that scares you…”

What’s A Killing Frost About?

Simon Torquill. Is there any name that promises as much upheaval to Toby Daye’s life as much as his? I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Actually, I could just answer my first question with his name and move on to the next section of this post…

Anyway, Toby takes a break from working with May to find a wedding dress that she a. likes and b. doesn’t mind getting covered in blood—because who are we kidding here, if Toby’s wearing it, it’s going to be covered in blood before the end of the day. She and Tybalt are out on a date, having a perfectly enjoyable time when they’re interrupted by Patrick and Dianda Lorden. The Lordens are worried that Toby’s lack of diplomatic training has opened her up to a problem.

See, if she doesn’t invite Simon Torquill to her wedding—thanks to some silly Faerie custom—she’s liable to create an opportunity for Simon or someone claiming to act on his behalf to attack her in a pretty grievous way. Of course, to invite him, she’s going to have to find him—and after The Brightest Fell, we all know that’s not going to be easy.

So, May, Quentin, Toby and Spike(!) head out to do the nigh-impossible, find Simon and get him to the wedding.

Wither art Thou, Tybalt?

Thanks to a warning from Karen, for everyone to survive, Tybalt can’t accompany Toby on this little quest. This is just about the most Tybalt-free book I can think of (second only to The Brightest Fell). When he’s around, it’s important that he is and he makes a big impact.

It’s strange to have him gone so much, but I think it worked pretty well as a change of pace and heightened the reader’s appreciation for him when he was around.

At one point, [name withheld] describes the relationship between Tybalt and Toby,

It’s clear to anyone with eyes how much he loves you, and I’ve held your blood on my tongue. Your love for him flavors everything you are.

In any other series, that might be disgusting/strange. But in this context? That’s one of the sweetest sentences I can think of.

There’s Just So Much I Can’t Talk About

Because I keep a pretty strict no-spoiler policy to these posts, there’s just so much that I can’t talk about that I really want to. Even if I spoiled things, I couldn’t talk about them too much because we’re going to need a book or five to figure out how things work out. McGuire’s one of the best at planting seeds and then seemingly ignoring them for several books just to have them spring up and bear fruit when you least expect it.

One of those forgotten seeds bears series-altering fruit here while she’s planting seeds relating to Walther and Cassie—but more importantly to Stacy. There’s a shattering scene with Luna and Sylvester. There’s something afoot with Rayseline, too. August does something surprising. Amandine’s furious by the end of the novel (that can’t be good). And we learn something blood-curdling about Eira Rosynhwyr that might make an enraged Amandine seem trivial.

And then there’s…yeah, you know what? I just can’t even hint at the rest. Go read it and we can talk.

So, what did I think about A Killing Frost?

This is not a book designed to welcome new readers to the series. I’m sure there’s enough to draw in someone who’s said to themselves, “I keep hearing about this series, I wonder what it’s about?” But really, it’s not a great entry point. If you’re one of those readers, drop a comment and I’ll try to give you a better entry point.

But for readers of this series? They’re going to be in hog-heaven. Take out all of the spoiler stuff I alluded to/avoided above, and you’ve got yourself a great Toby adventure, full of thrills, twists, grievous wounds, nasty curses, and heroism of all sorts.

Include the stuff I didn’t talk about? You’ve got a jaw-dropping novel full of so many heart-warming and heart-wrenching moments that it’d be hard to enumerate them. This isn’t McGuire’s best novel in the series, but it’s great. And fans will be discussing, dissecting and reveling in it for years.


4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire: The Most Exciting Mathematician This Side of Charlie Eppes and Dr. Larry Fleinhardt

Imaginary Numbers

Imaginary Numbers

by Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid, #9

Mass Market Paperback, 365 pg.
DAW Books, 2020

Read: June 16-19, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Imaginary Numbers About?

The Price’s cousin, Sarah, the Johrlac (aka “cuckoo”) adopted by the family years ago and last really seen in Midnight Blue-Light Special—but mentioned in almost/every book since—has finally recovered from the events of that book (5 years ago, in the series chronology), or at least recovered enough to travel on her own. She’s still not at 100% (and is further from it than anyone but Sarah realizes).

She flies out to Portland to reconnect with the family out there, and while she does reconnect with the Prices, she also finds herself connecting to a bunch of other cuckoos. Which is something that the species just doesn’t do—these telepathic apex predators have developed in such a way that they can’t share territory for long at all. So the fact that you have a group of them working together spells trouble for Sarah and any cryptozoologists trying to keep the peace between the species (and, in this case, to preserve a spot for every species that isn’t a Johrlac to live).

That’s a little brief, but I don’t know how else to be.

Imaginary Numbers’ Place in the Series

It’s been five years in series’ time, seven years and seven novels in our timeline, since we spent any real time with Sarah. I remember really liking her as a character for the first two books and couldn’t believe McGuire would do what she did to her so soon out of the gate for the series. But over the years, as she’s been largely “off screen” recovering, I’ve pretty much forgotten everything about her and what made her click for me as a character. I remembered enough to understand what a big deal it was for Sarah and Artie to see each other and to be say all they needed to say. But beyond that…it’d just been too long for me. Maybe if I’d re-read Midnight Blue-Light Special recently (or ever), this wouldn’t have been a problem.

This is our fourth narrator (fourth plus? There’s a lot of this book not narrated by Sarah) in this series, and like most fans, I’ve embraced that as a feature and as a strength. But this one feels more like a sequel to the Annie books (the previous three novels) than we usually get with a narrator switch. There’s a direct connection between the events of Verity’s Chaos Choreography and Annie’s Magic for Nothing, and all the other books show an awareness of the others. But the cast from <‘b>That Ain’t Witchcraft is present and accounted for here, and Imaginary Numbers is happening in its shadow. This isn’t good bad or indifferent, it just gives this book a different vibe than I’m used to in this series.

And the way this ends is pretty different, too—McGuire hasn’t given us a cliffhanger (this is a pretty complete story, thankfully) before. It’s a good one, but, again, not something I’m used to in these books.

One of the advantages of the way this series is set up is that it can do things like this—each book, or each “set” of books*, can take on a different flavor, a different way of approaching the story, a different way to fit in the series, a different way to end a book. While all being part of a larger, overarching story. But there are some dangers with this approach, too. And right now I’m not sure what to think of the Sarah set’s approach.

* The initial “Verity” set, the “Alex” set, then the three “Annie”s and now, two (at least) “Sarah”s, I’m not sure how to group the Verity novel between the Alex and Annie sets.

Hail, Aeslin Mice!

There was much rejoicing here (and I’m betting among all fans) that the Aeslin Mice were back in these pages. If we took nothing else from their absence in the last two books, it’s just how important they are for the telling of these stories—they’re far more than comic relief (although they are that), and for me, the best emotional moments of this particular novel came from them.

So, what did I think about Imaginary Numbers?

I liked it, but not as much as I expected to, not as much as I wanted to. There was just so much space devoted to getting everyone caught up with Sarah (and reminding us who she was/what happened to her). Then another big chunk explaining Jorlacs—and then there was another exposition dump when the Johrlacs explained what was going on to Sarah (and then another chunk when it was explained to the Prices). Just so much talking that it felt like the story got pushed out of the way.

Based on the way this ended, I’m not sure I can actually say what I thought about the book. I might have to wait until the end of Calculated Risks. Still, I enjoyed it. I like this world, I like the characters. McGurie writes a good book, and is probably incapable of writing anything but.


3.5 Stars

20 Books of Summer

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag

Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag
I thought this would be a fun little tool to use to look back over the first part of 2020. I saw this one over on One Book More’s blog, and it seemed to have been created by Moon Creations.

What is the best book that you’ve read so far in 2020?

King of the Crows

King of the Crows by Russell Day.

No doubt about it. Epic in scope, but with personal story at its heart. If I really start talking about it, I won’t shut up. I talked about it a little here.


What has been your favorite sequel of the first half of the year?

That’s a tough call, there’ve been a few. But I think I’m going to go with:

Burning Bright

Burning Bright by Nick Petrie

As I said here, I should’ve read this shortly after I read The Drifter in the summer of 2018. The third in the series, Light It Up is coming soon.


Is there a new release that you haven’t read yet but you’re really excited for?

Broken

Broken by Don Winslow

Winslow’s The Border stands between Broken and me–so hopefully, I can get to this novella collection by September.


What is your most anticipated release for the second half of the year?

er, um…that’s a good question. I should probably say Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, because her debut novel was sood and I frequently have pretensions about being all literary and hoity-toity, proving that being an English Major wasn’t just a passing fancy. But if I’m being completely honest, there’s no contest:

Peace Talks Battle Ground

Peace Talks and Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

(it’s not cheating to say that–it was one book that was split into two…). I’m a rabid Dresden fanboy and we’ve been waiting so long!


What is your biggest disappointment so far?

Blood Storm Magic

Blood Storm Magic by Jayne Faith

The Ella Gray series in general. I really enjoyed the way this series started, and while I never figured these would be in the Toby Daye/Harry Dresden league, I didn’t expect that I’d get to the stage where I was disappointed in them, but I hit there. I haven’t even posted about it yet, guess I spoiled that one, eh?


What is your biggest surprise so far?

Highfire

Highfire by Eoin Colfer

Highfire. I never expected Colfer to write a novel about a Dragon for adults–if anything, I expected something along the lines of Screwed or Plugged. So that’s surprise number one. Surprise number two is that the dragon is a Drunken, Netflix-binging, Lousiana swamp-dwelling, crotchety one. Funny and full of heart–entertaining from snout to tail.

Runners-Up: The Audiobooks Back to Reality by Mark Stay & Mark Oliver, narrated by Kim Bretton and The In Between by Michael Landweber, narratoed by Brittany Pressley and Mark Boyett.


Who is your favorite new to you, or debut, author?

Darynda Jones, author of A Bad Day for Sunshine

A Bad Day for Sunshine

Darynda Jones has several novels published already, and I don’t think I’d heard of any of them until I was finished with this intro to her new series. She’s the favorite new to me author and the book has a couple of strong contenders for favorite new characters of 2020, as I stated here.


Who is your favorite fictional crush from this year?

The Finders

Elvira from The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton

I’ve never gotten into the whole Book Crush thing–I’m already in a long-term relationship. Still, I have to admit, as happily committed as I am, there’s something about Vira, the tough, spirited, brilliant Golden Retriever with a troubled past that just makes me want to make her part of my pack.

But please, no one tell this girl that I said that:
This Girl


What are 6 books that you want to read by the end of the year?

Other than Betty, Peace Talks, and Battleground, right? Five upcoming releases and one book I’m tired of beating myself up for not having read yet (not unlike Burning Bright above, I should have read the Cartmel book in the Fall of ’18)

Annihilation Aria Dead Perfect A Killing Frost
Last Stand in Lychford Next to Last Stand The Run-Out Groove

Annihilation Aria by Michael R. Underwood, Dead Perfect by Noelle Holten, A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire
Last Stand in Lychford by Paul Cornell, Next to Last Stand by Craig Johnson, The Run-Out Groove by Andrew Cartmel


As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire: Jack and Jill’s Final (?) Showdown in the Moors

Come Tumbling Down

Come Tumbling Down

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children, #5

Hardcover, 206 pg.
Tor Books, 2020

Read: January 8-10, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children was an island of misfit toys, a place to put the unfinished stories and the broken wanderers who could butcher a deer and string a bow but no longer remembered what to do with indoor plumbing. It was also, more importantly, a holding pen for heroes. Whatever they might have become when they’d been cast out of their chosen homes, they’d been heroes once, each in their own ways. And they did not forget.

I wanted to do an Opening Lines post for this book, but I couldn’t decide where to stop—maybe around page 6 (which is a little too long for that kind of post). Seriously, it took less than a page for me to fall in love with this book.

It’s a typical day at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children (assuming such a thing exists) when a door appears, but instead of someone getting to go to their “home,” two figures emerge. One is a complete stranger, the other is Jack. Well, sort of. Close enough for our purposes here.

Things on the Moors have gotten to a crisis point where only one of the Wolcott twins can survive—Jack or Jill. Jill has struck first and things are dire. Jack recruits a couple of her friends and classmates to return with her (she was relatively certain she could return them to the school) to aid her in confronting her sister. They used to be heroes, they will be heroes again—as often as needed—much to Eleanor’s chagrin.

Once in the Moors, a dark and nasty place to be sure, dangers that no one (save maybe Jack) could’ve predicted present themselves and threaten the lives of the students in horrible and chilling ways. Culminating in what appears to be a final encounter for the sisters.

I love the way that McGuire writes these books, and Come Tumbling Down is no exception. It is full of the typical whimsical, fantastic and nigh-poetic language and ideas. If you’ve read a Wayward Children book before, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t . . . it’s hard to tell you. Here’s a sample or two:

“This is terrible . . . I mean we knew it was going to be trouble . . . but this is bonus terrible. This is the awful sprinkles on the sundae of doom.”

“A little knowledge never hurt anybody,” said Sumi.

“Perhaps not. But a great deal of knowledge can do a great deal of harm, and I’m long past the point of having only a little knowledge.”

Sumi was Sumi. Spending time with her was like trying to form a close personal relationship with a cloud of butterflies. Pretty—dazzling, even—but not exactly companionable. And some of the butterflies had knives, and that was where the metaphor collapsed.

Jill had always been the more dangerous, less predictable Wolcott, for all that she was the one who dressed in pastel colors and lace and sometimes remembered that people like it when you smiled. Something about the way she’d wrapped her horror move heart in ribbons and bows had reminded him of a corpse that hadn’t been properly embalmed like she was pretty on the outside and rotten on the inside. Terrifying and subtly wrong.

“wrapped her horror movie heart in ribbons and bows” is pretty much worth the purchase price of the book.

I’m glad that I enjoy—relish, really—the language like I do, because there’s not a lot of plot or action here. There’s enough, but there’s an awful lot of talk both around and before the action really gets underway. That’s not a wholly bad thing, and I enjoyed all of it, it just seemed self-indulgent.

It felt to me that McGuire’s reached the point of diminishing returns with this one, it’s been one too many trips to the Moors and it’s time for other Wayward Children to get the focus. Thankfully, that seems to be the plan.

I don’t think this would be a great introduction to this series (but it would function okay that way) if you’re not going to read them all in order, I feel safe in saying that it needs to be read after Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This is a good way to return to the world and revisit some of these characters. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next volume.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Universal Monster Book Tag


Witty and Sarcastic Book Club tagged me in her little creation—a tag based on Universal’s Classic Movie Monsters. There’s a lot of recency bias in my pics, but oh well—I liked the list. I really need to do more things like this, it was fun.

While trying to come up with the last couple of entries for this, I took a Facebook break and read a couple of posts on a Nero Wolfe fan group, and realized I could fill my blanks from that Corpus. Then it occurred to me that I could do one of these with entries only from the Nero Wolfe series. Or, the Spenser series. Huh. (I’d have trouble with some other series depending how you define “sequel” below). Watch me control the impulse.

bullet Dracula: a book with a charismatic villain
The Silence of the Lambs
My Pick: Gotta go with Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, every other charismatic villain I can think of pales in comparison.
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: (yeah, so much for restraint—this was a fun additional challenge) Paul Chapin in The League of Frightened Men (my post about the book)
Bonus Spenser Pick: The Gray Man in Small Vices

bullet The Invisible Man: A book that has more going on than meets the eye
The Last Adventure of Constance Verity
My Pick: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez (my post about the book)
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: Even in the Best Families
Bonus Spenser Pick: Early Autumn

bullet Wolf-Man: A complicated character
Needle Song
My Pick: Doc Slidesmith in Needle Song (my post about the book)
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: Can I just use Nero Wolfe? Eh, Orrie Cather in A Family Affair
Bonus Spenser Pick: Patricia Utley in Mortal Stakes

bullet Frankenstein: A book with a misunderstood character
The Unkindest Tide
My Pick: The Luidaeg in The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire (my post about the book)
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: Over My Dead Body (my post about the book)
Bonus Spenser Pick: Hawk, A Promised Land

bullet The Bride of Frankenstein: A sequel you enjoyed more than the first book
Stoned Love
My Pick: Stoned Love by Ian Patrick (my post about the book)
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: The League of Frightened Men (yeah, that’s the second time this shows up, but it’s the sequel…) (my post about the book)
Bonus Spenser Pick: God Bless the Child

bullet Creature from the Black Lagoon: An incredibly unique book
A Star-Reckoner's Lot

(there’s a better cover now, but this is the first)

My Pick: A Star-Reckoner’s Lot by Darrell Drake (my post about the book)
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: Some Buried Ceasar (my post about the book)
Bonus Spenser Pick: A Savage Place

bullet The Mummy: A book that wraps up nicely (see what I did there?)
Every Heart a Doorway
My Pick: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (my post about the book)
Bonus Nero Wolfe Pick: This applies to almost every one of them, I’m going to go with The Doorbell Rang
Bonus Spenser Pick: The Judas Goat

I’m not going to tag anyone, but I’d encourage any reader to give it a shot. I’d like to see your lists.

Also, I’ve been thinking for awhile I needed to do a re-read of the Spenser series. This post has convinced me I really need to get on that.

The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire: The Luidaeg takes Center Stage in this Water-filled Adventure

The Unkindest Tide

The Unkindest Tide

by Seanan McGuire

Series: Toby Daye, #13

Hardcover, 301 pg.
DAW Books, 2019

Read: September 10-11, 2019

I finally took my eyes off the water, peering at her through the disheveled curtain of my hair. “Are you just babbling at me until I start feeling better?”

“Yup!” Marcia beamed. “Is it working?”

My stomach was no longer roiling. I didn’t trust myself to stand up on my own, but I also didn’t feel like I was about to introduce the barnacles to my breakfast. Again. I blinked. “Actually, yes.”

“Sometimes you need to take peoples’ minds off their problems if you want those problems to resolve themselves,” said Marcia. “Focusing on things can make them worse.”

“Not all problems go away if you ignore them. Most don’t.”

“No, but not all problems can be fixed. Sometimes you have to wait until the situation changes.” She smiled sympathetically. “Like if you’re on a boat and you get seasick.”

Yup. Toby’s on a boat—a sailing ship, to be precise—just the place for someone who hates water. Why is she there? Well, that has something to do with the debt she owes the Luidaeg. The Luidaeg has decided that time is up and it’s now time to pay that mysterious bill she told the Selkies was coming due. And Toby has to come along to help her collect. A couple of months ago, when I listened to the audiobook of One Salt Sea, I wondered what happened to that ominous future event, so that was nice to see. On the other hand, we’re told that this was nearly three years ago, which means it takes only three-ish years for books 6-12 to occur? That’s an eventful life right there.

Because they’re apt to be useful, and because Toby isn’t likely to come nicely without them, the Luidaeg also brings Tybalt and Quentin along on their trip to the Duchy of Ships, where a convocation of Selkies will be held to pay this bill. Due to the significance of this happening, a few other dignitaries come, too—delegations from the Kingdom of the Mists, the Duchy of Saltmist, and Goldengreen—oh, and Gillian (which makes sense for people who’ve read the previous book, Night and Silence).

So we’ve got a group of Toby’s friends, a new Duchy for most of them to visit, a bunch of debts the Luidaeg is collecting, and the fate of an entire race in the balance. What could go wrong?

Naturally, that’s the wrong question. SOmething better to ask is: how many pints of blood will Toby lose while trying to fix what goes wrong and how many others will die? Obviously, I’m not going to answer those, but we need to get our thinking straight.

Something I want to mention before I forget: Before the Sea Witch shows up at her door, Toby’s narration gives a very thorough and succinct recap of the entire series (one of the best of those I’ve read lately, it’s a tricky thing to accomplish) before noting

…there’s a lot of history around here, and sometimes it doesn’t summarize very well.

It’s a small thing, but it made me smile—McGuire excels at those.

The Luidaeg has got to be just about the most popular character in this series, and we really get to know her so much better here than we have before—and it made me so happy to see this. I’d gladly take another Luidaeg-centric book or three any day of the week. Seeing her at this turning point in all her power and all her grief is just stunning. I don’t think I’d ever felt bad for her (at least not for long), but watching her being resolute in carrying out the duty she was bound to here—while clearly not wanting to go through with it—was moving. Early in the book, there’s a scene between her and a little girl that just about broke my heart. At the same time, she has plenty of great lines and made me chuckle a lot, too. Her interactions with Quentin (and vice versa) might be my favorite parts of the book.

The Luidaeg/Selkie story was strong enough that I don’t care so much about the rest of the book, which is good, because I think it’s one of her weakest. There’s an adventure in Saltmist that seemed pretty perfunctory and while the ending is very clever—and gives Toby a chance to embrace the technicalities of Faerie in a way she usually doesn’t (that is, keeping the letter of the law, but doing a tap dance all around the intent)— it seemed anti-climatic. We have a great build-up and then an almost let-down of a conclusion.

A few quick bullet points that I don’t have the time to expand on (nor do I think I could do them justice without talking too much about them):

  • No one expected, I trust, that things between Toby and Gillian would get better after Night and Silence, but it was tough (yet understandable and believable) to read Gillian’s reactions to Toby here.
  • There are repeated references to the weakness/susceptibility to harm of one member of Toby’s group—McGuire hit that note so often that I really feared for that character. One that I didn’t realize I liked as much as I did when I feared for their safety and longevity.
  • We get to meet another Firstborn! She’s just fantastic and I hope we get to see more of her. Also, the reactions of various members of her descendant races to meeting her in the flesh were priceless.
  • Someone’s blind fosterage is getting harder to maintain. That could prove interesting (and in the Toby-verse, interesting usually is defined as calamitous)
  • Clearly, Toby’s reputation as someone who topples monarchies has spread far and wide. This isn’t good for her, but will be good for us readers.
  • Marcia continues to show more depth and ability than I gave her credit for when we met (which surprises me almost every time we see it)
  • What we’re told about future books here (in terms of Toby’s future obligations) is enough to get long-term readers excited (not that we needed the encouragement, really, but it’s nice to know)

This isn’t one of the best in the series—but it features some of the best moments, scenes, events. It’s not a trade-off I’m entirely pleased with, but I can live with it (and thankfully the good far outweighed the less-good). It’s safe to say that a lot won’t be the same again in this world or for many of these characters. Any time I spend with Toby, Tybalt, Quentin, the Luidaeg, etc. is a good time, and I thoroughly enjoyed the read, I just wanted a bit more from an author who usually brings more than you could realistically ask for.


4 Stars

That Ain’t Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire: Annie at the Crossroads (literally, mystically, metaphorically, and probably a couple of other adverbs, too)

That Ain't WitchcraftThat Ain’t Witchcraft

by Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid, #8

Paperback, 357 pg.
Daw Books, 2019
Read: April 24 – 29, 2019

           I didn’t know these woods. I’d never been to Maine before, and [didn’t have any of the family bestiaries to prepare me for what I might find. There are cryptids everywhere in the world, which only makes sense, when you consider “cryptid” means “science doesn‘t know about it yet.” New species are discovered every year, brought into the scientific fold and lifted out of cryptozoological obscurity. These days the word mostly gets used to mean the big stuff some people say is real and other people say is a big hoax, like Bigfeet, unicorns, and the occasional giant snake.

(Always assume the giant snakes are real. The alternative is finding yourself being slowly digested in the belly of something you didn’t want to admit existed, and while I’m as fond of healthy skepticism as the next girl, I’m a lot more fond of continuing to have my original skin. As in, the one I was born with, not the one the snake has left me with after a little recreational swallowing me whole.)

After Annie, Sam, Fern and Cylia leave Florida and the disaster that was left in their wake, they bounce around a little before settling on something that is about as non-Florida as you can get on that side of the country — central Maine. They find a house that needs a tenant for a few months while the owner is off to Europe and settle in to enjoy a time off the roads to regroup, rest and recuperate.

Ahh, such a good idea.

But first, they meet a neighbor, James Smith. It turns out that he’s a sorcerer, who’s itching for a fight with the Crossroads for the way they fulfilled (or didn’t) a deal with a friend of his from a few years’ back. Annie owes the Crossroads something, and it just might come time to pay up — which isn’t good news for James. If that wasn’t enough, Leonard Cunningham — Annie’s Covenant connection and the presumptive future leader of the group comes to town on her tail.

So much for the three R’s.

Annie’s solution to the problems she faces here is so… Annie. On the one hand, this is obvious, she’s a different character than Alex or Verity — and this series has never been the kind where the Price kids are interchangeable. But there is just no way that Verity or Alex would even consider doing what Annie tries. In many ways, she reminded me of Harry Dresden with the way that she dealt with the final problem. No, not by throwing a lot of fire, snark and energy around, but by coming at the problem in a way that you just don’t see coming (although, that’s not ruling out snark and fire) that seems more than a little reckless. Up to that point, Annie and crew had reminded me a lot of Sam and Dean Winchester and their crew.

This was really such a great way to wrap up this Annie arc — it’s going to be hard to put her aside for a book or three. Verity’s a lot of fun, Alex is a great reluctant hero who’d rather be researching things — but Annie? Annie’s really my kind of Urban Fantasy character — in the vein of Dresden, Atticus O’Sullivan, Ree Reyes, etc. And her friends are a lot of fun, too. The only thing this book is missing that’d really make it fantastic are the Aeslin mice — their absence is felt, particularly because Annie can’t stop thinking about them. Of all the things that McGuire has brought into my life, these mice are my favorite — and it’s been too long since I’ve had a decent dose of them.

I’m not sure how to talk about this without digging into details — and I’m this close to tossing out my spoiler policy and pulling an all-nighter to produce 20-30 pages about the InCryptid Dire Straits Trilogy. So much of what makes this book work is as its the culmination of this trilogy-within-the-greater-series. While I don’t think the book is perfect, I don’t remember a single problem I had with it — and felt the same way while reading it. Everything worked — the voice, the characters, the villains, the stakes, the challenges, the solution, the emotions, the quips, the action. I spent a good deal of time unsure how many of Annie’s little group were going to survive, and this isn’t normally that kind of series. I don’t think I actually shed a tear at the height of the novel — they weren’t far from the surface. This met and exceeded every expectation I had for this book and made me rethink my estimation of the series as a whole.

This is easily the best of this very good series — in fact, were this the final book in the series, I’d be satisfied. I’m very, very glad that it isn’t — please don’t misunderstand — but if it were… Heart, humor, thrills, and a very clever conclusion, pulled off in a way that the whole series has been leading to, but you don’t see coming. I don’t know how McGuire can equal it — much less top it. But since we’re talking Seanan McGuire, she will, probably not in book 9, but soon. Go get it — you’ll be better off if you start with #1 (Discount Armageddon), but you could get away with starting at #6 (Magic for Nothing), you can still appreciate a lot of the goodness if you jump on here, but you’ll miss so much you won’t enjoy it the way you could.

—–

5 Stars

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