She now has an impressive nine books out in just three years with the tenth due out in September.

She has perhaps become better know for her zombie horror trilogy, with Feed, Deadline and Blackout under the pseudonym Mira Grant, but her urban fantasy series is a classic example of the genre with interesting and engaging characters, thrilling supernatural mysteries, plus it’s all set in the San Francisco area, so locals will love it.

Think Harry Dresden, but make him female, set her in San Francisco, and accept that the world of Faerie not only exists but has portals linking to our own world and the characters of fable are very real and terrifying.

McGuire will be releasing the sixth October Daye book, Ashes of Honor, on September 4.

Rosemary and Rue

October Daye is a changeling (half-human half-fae) who has never really felt she belongs in San Francisco, or the realm of Faerie for that matter.  A private detective, who seeks to help out her kind when they are in trouble, has her world changed when she is turned into a koi fish in the opening pages of the book and finds herself trapped beneath the waters for fourteen years and six months.  The spell finally breaking, she returns to a very different San Francisco.  While she attempts to acclimatize to this future world, a high ranking elven lady is found murdered, and as Toby investigates she finds herself magically bound to the woman until the mystery of her death is solved.

A Local Habitation

As Toby tries to settle down, licking her wounds from her last escapades in Rosemary and Rue, she is asked by her liege, the Duke Sylvester Torquill of the Shadowed Hills to check on his niece, Countess January O’Leary of Tamed Lightning, better known as Freemont, as he hasn’t heard from her in some time.  Taking a sidekick along – Quentin — to show him the ropes, she finds herself caught up in way more than she bargained for.

Arriving at Tamed Lighting, Toby finds what appears to be a simple company that produces computer fantasy games, except that all the employees aren’t human, in fact there’s not a single regular human that works there.  Then there’s the quiet way everyone acts around her, as if they’re hiding something.  Then the first person turns up dead.  As Toby unravels the mystery, it turns out bodies have been piling up, but when she tastes their blood to find out what happened to them, she gets nothing.  They are empty husks with no story to tell of their demise.  The mystery grows further when Toby finds herself under attack from someone or something.

An Artificial Night 

As half-fae Toby recovers from her previous near-death escapade, she wonders if she might have some time to do some normal, everyday things, but soon receives a knock at the door.

It’s her Fetch, Maye Daye, a special doppelgänger that can only exist if Toby’s death is quickly approaching.  Wondering where her day will go next, she soon receives news that the ceremonial hunt is now on: Blind Michael, lord of the Wild Hunt, is looking for new recruits; only his methods for acquiring them are unorthodox to say the least: he kidnaps them.

Toby finds out that Blind Michael has kidnapped a number of fae children and human children, some of them she is very close to.

There are only certain roads that can take her on this mission to the world fae and the lands of Blind Michael; each of them takes a toll.  Toby enlists the help of some unusual allies: Tybalt, Lord of Cats; the Luidaeg, an offspring of Oberon and sibling to Blind Michael; Lily, a powerful fae of the Japanese Gardens in San Francisco; and her fetch, Maye Daye.  And it is in Blind Michael’s lands that she meets another unusual character who has a strong connection with someone important in Toby’s life.  Also it seems like this Tybalt guy who Toby has always had to hold her own against, may in fact not be such a bad cat after all.

Late Eclipses

Toby’s still alive and well – relatively speaking – living with her fetch (summoned due to her apparently approaching, imminent death), her rose goblin, and her cats.  Just when it seems like she might have a moment to herself, she is unavoidably summoned to appear before the Queen of Mists, who has always borne a grudge against Toby, who isn’t looking forward to this meeting.  In a surprise that shocks Toby more than anyone else, the Queen promotes her to countess.

Suspecting a conniving trap, Toby finds herself drawn across San Francisco from place to place as her dear friends and loved ones begin to fall ill due to a mysterious sickness, including Lily, Lady of the Tea Gardens and Lady Torquill of the Shadowed Hills.  As she scrambles around trying to find a cure and who’s behind all this, the hammer falls and she finds herself accused of this sickness and people are starting to die.  Then she starts seeing Oleander de Merelands, one of the two people responsible for trapping her in a pond for fourteen years of her life; only it seems like she’s the only one seeing her.

Meanwhile, things between Toby and Tybalt, the King of Cats, begin to heat up.  But Toby will save everyone and fix everything . . . right?

One Salt Sea

Another day, another big problem to solve for October Daye.

This time someone has kidnapped the two sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist.  Only a month has passed since Toby was brought back from the brink of death and Oleander de Merelands was defeated in Late Eclipses, and now she has a whole new place to call home – Goldengreen – and to deal with.  But she has these kidnappings drop into her lap, and she only has three days to do it or it will be all out war between the sea fae and those on land, which is not a good thing, as the saying goes: “When Faerie goes to war, not everyone will walk away.”

Using some help from the terrifying sea witch, the Luidaeg, who creates a spell, Toby is able to breathe underwater and here McGuire has fun with some great description of strange and unusual and fascinating underwater fae that makes The Little Mermaid seem colorless and boring.  But Toby knows she’s on a deadline and needs to find any clues she can, put them together, and find these missing kids before it is too late.

Originally published on Forces of Geek.

The immediate problem is that Toby has been tapped by her aunt, the Luidaeg (apparently pronounced Lu-shak or similar according to the handy pronunciation guide), to stop a war between the Undersea and the land dwelling fae. The Luidaeg is incredibly powerful, being the first born of Oberon and Maeve…but apparently she cannot do anything to harm harm the children of Titania (most land-dwelling fae). I see this as a convenient way to rein in her abilities so she doesn’t become the deus ex machina of the series.

On top of that, Tybalt is back and sniffing around Toby. I really hope they shag in the next book because the UST is so thick between the two of them. There didn’t seem to be much chemistry written between Toby and her chosen love interest Connor, a Selkie from Half Moon Bay. It just seemed like she chose him because 1) Tybalt disappeared after the last book because the Cait Sidhe were decimated by poison and 2) She’d had something forbidden with Connor before she’d turned into a fish (in the first book).

I thought this was really the best book in the series so far. I enjoyed the plot quite a bit and I really dig the character of the Luidaeg. She’s a bit like House in her temperament and she’s far too old to really care about what anyone thinks. I sincerely hope they explain why everyone is so afraid of her in an upcoming book. I’d rate this book as an A and I really, really can’t wait for the next one!

After the events of Late Eclipses, Toby is trying to get used to her new role as Countess of Goldengreen, where most of the subjects who lived in the Tea Gardens now reside. She’s dating again, and trying to get to grips with her new appearance. Sylvester talks her into taking Quentin as her squire, and she agrees once she realizes the young faerie wouldn’t agree to squire to anyone else anyway. Things are seeming quite promising, when The Luidaeg (the sea witch) arrives to tell Toby that the sons of the Duchess of Saltmist, one of the Sea kingdoms, have been kidnapped. Unless the boys are found within three days, the Sea fae will go to war with the land fae, and no one wants that.

Having spent 14 years trapped as a fish, Toby is none too fond of water, but she has to get over that aversion to go to Saltmist to investigate the abductions. It doesn’t take Toby long to rule out Duchess Dianda’s main suspect, the Queen of the Mists. However, once she realizes who the real kidnapper is, she has to give her liege lord, Duke Sylvester, some very bad news. As her search for the boys continues, the stakes get higher, and much more personal for Toby as well.

With Late Eclipses, Seanan McGuire’s books had really started to get their hooks into me. After finishing One Salt Sea, she’s moved into pre-order territory. So many narrative threads set up in the previous books play into this one. Another fascinating area of McGuire’s faerie world, the underwater faerie kingdoms, are explored. Toby is constantly adapting and developing and learning, and has to make some very big sacrifices in this book. The love triangle set up between Connor, Toby and Tybalt may also have been resolved, and while I’ve seen many people on the internet upset about the ending of this book, I can’t really bring myself to be. I think it sets up an interesting new beginning for Toby, and am very much anticipating the next book, which unfortunately isn’t out for another six months.

This all got me thinking about books and smell. No, I will not be covering

Yum. The Recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Madeleines-234680

Proust; this is not that kind of blog. We’re a little more lowbrow here. You can make your own madeleines if you want.

The Lantern

The Night Circus

One Salt Sea

Back to de-skunking the dog. It’s a good thing he’s cute, because he sure is smelly.

Publisher’s Summary:
“October ‘Toby’ Daye is settling into her new role as Countess of Goldengreen. She’s actually dating again, and she’s taken on Quentin as her squire. So, of course, it’s time for things to take a turn for the worse.

Someone has kidnapped the sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist. To prevent a war between land and sea, Toby must find the missing boys and prove the Queen of the Mists was not behind their abduction. Toby’s search will take her from the streets of San Francisco to the lands beneath the waves, and her deadline is firm: she must find the boys in three days’ time, or all of the Mists will pay the price. But someone is determined to stop her-and whoever it is isn’t playing by Oberon’s Laws…”

My biggest obstacle when approaching this review is how to refrain from sounding like a broken record. Stellar series such as this one, the kind of series that maintains an unrepentant level of quality, that imbues each new release with narcotic delight, forces the reviewer to scour her vocabulary, searching for a word or phrase that hasn’t already seen the light of day in a review that came before the one in progress, hunting for a word that complements the high bar set by the author’s work. It’s not an easy task. It is, in fact, so daunting, it makes me want to throw in the towel and say, simply but emphatically, “Oh, for the love of – Just read these books! Thank me later.” So close. But I can’t because Toby, Tybalt and Seanan McGuire deserve more from me than that.

It frustrates me to do so, but let me recap my still-stands sentiments regarding the series to date: Toby is one of my favorite UF heroines, hands down, having won me over with her vulnerable strength and determination, her ability to get knocked on her ass and struggle up, and her unswerving devotion to those she cares for; Tybalt, King of Cats, is one of my favorite UF heroes, hands down, having claimed me with his sexy-as-sin ways, his dedication to his people and those he cares for, his belief in Toby, and his, well, everything; Seanan McGuire’s absorbing world-building entranced me, not being a reader who generally takes note of such things while reading, and continues to get better, deeper, and more vital with each book; and, finally, there’s the host of secondary characters that burrowed under my skin from book one and won’t let go. Reading that back, it merely scraped the surface of my sentiments, but my point is fairly plain: The October Daye series is necessary to me and my reading life. I love it. I crave it.

One Salt Sea cemented Seanan McGuire’s status as one of the best urban fantasy writers today, and not because it was the best book in the series, per se, but because she took me places I’d not thought to go, and because the story told in the pages of this particular book teased my emotions in unexpected ways. To take up the middle portion of the previous sentence – took me places blahdy blah – I’ll refer back to my claim that this series’ world-building is entrancing and raise it now to downright wondrous. McGuire took me under the sea. When I was younger and my family visited EPCOT, there was a ride – Horizons, unfortunately gone now – that gave you a choice: space, the desert, or under the sea. Pick one and see what it might be like to live there. Nine times out of ten I chose the sea. I wanted to know what it would be like if I were inoculated to the dangers of no air, able to move effortlessly through the water, unaware of its pressure on my body, and this despite my Jaws traumatized state of being. Seeing it through Toby’s eyes, so tactile, so wouldn’t it be something if it was just like this, turned me into a little kid again, giddy at the prospect of exploring something beautiful and new. Granted, Toby had her hands full and wasn’t able to stay long, but her time in the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist made me as happy as the proverbial clam. Come to think of it, any time Toby visits some place new, be it the Shadow Roads or Goldengreen, I feel just so. The world-building is that good, I swear. Now, as for the latter part of the first sentence in this getting-longer-by-the-second paragraph, I can’t say much for fear of spoiling some BIG things, but let’s leave it at this: while my mind is firmly, and I do mean firmly, set, I felt a momentary pang of emotion that, for a quiet moment, leveled me. Just like that. And now, more than ever, the possibility of what might come next leaves me breathless.

For all that happens, and while I can’t explain it, One Salt Sea felt like a more subdued story. Hushed even, at times. Little things affected me more than ever before, particularly involving Quentin, Toby’s friend and newly appointed squire, and Raj, Tybalt’s sweetly fierce nephew. Those two almost – almost – match Tybalt’s hold on me. I also increasingly find myself enjoying the friendship that Toby and May, former fetch turned roommate, have settled into; it’s perhaps odd how blind I am to female friendships in UF books, usually because the friend has annoying tendencies that make me want to slap her silly and so I gloss over it, but that is not the case here. And my hope that characters introduced in this installment return in future books is not unwarranted as McGuire’s track record of not creating an inconsequential secondary character is still going strong. They all mean something to Toby, for good or ill, and have a place in her world and life, which I heartily appreciate.

Now, you didn’t think I’d be able to wrap up this review without mentioning Tybalt, did you? Even if it is just to say that the very thought of him makes me want to purr like the cat I am not but he most assuredly is. As ever, I loved every second Toby and Tybalt shared the same space, every time Toby thought of him, every word Tybalt said, and he had some deliciously heartrending and mending things to say (more of those little things affecting me hugely), and every action he took to protect her. And what makes matters more amazing? Knowing that we haven’t even begun to see or know all that he is. Oh, Ashes of Honor, you cannot find your way into my hands soon enough.

Did One Salt Sea offer everything I’ve come to expect from an October Daye novel? Obviously, I’d say. Did it give the love I carry inside of me for Toby, her friends, and her world a booster shot? Absolutely. Do I think you should find a copy of Rosemary and Rue, the first book, and set down with it, comfy and with hours to spare, to discover her and them and it for yourself? Well, yes. Can’t you tell?

Blurb from Goodreads:

October "Toby" Daye is settling into her new role as Countess of Goldengreen. She's actually dating again, and she's taken on Quentin as her squire. So, of course, it's time for things to take a turn for the worse.

Someone has kidnapped the sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist. To prevent a war between land and sea, Toby must find the missing boys and prove the Queen of the Mists was not behind their abduction. Toby's search will take her from the streets of San Francisco to the lands beneath the waves, and her deadline is firm: she must find the boys in three days' time, or all of the Mists will pay the price. But someone is determined to stop her-and whoever it is isn't playing by Oberon's Laws…

My rating: 4.5/5 Stars – Almost perfect. I highly recommend it.

Review:

Another excellent installment in the Toby Daye series.  As usual, the worldbuilding rocks my socks off.  Just when I was starting to feel comfortable with the world of Faerie, McGuire takes readers on an exploration of Undersea – yes, you guessed it, an entire Faerie kingdom in the ocean.  The sheer creativity of McGuire’s worldbuilding never ceases to amaze me!

The plot is unpredictable, and there’s never a dull moment for Toby & co. as they race to avert one crisis after another.  I’ve grown so fond of these characters, especially the Luidaeg.  In this book, we get to learn more about her past and see a more caring side of her, which only makes me love her more.  Toby also gets more layers of character development as she struggles to deal with her new abilities and self-identity.  But what’s even more interesting is Toby’s interactions with Cliff and Gillian, who we meet for the first time in this book.  This area of Toby’s life is painful and complicated and messy, but I was pleased to finally get answers to many of the nagging questions that I’ve had since book one.

As for the romantic subplot, Toby is still caught between two love interests (Tybalt still has my vote), but it’s clear that this conflict isn’t going to drag on forever.  One way or another, the romantic angle is going to be taking a new direction in subsequent books.  Regardless of what happens, I’m extremely grateful for this – the which-guy-should-I-choose subplot can become stale very quickly.

My one disappointment is that two of the story’s major conflicts come to a close much faster than I expected them to.  I wanted Toby to be the one to make certain decisions, but it ended up being other people who did the choosing for her, resulting in an abrupt resolution to a couple of Toby’s problems.  This isn’t really a criticism.  Toby had to let these people take control of their own lives, and their actions make sense in a satisfying, realistic way.  But, in both cases, I had hoped for something more.  I’m trying really hard not spoil anything here, so I’ll just say that if it weren’t for the incredibly painful aftermath of these resolutions, I might have felt like McGuire took the easy way out.

All in all, One Salt Sea is just as dark, depressing, and emotionally intense as its predecessors.  I loved it.  With great plots, characters, and worldbuilding, the Toby Daye books have climbed the ranks to become one of my favorite urban fantasy series.  I am already awaiting the next installment with much anticipation.

Reading Order:
Rosemary and Rue – read my review on Goodreads
A Local Habitation – read my review on Goodreads
An Artificial Night – read my review on Goodreads
Late Eclipses – read my review on Goodreads
One Salt Sea
Ashes of Honor – expected publication 2012
Chimes at Midnight – expected publication 2013

Also reviewed at:
Urban Fantasy Investigations – 4/5
Lurv a la Mode – 5/5
The Ranting Dragon – 4/5

One Salt Sea, the fifth book in the October Daye urban fantasy series from Seanan McGuire is a really good book.  It’s a really good book for a number of reasons: Toby does a little less running around; some important storylines get solved; and McGuire introduces us to a whole new undersea world of the fae, and it’s awesome!

Another day, another big problem to solve for October Daye.  This time someone has kidnapped the two sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist.  Only a month has passed since Toby was brought back from the brink of death and Oleander de Merelands was defeated in Late Eclipses, and now she has a whole new place to call home – Goldengreen – and to deal with.  But she has these kidnappings drop into her lap, and she only has three days to do it or it will be all out war between the sea fae and those on land, which is not a good thing, as the saying goes: “When Faerie goes to war, not everyone will walk away.”

Using some help from the terrifying sea witch, the Luidaeg, who creates a spell, Toby is able to breathe underwater and here McGuire has fun with some great description of strange and unusual and fascinating underwater fae that makes The Little Mermaid seem colorless and boring.  But Toby knows she’s on a deadline and needs to find any clues she can, put them together, and find these missing kids before it is too late.

McGuire has a lot of fun with One Salt Sea, exploring her protagonist a little more and how Toby is really dealing with everything that’s happened to her, as well as finishing up some storylines and revealing some great origin stories for the world of fae.  Fans of the series will be completely swept up with this fifth book, hooked to the very end where they get some answers and finally enjoy that satisfied feeling that not many books deliver this well.

Originally written on September 16, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

CLICK HERE to purchase your copy from Bookshop Santa Cruz and help support BookBanter.

You might also like . . .

So, Toby is trying to settle in as Countess of Goldengreen…just as war breaks out with the underwater fae. Unfortunately for her, the knowe of Goldengreen is right up against the Pacific. Of course. Enter Tybalt, King of Cats. And will he EVER admit that he’s totally in love with Toby?! Okay, rant over. Tybalt offers to have his Cait Sidhe, some of the fiercest warriors in the faerie realm, to guard Toby’s knowe since most of Toby’s wards in Goldengreen are half-breed Changlings or less.

Meanwhile, The Luideag calls in the favors Toby owes her. What does Toby have to do? Stop a war. No biggie. Turns out the reason behind the war is that someone, presumably a land faerie has made off with the two sons of the Duchess of Saltmist. The Duchess suspects the Queen of the Mists (the land queen). The Queen of the Mists just wants war. Despite having some sea fae blood in her, she apparently has bigoted feelings towards the sea fae as a whole. Too bad the sea fae are BAMFs and the land fae have been sitting on their collective arses since the last war more than a hundred years ago.

To keep her friends from getting killed, Toby uses her detecting skills to find the missing boys. On the way, she takes a squire (Quentin), turns into a mermaid to visit Saltmist and (*spoiler alert*) loses her paramour, Connor. Now Connor was a nice enough person but ever since the first interaction with Tybalt, I was rooting for the two of them to get their acts together.  Connor was a little wimpy for my tastes but hey.

So this one is a must read. It’s really good. And it has a nice little cliff hanger. A+ Buy it!

But Tuesday approaches – onward!

BIG shout-out to Hugo Award nominated author Seanan McGuire (whom you may recognize as Mira Grant, author of FEED and DEADLINE) whose ONE SALT SEA is coming out tomorrow, fifth in her October Daye series. As an author who does not have a strict-on-sale date for her books (yet), she was publicly distressed when she heard that the book was already floating around out there in the bookstore ether before it had even technically been published. In a brief moment of vanity, I sent her the link to my post on publication dates, and she was kind enough to link it on her blog today! Thanks!

THOSE ACROSS THE RIVER, by Christopher Buehlman, is also out tomorrow. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this ever since Melissa Marr pimped it on Goodreads, and I managed to get an Advanced Reader’s Copy of it… on Friday. So, needless to say, I haven’t read it yet, but I am super excited. Sounds like a bit of a gothic horror trip, and I’m totally into that.

Cherie Priest’s HELLBENT is also out tomorrow, the second in her vampire thief series, Cheshire Red Reports (of which BLOODSHOT is the first). You might recognize Cherie Priest from such things as BONESHAKER (and CLEMENTINE and DREADNOUGHT), full of steampunky goodness, and FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS, a southern Gothic tale. Look for it: fourth in the BONESHAKER series, GANYMEDE, is out later this month. Don’t worry; I’ll remind you.

C. E. Murphy also has one out – WAYFINDER, second in the Worldwalker Duology. She’s most widely known for her Walker Papers series, which has the dubious honor of being the first urban fantasy book I ever read, unless you are for some strange reason counting Neil Gaiman.

As far as anthologies – and I love some short story anthologies – GHOSTS BY GASLIGHT: TALES OF STEAMPUNK AND SUPERNATURAL SUSPENSE, edited by Jack Dann and Nick Gevers is out. It includes stories from Peter Beagle, Sean Williams, and Garth Nix.

Many of these people also have Twitter feeds:
@Buehlmeister
@seananmcguire
@ce_murphy
@cmpriest
@melissa_marr

September 6, 2011: One Salt Sea (October Daye series, book 5) by Seanan McGuire

This series has become one of my favorite Urban Fantasy series. The author weaves a good, fast-paced story for Toby and the gang. And, I also enjoy the theme of what it means to be a hero—especially through the eyes of a woman— on which Seanan McGuire often touches. I also enjoy the chemistry between Toby and Tybalt, the King of the Cats.

September 6, 2011: Archangel’s Blade (Guild Hunter series, book 4) by Nalini Singh

While I didn’t enjoy the last book as much as the other books in The Guild Hunter series, I do enjoy the series originality. I’m excited about Archangel’s Blade, because this is the first book that will depart from Elena and Raphael’s relationship, and focus on Dmitri, Raphael’s second in command. I’m hoping this will shake things up a bit. My hopes are high, since I’ve already been hearing great buzz about it.

September 6, 2011: Never Enough (Brown Siblings, book 4) by Lauren Dane

I’m still behind 1 book in this series, but am really looking forward to Adrian’s story.

I’ve really enjoyed all of the stories, and (eldest brother) Brody’s most of all. I like how we get bits and pieces of the other siblings’ stories without sacrificing the central relationship. Dane always conveys the depth of the main characters’ feelings so well.

I just LOVE this cover!

September 6, 2011: Midnight (Dark Age Dawning trilogy, book 2) by Ellen Connor (aka Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty).

I had really high expectations for Nightfall (book 1 in the trilogy) and it lived up to all of them.

The world is dark and gritty and the action is intense. I’m looking forward to seeing how Chris, who is just beginning to become hero material in Nightfall, fills that role in Midnight.

Three years pass between the 2 books, and I’m really curious about how the world has developed during that time.

September 6, 2011: Cipher (Southern Arcana, book 4) by Moira Rogers

I read books 2 and 3 last month, and am so excited I didn’t have to wait long for Cipher.

Kat and Andrew’s story has been unfolding slowly over the course of the series (& boy has it been a bumpy ride!), and now they will finally get their HEA.

One of the great things about this series is that the wolf/supernatural politics are just as absorbing as the romance. I also can’t wait to see what will happen after the events in the previous book.

❀❀❀❀❀

That’s a lot for 1 week, isn’t it? Is there anything coming out this coming week that you’re excited about?

I has a new Toby Daye book.  Nuff said.