McGuire and, more importantly, adventure is back in the latest October Daye book. I will be honest (you can even read my previous review), I was so disappointed in the last book. It felt stale, overwrought, and boring. However, I've run into series where the author can recapture the previous magic, so I always like to give the benefit of the doubt to long-running series. I'm so glad I did because "Be the Serpent" was such a stellar return to form. I don't want to give too much away but we return to the things that made these books what they are. It's all about chosen family, cracking illusions, and an original take on fairy. McGuire is starting to bring some long-running threads together, and it's pure magic. I really can't wait to see where we go next!

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

This series never fails to entertain. I found myself nicely surprised by the reveal of the enemy in disguise, although it did resolve some questions I'd had about Toby's relationship with that individual in previous books. However, beware that once again the end of the book will leave you screaming for more. And that is as it should be.

The add-on story this time is the long awaited backstory of the Luidaeg, and well worth it.

Major plotlines converge and begin to be resolved in the latest installment of the Hugo-nominated Toby Daye series. Rayseline Torquill is allowed to wake, the mysteries surrounding the Brown family come to a head, and one of the Queens of Faerie is located in this plot-packed installment of the long-running series. A must-read for existing fans, the ending had this reviewer screaming and incoherently ranting while impatiently awaiting the next one. Content warning for child death - the scene is detailed and difficult to read.

Oh wow oh wow….there was no easing into this Toby related adventure. I had my suspicions for the last couple of books and boy were they confirmed in a big way. I have another suspicion about Marcia but mums the word. There were surprises in this book and then there were SURPRISES….and that ending. Oh Oberon. Seanan, Ms. McGuire do we have to wait a year for that conclusion cause yowzer poor Toby!!!

Be the Serpent is the sixteenth book in Seanan McGuire's October Daye series of urban fantasy novels, one of my favorite continuing series that I currently read. As you might expect from the sixteen book in a series, you can't really start the series here, even as this is the beginning of a new act in this Fae Fantasy series: with the fifteenth book finally featuring October "Toby" Daye getting married and getting a pretty seemingly happy ending. But well, if you've read this series for a while, and you know Seanan McGuire, you should know that such happy endings (see Book 6, Ashes of Honor, Book 10, Once Broken Faith, etc.) never last too long, as McGuire follows them up by putting Toby through more traumatic experiences than ever before....although those novels tend to be thrilling and strong so you never really feel too hoodwinked about having the rug pulled out of you.

And man is Be the Serpent no exception, with McGuire taking the happiest ending Toby has ever had and forcing her to deal with the greatest tragedy yet. The story honestly begins in a bit of a frustrating fashion for the first third - not because it's bad or slow or anything, but because a lot of the drama relies upon a mystery that invested readers of the series (of which should be most of the readers at this point) will have guessed the answer to already, so it feels like it takes a bit too long for Toby to catch up. Once she does however, this novel becomes incredibly dark, strong and thrilling, and concludes with an ending that is just breathtaking and will leave you desperate for the next novel to see how things shake out - as for the first time I can remember in the series, this book ends with a genuine cliffhanger, and it's one that will leave you gasping.

Note: This post will contain spoilers for Books 1-15 only. Spoilery discussion of THIS book and speculation about the future of the series, will go in a separate post that will be posted after this book is released (and which I will link in this post when it's live.)


----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
October Daye's life has never been better. She has a loving found family, an actual husband - both in the eyes of Faerie and in the eyes of humanity - and has a firm place in Faerie, one in which she can even travel to a neighboring kingdom and enjoy a Honeymoon (at Disney no less!)...even if that involved a bit more political maneuvering than she'd like. And even if it's soon to be the anniversary of her worst moment - her transformation into a fish - and the incredibly awkward moment where she has to testify at Raysel's trial (and fulfill one last promise), well it's hard to see what could ruin it all.

But when Cassandra and Karen Brown - two girls who Toby might as well as be an Aunt to....and two girls who strangely happen to be Seers - get a terrifying vision all at once, it seems that Toby's worst nightmare is yet to come. For the time has come for an old friend of hers to reveal that she is not who she seems, and soon Toby and her friends will be up against a force that once bent Faerie to her will....and tried to slaughter all the beings that she deemed unworthy, beings like Toby and so many of her friends.

This time around, not even the powers of Toby's Firstborn ally, the Sea Wtich, might be enough...and the costs of failure will be blood....and the costs of success may be just as high.....
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So invested readers of the October Daye series have almost certainly noticed two characters whom the narrative has given hints about as being more than they've seen - I'm not going to name them in this review to stay non-spoilery, but well we're 16 books in, and so I expect that a lot of people following this series, if not most, are invested enough to have put those clues together. And so when the publisher's plot preview suggests that an old ally will turn out to be an enemy, most readers will figure it's going to be one of those two characters...and the plot will reveal which one of the two really quickly (in fact, that other character isn't even in the book).

Thus the reader will catch on to some of what is going on much earlier than Toby does, which was a bit frustrating to this reader, who kept waiting for Toby to get a clue (admittedly, there's good reason why it takes her long enough to figure it out, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating). Don't get me wrong, this book is still compelling and a ride while Toby is trying to figure things out that the reader has long since understood, so it's not like the book drags, but well....I don't do well with reveals that are obvious and yet made to be big things by a narrative, and this is definitely one here.

Yet once that reveal is out of the way (about 40% of the way through), this book picks up into a tremendous ride, as Toby is forced to deal with a nightmare stemming from the origins of Faerie - origins that have previously only been hinted at and are now partially revealed here. This is a dark dark book as a result, where at least one character permanently dies on the good side, and the antagonist's powers are so strong that Toby can only hope to temporarily contain her - and not even as far they managed to do with Eira (kept sleeping under Elf Shot seemingly still). And after a book that ended with happiness and triumph, this one is instead filled with absolute heartbreak, as Toby is forced to make choices without good outcomes, ones which will make every reader who cares about the characters just hurt in sympathy.

And oh my god that ending. Good lord that ending. Never before has this series had a true cliffhanger ending honestly (the closest is book 11), and this is one goddamn dark cliffhanger ending. It will send chills down your spine, and make you NEED book 17 immediately, because you will need to know how things can turn out alright ever again. And with McGuire - they might not. (This isn't helped by the included novella featuring a tale of the distant past which is similarly heartbreaking).

This series remains a tour de force, and this is easily the most gamechanging book since book 8 (The Winter Long), which was the first book with absolutely stunning revelations, and well...8 books later, here we go again. I can't wait to see how this takes us going forward. Ugh, but I do have to wait another year I guess.

The latest entry on the long running October Daye series (16 and counting) finds our intrepid Toby hoping to be able to adjust to being newly married and all that comes with such a momentous event. Yeah, right, that's not how Toby's life rolls. All too soon friends are in danger and Toby must spring into action to help because that's what heroes of the realm do. And finally, we get to find out more about the ever mysterious and elusive Oberon.

Since Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire is book sixteen in the October Daye Fantasy series, it’s kind of hard to review. If you haven’t read the series (and you really should if you enjoy Fantasy) then you will have no idea what is going on since there are too many characters and backstories to even begin to explain.
And if you’re a regular to the series, I really don’t want to give anything away.

In the forward McGuire mentions that she’s had the events of this book planned for a long time. And the reveals are a doozy. As with most of the books in the series, lots of storylines are added to or completed, and she leaves us with even more open storylines to continue in future books of the series.

At one point, I thought the book was coming to a close with an epic battle scene, but then it just kept going with even more goodness.

Besides being a fantastic addition to the October Daye series, there is also a short story afterwards that gives greater insight into the sea witch, her sister, and her step-mom. This added so much depth and understanding to all three of these characters in such a short timeframe.

I highly recommend Be the Serpent, and if you’re new to this series, I suggest you start with Rosemary and Rue.

The series crosses a BIG threshold here, and it's nice to have a sense of Things Are Changing in such a big way. The last couple of books did a great job bringing threads together; now the weave is turning into something very different.

"Now in hardcover, the sixteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

October Daye is finally something she never expected to be: married. All the trials and turmoils and terrors of a hero's life have done very little to prepare her for the expectation that she will actually share her life with someone else, the good parts and the bad ones alike, not just allow them to dabble around the edges in the things she wants to share. But with an official break from hero duties from the Queen in the Mists, and her family wholly on board with this new version of "normal," she's doing her best to adjust.

It isn't always easy, but she's a hero, right? She's done harder.

Until an old friend and ally turns out to have been an enemy in disguise for this entire time, and October’s brief respite turns into a battle for her life, her community, and everything she has ever believed to be true.

The debts of the Broken Ride are coming due, and whether she incurred them or not, she's going to be the one who has to pay."

Yes, it's always an exciting day when there's a new Seanan McGuire book, which is actually quite often, but let's just admit that we're all secretly waiting for new October Daye over all her other books. Right?

October has to go to the royal court for the testimony against Raysel who has been in an elf shot sleep for her crimes. Everything goes sideways and Toby must figure things out. ARC from NetGalley.

Toby has finally gotten married without dying and it would be nice for her if things would be less crazy for awhile, but then this wouldn’t be an October Daye story. In Be the Serpent some chickens from previous books start to come home to roost, there’s a nice twist I did not see coming at any point in the previous books, and there’s a definite cliffhanger. And that’s about all I can say without massive spoilers. Also, this one will crush your soul few times. I’m itching for the next book, but thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.

Faery Cosmology

Regarding spoilers: I wrote most of this review before reading /Be the Serpent/, based on what I thought was coming. (Thus, it is not, strictly speaking, a review, but a preview, or perhaps a precognition 😀) I then read the book, and it turned out I needed to fix almost nothing. So, there are no spoilers here: nothing that could not be foreseen, except for one minor one, which will be evident.

/Be the Serpent/ is one of the best October Daye novels to date. The best was /The Winter Long/. In /The Winter Long/ Seanan McGuire did what I have come to see as the characteristic McGuire move: she rewrote the past. You may have thought you knew what was going on when you read /Rosemary and Rue/, but you did not. /The Winter Long/ shows you that what actually happened in /Rosemary and Rue/ was entirely different from the story Toby told in that book. /The Winter Long/ completely reshaped the world we thought we were in. /The Winter Long/ wasn't the only book to rewrite the past. In /Night and Silence/ we learn that the stepmother of Toby's daughter Gillian is Janet Carter, who broke Maeve's ride 500 years ago, and is also Toby's grandmother.

Inbetween all this rewriting of the past, we also have books that rewrite the future. We have known from early on that Toby was the subject of several prophecies. Also, the Luidaeg had plans for her. As is the nature of fairy tale prophecies, they come true, but not in the way that anyone thought they would. Thus, in fulfilling prophecies, Toby rewrites the future. In /The Unkindest Tide/ Toby rescues the Roane. In /A Killing Frost/ she brings back Oberon, as prophecy said she would. The odd thing about Oberon being back, though, is that he doesn't really seem to be. Throughout /When Sorrows Come/ and the shorter stories McGuire has written since, he mostly just hangs around quietly in the background, as if he were something painted on the wallpaper.

All this rearranging of the past and future happens without explicit time travel. (McGuire has nothing in principle against time-travel as a plot device -- we know this because it showed up in /That Ain't Withcraft/ (Incryptid series) and /Middlegame/. Nothing would surprise me less than the eventual appearance of a time-travel spell in the October Daye books. But so far, in the first fifteen books, that hasn't happened.) Of course, we've known another big rewrite was coming since we saw these ominous words in the publisher's blurb:

<blockquote>Until an old friend and ally turns out to have been an enemy in disguise for this entire time, and October’s brief respite turns into a battle for her life, her community, and everything she has ever believed to be true.

The debts of the Broken Ride are coming due, and whether she incurred them or not, she’s going to be the one who has to pay.</blockquote>

The reference to the Broken Ride told us that we were due to dig at least five hundred years deep into history. And Oberon at last emerges as a significant character. /Be the Serpent/ reaches deep into the past and deep into the future. How was Faery born? Did Oberon say, "Let there be light"? Was there a Big Bang? Did both of those things happen? Will what was broken in the Broken Ride be fixed?

But of course, what you really want to know is, "Who's the serpent?" Does the Luidaeg, who after all, has promised to kill Toby, finally turn on her? Does Tybalt, who has just become her real, sanctioned husband, betray her? Someone else? How badly is McGuire going to hurt us?

Now that I have actually read /Be the Serpent/, I have little to add to the preview above. Only two small things. First, much of /Be the Serpent/ concerns arguments among families, and like real family arguments, they get tedious at times. Second, we end with a cliff-hanger.

/Such Dangerous Seas/

/Be the Serpent/ is followed by the novella /Such Dangerous Seas/. Once again, we are reaching deep into the past. This one is told from the point of view of Antigone of Albany, better known to us as The Luidaeg. It begins by retelling the the story of the slaughter of the Roane, which has been told several times before in the course of the October Daye Series. However, it goes on from there to relate The Luidaeg's attempt to get justice. We see the Luidaeg in an unusual way, as a petitioner, weaker than those she is dealing with. This is a vulnerable Annie, unlike the powerful and self-confident Luidaeg we have come to know.

/Such Dangerous Seas/ builds on revelations from /Be the Serpent/. You won't fully understand /Such Danderous Seas unless you have read /Be the Serpent/.

I thank NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader's copy in exchange for a candid review. Book to be released 30-Aug-2022. This review will be made public on Goodreads and my blog 23-Aug-2022.

I always enjoy reading the latest by Seanan Mcguire. She creates such rich worlds, I’m always sad when I have to leave.

Another stunning urban Fae novel the master
of the form Seanan McGuire.

Sir October Daye
Knight
King Maker
Hero of The Realm
Slayer of Legends

Is
JUST TRYING TO SETTLE into her new life
with her husband
King of the Local Cait Sidhe
and the motley crew of misfits that
have settled into her life as her family.

Until the inevitable tragedy happens.
The family of her oldest friend
is attacked.

Saving them will mean unravelling
a centuries old mystery that
runs into the bloody heart of Fae.

Toby's life and her family will not escape
with out heart breaking loss.

When Sorrows Come, despite having that particular title, was ultimately a novel of uplifting joy. It was the story of October and Tybalt’s wedding and even though there may have been gallons of blood spilled (as may be expected by this point in the series), it was perfect. That wedding was never going to go off without a hitch, but the wedding happened, they got married, it was absolutely lovely (as was the coda of a follow up novella which covered the reception). It was a gift.

Be the Serpent is not that book and is a novel I’ve both been anxious to get my hands on while also absolutely dreading. This is a novel of betrayal and I’ve known that for months leading into Be the Serpent’s publication. The jacket copy lays it bare “until an old friend and ally turns out to have been an enemy in disguise for this entire time and October’s brief respite turns into a battle for her life, her community, and everything she has ever believed to be true.”

Heavy spoiler warning for the series thus far and rampant speculation leading into the novel. I can’t talk about Be the Serpent without major theory discussion and a significant reveal. This is the sixteenth book in the series and it’s fine if you’re starting here but a lot of things are earned because of what came before.

A consequence of Toby finding and returning Oberon to Faerie (despite his flat out refusal to speak) is that readers will start to wonder - if the King of All Faerie can return, what about the Queens? What about Maeve and Titania? Given that Oberon’s most recent incarnation was Officer Thornton, one of theories was that Stacy (Toby’s best friend) might be Maeve or Titania. Another theory is Marcia, the seneschal of Goldengreen (Dean Lorden’s demense). Now, there is no technical reason why the truest lords of faerie should all be hiding around San Francisco - but I’m willing to handwave that away as something that maybe doesn’t matter a ton (it would be somewhat interesting if a major figure of faerie was just chilling out on a mountain in Bhutan but that’s not the story being told here so we’ll work with what we have - though there are plenty of missing Firstborn so who’s to say?)

Spoilers - but Be the Serpent answers one of those questions.

Let’s do this.

The beginning of Be the Serpent resolves the question of Rayseline and absolutely full credit to Seanan McGuire for redeeming Simon Torquill because she’s about to do the same to Raysel, that broken daughter of Sylvester and Luna. After a bit of a trial and Luna spitting some hate at Toby, Raysel is functionally Toby’s squire for the next year to relearn how to be herself and also discover who she is. Raysel, we should remember, was abducted prior to Toby being turned into a fish and she (Rayseline) was locked away with Luna in darkness for twelve years. Raysel came out damaged (as one could reasonably expect) and had been an active antagonist towards Toby for the entirety of the series so far.

The funny thing is that I’d love to talk about the implications of Rayseline for another handful of paragraphs because I find it fascinating and there are a number of interesting implications moving forward but this isn’t that book. This is just what happened before the story began, as smart and ground laying as the Question of Rayseline happens to be, because the real story is what’s next - which is there is an attack at the house of Toby’s best friend, Stacy.

Toby arrives to find that one of the Stacy’s boys has been attacked, the other son traumatized, and the youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead - and that there is a woman on the loose who is the killer. All that before we find Stacy at the local grocery store magic-stoned out of her gourd and absolutely confused and also that before a magic spell that hasn’t been used in hundreds of years at the minimum is used which caused everyone with Toby (except for Stacy) to not be able to see faerie at all.

Midway through reading Be the Serpent, I started thinking about it as “The Exposition Book With Murder” and sometimes as “The Murder Book, Now with Bonus Exposition” - which sounds like it should be a criticism but it is truly not intended as such because this is the sixteenth October Daye novel and some things are absolutely earned.

There’s a lot of figuring stuff out here and because this *is* the novel where one of the Faerie Queens returns, we might as well start singing “Blame Oberon” to the tune of “Blame Canada” because there’s a lot of blame to go around.
“I interrupted him, causing Tybalt to flinch in anticipation of the response my insolence was likely to inspire. “No, you never did, did you? How many Firstborn, *sire*? How many innocents? How many pieces of Faerie that never got to grow into the pillars they should have been? She destroyed them because you put her in the position to do so. Because you *compelled* her to do so. This is your fault”
Several novels after his return, Oberon speaks! I was starting to wonder if there was some sort of Black Bolt thing where a whisper from Oberon is enough to shatter buildings. So Oberon speaks and is challenged repeatedly by Toby, then a bit by the Luidaeg, and even by Cassandra. It’s delightful.

The bonus exposition I said was earned? I stand by that. There’s a lot of information revealed now that Oberon is talking. As Toby chases down the murderer, there is a sense that this is a Really Big Deal, and when the culprit is revealed it’s an even bigger deal because of the mechanics of how all of this went down and what that has meant for faerie at large. I don’t remember if anyone says “eff Oberon” in this novel but it should absolutely be said.

With all of that said - because I’m only scratching the surface of what I want to talk about when I get to this book in the October Daye Re-Read and can fairly drop every single spoiler into one essay without a hint of shame, I suppose the real question should be about how effective Seanan McGuire is at telling this particular story.

The answer: incredibly.

Again, listen, Be The Serpent is the sixteenth novel in the series. As good of a job as Seanan McGuire does in setting up the novel and giving enough of an emotional recap for new readers (and she’s super good at doing that in each novel), I would really, really not recommend starting a series read with Be the Serpent. McGuire is paying off years of work in this novel while telling a brutal story that (also brutally) sets up the next book.

This isn’t going to be a favorite novel because a lot of things go to hell and it’s messy and not at all pretty, but I’m all in on October Daye and Be the Serpent absolutely satisfies and leaves readers with another “holy crap, what?” at the end that is going to make the next year another year of anticipation for book seventeen. What more do you want?

If I’m honest I was dreading reading this one. Just the title worried me. Toby was so happy in the last book so I knew it couldn’t last and it didn’t …..

Someone is targeting the Brown children.

Stacy Brown has been Toby’s very good friend since they were little and jumping in to rescue her kids is not a question. This "case" is not easy for Toby but as a Hero of the Realm, she must do what is expected of her. Yet, she is not alone. Tybalt will be with her. But can he really help?

Be the Serpent is UF at it's best. It has the Fae, shocking twists, a funny side, and drama with very sad parts. It also finishes with a cliffhanger!!!

I can only say: Be ready, be prepared.

One thing I will say and I never thought I would: I love Simon. He keeps on getting better. Who would have thought that was possible after reading book 1, Rosemarie and Rue?

I can't spoil the novel for you so I will not tell you who is responsible for the chaos that Toby has to fight through. Although, I think some of us have a guess. I also think I know who is the other missing part of the equation and I'm guessing she will reveal herself in the next installment.

The wait until These Violent Delights is going to kill me.......

Cliffhanger: Yes

4.5/5 Fangs

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

4.5 stars overall. Be the Serpent is full of twists and turns. The book opens with October going to Muir Woods to attend a hearing to determine Raysel's fate. (Raysel was elf shot in a previous book and the hearing is on whether she will be woken early or forced to sleep for the remaining years). However, the hearing quickly takes a back seat when Toby uncovers a devastating secret. Now, she must now figure out how to save her friends and her family before disaster strikes. The secrets unveiled in this book were honestly shocking (though I've since gone back and assembled some of the bread crumbs Seanan has dropped). The short story at the end also ties in well, filling in more backstory for a beloved character and her villainous sister. Overall, this was a fast paced and enjoyable read and it ends on a nail biting cliffhanger. I look forward to Toby's next adventure!

Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire, McGuire delivers again! The last person you'd think was an enemy has been disguised this whole time, and friends and family are in danger again! I have my suspicions about the next couple books, but I've been wrong before.

This book was over too quickly-- I acknowledge that that's a combination of my reading her since 2009 (and I'm fast to begin with) and her continuing to evolve her stories and get better at telling them. And now I literally have to wait another year.

Another great entry in the October Daye series and from Seanan McGuire, I've been enjoying all of Ms. McGuire's books and I think the October Daye series has been my favorite. Be the Serpent has a great plot that I really enjoyed reading. The characters were what I've come to expect from Ms. McGuire. With this being the sixteenth book in the series, it's still going strong and I can't wait for more.

"IT TOOK ME AND Tybalt working together about twenty minutes to get me cut completely free. The vines he slashed through with his claws writhed back into position and resumed grabbing at me within seconds. The ones I cut away with my antler knife stayed charred and withdrawn, apparently afraid to reach out again. The more time passed, the heavier the smell of roses became, as if Titania were preparing to re-manifest."