Guest Review: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire

Posted December 4, 2013 by Natalia S in Reviews | 0 Comments

Natalia’s review of Chimes at Midnight (October Daye #7) by Seanan McGuire.

Things are starting to look up for October “Toby” Daye. She’s training her squire, doing her job, and has finally allowed herself to grow closer to the local King of Cats. It seems like her life may finally be settling down…at least until dead changelings start appearing in the alleys of San Francisco, killed by an overdose of goblin fruit.

Toby’s efforts to take the problem to the Queen of the Mists are met with harsh reprisals, leaving her under sentence of exile from her home and everyone she loves. Now Toby must find a way to reverse the Queens decree, get the goblin fruit off the streets–and, oh, yes, save her own life, since more than a few of her problems have once again followed her home. And then there’s the question of the Queen herself, who seems increasingly unlikely to have a valid claim to the throne….

To find the answers, October and her friends will have to travel from the legendary Library of Stars into the hidden depths of the Kingdom of the Mists–and they’ll have to do it fast, because time is running out. In faerie, some fates are worse than death.

October Daye is about to find out what they are.

Once Again, Seanan McGuire takes the cake! Already at her seventh novel in the world of October Day, She does not disappoint.

October Daye is about to find out what they are.

I have enjoyed this series from beginning to end. It is fabulous to watch a main character grow as a person, and to have plots that don’t get repetitive or predictable. Toby is such a Kickass Female character. She is strong, not winy, and does what she needs to do when she needs to do it no matter what. She is absolutely fierce and loyal when it comes to those she loves. Who can’t admire that?

As usual, I enjoyed the journey she and her loved ones took to solve the problems in this book. The character’s interaction with one another is genuine and natural. There love and loyalty for Toby and one another is beautiful.

May and jazz are as whimsical as ever. Danny always manages to make me laugh, and I love Deanda and Patrick.

The chemistry and bantering between Tibolt and Toby is priceless. I waited a long time to finally see them together, and am happy that the relationship between them hasn’t changed their dynamic.. The new characters introduced to us in this book are pretty great. I am curious to see in which direction they will go in this series. I certainly didn’t expect the bomb shell Toby’s squire reveals to us near the end, but it will definitely be a nice surprise.

Overall, my only complaint about this book is that I have to wait a whole year for the next one to come out! Seanan McGuire has weaved such an intricate world, that I wonder about every single mystery, and want to know so much more about other characters. This book left me with more questions than I have answers to.

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Rating: 5 out of 5

This title is available from DAW. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Tagged: 5.0 Reviews, DAW, Guest Reviews, Natalia's Reviews, Paranormal, Seanan McGuire

Guest Review: A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire

Posted May 13, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Genres: Urban Fantasy

Kris‘ review of A Local Habitation (October Daye Book 2) by Seanan McGuire

Toby Daye-a half-human, half-fae changeling-has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating to a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world had other ideas…

Now her liege, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills, has asked Toby to go to the Country of Tamed Lightening to make sure all is well with his niece, Countess January O’Leary. It seems like a simple enough assignment-until Toby discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, and that if the killer isn’t stopped, January may be the next victim.

I checked out the first book in the series, Rue and Rosemary, from the library before reading this one because I hate reading series out of order. I think that reading the first one is beneficial in establishing the worldbuilding and some of her history but I do not think that you would miss too much except for knowing that in the beginning of that book when she was working for Duke Sylvester, she was turned into a koi fish for 15 years. So she missed alot of the technology that is out and she had a fiance and a kid who no will not speak to her. This is an urban fantasy. There is no romance yet, but there is the possibility of it later (kind of reminds my of the Mercy Thompson series becaue of that).

Toby is half human and in Ms McGuire’s world halflings of any combination are not usually treated very well. Toby has decided that she is going to do her own thing and not apologize for being herself. I liked her character. She was strong personality and was very self confident but also knew her limitations. In this books she has been asked by Duke Sylvester to check out his niece in the next Fae territory down in CA. He cannot go because the chick in charge of the territory below that would see it as him trying to invade her and would fight. She gets there and finds a dead body. Now this is interesting in itself that in this world, the Fae when they die do not decompose. There are things called Nighthaunts that consume the body and leave a humanlike replacement that will stand up to autopsy and DNA tests because the Fae are not out of the closet yet. But this body was not being taken and they do not know why, or how the person died. Because of Toby’s lineage she is the closest thing they have to a CSI (even though she is not really trained in that) because she can “read” blood.

There is an interesting cast of characters and they keep dying one by one and she cannot figure out who is killing them.

Very interesting storyline, I was glad I got to read this and look forward to the next book. There were a couple of parts that I thought dragged a little, but that could have been life interfering and distracting me while I was reading too.

So I give it a 4 out of 5.

The Series: