October Daye, Book 11
Synopsis: For once, everything in October “Toby” Daye’s life seems to be going right. There have been no murders or declarations of war for her to deal with, and apart from the looming specter of her Fetch planning her bachelorette party, she’s had no real problems for days. Maybe things are getting better.
Maybe not.
Because suddenly Toby’s mother, Amandine the Liar, appears on her doorstep and demands that Toby find her missing sister, August. But August has been missing for over a hundred years and there are no leads to follow. And Toby really doesn’t owe her mother any favors.
Then Amandine starts taking hostages, and refusal ceases to be an option.
Review: As always, I can not wait to get into each new October Daye adventure. How not to be? This series is really one of my favorite and Seanan McGuire always offers us new ideas that take us away completely!
Everything seems to be fine for October but it’s only the calm before the storm! Indeed, after celebrating her bachelor party with all her friends and allies, her life is turned upside down. Her mother, Amandine, is on the doorstep and summons for her to find her sister (while explaining to her what a disappointment she was). But then, October doesn’t allow her mother to dictate her actions and refuses at once. You can imagine that Amandine does not take it very well and then kidnaps Tybalt and Jazz so that our heroine goes in search of her sister.
I really had a great time with this story. We saw very little of Amandine and I was curious to learn more about her …. But poor October … Her mother is very cruel with her. And then there’s August. I was so eager to learn more about this lost sister and I admit that even if it is different from what I thought, it could not be otherwise. August could not be anyone else. Yet I confess that I am curious to see what is going to happen now because an evil is released and it seems that he wants more than anything for her to fall. But a solution is emerging and it is true that this is what links the whole series. I am therefore curious to see if this resolution will be in the next novel.
In any case, our heroine takes us with her in a new quest that won’t be very simple. Some enemies become allies and allies become enemies. Everything will change and Toby’s life will once again be overwhelmed. She will have to make difficult choices but she is ready to do anything to save her fiancé!
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Interview
Each book is always better than the previous one for me and I just love all the series, how do you come up each with new ideas for Tobey’s adventures?
A lot of the time it’s a natural consequence of the previous book. For example, after the goblin fruit was introduced, we spent several books cleaning up the effects—and then we had to deal with elf-shot! So while I keep the “big picture” plot moving forward, the structure is generally supplied by whatever’s happened recently.
How do you keep up with the stories of all the characters?
Spreadsheets. Lots and lots and lots of spreadsheets.
I would love the series to go on forever but how many books did you plan to write?
I have been advised not to reveal that number, as it causes people to stare at me before backing away slowly, as if I have said something wrong. But there are quite a few more to come.
Do you already have the ending of the series in mind?
Oh, I’ve always known how it ends.
Excerpt
one
October 9th, 2013
Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell .—William Shakespeare, Macbeth.
THE FETCH IS ONE of the most feared and least understood figures in Faerie. Their appearance heralds the approach of inescapable death: once the Fetch shows up, there’s nothing that can be done. The mechanism that summons them has never been found, and they’ve always been rare, with only five conclusively identified in the last century. They appear for the supposedly significant—kings and queens, heroes and villains—and they wear the faces of the people they have come to escort into whatever awaits the fae beyond the borders of death. They are temporary, transitory, and terrifying.
My Fetch, who voluntarily goes by “May Daye,” because nothing says “I am a serious and terrible death omen” like having a pun for a name, showed up more than three years ago. She was supposed to foretell my impending doom. Instead, all she managed to foretell was me getting a new roommate. Life can be funny that way.
At the moment, doom might have been a nice change. May was standing on the stage of The Mint, San Francisco’s finest karaoke bar, enthusiastically bellowing her way through an off- key rendition of Melissa Etheridge’s “Come to My Window.” Her live-in girlfriend, Jazz, was sitting at one of the tables closest to the stage, chin propped in her hands, gazing at May with love and adoration all out of proportion to the quality of my Fetch’s singing.
May has the face I wore when she appeared. We don’t look much alike anymore, but when she first showed up at my apartment door to tell me I was going to die, we were identical. She has my memories up to the point of her creation: years upon years of parental issues, crushing insecurity, abandonment, and criminal activities. And right now, none of that mattered half as much as the fact that she also had my absolute inability to carry a tune.
“Why are we having my bachelorette party at a karaoke bar again?” I asked, speaking around the mouth of the beer bottle I was trying to keep constantly against my lips. If I was drinking, I wasn’t singing. If I wasn’t singing, all these people might still be my friends in the morning.
Of course, with as much as most of them had already had to drink, they probably wouldn’t notice if I did sing. Or if I decided to sneak out of the bar, go home, change into my sweatpants, and watch old movies on the couch until I passed out. Which would have been my preference for how my bachelorette party was going to go, if I absolutely had to have one. I didn’t think they were required. May had disagreed with me. Vehemently. And okay, that had sort of been expected.
What I hadn’t expected was for most of my traitorous, backstabbing friends to take her side. Stacy—one of my closest friends since childhood—had actually laughed in my face when I demanded to know why she was doing this to me.
“Being your friend is like trying to get up close and personal with a natural disaster,” she’d said. “Sure, we have some good times, but we spend half of them covered in blood. We just want to spend an evening making you as uncomfortable as you keep making the rest of us.”
Not to be outdone, her eldest daughter, Cassandra, had blithely added, “Besides, we don’t think even you can turn a karaoke party into a bloodbath.”
All of my friends are evil.
As my Fetch and hence the closest thing I had to a sister, May had declared herself to be in charge of the whole affair. That was how we’d wound up reserving most of the tables at The Mint for an all-night celebration of the fact that I was getting married. Even though we didn’t have a date, a plan, or a seating chart, we were having a bachelorette party. Lucky, lucky me.
My name is October Daye. I am a changeling; I am a knight; I am a hero of the realm; and if I never have to hear Stacy sing Journey songs again, it will be too soon.
Vanessa @ Blushing Geek
Sounds really good, too bad I’m not qualified for the giveaway 🙁
Melliane
sorry
Carole Rae
Count me in!!!
Mary Kirkland
I enjoyed the excerpt and interview.
Rachel Noble
I’m still working through the series but I really love it!
Melliane
me too!
Nadene @Totally Addicted to Reading
Sounds interesting. Unfortunately I dont qualify for the giveaway.
blodeuedd
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant. But must wait and order tomorrow
Melliane
you”ll love it!
Melissa (Books and Things)
I have been wanting to start this series FOREVER! I really need to get on it. So glad the series is going strong and thanks for the interview. I can see having a lot of spreadsheets with a long running series. Brilly post!
Melliane
thanks! it was so much fun
Carole @ Carole's Random Life in Books
I really need to start reading this series. It sounds so good! I really enjoyed the interview and excerpt. Thanks for the giveaway!
Melliane
my pleasure
LilyElement Book Reviews
I’m so behind, need to read book two!
Jennifer (Bad Bird Reads)
I love that name, October.
Greg
This is very much a series I want to try, one of these days. The idea of it appeals to me a lot. And nice interview too- I love the answer about how many books there will be. Sounds like fans will have lots more October Daye on the way. 🙂
Melliane
I hope so
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
I always regret not keeping up with this series! Now I have A LOT of them to read if I want to catch up. Sounds like I’ll have a blast when I do though 🙂
Melliane
but you can read them the ones after the others
Mary Henaghen
I love this series, and loved the interview. Thanks for the giveaway
Mirlou
Merci pour ce nouveau concours. Je participe avec plaisir.
kindlemom1
I seriously need to start this series, I know how much you and others love it. Thanks so much for sharing this!
Christy LoveOfBooks
I finally got the first book in the series and can’t wait to actually read it!
Braine
Another author I definitely should try.
Melissa (My World...in words and pages)
I have the first book and totally need to get to this series. Everyone loves it!
Jillian Too
I love that there are more books to come.