One Salt Sea (October Daye #5) by Seanan McGuire
3 September 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: October Daye #5, One Salt Sea readalong week 1, Seanan McGuire
Today is week one of our readalong for One Salt Sea (October Daye #5). Organised by Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow. Everyone welcome to join. If you want to jump on board then leave a comment, visit Lisa or check out the Goodreads page. Come join in the fun. The schedule is below. Now, moving on to this week’s Q&A with the customary warning about spoilers – they will undoubtedly be lurking – so beware!
1. First things first, the status quo in Toby’s life has been dramatically altered since the events of the previous book. Toby’s finally taking her knighthood seriously! What are your first impressions of this shift in the story?
I like it – Toby has a lot of responsibility now and it feels like she’s taking it seriously, but in a way that isn’t changing her character so much that she’s unrecognisable. Also, as we know, Toby has her fair share of enemies so taking part in lessons such as sword fighting and the like can surely only be a good thing. I really enjoyed the start of this one and the changes – it has a kind of ‘Toby is growing up’ feel to it somehow. Not really phrased very well!
2. In keeping with the dramatic differences, it’s the Luidaeg’s turn to come to Toby for a favour – and it’s no small thing. Do you think this is a personal matter for the Luidaeg, or is she merely acting in everyone’s best interests?
I don’t know what the Luidaeg’s motives are but clearly there are very strong feelings between her and the seelie world! The interaction and reactions between her and Connor were certainly very interesting to witness. And the way that she asked – or demanded – Toby’s help – it was very forceful. I think she really needs Toby and she almost feels desperate somehow – which is weird for the Luidaeg! I have to give her the benefit of the doubt – I know everyone is very scared of her but I think she’s been a great character so far in this series, she always seems to be working away in the background, in a way that feels like she’s undertaking much bigger and more terrifying things than anyone will ever be aware of, just to hold things together and keep the peace.
3. Connor vs. Tybalt: the question of romance in the Tobyverse has come up many a time before, but now it seems to be taking more of the spotlight in the story. Both men clearly have a place in Toby’s life, though both relationships are perhaps not without their problematic aspects… How do you think Toby ought to handle this particular situation?
I don’t think she’s handling the situation badly – but I think she’s reverting to a safety blanket in getting back with Connor. My feelings on the situation are that really, deep down, Toby wants to be with Tybalt and that Tybalt feels the same – but there’s something a bit more cautious, almost dangerous about the two of them getting together, something that they both seem to recognise, almost like in starting something they will have unleashed a force of nature – a bit dramatic but there it is. In a way this makes me feel a little sad for Connor – he has a puppy dog type of feel to him somehow whereas Tybalt just radiates danger and sexuality! I wonder what will happen in this strange triangle – and for once, I admit, this isn’t a love triangle that I find annoying which is a great relief and also something of a puzzle. I wonder how it will all end – particularly for Connor, I’m struggling to find a scenario in my head in which he doesn’t get hurt somehow – I think probably my biggest fear for him is that he will be hurt physically.
4. Rayseline is apparently back and still up to no good. Assuming that it’s not a mistaken assumption, what do you think her apparent involvement in the kidnapping means for everyone else at this point?
Well, I don’t think it is a mistaken assumption – Rayseline is, you have to admit, a great baddie – one that you can really get behind disliking! I have no idea what she’s up to to be honest but I feel for those two boys if she’s kidnapped them! I can’t help at the back of my mind thinking that her and the Queen are up to something but I just can’t guess what.
That’s it for week 1 – off to a very strong start 😀
Week 1: Saturday 3rd September, Chapters 1-9, hosted at Over The Effing Rainbow
Week 2: Saturday 10th September, Chapters 10-18, hosted by Over The Effing Rainbow
Week 3: Saturday 17th September, Chapters 19-29, hosted at Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 4: Saturday 24th September, Chapters 30-End, hosted at On Starships and Dragonwings
Read All About It…
29 August 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: October Daye #5, One Salt Sea, Readalong, Seanan McGuire
Just a quick post to notify you of a readalong of One Salt Sea (October Daye #5). Organised by Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow. The details are over on Goodreads – the schedule is below. This series got off to a great start with Rosemary and Rue, got even better with A Local Habitation and then reached what I thought was an all time high with An Artificial Night but book No.4, Late Eclipses, topped it, packed with emotions and revelations. So, we’re moving onto No.5 which I’m really excited about. Everyone welcome to join. If you want to jump on board then leave a comment, visit Lisa or check out the Goodreads page. Come join in the fun.
Week 1: Saturday 3rd September, Chapters 1-9, hosted at Over The Effing Rainbow
Week 2: Saturday 10th September, Chapters 10-18, hosted by Over The Effing Rainbow
Week 3: Saturday 17th September, Chapters 19-29, hosted at Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 4: Saturday 24th September, Chapters 30-End, hosted at On Starships and Dragonwings
And now for a little bit about the book:
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. One Salt Sea is the fifth installment of the highly praised Toby Dayeseries.
Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) by Seanan McGuire
Late Eclipses is the fourth instalment in the October Daye series and is a book packed with emotion and revelations. Without doubt this is my favourite of the series so far and this is a series that I’m now totally hooked on and thoroughly enjoying – it seems to get better with each book and clearly this has something to do with the fact that each instalment just adds yet more layers and depth to the characters and the world making it richer as you progress. This is a wonderful combination of great characters (both good and bad), mysterious goings on, would-be romance and fantastically dark urban fantasy with fae shenanigans that never become boring.
If you haven’t read the previous books be warned that there may be spoilers contained below.
At the start of the book Toby is called to the Tea Gardens where Lily seems to be seriously ill. No sooner has Toby rolled up her sleeves to get serious when more difficulties seem to strike and from there the problems just escalate. To be honest I don’t want to go too much into the plot, suffice to say, like each of the previous books there is a mystery going on, people are dying, and, as we know, Toby can’t help herself from rushing into the fray head first. Of course in this particular book what works really well is the sense of isolation that is built up around Toby. In this particular book we see the return of an old enemy of Toby’s who has been absent from the first book, Oleander de Merelands. Unfortunately, although Toby keeps suspecting that Oleander is behind things she has no proof and nobody else has caught sight of her which all lends to the view that maybe Toby is starting to succumb to the sort of madness that sometimes takes possession of changelings. On top of that Raysel seems to have cranked up her own rather nasty endeavours somewhat and as a leftover from An Artificial Night the Queen of Mists is also gunning for Toby. Things look fairly bleak and for a while there it almost felt like Toby was going to flounder. Of course that’s the really great thing about these stories so far. Toby has made a lot of enemies, she also seems to have enemies just purely by dint of her own parentage, but she’s also making some firm friends.
By the conclusion of this story there are a number of eye openers. Revelations that are revealing and yet also not. Tantalising revelations if you like. You learn a little but you know that you’ve only seeing the tip of the iceberg and that if you just dipped below the surface a whole passel of further revelations would be waiting to spring out and surprise you. I think at the moment my biggest curiosity comes in the form of Toby’s mother Amandine. I have so many questions in that respect that I’m almost chomping at the bit to start the next book.
I really loved Late Eclipses. It’s cleverly written, much like the other instalments, to give a tantalising glimpse of the world in which Toby lives. At the end of the tale we can see that Toby has moved forward in more ways than one and I think this is a good thing because I feel at the moment that a huge amount of trouble is going to come her way, I just can’t help thinking that there is eventually going to be some backlash from her previous encounters and hopefully she will be at least a little better prepared to meet it if it does occur.
I highly recommend Toby Daye. It’s an excellent urban fantasy series. The main protagonist, well, she isn’t perfect, she makes mistakes but she is just great to get on with. The surrounding cast are well developed and whilst each story builds on the one that came before the stories have a standalone feel to them that, even if a few threads are left hanging, doesn’t leave you with that cliffhanger feeling.
Late Eclipses (#4 Toby Daye) by Seanan McGuire, readalong week 4 (final week)
23 July 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Late Eclipses, October Daye, readalong week 4, Seanan McGuire
Today is the final week of our readalong of Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) ) by Seanan McGuire) arranged by Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow. This week is being hosted by hosted by Hisham El-far. What a great conclusion to the book – so many revelations, so much yet left unsaid, so many reasons to continue reading – not least that I’m loving this series!
The details are over here on Goodreads – the schedule is below. If you want to join in or jump in with the comments then please do so. Also, a readalong of book No.5 will undoubtedly follow so watch out for further information on that. Without further ado here are the questions and answers with a customary word of warning that spoilers will be lurking below:
Late Eclipses (#4 Toby Daye) by Seanan McGuire, readalong week 3
17 July 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Late Eclipses, October Daye, Readalong week 3, Seanan McGuire, Top Ten Tuesday
Late Eclipses is the fourth installment of the highly praised Toby Daye series and I can seriously say I’m firmly hooked on this series now!
Today is week three of our readalong of Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) ) by Seanan McGuire) arranged by Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow. This week Lisa is hosting the Q&A which is a slight change to the schedule. I’ve been out of the country so my post is a little late – for which apologies.
The details are over here on Goodreads – the schedule is below. If you want to join in or jump in with the comments then please do so. Without further ado here are the questions and answers with a customary word of warning that spoilers will be lurking below:
Week 2: Saturday 9th July, Chapters 10 to 18, hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 3: Saturday 16th July, Chapters 19 to 27, hosted by Books By Proxy
Week 4: Saturday 23rd July, Chapters 28 to End, hosted by Hisham El-far
1. We get to meet a new character in the form of Walter, who’s got a rather unusual special skill among the Fae… What are your first impressions of our first faerie scientist in the Tobyverse?
I really liked Walter and I hope we get to see a lot more of him – he’s the perfect scientific accompaniment to Toby’s ‘detective’! I think they make a great pair. Well, I’m not saying that they’re going to become a pair necessarily but I like him and I think it would be good to see more involvement in future investigations.
2. “I choose the evil I know.”
We finally get to meet Amandine (sort of) in the flesh, and she’s got one hell of a bombshell to drop… How surprised were you by the revelation of Toby’s bloodline, and by her second Choice?
I’m not totally sure I understand what Toby actually is if I’m being really honest – or what the revelation actually meant. It seems that she’s more fae than was originally suspected – the scene with Amandine – I’m reading into that that the first time Toby was given a choice between her half fae self or a human life – the choice was in actual fact more difficult than that. Amandine was hiding what Toby really was? Is that how everyone else reads this as I’m not sure whether I’m on track or not here. The only reason I can imagine Amandine hiding Toby’s real nature is that she maybe thinks she will be in more danger by revealing her true self? I’m mixed up without doubt!
3. Rayseline’s reasons for hating Toby come out in the open, though that doesn’t put a stop to her efforts to have Toby removed from her position… Do you think she deserves more or less sympathy now, after their confrontation(s)?
I admit that I felt a degree of sympathy for Rayseline when she was explaining to Toby why she dislikes her so much. I don’t agree with her reasoning but I think it makes things a little easier to understand from her point of view. At least when she thought Toby was dead it was easier to accept that she hadn’t come to the rescue. But, what also puzzles me about that is I can’t help wondering if she blames Sylvester as well? So, yes, I think it made me feel sorry for Raysel but at the same time her reasoning isn’t sound. Like I said last week, it sort of irritates me that everyone keeps beating on Toby for not coming to the rescue when she was turned into a fish. She was just a teeny bit indisposed.
4. “We were peaceful while you were gone.”
Speaking of scheming to remove Toby, the Queen is handed a chance to lock her up and takes it – and she doesn’t waste much time or show much mercy. What do you make of her reasons for what she’s done? Is that all that’s driving her or do you think there might be something deeper and darker behind it?
I definitely think there’s something more to all of this but I don’t really know what. Nobody seemed to really agree with the Queen’s verdict – in fact it was clearly unjust and made her look bad. She’s unhinged for sure and maybe Raysel has been pouring poison in her ear and stirring things up. Perhaps the two of them were planning some sort of pact.
5. And what about Oleander? It seems she isn’t a figment of Toby’s imagination after all – but how is she managing to stay so close without being found? Any guesses/theories/suspicions?
I really don’t understand how Oleander is doing this – the only thing I can think of, and it doesn’t really make sense, is that she’s being helped and the only person I can think is helping her is Raysel! See, it really doesn’t make sense at all! Raysel doesn’t seem to be too upset about what’s happening with her own mother, neither does she seem to be helping Sylvester – she seems to be making a play for power and the Queen seems to be helping her. Not sure how that all feeds into what Oleander is doing – she seems to be omnipresent! Or she’s stolen a cloak of invisibility from HP. Maybe she can transform into inanimate objects! Yeah, I have no idea.
Books and travelling with Lynn 
Week 2: Saturday 9th July, Chapters 10 to 18, hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 3: Saturday 16th July, Chapters 19 to 27, hosted by Books By Proxy
Week 4: Saturday 23rd July, Chapters 28 to End, hosted by Hisham El-far
Well, given the connection between Toby and May I think they will become more than friends, almost like sisters. I hope so anyway. They already seem to like each other so much – which, come on, pretty unusual to like your fetch and vice versa, but these two get on. I see May become a solid part of Toby’s life and a great help in future stories. But truthfully, I have no idea what becomes of a fetch when her role as a fetch is no longer needed – perhaps, given Toby’s lifestyle – she needs a permanent fetch (just in case).
2. If all Fae lines (Daoine Sidhe, Hob, Tylwyth Teg etc) have a purpose as is suggested this week. What are your thoughts on the revelation that Toby is actually Dochas Sidhe? What would such a Fae bring to Faerie’s delicate power balance?
This, I’m not really sure about to be totally honest. I think I’m still getting my head around what Toby is – clearly she has a great ability with blood. It makes me wonder if somebody had deliberately ensured that Amandine had a heir – for what purpose I don’t really know, and Amandine went to a lot of trouble to try and hide Toby’s gifts so she clearly know that trouble will be involved.
3. Connor is once again a free and single man. So, age old question – Connor or Tybalt?
For me Tybalt. For Toby, I’m not sure. I think she has a massive soft spot for Connor and I think Connor won’t hesitate to step in whereas the relationship with Toby and Tybalt is more one where they seem to be circling each other. I think Connor will definitely take advantage of that (not in a bad way) but to be the first one to try and capture Toby’s affections – and maybe that will work for a while – but personally I think that Toby and Tybalt have something else going on, its just simmering at the moment but I personally don’t the two of them will be able to deny it much longer.
4. When/Will Toby remind Dugan about her promise? Surely that poor shmuck is already regretting his behavior?
I don’t know – I think maybe Toby won’t remind Dugan – she seems the sort to bury the hatchet.
5. Where next for the Tobyverse? Hopes? Predictions? Wishful thinking?