Spoilery Discussion/Review: Be the Serpent and the October Daye series, 18 Books In - Featuring Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep

 



This post is for a spoilery discussion of the 17th and 18th novels - Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep - in Seanan McGuire's October Daye series.  If you are interested in the series and want to speculate on what the events of these books mean?  This is for you.  If not, and you still want to read this series, I recommend not reading on beyond the jump.


If you accidentally found this page and want to read the actual spoiler free review of these books go HERE for Sleep No More and go HERE for The Innocent Sleep  


You have been warned.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire

 



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 October 24, 2023 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.

The Innocent Sleep is technically the 18th book in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy "October Daye" series.  I say technically because the book is a unique oddity - whereas the first 17 novels in the series all are told from the first person perspective of series protagonist October "Toby" Daye,, The Innocent Sleep takes place instead from the perspective of major supporting character Tybalt, Toby's Cait Sidhe companion (and spoiler alert: something more than that).  Even more different - this book doesn't tell a fully new story but instead tells the story of the timespan of book 17, Sleep No More (reviewed here), from the perspective of Tybalt as he tries to figure out what's going on and what to do about it.  So in a way this is really book 17.5 rather than book 18.  

This is not a bad thing at all and The Innocent Sleep more than justifies its existence.  Tybalt not only is present for a lot of scenes referenced in Sleep No More, but his different approach and attitude makes him a fascinating character in his own right, with his own motivations all being all over the place but also understandable.  He also has quite a bit of the old ingenuity that Toby is missing in her own story (for the reasons set forth in that setting) and it's really fun to see Tybalt deal with the horror through such human and non-fae (and sometimes fae) know-how.  Add in some excellent character work to showcase the mental struggle Titania's actions have put Tybalt in, and well...this book is honestly a highlight in the series.  You shouldn't read it before Sleep No More, but you should definitely read it afterwards rather than try to skip to book 19.  And as a bonus, you get an excellent novella showcasing the perspective of Helmi as she came to first serve Dianda Lorden and then got to experience the events we've seen in the series....

Further discussion of this book is below.  Note: Spoilers for Books 1-16 (Be the Serpent) are inevitable and unlabeled in this review after the jump.  Spoilers for this book and Book 17 (Sleep No More) will not be revealed as much as possible  My spoiler-filled post to discuss both this book and Sleep No More can be found HERE.

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Stranger in the Citadel by Tobias S. Buckell

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 October 17, 2023 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.

A Stranger in the Citadel is a SF/F novel by author Tobias S. Buckell. The novel was originally an Audible audiobook "original" in 2021 and is now being published in actual print (and ebook) in 2023 by Tachyon Publications, a publisher who tends to publish a lot of really interesting short novels from SF/F authors. It's a novel that Buckell notes was inspired by Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 in that it features a world where literacy - reading and writing - is a heresy of the highest order and punishable by death. But unlike other novels I've read with similar concepts, where protagonists get introduced to reading and find it magical and seek to change the world, Buckell takes a different tack.

Instead we have a world where reading and writing genuinely is dangerous and the world without it - where stories are told and retold by griots and food is provided by magical cornucopias - is seemingly okay...until a "Librarian" arrives with a book and our protagonist, the Musketress (princess) Lilith tries to spare his life out of mercy. The resulting tale of revolution, of privilege and corruption and power, of love, friendship and human curiosity is fascinating and goes in paths you very much won't expect and is well well worth your time.

Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse is referred to, although it's never seen on page, as a horror inflicted by one of the early antagonists.  It shouldn't affect readers too much, but if it does, it's there.  

Fantasy Novella Review: A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 3, 2023 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.

A Necessary Chaos is a fantasy novella from author Brent Lambert, which features a pair of spies from opposing sides - one from an Empire's most deadly secret services and the other from a revolutionary group which fights for freedom from said Empire - who have fallen for each other...until they each get the order to dispose of the other and their M/M romance gets put to the test by the horrors committed by said Empire. Oh and the world is divided among three Empires which each keep power through the use of magic from horrifying sources - the main empire for example uses magic derived from magic speech that comes from a "Torture Dimension".

The result is a story that features a strong relationship at its core with its protagonists Vade and Althus and is very easy to get engrossed in and which has a pretty satisfying ending. At the same time, it does punt away one of the more interesting ideas in its concept by its midpoint, which prevents it from quite being as interesting as I'd hoped. Still a solid novella - for more, see my thoughts after the jump.

Fantasy Novella Review: Off-Time Jive by A.Z. Louise

 

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained  from the publisher in advance of the book's release on October 24, 2023 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.

Off-Time Jive is a novella from author A.Z. Louise and is one of the latest novellas in queer small publisher Neon Hemlock's annual series of novellas.  Neon Hemlock's works are nearly always interesting, and well Off-Time Jive's pitch - a historical fantasy taking place in an alternate Harlem Renaissance dealing with a magical murder mystery/fantasy noir - certainly made it seem like it would continue that trend.  And I'd seen some good talk about this work on social media, so it was an easy choice to accept a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a review.  

And well, Off-Time Jive IS interesting, even if I don't quite think the novella pulls everything off.  The story's main character and narrator, Bessie Knox, is at times fascinating as she deals with the fact that her magic is fading even as she investigates a murder tied to a tragical magical accident in her past, and the story's setting in an alternate Harlem Renaissance where (Black) new magic was disdained by practitioners of (White) old magic is utterly fascinating.  Add in a White-passing assistant to Bessie with ties to the mob and deadly magical cops could appear to disappear or worse anyone who gets in their path and you have all the makings of a really strong noir.  And yet the story kind of stumbles in its ending, which doesn't quite feel earned by everything that comes beforehand.  

More specifics after the jump:

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu

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 October 3, 2023 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.

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport is Indian author Samit Basu's (writer of the fascinating novel The City Inside) new take on the story of Aladdin.  The story is advertised by the marketing copy as a mash up of Aladdin and Murderbot, and to be fair there is something to that as Basu weaves a Sci-Fi story from the first person perspective of a story-bot who is supposed to stay invisible and record a story...and who naturally gets more and more involved with events instead.  Add in two main characters in a young woman and her brother, a monkey-bot, who each want to use a piece of alien tech - a ring and a lamp, of course - for their own revolutionary (and a little selfish) purposes, and you have a take on Aladdin that is a little bit familiar but at the same time is very different from the takes you may be used to.  

The result is an excellent and fun novel that stays somewhat true to the framework of the original story while also still featuring twists, turns, and characters that will surprise and delight a reader.  The trio of main characters - monkeybot Bador, revolutionary girl Lina, and storybot Moku - are an utter delight even as they all think and behave in very different ways and Basu infuses them and the plot with a frequent humor that will make you smile even as the story never verges into comedy.  Meanwhile, the story deals with some very interesting and relevant themes of oppression, individual rights for different types of beings, colonization, empire and how to change all that, and the various possible means of revolution.  The end result is this is another winning installment from Basu that is well worth your time.  

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard

Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained from the author in advance of the book's release on October 12, 2023 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.

A Fire Born of Exile is the latest novel by Aliette de Bodard, and the second full length novel in her Xuya Universe - A universe where humanity has spread to space and grown with its dominant cultures originating in Vietnamese and Chinese cultures and where humans live alongside living ships ("Mindships") whose minds are birthed by human beings. This universe had originated in de Bodard's novellas and short fiction (On a Red Station, Drifting, The Citadel of Weeping Pearls, the Tea Master and the Detective, Seven of Infinities) and had its first novel in last year's "The Red Scholar's Wake" and frequently deals with issues such as power, family piety, justice, and class differences, among other things.

 As a white American reader, the themes and perspectives of de Bodard's work (and her excellent characters), especially in this universe, are especially different and fascinating to read and as a result I've become a huge fan of de Bodard. Oh and they often deal with F/F Sapphic (and occasionally other queer) Romances in very excellent ways, even as de Bodard uses this universe to play on some classic stories of western canon - like Sherlock Holmes, & Arsene Lupin.

A Fire Born of Exile is de Bodard's long promised adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. The novel is her longest Xuya story yet and features Quỳnh, the "Count"-esque character, who was once under her old identity unjustly executed for treason by a cruel Prefect and Quỳnh's disloyal and ambitious lover, as Quỳnh returns years later, actually alive, to try and get revenge. Along the way she encounters two others - the prefect's daughter, Minh, who is innocent of her mother's crimes and is constantly pressured by her mother into trying to be something she's not, and Hoà, the sister of Quỳnh's original identity's mentor, with who Quỳnh starts to fall in love. And so we have a story that deals with family piety, love, choosing one's own destiny, power and justice and more as Quỳnh tries to enact her plot for revenge only for Minh and Hoà to not fully intentionally get in the way. It's a very good work, even if I think it's not quite up to the same level of de Bodard's incredibly good other works.

Note: As the characters and setting are based in and inspired by Vietnamese culture, certain names have use the Vietnamese Latin Alphabet.  I am trying to use those same letters when appropriate below, but for a few characters I was unable to find a letter to easily put in the review, so my apologize for the slight inaccuracy in character names.