After so much turmoil in her life, Toby finally has a chance to relax. In fact, The Brightest Fell starts off with her bachelorette party at a karaoke bar which ends perfectly with no trouble at all. Now all she wants to do is relax at home with Tybalt, Cait Sidhe fiancé. Unfortunately, Toby receives an unexpected visitor which is none other than Amandine, her mother. What reason does Amandine have for visiting Toby? Amandine wants no demands that Toby look for her half sister August who no one has seen in decades. Due to various reasons, Toby refuses but that doesn’t stop Amandine who decides to take Tybalt and Toby’s friend Jazz as hostages until Toby finds August. As a result, Toby is forced to seek the help of one of the few who knew August best, Simon Torquill who is not only August’s father but Toby’s enemy.

Overall, I believe Seanan McGuire did a wonderful job with The Brightest Fell. Its definitely one of the strongest books of the October Daye series that she has written. At long last, we finally get to meet Amandine. Now after finishing the book, I hope we don’t have to see her again. All those previous mentions of Amandine made her sound  horrible and vain but they pale in comparison to the actual person. I knew Toby’s relationship with Amandine was bad but I had no idea that it was that bad. There’s also a novella at the end like in Once Broken Faith and it features April O’ Leary. Don’t want to spoil too much of it but let’s say that a certain storyline from A Local Habitation is finally resolved.

Most of Toby's stories drop you into the action and feed you necessary bits of exposition as they barrel along.

This book takes the time to introduce you to the world setting, and in that marks a note of gravity and weight that has been absent at the start of the stories, but has always lain lurking.  In that, the novel starts off feeling like we've reached a new step, gone past some point of no return in both Toby's life and in Faerie itself.  Fitting, since ina the author's own words, Toby is starting to pay off debts created five or six books ago.

We know something is coming, hints have been dropped and there's the looming matter of Toby's debts to the Luideag.  Matters which were both brought starkly to light in Once Broken Faith when Luideag mentions it would take too long to replace Toby, and then later when she saves Tybalt's life.  But much of that is for a yet later story.

Meanwhile this is Seanan McGuire's writing, so we'll get that wry humor that infuses all of her stories.  It's not all blood and desperate magic.  I mean, the first chapter features the Luideag singing karaoke at Toby's Bachelorette party.  But a bleakness grips the narrative as Toby tackles a deeply personal challenge, one that puts her loved ones in peril, forces her to work with the man who's been her nightmare, and shines a glaring spotlight on the chasm between Toby and Amandine.

A rich, personal, and compelling continuation of the story.  Highly recommend.

Advance Reader Copy courtesy of Daw (Penguin RandomHouse) in exchange for an honest review; changes may exist between galley and the final edition.

The Fae don’t play nice. October Daye should know that by now, being half-human and half Faerie. But where her mother’s concerned, Toby can’t think logically. In The Brightest Fell (DAW, September 7, 2017), Book 11 of the October Daye series, Hugo-Award-Winning Author Seanan McGuire sends October in search of a long-lost half-sister. When mother politely asks Toby to put her PI skills to work to find August, she refuses.

Amandine, one of the Full-Blood Fae and Daoine Sidhe, isn’t used to being refused and won’t take no for an answer. To force her younger daughter to obey, she imprisons Toby’s fiance, Tybalt, plus another of Toby’s friends and takes them both hostage. Many of the characters from previous novels in this series, both friends and former enemies (including Simon Torquill from Rosemary and Rue), aid October’s quest into deep faerie to retrieve sister August.

Readers of Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files will love McGuire’s Daye tales as much as, if not more than, Dresden, because Harry is currently missing, burnt out, or presumed dead while Daye becomes more and more immortal—and memorable—with every new novel.

Both urban fantasies have first-person narratives riddled with self-deprecating humor as well as suspense. Both heroes are PIs (private paranormal investigators). Harry’s entry to Faerie is Chicago; Toby’s is San Francisco. Both have half-siblings as antagonists who become occasional allies. Both frequent a restaurant where preternatural folk gather: Harry’s is a local bar; Toby’s is Borderlands Cafe and Bookstore. But the two heroes are actually as different as Knight and Daye, because Dresden’s story is told from a male viewpoint while Daye’s is decidedly feminine.

Ever since Spenser reinvented the sword and sorcery genre with the publication of the Faerie Queene in 1590, English-language writers have been embellishing on his themes and characters. Although the fairy tales most Americans are familiar with originated as Irish, Scottish, Welsh, or Germanic folk tales as retold by Victorian writers like J. M. Barrie, Spenser’s heroes are not entirely forgotten. The heroic quest of Britomart—the heroine’s journey—accompanied by her faithful squire, becomes Toby’s journey-quest on faerie’s Babylon Road (much like Dorothy and her companions following the yellow brick road into the Land of Oz to find a wizard), accompanied by Simon and Quentin.

What is it that attracts us to Faerie Tales? Is it a memory, embedded deep within human DNA, inside our very blood, of a long-ago time when magic was real and women ruled the world? Magic is a Ma word, you realize, because the first true practitioners were women. Magic flows from the Mother to her children through her blood, her breast-milk, and her songs. Men have no magic of their own except what they inherit from their mothers.

Magic lives in the blood. True magic is blood magic, and true enchantment is lyrical.

Magic is never free. There’s always a painful fee to be paid when employing magic to acquire what you desire. In fact, the Fae are sometimes called The Fee. They are sometimes also known as The Fates or as The Furies, but that’s another story.

Fae Magic always smells like it’s composed of a mixture of the alchemical essence of a living plant combined with something else, like rosemary and rue, and it also has a shape one can touch, a thread to ravel or unravel.

Toby’s unique gift, inherited from her mother, is her ability to smell or taste magic. She can differentiate odors like artists differentiate shapes and colors. She can track scents like a bloodhound or a Cu Sidhe (a Faerie dog). She can also retrieve memories from the blood of others, even the dead.

The October Daye novels may seem confusing unless you understand the familial connections of characters. McGuire includes a helpful prologue in this novel to help you understand. Faerie is not unlike medieval Europe where all the royals are related by blood and bastards of kings and queens abound. Bloodlines become important for more reasons than one. There are Firstbloods and Purebloods and mixed bloods (part fae and part human) known as Changelings. October is a Changeling (daughter of Amandine and a human), while August is a Pureblood (daughter of Amandine and Simon Torquill). Descendancy shouldn’t matter in modern-day America, but it sure did in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland during the late Elizabethan period (and in George R.R. Martin’s Westeros of Game of Thrones fame). McGuire boldly explores the meaning of family—blood families, marital families and extended families of choice—in her Daye  novels.

The Brightest Fell is very highly recommended, as is the entire October Daye series.

The Brightest Fell

First and foremost, thank you to Netgalley and Berkley/DAW for approving me for an ARC in one of my absolute favorite series. I was given a copy of this book to read in exchange for nothing more than an honest review.

Seanan McGuire is one of the best writers I've had the pleasure of reading. She knows how to set up the action, to build the plot to the explosive scenes you know are coming, but somehow seem to still usually subvert expectations and provide an even better result than you had predicted. She excels at character development -- making us feel and care and relate and share hopes and fears with these characters. She's set up a beautiful, dark, lovely, dangerous, amazing world and an extremely diverse and developed cast. Most importantly, she knows just where the next piece of the story needs to take us to push the overall series narrative forward, every single time.

This novel is no exception. In fact, it's one of the brightest (see what I did there?) examples of her talents as a writer.

She finds a believable way to force October onto another hero's quest, with limited access to her true allies, plenty of complications along the way, and massive amounts of development in Toby's emotional growth AND in some of the secondary characters as well. It left the book feeling reminiscent of some of the earlier books of the series where the cast hadn't grown as large, but with the more mature and confident and loved Toby that has come from the series as time passes and her "family" grows. And this one referenced the events of so many of the other books, and revealed that so many of the little things were bread crumbs to a bigger story... I'm beyond excited for the next few books. I have a feeling that the search for Oberon is a big part of endgame, and I'm ready for Toby to show the world of Faerie just how amazing her and her family is.

I'm thoroughly impressed with Seanan McGuire every time I pick up one of her novels. Even the worst of her novels is still near to masterpiece. If you haven't started the October Daye series, it's time to jump in (with Rosemary and Rue, book 1). Seriously, you should have started years ago. Go, get on that. NOW.

(PS- Chapter one of this book is absolutely one of my favorite opening scenes from any book ever. It features one of the best characters to ever grace the pages of a book... and I can't say more, because spoilers.)

Of Things Unknown

Also included in this book is a brand new shorty, staring the creepy but cool digital Dryad, April O'Leary, and provides some resolution to some stories from way back in the beginnings of the series.

It's well known that most of McGuire's shorties can be extremely heartwrenching. This one was an interesting surprise -- not only because it's got some happy moments in it, but because we got to see October from someone else's perspective, we got to see the inner workings of a very intriguing character, and we got more of Seanan's ability to put fresh spins on myths and the fae, etc. Five stars for the shorty as well.

I love Seanan McGuire, but have never read this series. I was a bit concerned to be jumping in at book #11, but McGuire does a great job of getting the reader up to date with enough knowledge to appreciate the tale. I really liked this book and am interested in reading more. It was easy to fall into the story, and it had a good pace. Enough action to keep the plot moving, but also enough room to breath and get some good exposition. I am definitely fascinated by the world building McGuire has done and am excited to go back and see the adventures that led up to this book. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy and strong female characters.

This is the eleventh book in the October Daye series by McGuire.  Although I love all of McGuire’s series; this one remains my favorite.   This was another great installment in the October Daye series.  I just love this series so much.

There is a bonus novella at the end of this book that tells a story from April's POV (April is the Dryad that lives in a computer network from earlier in the series).  That was well done as well.

In this book Toby’s mother, Amandine, decides to enter Toby’s life in a big way.   Suddenly instead of spending time planning her wedding to Tybalt, Toby finds herself forced into searching for her long lost sister, August.  Toby struggles to track down August by both following her scent and the trail of a Babylon Candle.  Along the journey Simon Torquill ends up as her unlikely ally.

I really enjoyed the journey Toby went on in this book; there’s a lot of adventure here and I enjoyed how so much of this story touches on Toby’s beginning and past.  I was a bit disappointed that Tybalt wasn’t in the story more, but given all the events that happened in here I ended up not missing Tybalt as much as I thought I would.

This book delves into yet more mystery surrounding the First Born and the Luidaeg is in here quite a bit (I love her character).  The ending felt a bit rushed, but tied up at a decent spot.

Overall I was a huge fan of this book and think that it did an excellent job of continuing the series.  I really enjoyed some of the things we learn and adventures we have in this book.  This whole series has been very well done and is still going strong.  I would recommend this series to those who enjoy investigative urban fantasy, especially faerie based urban fantasy.

Finally Amandine made an appearance!!! I had been waiting so long for this. It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. Amandine is formidable woman. She makes the Luidaeg look sweet and sane, and she’s known as the sea witch. I have the feeling this book only showed one side of her personality. As someone who loves psychology, I’m curious to see what makes her tick and why exactly she feels the way she does about Toby. I think there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Since these books are becoming increasingly character driven, I can’t talk about much in regards to the characters because there would be major spoilers. One thing that made this book very different from the others was the lack of Toby’s usual sidekicks. Quentin was around but not highly impactful on the plot. The other main character was someone from Toby’s past who she detests. I would love to say more, but I was absolutely shocked at how that played out. It was this forced relationship that made the book great.

Amandine forced Toby’s hand and made her look for her long lost sister. In the century or so that she had been missing no one could find her and some incredibly powerful people looked. I like how the whole plot unraveled. The thing I didn’t like was that it was too convenient that Toby was the only person alive with the right abilities to possibly make it happen. The end game of the series has finally been laid out. Based on the few hints that were dropped, it’s looking grim.

Four and a half
After so many books the author has clearly decided to take things up a notch and I have to say this book just kept hammering away at any preconceived ideas about the characters within this world. I think I'm probably used to Toby having to bloody a few people up in order to save the day but this time it's going to take a lot more than nifty knife skills to solve her problems. 
Toby's mother isn't exactly the warm fuzzy type and I'm not revealing too much when I say their relationship is anything but close. So you would imagine if Amandine turned up wanting Toby to track down her missing sister August ( who Toby has never met) that it might be the beginning of a reconciliation but alas mommy dearest doesn't ask she just takes! Oh and when I say takes believe me Amandine can be the cruelest, most uncaring parent you could ever imagine. So ok then Toby has a lot riding on this task but the person who seems best suited to helping isn't exactly her friend or is he?
Without giving too much away I can say that the author took an unlikeable character who I thought we'd seen the last of and completely turned things around. Toby is without her usual allies for much of this story and relies on her instincts. Never fear the Sea Witch is here but her connection to the task is not really a happy one. Toby does make new friends along the way but as with so many things in life there are consequences. Toby has finally found her place in the world and unfortunately everything she has worked for starts slipping away. The twist towards the end was utterly heart wrenching and the writing was so on point as reconciliation and painful heartbreak shared the page. I'm not sure how I feel about mommy dearest or indeed even August but it seems that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree no matter how beautiful it might be!
Please read this series in order to get the best out of it.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

When I hear that Seanan McGuire wrote it, I know that I’m in for another perfect literary escape.

Toby finds herself in a precarious situation and the people that she has learned to depend on the most have been taken. She must depend on her own wits while leaning on the one person she should never trust. 

And it all comes down to family…Amandine, Toby’s mother finally shows herself and for Toby this is not a good thing. 

To put it frankly, I can’t say much more about the plot of this book without giving away a spoiler. Yes, it is that pack full of life altering changes. I can say that The Brightest Fell was one heck of an adventure and should not be missed.

October Daye is one of my all-time favorite urban fantasy series. To say, I was hyped about reading the 11th installment would be an understatement. So many times, the anticipation doesn’t live up to actuality…The Brightess Fell exceed my wildest imaginations.

I received this ARC copy of The Brightest Fell from Berkley Publishing Group - DAW. This is my honest and voluntary review. The Brightest Fell is set for publication Sept. 5, 2017.

My Rating: 5 stars
Written by: Seanan McGuire
Series: October Daye 
Sequence in Series: Book 11
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: DAW 
September 5, 2017
ISBN-10: 0756413311
ISBN-13: 978-0756413316
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-...
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Brightest-Fell...

Reviewed for:
http://tometender.blogspot.com 
DON'T MISS TOME TENDERS BLOG TOUR STOP 8/23/2017

bless you NetGalley for providing this one. I love all of Seanan’s works and once the description hit for this one, I knew I had to get my hands on it. :D This is the first time i’ve gotten an ARC for one of Seanans’s works and I want to make the review worth it. 

Not that I’ll be heavy on the spoilers, mind you– but it is hard to review them when there is so much happening that I’ll have to do another re-read to see what I missed. 


My ever-reaching, biggest question still hasn’t been answered and I’m sure by the time that little gem rolls around, it’s going to be so obvious, we’ll all cry. Watch it be nothing at all while Seanan cackles at us.
So the basic line of the story is that Amandine, Toby’s … darling… mother shows up again and with an ultimatum. Was it Evening and Simon going to sleep that prodded her into this request? But Toby’s been given the order to find the lost August or those that Toby and May love dear are going to suffer for it. Bonus round is that she has to work with the person that has hurt hers and those she loves the most to find the answers. 

This story was a wild ride from start to finish. I started reading it in public and had to hide the most undignified sounds at the first couple of chapters because Seanan’s sharp, sly humor is right there from the get go and it took me by surprise. The rest of the book…

There are bits of incredulous humor and then sharp, aching sadness and the price that Toby is continuously paying for being one of the Dochas Sidhe. There is a lot more revealed about that in this book as well, and I shan’t spoil the reasoning of it all, but true to form, not all the answers are given yet and another box of questions is opened. 

We get more of the world that Seanan has created, more of her characters and personalities of different people and races and it’s a marvelous delight. Characters that you sort of push into the background come into full, chiming light and how they see October, based on how others see it, is a delight. You get to see awkward, confused October at being recognized for doing the right thing. 

You also get to see a darker side of the fae and promises and how no, really– they aren’t good and kind, but only given those names because of the consequences of not doing so are too great. There are still a great many debts that Toby has to pay and when you realize that the Luidaeg cannot lie and she’s emphasizing just how far underwater Toby has gone with her requests, you sort of cringe and wait for the ax to fall. 

There were a lot of “OHHHH” moments on my end and a few “aw shit” ones, too. Amandine is more cruel than you would think to believe and Simon far kinder and more broken than one would ever believe possible. 

I’m just thrilled i called a scene from an earlier book being what I thought it was. Go me. Double cookies for not being horribly slow on the uptake. 

Bringing back old traumas is always fun when authors remember that traumas that are so deep never go away and I am honestly shocked that Toby went for that path so easily– then you realize it wasn’t easy at all. Bravo, for showing that. Too often do authors gloss over “it was in the past, it’s behind us” but Seanan was never one to shy away from the mental scarring that all of the characters have endured in one way or another. 

I will say that i laughed that I thought of one possibility for August and to have it shot down in the following page was great. 

All in all, this was a fantastic read and I do wonder who was giving that speech at the beginning, reminding us all the origins and histories, or if it was something that goes in the beginning or most books these days that I sort of glance over because I think I know them so well…

The pain of certain characters and the impact Toby has on so many lives in incredible and while she’s a force to be reckoned with, now that other players are on the court and with more tricks, I am actively worried for all of those that she loves in the upcoming books. 

The extra story was great as well~ I was waiting for that particular bird to come home to roost, but not in a side story! Much simpler (or is it?) than I would have thought to believe. 

I am excited as always to hold the print copy in my hands and to grace my bookshelf. It comes out September 5th

Thank you again for letting us have this romp into your world and curious to see where the next (hopefully not mushroom filled) path leads.

Seanan McGuire slays with her newest installment in the October Daye series, The Brightest Fell. This book finally features more of Toby's elusive mother, Amandine, and Toby's enemy, Simon Torquill.

If you've read the books and remember correctly, Simon Torquill was the evil dude from book one who had turned Toby into a fish for years. Now she's stuck working with him. Strangely, as much as you want to hate the guy, there's just something about him that makes you want to forgive him.

Given that this is book 11 in a series, it's hard to review it without giving anything major away. However, I can say that from the first book to now, this book definitely shows how much Toby has grown as a character, especially when you look at her interactions with Simon and her other relationships. There's your usual X amount of days type quest, threats/help from the Ludaig, learning more about the fae and the world Ms. McGuire has created, and a lot of Toby doing her best to help the people she loves.

Bottom line: this is a series worth reading.

Having read the first book and skipping the next 9 books in the series, I was a bit worried about being lost in terms of backstory and characters. Turns out, this book is a standalone in many ways. Anything of import from previous books are given a brief explanation as to the who, whats, whys, etc... The grand adventure in this book has Toby apart from many of the other characters in the book.

I do have to say that this book was far more enjoyable for me than the first one. I guess I'm more ok with expository backstory than I am with expository set up for a series. But the former is often needed in the story being read and the latter almost reeks of desperation. I do also think that it has a lot to do with the author really getting better at her craft. She's built up a pretty incredible world and cast of characters. 

It's a rollicking adventure story that had actual consequences for characters.

It's hard to say how hardcore fans will feel about the story, since I haven't read the 9 books in between. But I can say that if you haven't read the series before, you're not missing much if you jump right in here. If anything, it makes you want to read some other books within the series.

I suppose my biggest issue is still Seanan's love of telling instead of showing. 

3.5/5 rounds to 4.

This series just keeps getting better and better as the stakes are constantly raised for Toby and company. This time, loved one's lives are at stake and the word "family" has sinister new undertones. I can't wait for the next one!

Toby must face her toughest quest yet.  Her mother has stolen two of her family members to force her to search for the sister that has been missing for 100 years.  If she can't find her, her family will be lost.  ARC from NetGalley.

No spoilers on this one. This book starts out with a karaoke bachelorette party and things are going great but this is a Toby book and that will not last.   Amandine shows up and demands that Toby do her detective thing and find her older half-sister that she doesn’t know and has been missing for over 100 years.  Things that have been hinted about for in previous books are stated outright in this one.  There is a prophecy that has been hinted at in the series that is mentioned in this one. Toby’s mother will never win any awards as mother of the year and even with her saving Toby’s life in previous books you have to wonder even more about her in what she says and does in this book.  
As much as I like Toby I think I like the Seawitch even more. Luidaeg has gotten the short end of the stick thanks to geas placed on her.  She does what she can within the framework that she is bound to and she tries very hard in this book to do it.  
I really need to do a reread especially on everything that Amandine shows up in.  And for the reader there is a bit of a reminder of past books in this one.  Actions from previous books always seem to shape the future stories in this series and that is a good thing. 

There is a novella at the end told from the viewpoint of April O’ Leary and Toby does make and appearance in it.  All I will say is reread A Local Habitation to remind yourself of things that happened to get the best out of this story.  I do admit that I really like the extra stories at the end of the books lately and that they are a different viewpoint character in the series is just the cherry on top.

I think it speaks to the sheer quality and entertainment value of this series that ELEVEN books in I still eagerly anticipate each installment, and delve into all the short story extras that McGuire blesses us with. Of course, being eleven books in, it also gets subsequently harder and harder to review without giving away plot spoilers from earlier books, but try I will. 

We start out with some delightful scenes of domesticity - Toby and her bachelor party, with some acquaintances you'd never believe would belt out karaoke hits on a public stage - but this is Toby's world, and nothing in it ever fits the definition of what constitutes as 'normal'. Also, the interaction between Tybalt and Raj when Toby finally makes it home just melted my stone cold heart.

But then, there is a knock on the door. And everything takes a sudden turn for the worse. Mother dearest has come calling - one of the firstborn, far more powerful than Toby, and fairly merciless, like most of her kin. She makes no bones about the fact that Toby is the lesser daughter, living in the shadow of her missing elder sister, August. After the years of mistreatment at the hands of her mother, Toby naturally refuses to help. Bad move. This displeases Amandine, and she takes two hostages, people close to Toby, and refuses to release them until October returns with her missing sister.

No mean feat, of course. It's not like others haven't tried to find her in the decades that have passed. One thing that wasn't clear, at least at this point in the story, is Amandine's motivation for pitching up at Toby's door now. Is she just a sadist? Impatient? Knows that October is now powerful enough to perhaps attempt, and even succeed at such a task?

This is as far as I'll go describing the plot, and leave the rest for you October Daye fans to discover. Suffice to say, she is forced to co-operate, however unwillingly, with a former enemy from her past on the journey to hunt down August, while her usual sidekicks take a backseat in this novel.

I think I get a sense of where the endgame is going - but of course, I could be entirely wrong! I really love how meticulously plotted the series as a whole is - details from earlier books which suddenly reveal their relevance in later sequels.

And while I know that series ultimately have to end at some point, especially because they eventually start to diminish in quality (although McGuire has maintained her form here!), I will still be sad to leave the world of October Daye. I'm overjoyed to know we have at least two more books to look forward to.

Free copy received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Toby is doing the hardest thing she's ever had to do. Relax with her friends at her bachelorette party, drinking beer singing karaoke surprisingly stressful. She should have known the calm wouldn't last. At home getting ready for dawn there is a knock on her door, and Toby makes the fatal mistake of inviting her mother in.

I feel that it is necessary to go back and read the preceding books in the series to really enjoy this title.  If you are a reader who loves immersing themselves in the fantasy world with an excess of description, language that is unique to that world, mention of many characters and situations that the author feels are crucial to understand the motivations of the main characters......then this book may be for you.  For myself, it led to skimming, and disappointment that the characters that I wanted to follow, acted and interacted less than I hoped.

Another wonderful story of Toby and how she causes so much mayhem and still becomes the hero!

The Brightest Fell is a captivating addition to the October Daye series.  October's adventures have been consistently enjoyable and here McGuire makes a discernible effort to find those big lose ends and bring them together.  The result is a delightful and rewarding read that will leave dedicated fans anxiously awaiting more.