Today is the final week of our readalong of A Local Habitation (No.2 October Daye by Seanan McGuire) arranged by Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow.

Without further ado here are the questions and answers with a customary word of warning that spoilers will be lurking below:

1. Alex and Terrie’s secrets are finally revealed. Was that the outcome you were expecting? If not, what theories did you have concerning the two?

Actually given all my usual maniac theories I think I pretty much knew what was going on with the Alex and Terrie situation.  They reminded me of a strange combination of Princess Fiona from Shrek who changes shape at midnight every day and one of the main vampires from Generation V who feeds off the emotion of others who then become totally enamoured and think they’re in love but eventually die.  I was wrong in that I thought Alex could have been trying to protect Toby from Terrie because (1) they weren’t involved in the murders and (2) neither of them had any real cognisance of each others behaviour so Alex wouldn’t have known if Terrie was a threat to Toby.

2. We get Toby doing more powerful things with blood during the course of this story aside from gleaning information. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think we’ll start to see her doing more wondrous things over the course of the series?

I think what was really demonstrated here (and perhaps that’s what’s given Tybalt cause for thought) is that Toby is maybe more powerful than she (or anyone else for that matter) really knows.  She did just bring somebody back from the dead after all which is no small feat!  The one concern I do have for Toby is that now we have started to learn more about her mother I wonder whether this whole blood magic can eventually lead to madness??  But, that being said perhaps her changeling status will help to protect her somewhat.

3. Did you expect Tybalt to actually show up at Tamed Lightning? What’s your take on this “not-friendship” that is developing between Toby and Tybalt? Does learning more about the cats and sensing Tybalt’s own feelings about what has occurred make you feel differently about him or see new aspects to his personality?

I actually did expect Tybalt to show up to be honest – in fact I would have been sorely disappointed if he hadn’t done so. Tybalt clearly likes Toby although he seemed to be acting very strangely after witnessing her most recent trick.  I don’t really know what to make of this whole cat kingdom business yet.  From other books and films I tend to think of cats as guardians of the underworld so, if that is the case here, I can imagine that Toby’s most recent actions will have been a bit disturbing to Tybalt.  I look forward to seeing how this develops.

4. Despite being misguided, what did you think of the attempt to create something lasting for Faerie after hearing Elliot’s explanation? Is there a way to save and preserve Faerie or is Toby right that maybe its end is near?

It’s kind of what I guessed at early on – it’s a bit sad because personally it doesn’t feel like the way forward.  I think it was something that April bought into because of her own circumstances and she was being used dreadfully by Gordan who was clearly as mad as a pit of snakes!  I think that the fae world is very antiquated and governed by strange rules  They don’t move forward with the times – which is frankly what makes them so appealing to read about – but I think this experiment was maybe a bit misguided and the evidence here suggests it doesn’t work.  Even if they uploaded everyone and had some sort of virtual fae existence you would need somebody at ground level to be looking after things wouldn’t you??  I don’t really buy into the idea of what they were trying to do – I’m pretty certain if somebody offered me the chance of being downloaded onto a computer I would pass on the offer!

5. What do you think will happen at Tamed Lightning now that Jan is gone? Do you think April will be able to maintain or do you think things are just getting started between Tamed Lightning and Dreamer’s Glass? Do you think others will be willing to go to Tamed Lightning after this?

I think Tamed Lightning is now in a very vulnerable position.  In some respects I think April could do a good job and as we’ve already seen her new found responsibilities have made her grow up somewhat – but, as we also saw, she’s not totally aware of boundaries between what’s possible between the living and electronic worlds.  Although, obviously she was being led astray by Gordon.  It will be interesting to see whether this now becomes a plotline for future stories.

6. Overall, what did you think of A Local Habitation? Did you like it more or less than the first book? Are you still excited to see where Toby’s journey leads? Any favorite parts? Least favorites? Gush as much or as little as you want.

I loved ALH more than the first book – I liked the first but I think that like any first in a series it is a set up book and most authors don’t want to go on a massive info dump spree.  Like most UF they develop as they go along.  The characters become more fleshed out and the world building deepens and so I’m definitely keen to see what happens next for Toby.