SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: When Sorrows Come (October Daye #15) by Seanan McGuire: https://t.co/joJyE0CVT4
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) September 13, 2021
Short Review: 9 out of 10
1/3
Short Review (cont): The 15th October Daye novel finally has it happen: Toby's getting married. Of course, since this is Toby, she also stumbles upon a coup at the same time. And gets stabbed. Because Toby.
— Josh (garik16) (@garik16) September 13, 2021
In all seriousness, the happiness in this made me really happy
2/3
Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on September 14, 2021 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
When Sorrows Come is the Fifteenth (!!) book in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy "October Daye" series, her first of two long running urban fantasy series. I pretty much love this series - it's not high art or deep in its themes or whatever, but it's a really fun urban fantasy series with great characters, a really strong world that does deal at least somewhat with real aspects of our own world (even as it deals more and more as it goes on with the Fae rather than with ordinary humans). And its fae world is really creatively done, its characters have grown tremendously over time, and honestly I just love so much of it all, even when the series does have the occasional off book here and there.
When Sorrows Come is not an off book - it's probably going to wind up one of my favorite books in the series, if just for the ending and the attached novella. The general overall plot isn't anything special to write home about, but the characters remain great, and most importantly, this book concludes what seems like a long plot arc of this series in such a happy and enjoyable way, with the main protagonist and her family coming together in generally pleasant ways, that I just found myself smiling in the end. It's really to the point where the series could end here, and it would be a satisfying ending, even as this book still hints at more to come in the future.
Note: This review will include as few spoilers as possible, although spoilers for past books are fair game. A second post, linked HERE, will contain spoilery discussion and speculation for the series, so if you want to comment with your own thoughts, please comment there.
Note2: As is traditional with the series, the book contains an attached novella; however, unlike in most prior books, the attached novella is more of an epilogue than its own unique story, and as such, I won't be reviewing it separately.
--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
When October Daye agreed to marry Tybalt, she still barely believed it could ever happen. And wedding planning has never been her thing, so she decided to keep it all as far from her mind by allowing her friends and family to plan her wedding for her - which she agreed for political reasons to take place in the High King's knowe in Toronto. It's not that she doesn't want to get married, it's just...well she's too busy with crises needing the attention of a Hero of the Realm to focus upon it.
And so, she shouldn't really have been surprised to find that her squire has gotten himself magically transformed so he can be at the wedding incognito, the invitations have already gone out, and oh yeah the wedding is in just a few days and they're leaving tomorrow for Toronto.
Nor should she have been surprised when she arrives at the High King's knowe only to immediately stumble upon a coup centuries in the making, one that requires a Hero....and not a kingbreaker....to solve. Because if it takes her getting stabbed, shot with an arrow, and just generally bleeding all over herself once more, Toby is GOING to get married. Or else.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On one hand, When Sorrows Come is a really standard Toby story. You have Toby upset by some secrets her family and friends where keeping from her at the start, although she gets over it when she realizes their good intentions (and that what they were doing is basically what she would do, for once). You have Toby going to a new kingdom, winding up right in the middle of a Hero-level catastrophe - a coup! - and having to save the day despite establishment nobles getting in the way to some extent in a fairly dangerous fashion. Toby will get stabbed at least once, get a lot of blood on her, someone will make a deal with the Luidaeg that leads to more trouble, etc. etc. And all of this is done well, even if none of it is particularly surprising or anything really new at this point (there's basically one new type of Fae, which usually is one of the ways McGuire spices up these stories).
On the other hand, When Sorrows Come is also both Toby's wedding - finally coming after she's been engaged for 7 books now - but also a capper to a lot of character development and story arcs in Toby's life. This is particularly made clear in the bonus novella (which takes the form of Toby's wedding reception), but basically a large part of the story is based upon characters who mean something to Toby all coming together to celebrate her in the end, including characters we haven't seen in a long while who made a big impact on Toby's life.* They are all desperate to get Toby, with her own abandonment issues and her lack of concern for her own health, to the alter because they care about her, even if some of them have trouble admitting it, and a major part of this book is both Toby and these others realizing how much they care for each other and celebrating that.
*At least one of these characters' relationships with Toby seems to have been retconned by my own memory, but it's hard to care too much.*
And I love that all so much, because I've come to love Toby and so many of these characters, and so seeing them all happy in this one is just an absolute joy. The main mystery/fae crisis plot works just well enough to throw fun conflicts in the way of Toby that force the cast to demonstrate how much they all love each other, leading to well, a happy ending that feels entirely earned. The only real pure disappointment in this book is that certain characters are not present (most notably Dianda) because they had to be left in San Francisco, whereas all the important elements of this book take place in Toronto, but well again it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
So yeah, this series continues to be really great, and if you're 14 books in like I was, you will be thrilled with this one. Even if all the happiness suggests that McGuire is going to do something truly dreadful next book lol.
I'll have some more specific discussion in my spoiler-filled post, so I think I'll leave this review at that.
When Sorrows Come is not an off book - it's probably going to wind up one of my favorite books in the series, if just for the ending and the attached novella. The general overall plot isn't anything special to write home about, but the characters remain great, and most importantly, this book concludes what seems like a long plot arc of this series in such a happy and enjoyable way, with the main protagonist and her family coming together in generally pleasant ways, that I just found myself smiling in the end. It's really to the point where the series could end here, and it would be a satisfying ending, even as this book still hints at more to come in the future.
Note: This review will include as few spoilers as possible, although spoilers for past books are fair game. A second post, linked HERE, will contain spoilery discussion and speculation for the series, so if you want to comment with your own thoughts, please comment there.
Note2: As is traditional with the series, the book contains an attached novella; however, unlike in most prior books, the attached novella is more of an epilogue than its own unique story, and as such, I won't be reviewing it separately.
--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
When October Daye agreed to marry Tybalt, she still barely believed it could ever happen. And wedding planning has never been her thing, so she decided to keep it all as far from her mind by allowing her friends and family to plan her wedding for her - which she agreed for political reasons to take place in the High King's knowe in Toronto. It's not that she doesn't want to get married, it's just...well she's too busy with crises needing the attention of a Hero of the Realm to focus upon it.
And so, she shouldn't really have been surprised to find that her squire has gotten himself magically transformed so he can be at the wedding incognito, the invitations have already gone out, and oh yeah the wedding is in just a few days and they're leaving tomorrow for Toronto.
Nor should she have been surprised when she arrives at the High King's knowe only to immediately stumble upon a coup centuries in the making, one that requires a Hero....and not a kingbreaker....to solve. Because if it takes her getting stabbed, shot with an arrow, and just generally bleeding all over herself once more, Toby is GOING to get married. Or else.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On one hand, When Sorrows Come is a really standard Toby story. You have Toby upset by some secrets her family and friends where keeping from her at the start, although she gets over it when she realizes their good intentions (and that what they were doing is basically what she would do, for once). You have Toby going to a new kingdom, winding up right in the middle of a Hero-level catastrophe - a coup! - and having to save the day despite establishment nobles getting in the way to some extent in a fairly dangerous fashion. Toby will get stabbed at least once, get a lot of blood on her, someone will make a deal with the Luidaeg that leads to more trouble, etc. etc. And all of this is done well, even if none of it is particularly surprising or anything really new at this point (there's basically one new type of Fae, which usually is one of the ways McGuire spices up these stories).
On the other hand, When Sorrows Come is also both Toby's wedding - finally coming after she's been engaged for 7 books now - but also a capper to a lot of character development and story arcs in Toby's life. This is particularly made clear in the bonus novella (which takes the form of Toby's wedding reception), but basically a large part of the story is based upon characters who mean something to Toby all coming together to celebrate her in the end, including characters we haven't seen in a long while who made a big impact on Toby's life.* They are all desperate to get Toby, with her own abandonment issues and her lack of concern for her own health, to the alter because they care about her, even if some of them have trouble admitting it, and a major part of this book is both Toby and these others realizing how much they care for each other and celebrating that.
*At least one of these characters' relationships with Toby seems to have been retconned by my own memory, but it's hard to care too much.*
And I love that all so much, because I've come to love Toby and so many of these characters, and so seeing them all happy in this one is just an absolute joy. The main mystery/fae crisis plot works just well enough to throw fun conflicts in the way of Toby that force the cast to demonstrate how much they all love each other, leading to well, a happy ending that feels entirely earned. The only real pure disappointment in this book is that certain characters are not present (most notably Dianda) because they had to be left in San Francisco, whereas all the important elements of this book take place in Toronto, but well again it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
So yeah, this series continues to be really great, and if you're 14 books in like I was, you will be thrilled with this one. Even if all the happiness suggests that McGuire is going to do something truly dreadful next book lol.
I'll have some more specific discussion in my spoiler-filled post, so I think I'll leave this review at that.
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