Spoilery Discussion: The Unkindest Tide and Seanan Mcguire's October Daye Series

If you couldn't tell from the name of this post, this is a post where I'm going to vent my thoughts about the October Daye series as a whole, and my speculations as to where things are going.  I'll also be talking about spoilers in The Unkindest Tide that I tiptoed around in my review post.  So if you're interested in the series, and haven't read all 13 books, don't read any further.

For my non-spoiler review of The Unkindest Tide, see THIS post.

You have been warned.


So The Unkindest Tide tells the story finally of what the Luidaeg promised in "In Salt-Sea Tears" - the bargain with the Selkies finally coming due, and October's part in it.  I complained at the time in the last book about how so much of that book felt like a repeat of Book 5, with its ultimate purpose seeming to be to give October some more personal stakes here, with Gillian now being a Selkie to be affected by the bargain.  But this book is far more original, and the debt is fulfilled in a surprising way: rather than killing the Selkies, it transforms them all, including new ones created by October and the Firstborn cutting the skins to create more of them, into the Roane.

Included in that is Gillian, whose relationship with Toby is the most tragic part of this book.  Toby apparently spent the few months since the last book staying away from Gillian, who was hurt but seemed more open than Toby realized towards trying to connect with her mom (due to realizing what Janet had done), and that does not seem to have been the right decision - especially honestly with the Ryans not exactly being friends of Toby.  So Gillian is still bitter towards Toby and what Toby has done to Gillian and that only is made worse here, with Gillian again used as a hostage and Gillian declaring in the end that she wants just to be left alone.  It's understandable from Gillian's point of view, but brutal as a fan of Toby and really heartbreaking.  I still hope that somewhere in the future of this series Gillian can make up with her mother, but at this point I don't see how it would happen.

Interestingly btw, Toby calls Janet by her real name in front of Gillian and Gillian doesn't react, though she seemingly still doesn't know Janet's real history at this point.  I wonder if that's significant or just a blip.

So the Roane are back!  Which presumably means we'll have more prophecies to come in the future of this series, although mind you, we already had two seers in Cassandra and Karen in the series to generate those already....Still nice to see the Luidaeg get some measure of happiness through it all.  Oh and the Lordens probably feel far more indebted to Toby than before (although Dianda has helped Toby since the last few debts a bit, so it's pretty give and take)....and Toby's fame and notoriety is about to go up another level, with her not exactly kingbreaking, but infiltrating an Undersea Duchy, killing a Cephali soldier, and rescuing Peter.  Yeah, if she ever wants to maintain a low profile again, she's going to need to go in disguise at this point.

Of course, there's this book's biggest spoilery reveal, or well tease, which is the matter of Marcia.  I've seen online other people suggesting Marcia was more than what she seemed for a while, based upon how Marcia reacted to the Lordens and the Windermeres in some of the later books, but I didn't really buy it - even as recently as book 12, Marcia acted particularly like what she appeared, a thin-blooded changeling, with her being really pissed at the possible implication that thin-blooded changelings were not loyal in that book.

Yet it's clear there's something up with her here, with her making statements about her path in life, not feeling affects from the transition into the Summerlands, not being tempted by a Selkie skin, and most obviously by Pete - the Merrow Firstborn - taking notice of her and realizing that Marcia is not what she claims.  Given that last bit, I imagine the secret will be revealed fairly soon in the series, since mysteries like that usually aren't made as blatantly here: I suppose the closest equivalent was the existence of August being revealed in Book 8 which was then resolved in Book 11.

So who is Marcia?  The obvious answer is that she's the missing Windermere nursemaid Marianne, who as a Coblynau is one of the best at illusions among the Fae, and could be hiding using her own magic....or as a cost of the bargain she made with the Luidaeg to protect Arden and Nolan.  Still, the Luidaeg's questions of Marcia don't give any hint that she knows who Marcia is which she would in the latter, and it just doesn't seem like it would be a significant reveal in itself to be worth such a big mystery here.

The other answer I've seen posted on blogs is that she's either a hiding Firstborn, who would have the power easily to hide herself from October's abilities, or even that she's Maeve in hiding.  That last would explain perhaps why she'd be afraid of Pete - a descendant of Titania, if not an enemy of Maeve - but it's kind of a weird place for Maeve to be hiding: especially as Marcia at first was seemingly so damn innocent and scared until she was given her role as Seneschal of Goldengreen. 

I'm kind of stumped here honestly, the Marianne reveal seems underwhelming and the idea that she isn't at least now a thin-blooded changeling, even if she has some secret important backstory, doesn't seem to fit.  So what could that backstory be?  If not for last book, the answer would be being Janet, but that role is now taken.  I got nothing.

Thoughts?