[Book Review] A Killing Frost

 A Killing Frost (October Daye #14) / Seanan McGuire

Previously reviewed:

A Killing Frost is a story about marriage and family, from the consideration of what does the bride wear when she assumes she'll end up covered in blood, to familial law.  Toby doesn't so much seem to get Happily Ever After so much as Happy For Now, due to a mix of inescapable bad situations, Toby sense of duty and loyalty, and her indestructibility.  However, Toby does generally complete her Quests, so going into the story, no matter how impossible, we have reason to believe that she will pull through even if there's a cost to pay.

When Toby learns that she has to invite her mother's husband, Simon Torquill, to her wedding lest someone claim insult against her and demand a price she cannot pay, her task seems particularly impossible. He is lost, has sacrified his way home until he finds Oberon, and until he fulfills his quest he is a deadly danger to everyone Toby cares for.

I feel that I can say that Toby finds a way, with a cost, to achieve her quest, without ruining the story.  

The most interesting and fascinating things are what happens around it all.  For much of the series Simon Torquill has been a boogeyman, the man who kidnapped Luna and Rayseline, and a partner to the assassin Oleander de Merelands.  Several books ago, McGuire gave us a glimpse at the man Simon used to be, before he becomes lost to save his daughter.  For all of the focus on the search for Oberon, this is a book about finding Simon in every meaning.  Simon was once a good man, and there are those in Faerie that still remember the man he was.  Changelings are not the only ones who have suffered for a power greater than their own.

There are happy endings in this book.  Not the ones I expected at the start of the story, or even halfway through.  The story is earnest and desperate and feeling.  And just as she changes the balance of blood, Toby continues to change the balance of Faerie.

Advance Reader Copy courtesy of DAW (Penguin RandomHouse) in exchange for an honest review; changes may exist between galley and the final edition.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

[Book Review] Battle of the Linguist Mages

Image
Battle of the Linguist Mages   / Scotto Moore The description of this book caught my attention immediately , and a cover blurb from one of my favorite authors?  Sign me up! The book isn't quite what is promised, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just that it has so much potential.  It's like how Ready Player One  reads a lot different in a post Gamer Gate environment.  (Also, to be fair, the description I first read when looking through review copies is different than what is up  now.) Now, don't get me wrong, the premise is phenomenal.  I love a good SF that takes seeds of the here and now and goes "what if?"  It looks at where VR gaming is now, where streaming and MMOs are now, the balance between real life skills and game controls, and launches into a believable continuation.  Then we get a little seasoning of magic and more.  It made me laugh and has some neat ideas that it develops. But writing and tone wise, it feels a lot like Ready Playe
Read more

[Book Review] When Sorrows Come

Image
When Sorrows Come (October Daye #15)  / Seanan McGuire Previously reviewed: Rosemary and Rue Once Broken Faith The Brightest Fell Night and Silence The Unkindest Tide A Killing Frost After... we'll kindly say many books of dodging the inevitable, Toby's finally getting married.  In her defense, at the start of the book even she did not know the date chosen for the event.  There's a little too much significance in this marriage to allow for a simple document signing in front of the local Justice of the Peace.  A marriage between a member of the Divided Courts and a King of Cats, and of course Toby has been anything but "just" a changeling for some time now.  A hero of the realm, daughter of a First Born, king-breaker, kingdom maker, finder of lost things, and, most importantly, one of the few members of Fairie that understands crime scene investigation and procedure. This is  October Daye, of course something is going to go Horribly Wrong, likely involving blood, w
Read more

[Book Review] The Olympian Affair

Image
The Olympian Affair (Cinder Spires #2)  / Jim Butcher  Previously Reviewed: The Aeronaut's Windlass It's been a long haul waiting for book two, and one that I didn't think was going to end.  In 2016, I described book one as an "air-ship filled rollicking adventure that brings to mind a mash-up of Shakespeare and The Princess Bride.  We have heroics, tempers, swashbuckling, dastardly villains, battles of wits, revenge, and maybe a little true love on the side.  This tome drops you into the story from page one and seems much shorter than its 750 pages." So where are we in 2023? Before reading this, I strongly advise you reread book one.  The cast is large,  the book thick, and the two main warring governments are Spire Albion and Spire Aurora , so if you're like me and names blend together, remind yourself of who everyone is and the stage that has been set. The Olympian Affair  is a story of the maneuvering and politics after the war has started but before it ha
Read more