Bookish Thoughts

A Local Habitation follows Rosemary and Rue to continue the ongoing October Daye series from Seanan McGuire. It's a bit of a step down from the first book but is still a mostly enjoyable read. The thing I like about these books, and McGuire's writing in general, is how well thought-out her worlds are. This series takes place in a San Francisco that has Faerie peering in at the edges. There are several different kingdoms contained in the city with many different races of Fae and the complicated politics that go along with that. Toby has to navigate this confusing world with the added difficulty that she is only half-Fae, resulting in a much-reduced status. As in the first book, the world in which this story takes place is well-realized. The surrounding characters are distinct and interesting. Overall, the book is a fun, light read. The problem is the plot (and I've been assured that this is the weakest book of the series, so there is that). Toby is sent...

I enjoyed Feed so much, that I decided to pick up another of Seanan McGuire's books: Rosemary and Rue . This book is the first installment in a series of urban fantasy mystery novels. The protagonist, October Daye, is half-human, half-faerie, and serves as a P.I. in San Francisco, taking on cases from both worlds. The title is a reference to Ophelia's final monologue in Hamlet , one of the Shakespeare plays I'm actually familiar with. I even played Ophelia when I was in middle school. According to the play, rosemary is for remembrance and rue is for repentance. October struggles with both of these over the course of the book. There's a brief prologue that takes place roughly 14 years before the story starts. While on a case, October is magically imprisoned. By the time she's freed, her fiance and daughter have given her up for dead and the rest of her life is in similar shambles. Not knowing what to do, but knowing that she doesn't want to repea...