The first 25% of Tidal Creatures is a bit too enamored with being metaphysically clever, but if you can get past that bit, you have a book that combines the alchemical experiments of Middlegame and the manifestations of nature in Seasonal Fears into a fun and creative new entry in the series.

Tidal Creatures starts off following two narratives, one about Kelpie, a human(??) girl who works in alchemy lab and happens to have hooves, a tail, and orange skin; and one about the human manifestations of moon deities as they try to solve the murder of one of their fellow manifestations. I really enjoyed heading back into the world of alchemical constructs and cuckoos; while it took me a little longer to get on board with the moon, by the time the two narratives meet, I was fully hooked and invested in the plot.

While not as strong as Middlegame, I found Tidal Creatures to be much better than Seasonal Fears - I don’t think you need to read Seasonal Fears to read this, but I would highly recommend reading Middlegame first, as the main characters from Middlegame are heavily involved here (and many of the plot points of MG are spoiled as well).

There are a few Seanan writing quirks that will always annoy me a bit (she is very into having her POC characters talk about the problem with white people, and mini-monologues of characters talking about how they know something is bad, and they’re learning, and they’re doing their best), but I’m always impressed by her creativity in creating new worlds.

"Every night, a Moon shines down on the Impossible City...

New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire takes us back to the world of the award-winning Alchemical Journeys series in this action-packed follow-up to Middlegame and Seasonal Fears.

All across the world, people look up at the moon and dream of gods. Gods of knowledge and wisdom, gods of tides and longevity. Over time, some of these moon gods incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City - the heart of all creation - to keep it connected to reality.

And someone is killing them.

There are so many of them that it's easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren't limitless.

In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks - control of the Impossible City itself."

I know I joke about Seanan McGuire's output, but she seriously is rivaling Stephen King and probably even James Patterson... But this literally is her fifth book of the year and not her only release in June...

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Tor/Forge for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

NEW HEIGHTS

Let's get it out of the way: if you adored Middlegame but felt that Seasonal Fears was a bit of a letdown, you only need to read Tidal Creatures to fall in love with the series all over again. And no, not only because this time Roger and Dodger play a huge part in it (though it does help 😉 😍). For one, the amount of exposition is just right - there's a lot to take in, that's for sure, and some of the concepts are tackled more than once, but you never feel like you're hammered over the head with them when it happens. Every time the god-incarnate situation, the alchemical procedures or the Impossible City (a.k.a. the center of creation) are discussed, the reader is given a new piece of information, or sees a familiar event from a new angle (or from a new character's eyes), so that in the end everything is an essential tassel to the book's mosaic, the same way as the Lunar gods need to come together to become the Moon that shines over the City itself. But this is just one of the reasons why this book restored my faith in the series...

OF GODS AND CONCEPTS

After two installments where the protagonists came in pair (with different grades of success - Roger and Dodger could sustain a whole book and then some, while Harry and Melanie were definitely less vivid and interesting), Tidal Creatures is a change of pace in that it introduces (or reintroduces, in some cases) a whole group of characters, who vary from gods incarnate/their human hosts, to alchemical constructs, to normal people who may or may not have an affiliation with magic (plus antagonists in the form of evil - or slightly less evil - alchemists, of course). Oh...and a dog (don't worry, he doesn't die - though there are other casualties...).
McGuire clearly put a lot of thought into shaping the symbiosis between the Lunar gods and their human counterparts, and the different grades of balance (or lack thereof) in what is, for all purposes, a partnership every host entered willingly, but not without consequences. It's like having two characters in place of one, sometimes even at the same time (though of course only one of them is at the forefront), and it's fascinating. There's also a unique coming-of-age arc involving one character who must learn the truth about herself the hard way, and finally...there are Roger and Dodger - Language and Math personified - in all their glory. After their brief cameo in Seasonal Fears, they get a lot more space here, and McGuire explores their god-like essence and the way they (can) rewrite reality, along with their effort not to rearrange the world (and the people in it) around their desires - not to mention, their tether to humanity on one end, godhood and the Impossible City on the other. It's a testament to the other characters though that Roger and Dodger don't steal the scene, and I bet you'll find some new favourites here, like I did 🙂.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Tidal Creatures departs from your average Seanan McGuire's novel in that it (partly) focuses on a murder and an investigation; but don't enter it expecting a classic murder mystery, if in a supernatural setting. This part of the plot is exciting, but mostly for different reasons than the actual whodunnit (I'll go as far as to say that it isn't that hard to hone in on the culprit - I'm not going to elaborate in order to avoid spoilers): during the sleuthing, we finally get a glimpse of the Impossible City we've been teased with since Book 1, and we delve into its mythology and its connection with both the Lunar gods and the Doctrine siblings (that is, Roger and Dodger). As it's custom with McGuire's best books, Tidal Creatures's strength lies in its complex, yet easy-to-love characters (with whom the author clearly empathises even when she puts them through the grinder) and imaginative worldbuilding (speaking of which, leave it to McGuire to weave aspects of lore into a new, original myth). With two more installments on the way and the road to the Impossible City firmly paved at last, the future for this series sounds glorious, and I can't wait to get there.

Note: I couldn't help but notice a small continuity error on page 155: a character who's going under an alias introduces herself by her real name, only to go back to that alias three pages later. I'm curious to see if this tiny hiccup will make it to the published version or not - in which case, I'll delete this paragraph.

Reading Tidal Creatures felt like Seanan McGuire answered all the prayers I had after finishing Seasonal Fears. Some background information for those who haven’t read the Alchemical Journeys series (or my reviews of Middlegame and Seasonal Fears): Middlegame is one of my all-time favourite books, primarily due to the two protagonists Roger and Dodger. I never expected it would become a series. When Seasonal Fears was announced, I understood it to be more of a spiritual sucessor set in the same world of Middlegame. I prepared myself for little mention of Roger and Dodger. I was right to do so. Seasonal Fears expands the alchemical worldbuilding a bit further, but the new protagonists meant nothing to me.

So, I went into Tidal Creatures with a well-adjusted mindset, preparing for a book more in the vein of Seasonal Fears than Middlegame. But no! (This is where you should dip out of the review if you want absolutely no information about Tidal Creatures‘ plot and characters.)

Tidal Creatures features new protagonists Judy (who shares her body with an incarnation of the celestial goddess Chang’e) and Kelpie (who begins the story knowing nothing about her past and quickly learns more after she escapes from an alchemist’s lab). Tidal Creatures doesn’t try to recreate the characterization or relationship buidling that were so strongly present in Middlegame and absent (for me) in Seasonal Fears. But at least I found both Judy and Kelpie more interesting characters than Seasonal Fears‘ Melanie or Harry. Certainly it helps, for my personal preferences, that neither are framed primarily by a romantic relationship. But what truly excited me was the shift back to a focus on Roger and Dodger.

I was definitely screaming crying throwing up when Erin and Smita appeared. (Actually, I was clapping like people do on a sitcom when a famous guest start walks in lmao). I highlighted every single little reference to Roger before he’s actually named or appears himself on page. Tidal Creatures begins focused on Judy and Kelpie, but Roger and Dodger (and Erin!) play a much larger role in her story than they did in Melanie and Harry’s. Once they’re introduced, they remain part of the action. We even get a decent number of pages from Dodger’s POV, and learn a lot more about what’s next for her and Roger, and their relatiosnhip with the Impossible City.

I wondered for a minute if the structure of this series will be a bit like Wayward Children – some books focus more on Roger and Dodger, some books less? I can only continue to pray we get more like this. But, we’ve only got two books left in the series after Tidal Creatures: Inkpot Gods in 2026 and Asphodel in 2028 (source). You should have seen the look on my face when I saw the final book is titled Aphodel. I have some working theories about her, one of which is that she’s not actually dead, but I am currently revising that theory based on a few tidbits of info revealed in this book 👀

We’re working through the elements. MIDDLEGAME = Fire SEASONAL FEARS = Earth TIDAL CREATURES = Water INKPOT GODS = Air ASPHODEL = Aether

— Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire.bsky.social) Mar 31, 2024 at 19:45
In addition to so much Roger and Dodger Erin, we get so much more worldbuilding! Look, if you’re all about the characters, then yes, they’re great, but for me there is no recreating the relationship from Roger and Dodger. So what I’m looking for with each new installment in this series is A) more of Roger/Dodger/Erin and B) more worldbuilding. Tidal Creatures offers a lot more concrete worldbuilding, including where/how Roger and Dodger fit into it all. Excellent, I was quite pleased by this. Also I think now that maybe I should reread Seasonal Fears to see if I pick up more on the worldbuilding in that volume. I do recall that reading Seasonal Fears, even if I didn’t love it, helped me better understand a few things in Middlegame, so perhaps Tidal Creatures will do the same for me and Seasonal Fears.

464 pages zipped by like nothing. I read this book in under 24 hours. I would read more chunksters if they were written like this! I adore the writing style McGuire uses in this series, which I find quite similar to the style of Wayward Children. It’s just so compelling, it never feels like a good place to pause reading so I just keep going. I don’t listen to audiobooks but I imagine the audio versions of this series would be *chef’s kiss*.

Now, I will be a little more critical and admit that yes, the plot structure feels quite familiar. The conclusion was a bit anti-climatic. But I don’t care much about that – I’m all about the characters with a good serving of worldbuilding with this series.

The Bottom Line 💭
If you loved Middlegame, or especially were a fan of Roger, Dodger, or Erin, then you need to pick up Tidal Creatures. If you didn’t care for Seasonal Fears and were thinking of dropping the series, PLEASE RECONSIDER. If you didn’t love Middlegame but you did love Seasonal Fears… 🤔 then I can’t relate and you’ll have to decided for yourself if you should read Tidal Creatures lol.

If you haven't read Middlegame in a while, I would recommend doing a quick refresher since this one depends on some knowledge from that book. Still great, but I do wish I had read the first more recently. Regardless, McGuire always treats character development with a special skill that few other authors seem to master. I love her writing and this book. Will definitely purchase for the collection!

_Tidal Creatures_ is a direct sequel to _Middlegame_, which I loved. I wish I had read it more recently before reading this one as it did rely on knowledge of the previous book to make sense. _Tidal Creatures_ is the story of Kelpie, an alchemical construct intended to help the alchemists harness the energy of the Lunars, manifestations of various lunar gods.

The story is engaging, with unexpected twists and turns. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the early copy of Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire. Below is my honest review.

The latest entry in the Alchemical Journeys follows manifestations of the moon goddesses from all sorts of cultures around the world. They follow the night sky over the Impossible City, shining their light over the City's residents. They also have their own special entryways into the Everything, providing paths to their Windows that let them perform their shining duties. Unfortunately, the alchemists have figured that out and are trying to find a way to use those moon goddesses to get access and claim the Impossible City.

Luckily for the rest of the world, a handful of misfits find their way to each other, including some major deals like, oh, the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos.

I really enjoyed this one. It took a while to build, but once it did, we got to learn a TON about the alchemical world and met some really cool characters. I can't wait for the next one!

Definitely recommended, but please read the first two before picking this one up.

First things, first, I enjoyed this book a lot. I love this world of alchemy and the metaphysical and manifest gods/ideas that McGuire has created. I love the variety of characters, their different abilities and agencies, and that no one is truly safe. There is always a true edge of danger for the characters, which more writers need to have in their writing.

That said, this addition to this series is not as good as the first or the second book. I would say that unlike the second book, you really need to have read Middlegame in order to understand and follow this one. Also, I felt like this book spent a lot more time explaining the exposition/characters than actually showing the exposition. It really shines when it lets the characters lead, and (perhaps ironically,) the characters don't get to shine as much in this book. And while it is a lengthy book, part of why it suffers is that we don't get enough time with the villain of this particular book; the horror is there, but it's muted compared to the first two. The ending also felt rather anti-climactic, especially compared with the previous books. The beginning, though...that was a such a masterpiece of drawing you in to the story and the characters.

It's still great! Definitely earns its four stars; it is fascinating, disturbing, and creative the way I expect all of McGuire's writing to be, and she doesn't disappoint on that front. I hope she keeps returning to this world, because I'm here for it. If you liked either of the first two books, then you'll almost certainly enjoy this one.

As always, I found myself wishing the next book had already been written and ready for me to dive into.

Someone is killing off moon gods, and it's up to the remaining human incarnations of the lunar deities to find out who in Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire, the third of her Alchemical Journeys series.

Like the other books in the series, Tidal Creatures takes place in a world of powerful elemental forces that manifest themselves as human beings. Human beings who often find themselves hunted by the ruthless alchemists who seek to usurp their primal powers for their own. Such appears to be the case at first with the murder of the moon goddess Aske and her human host. But as other Lunars investigate Aske's killing, the truth turns out to be more complex and more sinister.

Unlike Seasonal Fears, Tidal Creatures is more of a direct follow-up to Middlegame, although it does take place after the events of both those books. Roger, Dodger, and several other prominent characters from Middlegame return, and unlike their brief cameo in Seasonal Fears, in Tidal Creatures they take a far more active role in shaping the plot.

Which I unfortunately think is to the book's detriment. Tidal Creatures introduces us to some genuinely loveable and compelling new protagonists: like Kelpie, an alchemically-created young woman with deer hooves, a tail, and bright orange skin. Or Judy, who is busy balancing the demands of being a full-time grad student and part-time moon goddess. Yet these characters and others are pushed to the side the moment the protagonists of Middlegame appear, leaving them side characters in their own narrative. Honestly, it makes me with Seanan McGuire would just go ahead and write the next story about Roger and Dodger that she so clearly wants to, instead of inserting them into what are ostensibly other peoples' stories within the same world.

Personally, I found myself let down by Tidal Creatures for the reasons above, although to be clear I did still enjoy reading the book. If you liked Middlegame and Seasonal Fears, you'll probably like this one too. Just make sure you temper your expectations accordingly before diving in.

Seanan McGuire always does a great job in writing interesting stories and characters that I cared about. It worked well overall and thought it was everything that I was looking for in the genre. It had a great story and thought it worked with everything that I wanted. I enjoyed that this brought us back to the Alchemical Journeys world and glad it had everything that I wanted from this type of book.

Moon gods, metaphysics, and sneers

Tidal Creatures is the third novel in Seanan McGuire's Alchemical Journeys series, or the seventh if you include the Up and Under books. The unifying principle behind the series is the personification of things that are not persons, objectively or scientifically speaking, such as the Doctrine of Ethos (Middlegame), Winter and Summer (Seasonal Fears), and now the Moon. Five of the main characters are Moon goddesses (Aske, Change'e, Artemis, Diana) and a Moon god (Máni). We also meet Kelpie, who is not in fact a Kelpie, but a personification of Artemis's Hind. Each of the gods/goddesses is in fact two persons -- a god/dess and an ordinary human whose body the two share. McGuire explains the relationship at length.

Roger Zelazny began his career by writing about thirty stories, which he sent to all the Science Fiction magazines, for which purpose he had made a comprehensive list. In this way he collected 150 rejections and no acceptances. He then sat down with all his stories, read them, and tried to figure out what the problem was. He decided that he was explaining too much -- that he would be insulted if an author told him so much, rather than letting him figure it out. So he stopped doing that, and immediately his stories began to sell.

McGuire knows this lesson. As a short story writer she is beautifully economical. But she seems somehow to have unlearned it to write Tidal Creatures. Unnecessary explanations of folklorical metaphysics go on and on.

But there was another thing that bothered me even more -- the sneering. I first noticed it when Judy (that's Chang'e's human) visits Prof Roger Middleton, and thinks this

"As she watches him, she realizes she doesn’t really know much about the man; she’s read his published papers, which are meticulously researched, and precisely as petty as any other academic work..."*

This amounts to an implication that all academic works are petty, and all equally petty. Once I started noticing the sneers, I couldn't stop. They're EVERYWHERE.

For instance, one of the main characters is Isabella, an hechicera. Isabella works with a circle of would-be witches who meet at the home of Catrina, who is one of them. Isabella seldom thinks of Catrina without a sneer. There are pages and pages of this. The problem with this is not that it diminishes Catrina -- we are meant to hold Catrina in contempt. The problem is that it diminishes Isabella. There are few point-of-view characters in Tidal Creatures who don't despise someone else and reveal that contempt in sneering thoughts.

The story is essentially a murder mystery -- moon goddesses are dying. (That's not a spoiler -- the publisher's blurb tells us "someone is killing them".) I think this could have been a rather good story. But the overexplanation and sneers really drained a lot of the fun out of it for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and TorDotDom for an advance reader copy of Tidal Creatures. Release date 4-Jun-2024.

*Quotes are from an advance reader copy of Tidal Creatures and may change before publication. This review will be corrected if necessary on the release date.

Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire, a fun read that ties back in to previous books. Which came first the moon or the moons avatars? who can say and how do certain people want to turn it to their advantage?

This is the third book in the series, and the first one that feels tied to Middlegame versus being in the same world as Middlegame. That means things go over my head occasionally but I enjoy them anyway.

There can be a sameness to the way the characters speak (across her books too; there's a length and structure that happens a little too often to feel natural to so many characters), but I'm used to it now. I have only two criticisms of the book, of which that is the major one. The other you'll guess when you read the book, and you should read the book.

I just flat out haven't liked the continuation of this series. I loved Middlegame. It is a near perfect book. (Except for the audiobook, narrated by Amber Benson, which is actually a perfect book and performance.)

That said, Seasonal Fears didn't work for me for a variety of reasons. I decided to give this one a try, and DNFed around 40%. McGuire's writing is truly overwritten at this point, with every sentence seeming to need an aside, an observation of the nature of the universe, or some sort of metaphor. All of the characters act like metaphors (even the ones who aren't). I still am annoyed that Seasonal Fears undid several major plot points from Middlegame.

I want to like this world and the magic system but I just can't. Unfortunately I just can't recommend this series to anyone.

Please, go read Middlegame. Then pretend the other books don't exist.