I absolutely loved reading this book and short story! When I read Once Broken Faith, I had only read the series because I was approved to read it, and that was when I found my love of the series and Seanan McGuire's writing. This book, I've waited a year for it, and that just made it all the more sweeter!

Toby has a pretty messed up family! And to have her mom kidnap her fiance, that's just awful! And all because her big sister thought she could find Oberon, Titania and Maeve. This book took elements from a lot of previous books on the journey to find August, following in her footsteps. So that was a bit bittersweet!

Oh, wow, that ending of Brightest Fell, that was just killer! After everything that they went through, it cost them. They have some healing to do, and August is trying to be even more selfish and get them going again. Which is pretty awful! I know it's going to come bite them in the butt, but they deserve the break, I wish August could've seen that!

Of Things Unknown, that was a really great short story! We were in April's head, and it circles back to book 2, when she was first introduced. And yeah, it was such a great story, and I'm glad how everything worked out there!

These were just so amazing, and I need more of this series! It's just phenomenal!

This series continues to be excellent - inventive, exciting, and emotionally resonant, with a world that both expands and also calls back to itself..

It's a series, and here I am in the middle of it. That happens to me sometimes. So, the fae here are so messed up. It really sticks out how broken they are as "race" or "people". I'm discounting any lost feelings I have because this isn't a stand-a-lone as much as a series. While lacking connection to the characters from past books, I still found the story to be paced rather well, and interesting enough that if I find the others on sale, I would read them. (Starting with #1 please!) Has this family always been this dysfunctional?

My copy came from Net Galley. My thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is left of my own free volition.

Seriously, it’s kind of ridiculous and unfair how good this series is. It’s phenomenal. The way that McGuire manages to increase the tension and emotion across every single installment is nothing short of masterful. It’s just frustrating that when I yell at people to read this series, it’s hard to convince them that it’s worth giving it three books to really get its hooks in your heart. BUT IT IS SO WORTH IT.

In some ways, The Brightest Fell is much lower stakes than many of the prior books. Toby doesn’t have to save the world; she just has to save Tybalt, Jazz, and herself from her evil batshit bananaballs mother. However, if you have been following along (and if you know McGuire’s work), you know that these books can be most heart-stabby when no one’s actually dying. My feelings, they did some exquisite hurting. To counterbalance that, the opening karaoke scene is like the best and funniest thing ever.

Amandine has been looming as a major problem from very early on in the series, and she’s finally here and fucking shit up for reals. I was completely caught off guard by my feels about Simon and August, and I am so excited (and terrified) to see those relationships develop. It’s truly amazing how much fodder there still is for stories after 11 books. It’s fucking absurd how this series really doesn’t feel like it’s just trying to run forever but like it’s actually just got so much more to say.

The one thing I wasn’t as sold on was the April short story, because she just doesn’t have the most compelling voice, which I mean she’s half plant/half computer so I get it but.

I’m sort of at a loss for what to say about a series eleven books in without spoiling major things for folks who are idly reading. October Daye is one of my top series ever (up there with Harry Potter), it’s lgbt af, and I don’t know why you haven’t read it.

Great read! I enjoyed the characters and story line!

Seanan McGuire outdid herself. Toby Daye is eleven books long (so far!), and they just keep getting better. 'McGuire's ability to write a series is just as graceful as her way with words. Color me deeply impressed.

A great addition to the October Daye series. Wonderfully written and imagined urban fantasy.

This is book 11 in this series, which starts with Rosemary and Rue. I’ve read and re-read all 10 leading up to this and The Brightest Fell came out almost at the top of the list of my favorite Toby books.

Toby’s preparing for her wedding and attending her bachelorette party and for once everything seems to be going pretty well. Everyone gets home from the party alright and her fiancé is waiting for her at home when… uh-oh! Toby’s mother, Amandine, shows up and decides she wants Toby to find her long lost other daughter… and kidnaps Toby’s fiancé and her sister’s girlfriend to ensure Toby does it. Thus begins Toby’s latest adventure.

She’ll have to come to terms with lies she’s long held as truths and work with her own personal bogeyman to come out the other side with herself and her family unscathed. Even 11 books in, McGuire keeps deepening the reader’s understanding of the wonderful world she’s created and made this reader feel empathy and sorrow for characters that I once thought were totally evil. The Brightest Fell feels in some ways like a sea change (or the predicator of a sea change) in the October Daye series. There are a lot of answers to big overall story questions and a lot of things Toby (and I) thought were true, are not that true. Things I thought were what was going on are not really at all what’s going on. (Is that incoherent enough?) 😀 It feels like a reckoning is coming in the future books and I for one cannot wait!

Seanan McGuire enthralls with her latest October Daye fantasy, The Brightest Fell. October Daye's mother Amandine, first born from Oberon, has taken October's fiance the king of cats hostage until October tracks down Amadine's other daughter, August, who has lost her way home. October has a short time to complete this impossible task and the fairy territories are inimical to her quest. Well drawn characters, complex plots and lots of action. Read and enjoy.

The Brightest Fell is the eleventh book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. I do not recommend reading this series out of order, skipping around, or picking up just one random book and starting. The character and world building is intense, and builds up throughout the series. However, do not be afraid to start this series because of the size. The series has only gotten better as it continues. This might just be the best one yet!

For once, everything in October “Toby” Daye’s life seems to be going right. There have been no murders or declarations of war for her to deal with, and apart from the looming specter of her Fetch planning her bachelorette party, she’s had no real problems for days. Maybe things are getting better. Suddenly Toby’s mother, Amandine the Liar, appears on her doorstep and demands that Toby find her missing sister, August. But August has been missing for over a hundred years and there are no leads to follow. And Toby really doesn’t owe her mother any favors. Then Amandine starts taking hostages, and refusal ceases to be an option

The Brightest Fell is another roller coaster ride for Toby, with her mother taking precious hostages just as Toby was starting to relax. The continued character growth for Toby and Simon in particular is simply fantastic. I loved that many seemingly loose ends from previous books, and some things we thought to be resolved as best they could, came to be extremely important again. It is so hard to gush about this book without dropping spoilers, because I would hate to ruin any part of the ride for anyone else since I enjoyed it so much. There are so many twists and turns, so many surprises, that I think I held my breath through half the read. If you love this series, it is a must read. If you like the other books by McGuire but have not delved into this series- start right now with Rosemary and Rue.

The Brightest Fell is a wonderful addition to the series. This is a must read for McGuire fans, and definitely stick around and read the bonus novella at the end. As a side note- if you enjoy audio books- I listened to the first ten books and the reader is fabulous. My only complaint is that about half way through the series the reader changed the pronunciation of a word- and it drove me crazy until I got used to it.

The Brightest Fell, by author Seanan McGuire, is the 11th installment in the authors October Daye series. This is a series that follows changeling, knight, hero, and sometime P.I Toby Daye as she navigates the brutal world of Faerie. Things are finally slow for October “Toby” Daye. The elf-shot cure has been approved, Queen Arden Windermere is settling into her position as Queen in the Mists, and Toby doesn’t have anything demanding her attention except for wedding planning and spending time with her family.

Perhaps one shouldn't look too far ahead to the future because in Toby's world, things quickly change. When Toby’s mother, Amandine, appears on her doorstep with a demand for help, refusing her seems like the right thing to do…until Amandine starts taking hostages, and everything changes. Now, Toby doesn’t have a choice about whether or not she does as her mother asks. Not with Jazz and Tybalt’s lives hanging in the balance. But who could possibly help her find a pureblood she’s never met, one who’s been missing for over a hundred years? Amandine's oldest daughter went on her own hero quest in 1906, and disappeared. This is one case that Toby can't afford to get wrong.

This is one of those story's that goes from it's all fun & games & laughs, as Toby and her amazing group of friends and allies celebrate her bachelorette party, to shock and awe damn it all to hell, when Toby's mother Amandine returns home. I dare say that this story is one of the strongest installments I've read in a very long time. Toby, Quinten, and a very unusual ally are forced to work together as they follow a treacherous path that may or may not end up with bringing back August who disappeared over a century ago. This book is not only filled with fantastic action and adventure, but it also brings back some characters you may have not heard from since Toby's adventure first began with Rosemary and Hue. Toby's story really is twisted.

Yes, she has Quinten along as an ally, and that's a good thing since Quinten has become family. But, it is the surprise character who brings that extra something to the story. You have to ask yourself if something is going to happen between the two of them, or can they finally put years of antagonism behind them in order to find and bring August home. There is a whole lot I don't want to talk about since I am reviewing this story before it actually releases. I will say that this story has its share of characters we haven't seen since Toby met Blind Michael.

On the other hand, I can say that I wouldn't want anyone to have the kind of mother that Toby has. I would be encouraging Matricide. I do hope that McGuire finds a way to have a final showdown between Toby and Amy soon. There needs to be some retribution on Toby's side of the ledger after everything she's been through. McGuire refuses to cut Toby any sort of slack. Next time someone knocks on her door for help, Toby needs to say, "I'm on vacation!" But, that's what heroes do. Heroes do the things they do because, on some level, they have no choice. Once heroism has them, they can't refuse when someone asks for help.

FYI, the story isn't 368 pages long. There's novella featuring April O'Leary in the back of the book called Of Things Unknown. It takes place about 3 weeks after The Brightest Fell. If you don't know who April is, she is the Dryad who was saved by January O'Leary. Now, April is more silicon roots, titanium and electricity than what she once was. The same January who Toby's liege, Duke Sylvester, sent her to find out what happened to. You can go back and read A Local Habitation for more information on Toby's adventure and what happened that has drawn Li Qin and April into trying something that has never been done before.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar

Review

Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell

– William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Brightest Fell starts with the bachelorette party that Toby never wanted, but at end of it, she is happy to have all the people she considers friends with her, and to see her happy. Once Toby gets home and starts to believe that it was a great night, there is a knock at the door. May decides to go see who it is, so Toby and Tybalt can have their moment, but once she opens the door and greets the person, Toby doesn’t hear anything else. Toby and Tybalt know that something dangerous is at the door because it would be the only reason for May to stop talking. Toby goes to see the front door and she comes to face with her mother, Amandine. Amandine asks Toby for permission to come in and talk to her. Toby agrees and takes Amandine to the kitchen, where she tells Toby she wants to hire her. Amandine wants Toby to find her sister August, who has been missing for almost a hundred years.

Amandine insults Toby, and Toby decline to work for her mother. She tells Amandine that she will still find August just because it’s her sister, but not for Amandine. Amandine is not happy with that answer, and reminds Toby that in her permission Toby forgot to ask for the same rules to be applied to her and the people that lived at her house. Amandine casts a spell and the kitchen is covered with vines and thorns that binds everyone in the room; she tells Toby that she will have to take her own measurements and decides to kidnap Tybalt and Jazz in their animal form. Amandine tells Toby that she will give them back when Toby brings August back to her.

Doing what she knows best, she asks the Luidaeg for help. The Luidaeg tells Toby that she needs to find a person that knew August the best before she disappeared, her father, Simon. Toby asks Sylvester Torquill to let her wake up his brother, Simon, from the Elf-shot so he can help her find August and get her love ones back.

“‘She wants me to find my sister.’ There was long pause before the Luidaeg said, almost hesitantly, ‘She wants you to find August?’ ‘Unless I have another sister out there that I don’t know about.’ I paused. The urge to ask the Luidage whether I had another sister was almost overwhelming.”

Toby starts to learn that Amandine is not the mother she remembered. Time is running out, and the more time Amandine has Tybalt and Jazz, the more time she has to traumatize them. Now she needs to follow the scent of August while learning what type of person she was, and about the quest that she took that made her disappeared.

This story is like walking through the timeline of the previous books. In Brightest Fell, we meet again people the we never forgot from the previous books, but who we haven’t seen in a while. It’s like walking through time to find the missing pieces of a mystery that you didn’t know it was missing. But Faire is not kind, not even to its own kin. We see this, when someone wants something so bad that they do everything they can to get it, even if it means making an islet with the bones of children and innocent, just to call someplace home.

Like most of the books of the October Daye series, Brightest Fell has its own theme that the story is set around it. In this case, is the consequences of our choices. As we have seen before, everything and everyone who is part of Fairie has to pay for something that they want; we have seen that some are so foolish to not understand the value of what they can lose by believing what they want is equivalent to what they are given up. In this case, the book goes over the consequence of the choices that August made when she thought she knew better than her mother and aunts by taking a quest that she wasn’t capable of completing.

Over the course of the series, readers like myself, have wanted to see more of the interaction with Toby and her mother, Amandine. In this book we get that interaction, and is not the best thing for Toby. Before, I kept thinking of Amandine, as the mother who was crazy and simply stop loving Toby because she chooses Fae over Human, and they had to leave Toby’s father; but this only made me forget that Amandine is a Firstborn, a pureblood Fae. Maybe is the case, that we never saw the cold and slightly evil side of Amandine in the past books, that she shocked me with the actions and the way she presented herself in this book. She was a bitch. At the same time, it was hard to imagine how would August be like, mostly because of the how Toby and May are; but again, the reader forgets that August was born during a different time and grew up as a pureblood, and was thought to look down on those who aren’t pureblood.

“And the, between one heartbeat and the next, I found it. The scent of sweet campfire smoke, close enough to Simon’s candle smoke to be a kissing cousin, but distinct enough that there was no question of whether it belong to him. It was wrapped with a ribbon of rose. Not Amandines’s wild, woody roses: something small, cultivated, sweet, the sort of rose that would grow in a princess walled garden. August. “

I liked the different types of magic used and places that Toby went when looking for August. I don’t want to spoiler everything, but I liked Poppy and the connection to Simon and other characters of the series. Most of all, I liked how the story reminds the reader that every action is remembered, and by that rewarded or charged. It was quite sad where we left Poppy in the series, and I hope we get to see more of her in the upcoming books. Spoilers!!! Pixies.

At this point of the series, we just meet August. And for me as the reader, I’m not sure what to think of her. I can see that she might appear like a spoiled brat, but for that we can blame Amandine. I think that Simon influenced her in a better way. Some “human” studies believe that the up bring and an environment contribute to who the person is, and we see that in how different Toby is from August. Given the way that other characters describe Amandine, August, and Toby, I arrived to the idea that their bloodline is like a blank canvas that gets better with choices, events, and people that they meet.

The book comes with the short story Of Things Unknown, which features April O’Leary. Once you start reading this story, you realized that you didn’t know that you always wanted this story. I liked this story so much because of all its magic and April. Seeing the world from April perspective was a fresh breath and addition to the other short stories. I wish we could get more stories from her perspective and interaction with other characters.

“October opened her mouth to speak. Then she paused. ‘April,’ she said, in careful tone, ‘why is there blood on your hands?’”

– Of Things Unknown

At the end, I loved the Brightest Fell.

If you are a fan of Seanan McGuire or her work like the October Daye series, then I recommend you the Brightest Fell. In this book, mother comes back with a demand that if not accomplish, it will destroy the future that Toby is trying to build for herself, and it will take all her skills and blood to make it happen. Because when lost, you just need to ask if you can get there and back with candle light.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

In the eleventh book of the October Daye series (named after the main character), she finally has a bit of peace. She can have a bachelorette party and take a break from being a hero of the realm... until her mother Amandine ransoms her fiance Tybalt and Jasmine so that Toby is forced to find her sister, who went missing in 1906. Toby has no choice but to go to Simon Torquill for help, and hope he still doesn't want to do her harm.

It might be a bit hard for newer readers to jump into the eleventh book of a series, especially when there are convoluted relationships and histories for a lot of the characters. Some we've seen before are back, like Danny and Walter, and some like Simon we thought we would never see again. But Seanan McGuire has a way of finding the loose ends we don't realize were there and making us feel bad about forgetting about them.

There's a bit of a backstory given with the characters, just enough to serve as a reminder for those that did read the series, and enough to help a newer reader gloss over and keep going when the action starts. While we already know a lot of Toby, this gives us more insight into the family dynamics, the powers that she has developed, and even makes us feel a little bit sorry for Simon Torquill and the choices he made prior to the start of the series. A little, because he still doesn't regret his actions and would do them all over again.

The pacing in the novel is breakneck, even after the deadline of fourteen days is given. Time is always of the essence when Toby is involved in something because lives always hang in the balance.

She's come a long way since the first book in the series, Rosemary and Rue. There, Toby is drawn into the world of faerie against her will after both sides of her changeling heritage left her feeling broken and damaged. There were so many flaws and edges, and she had to be forcibly pulled out of her pity party. It was a darker side of Toby, and she's grown a lot since then. There is still the sarcasm and wariness, but this time it's also tempered with hope.

She is still brash and can charge into a situation to do The Right Thing, but now she's learned to accept the help of others around her. She no longer rejects others automatically and doesn't feel that she's all alone in the world. Toby understands her place in the world, between faerie and human, and this time actually wants the gifts that she had developed over the course of the series. There is inevitable loss and pain - blood magic and the deals with the fae never come cheaply.

We are also given a novella Of Things Unknown along with The Brightest Fell. This gives us a look into what the citizens of Tamed Lightning have been up to since the events of A Local Habitation, the second book in the series. It's told from April O'Leary's point of view, and we get an interesting look at what it's like to live within code and data streams, as well as see what has gone on in the county.

It's a novella, so we don't delve too deeply into the lives of characters other than those that touch April's most directly, Li Qin especially. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of fallout as a result of the events in the novella, which will be wonderful to read about.

This is a continuing series, and you will be quite lost if you haven't read the previous books. That said, McGuire is one of my favorite authors and once again delivers a compelling, wonderful entry in the October Daye series. I already can't wait for the next one, again.

Uff, EVERYTHING CAN BE A SPOILER!

How do I write a review?

Well, the only thing I can say is that this is another amazing installment in the October Daye series. From the blurb, you know Amandine is Toby's mother. She's also a Firstborn and she has been missing for most of the books. However, Amandine is back and she wants Toby to find her other daughter, August. At the beginning, Toby doesn't want to get involved. She's finally in a happy place in her life. She has good friends and she's in love. Planning her wedding should be a priority on her to-do list. Yet, this is not to be. Amandine won't take no for an answer. She will take whoever is important to Toby to get her to do what she wants.

Just like all the books in this series, The Brightest Fell is action packed. So many things happen and you just have to try to keep up. One event will trigger a chain reaction that can't be stopped. There are always great twists which come as a surprise. Seanan McGuire's creativity amazes me. That's why after eleven books, I'm still a huge fan.

One thing I missed the most in this book was Tybalt. I have come to adore them as a couple and I want to listen to his one liners. He's one of my favorite male characters in a UF series (Adam from the Mercyverse is another one of my favorites). After all, how can anyone not love the King of Cats? I certainly do.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Daw via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Brightest Fell
Series:  October Daye Book #11
Author:  Seanan McQuire
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Blurb:  For once, everything in October “Toby” Daye’s life seems to be going right. There have been no murders or declarations of war for her to deal with, and apart from the looming specter of her Fetch planning her bachelorette party, she’s had no real problems for days. Maybe things are getting better.

Maybe not.

Because suddenly Toby’s mother, Amandine the Liar, appears on her doorstep and demands that Toby find her missing sister, August. But August has been missing for over a hundred years and there are no leads to follow. And Toby really doesn’t owe her mother any favors.

Then Amandine starts taking hostages, and refusal ceases to be an option.
Favorite quotes: “That’s the Luidaeg, singing ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’. In a karaoke bar. In front of other people.”
“I love your mother. I love my wife. But no one would ever mistake her for kind. She never had to be. I don’t know where your kindness came from. I don’t care. Hold close to it, and never, never let the world take it away.”
“There’s no such thing as being too human, and anyone who ever told you that was lying, because they were afraid.”
“I’ll have you know I used to solve a lot of problems with a baseball bat. Just because I’m more refined now doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten my roots.”
Thoughts: Mortality sucks….and even more so for poor October. October remains one of my favorite characters - I am always excited to pick up a book in this series. Always. Reading this one was a little rough for me, but not because the book was bad – far from it! I’m going to try not to give too much away in my review, but it’s going to be a little hard. So much happens in this book! October’s fae mother, Amandine, finally makes an appearance which brings in a lot of bad memories and angst with it, and is really how poor Toby gets roped into another long quest. Amandine takes hostage some of Toby’s most loved friends – I won’t give away who – in order to get what she wants. Which is for October to find her long lost sister, August, and bring her home. I was a little conflicted about this as I was sure there would drama in that reunion and could go either really, really good or really, really bad. I don’t think anything prepared me for the truth of it – and I have to say I despise August to her very core. There are only a couple of characters that I can remember reading that I despise more than August. Every word out of her mouth only made me angrier. The only redeeming feature here was that we also get to see Toby give her a beat down and shake up the girl’s reality a little bit. Go, Toby!! LOL
I also want to warn that this book also is a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride. More than a few times I was almost brought to tears – and I am not a crier. But I have never loved and sympathized with a character more. As a fan of this series, and having read every book in it, I have to say that we have been on many a journey with Toby – but none of them have been quite like this one. Toby is one of those characters I love, and this really emphasizes just how much I love her and why. If you are new to the series, I recommend picking the whole series up and reading them in order – it is so, so worth it!
I also want to add that I loved the beginning (we start out with Toby’s bachelorette party) – it’s rare that we get to see our favorite characters relax, unwind, and have a little fun without having to be on their guard and looking for shadows at every corner. Not to mention the fact that the whole scene will bring out a giggle or two! Which brings me back to my point – an emotional roller coaster ride! But it’s totally worth the ride. Trust me.
Rate:  A+

THE BRIGHTEST FELL is an entertaining mix of the comfort of an adventure between well established characters with the dissonance and uncertainty of new blood thrown into the mix. This deep into the series, October Daye's group of irregulars are beloved and entertaining, it is the unexpected appearance of her biological family that throws a wrench into the mix.

The mysterious truth behind Toby's heritage has been the last minute magical save in many a previous October Daye adventure, but it was a refreshing change to see her overpowered by the source of those abilities. I had a hard time calibrating my emotional reaction to Amandine to match Toby's. Despite Amandine's old school high handedness (and general racism), Toby clearly has an emotional attachment to the woman who raised her. As a reader that has only experiences Toby's chosen family, Amandine is very easy to hate as she threatens, abuses, and generally tortures the people Toby loves. Though Amandine's behavior isn't contextually unusual (the Luidaeg is the one who displays modern, softened behavior despite her reputation), it is very, very hard not to hate her entirely.

The contrast between the family Toby is born into and that which she has chosen is stark, but otherwise this is the usual, fantastic October Daye adventure with an extra layer of delicious danger on top. Though Toby is often overmatched, this big bad is the source of Toby's own magical ace in the hole. This time around it is Toby's humanity and friendships that win the day, making it once again that this series both delights and surprises.

(Originally published at Speculative Chic: http://speculativechic.com/2017/09/05/what-is-past-is-prologue-seanan-mcguires-the-brightest-fell/

To begin, you absolutely should not read this book unless you are caught up on the series. Why? The individual books all have their own, self-contained stories, but those stories have created the foundation upon which the next book always rests. By now, with ten books behind it, THE BRIGHTEST FELL is standing on quite the tall stack. Things that happened all the way back in book three, AN ARTIFICIAL NIGHT, are referenced in the context of this story. Most of the expanded cast makes at least one appearance. Things that were hinted at a few books ago are finally, fully explained.

Familiar territory is explored here, both literally and figuratively. We see Toby return to places that she visited in past stories, including at least one locale that she thought to never see again. She meets up with characters that she hasn’t spoken to in far too long. She realizes that the things she overlooked and forgot have all come home to roost, and she is burdened by the thought that she could have done better. How human, this feeling of obligation and guilt over the things that seemed inconsequential in the face of other, seemingly bigger problems. Watching Toby struggle with this while in the midst of an extremely difficult and upsetting task is only one of several painful moments peppered throughout the story.

We meet October’s mother, Amandine, up close and personal. And Amandine is the worst. This is something that has been hinted at before by other characters who knew her, but seeing her in all of her terrible glory is chilling.

Happily, there are truly joyful moments as well. I won’t spoil it for you, but the opening chapter of the book had me grinning from ear to ear. It was absolutely perfect, and when you’ve read it, come back and squee at me because there’s no way that you will not agree with me that this was an awesome way to start our story. There are other moments of happiness, some quiet, some bright. The interaction between Toby and Simon was frequently touching as Toby learned that the erstwhile villain willingly followed the darkness for reasons that I will not spoil for you.

Bonus discussion!

The novel includes a brand new novella, "Of Things Unknown". This story places April O’Leary, an occasional character since her debut in book two, A LOCAL HABITATION, in the role of narrator. I solemnly swear that I will not spoil a single thing in this novella, but the events of A LOCAL HABITATION led to quite a bit of unfinished business. "Of Things Unknown" takes us back to the county of Tamed Lightning and takes a peek into how April is dealing with running the county she never wanted, and the guilt that she feels after she was an unwitting accomplice to the tragedies that occurred in book two. Not lying, I cried happy tears at the end.

In conclusion: Folks, THE BRIGHTEST FELL may be my new favorite novel of the series. The story moves at a lightning quick pace, but still manages to hold on to the hallmarks that make this an excellent series: witty dialogue, layered characters, gorgeous settings, and heart stopping moments of true pain. Everything in this world has consequences that must be dealt with, and it’s hard to see our beloved October go through so many difficult things. The book ends on a bittersweet note, and I’m already counting down to next year and volume twelve. It’s going to be a very, very long year.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Seanan McGuire's writing. Despite her different series being very different styles, the world-building and characterizations are strong and creative. But it's her characters that really make me love her books, and I've grown to care very much for Toby and her chosen family in the October Daye series.

Family, biological and chosen, is very much at the heart of this story. Toby's relationship with her mother Amandine has been at best complicated. Because Toby is a Hero of the Realm and it is in her character to want to save people, had Amandine asked her to find her long-lost sister August, she probably would have done it. But Amandine instead coerces her with a very real threat to her loved ones, and Toby undertakes the task under duress.

August disappeared over a hundred years earlier after setting out on a quest to fulfill a prophecy about the progeny of Amandine. It's always been clear to Toby that she was a less-loved replacement for her missing sister, but Amandine's cruelty in forcing her to find August drives home some difficult truths for her.

As expected, the search is difficult and Toby and her companions have to make some dangerous and heart-wrenching choices. Along the way, Toby sees loyalty and love--and their lack--from sometimes surprising sources, and her experiences reinforce her own notions of family and what is most important to her.

I look forward to her next adventure.

***This book was reviewed for Berkley via Netgalley

The Brightest Fell is number eleven (!) in the October Daye urban-fantasy/paranormal series. Eleven! How is this the first time I'm reading this series? It has all the things I love. It's got many types of Fae folk, including cait sidhe. I love cait sidhe! It has a sassy heroine, relatable and engaging characters, and a great storyline. I am mystified at the lack of this series in my life.

October 'Toby’ Daye has a most unexpected visitor in the early morning hours after her bachelorette party. Her estranged mother has come looking for help October isn't inclined to give. Unfortunately, pureblood Fae aren't in the habit of being told no, and those of the Firstborn even less so. When Toby refuses to cooperate, Amandine forces two of her friends into their animal forms, one cait sidhe and one ravenkin, and kidnaps them.

Knowing how fickle her mother can be, October must find August sooner rather than later. There's just one problem. She's been missing for longer than Toby’s been alive. About a century to be exact. This takes 'cold trail’ to a whole new level. In order to have a chance at finding August, Toby must waken one of her most feared enemies from his enchanted slumber, and trust he will be more interested in helping with this particular case than he might be in harming her.

It’s his daughter that's missing after all.

Coming in at this point in the series, I am forming first impression relationships with all of the characters. This will be interesting when I go back to the beginning, especially, I think, with Simon. I kept reading about how bad he is, or about the bad things he's done in the name of finding his daughter. Yet… I liked him from the moment he woke. He seems a person who's made a great many mistakes, but the underlying motivation is love. I disliked Amandine from the moment I met her. She came across as a real @$$.

Family, and what defines it, is a big theme all through this book. Toby is looking for a sister who's never really been a sister, for a mother who never acted like a mother, while traveling with the person who is her legal, though not biological, father. To ensure Toby’s cooperation, two of her bond family, her family of choice, are taken. Oh yeah, and she's traveling with her Fetch, May. In this series, Fetches are death omens. May became family instead. Besides Toby’s familial relations, there's also the dynamic between Simon and his twin brother Sylvester. This quest forces Toby and the others to reconsider what they know about Simon.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the first October Daye book I've read, so I cannot say how it stacks up against the rest of the series, but I found it to be well-written and very thought provoking. I loved that McGuire didn't do massive information dumps to recap previous information. I found it was rather neatly done as part of the on-going story, for the most part. Usually, by the time a series gets eleven books in, things start to flag. I didn't get that feel here, and I'm very eager to read the next one, and all the past ones. I just hope jumping in at this point doesn't ruin how I view the past books by knowing how the characters will evolve. Spoilers don't bother me. Obviously I would never have considered starting at the end instead of the beginning, but sometimes I don't like personality changes, and though they may have been gradual over books 1-10, it'll be abrupt to me.

📚📚📚📚📚 Highly recommended, especially if you like urban fantasy, or novels with Fae.