First of all, this cover is stunning. I can not wait to order the physical copy as display it. The book was so fun to read. It was super well written and we all know how the story ends, so the emphasis was on the journey there.

The Toby Daye series of books has been a long standing favourite and so was excited when I got the news that I had access to this ARC.
The story is told from Tybalt (King of Cats) and Toby's husband point of view, which is a twist to the normal narrative which is from Toby's view. I personally loved the change and to see events from a different point of view , however this may not be the same for all other fans of the series. For me it gave greater depth and insight into Tybalt, the world of Cait Sithe and his feelings for Toby.
This really is a companion novel to Sleep no More which covers the same time period but as lived by Toby. Tybalt and Toby are happily married and have exciting news to share, but at this point Titania places a great work of magic on the world to recreate her own new version of reality. In this reality changelings are born to serve full Fae, and those fae who are inconvenient to Titania's new narrative are shoved / banished to various pocket realities or other realms. Tybalt has to save the Cait Sithe who are stuck in a shadow realm which only can be accessed by walking the shadow roads, a skill only available to a few. As well as this Tybalt works to save Toby, gain allies and convince other fae that they are living an illusion, one which only a few fae can see through.
We are reunited with long established characters, most of whom believe in the illusion cast and not all of these characters are negatively affected by the changes wrought. Tybalt fights with his allies to reinstate the correct reality and if you have read Sleep no More then it is no surprise that he triumphs.

This book also includes a novella Doubtless and Secure at the end of The Innocent Sleep. This covers Dianda's life and how she came to be ruler of Saltmist in the Undersea.
Definitely a book for those invested in the October Daye series but may not be to all fans tastes. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this reivew, all views are my own.

The Innocent Sleep follows Tybalt, King of Cats, who loses his perfect life when Titania, the Summer Queen, takes over. Banished and unrecognized by the woman he loves, he must convince her to see through the illusion and reclaim their reality. The story delves into Tybalt's struggle for a new beginning after his happily ever after is shattered.

I anticipated a completely new storyline following the events of the previous book, Sleep No More. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that it unfolds concurrently, but from Tybalt's viewpoint instead of October's.

The Innocent Sleep pleasantly surprised me, as I'm typically not a fan of revisiting the same story from a different point of view. However, in this case, the characters were apart majority of the book, giving it a fresh feel akin to a new story altogether.

Exploring Tybalt's perspective while October pursued her own path provided a unique depth to the narrative. It was heartbreaking to see Tybalt powerless to make things right. I could feel his frustration in having to wait for some things to fall into place.

The side characters were a highlight, and their dynamic added richness to the tale. Ultimately, I found myself enjoying this book much more than I initially anticipated.

I was surprised and excited by the book being in Tybalt's POV. I should have known since the cover has him on it and all the other covers had Toby. I have read Seanan's Tybalt POV short stories before and like them and I really liked getting a longer thing. It was fun, if stressful (in a good way!) matching up the plot with Sleep No More. I was glad to see May! I was confused when she was absent from Sleep No More but the explanation here made a lot of sense.

Give me more Tybalt all of the time. I love being able to see what the rest of Faerie was doing while Toby was stuck in Titania's illusion.

Series Info/Source: This is the 18th book in the October Daye series. I got a copy of this through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: I was a bit disappointed in this book (similar with book 17, "Sleep No More"). Some of the beginning of the story was intriguing, but then once Tybalt catches back up with October it is basically a repeat of "Sleep No More". The fact that you already know how everything turns out if you have read "Sleep No More" takes a lot of the urgency out of the story.

This book follows Tybalt and starts right before Titania rewrites fairy to her liking. Tybalt wakes up confused in the Court of Cats and is forced to unravel the mystery of where Toby went and why things have changed so much.

There were a couple things I enjoyed at the beginning of this book. I loved learning more about the Court of Cats and Tybalt's past. I also enjoyed being able to delve into the Library of Stars and learn more about that. Additionally, getting to meet some of the monsters in the deep of the Saltmist kingdom was fun.

Unfortunately, once Tybalt meets up with October, the book is basically a copy of "Sleep No More" but with a couple of different scenes when Tybalt isn't with October. It's fairly boring. I am not sure what McGuire is doing here, but I didn't enjoy "The Innocent Sleep" much either and this was even worse. I hope this series wraps up soon before I start to really dislike it.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall this was fairly disappointing. There were some aspects in the beginning of the book that I enjoyed but once Tybalt meets up with Toby this is a copy of "Sleep No More". I guess it is somewhat interesting to know Tybalt's thoughts on what is going on, but at this point in the series we know him pretty well and hearing from Tybalt didn't really give more insight into his character, I actually liked him less by the end of this book.

I plan on continuing with the series because I have stuck with it this long, but I have been enjoying each book less and less. Hopefully this series will wrap up soon because I am not sure where McGuire is going with all of this.

I thought Seanan McGuire couldn't break my heart any more than she did in "Sleep No More."
I thought I wouldn't enjoy a novel from Tybalt's POV as much as I have the ones from Toby's.
I was very, very wrong.

It's an ambitious concept. "Sleep No More" and "The Innocent Sleep" tell about the same timeframe, and most of the same events, as each other, but from the points-of-view of two of the main characters in the series. Toby's POV is a heartbreaking tale of our favorite hero reduced to being a servant to her bloodkin, with no knowledge of the life she's led. It's even more heartbreaking when you remember that Toby spent fifteen years as a fish, losing her mortal family. Faerie has taken more from Toby than it's ever given her, and this latest loss of agency is especially cruel.

Luckily, Toby has acquired friends and made a new family, who are determined to stop Titania and reverse the spell. Tybalt, Toby's husband, is the King of Cats. The Cait Sidhe have been made extinct in Titania's "reality," and this, for me, was the worst part of both books. The poor cats, trapped and starving, not knowing what happened or why, and relying on the few who can travel the Shadow Roads. (I don't do spoilers, normally, but it all works out okay.)

There are tie-ins from many of the previous books, and some characters who died are alive, well, and in some cases, unfortunately thriving in Titania's pocket universe.

Why you should read it: because it's amazing piece of work, even if we hadn't previously had the story through Toby's eyes. Toby's such a presence that I thought it would be weird to have a story where it's really everyone else who is taking action. It isn't weird at all; it's wonderful, and I really enjoyed minor characters getting some page-time.

Why you might not want to read it: McGuire has put novellas at the end of the Toby books for the last however-many, and Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep each have one. Might The Innocent Sleep have worked just as well as a novella at the end of Sleep No More? I don't think so. Having a full-fledge novel gave more insight into the characters who would normally have been working behind the scenes or gotten short shrift, storywise, and we got to feel the full horror of what Titania had done to the Fae. It also gave more dimension to the characters whose lives were actually improved under the spell, and the quandary this caused in which reality should be kept. This is also not the book with which to jump into the series; you need the background of all that came before to fully appreciate this book.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy from DAW via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

Seeing October’s world from Tybalt’s point of view added another dimension that I didn’t know I was missing!

I absolutely adored Sleep No More and getting to see the events of the story from a completely different perspective - and therefore interact with different characters and see how other parts of faerie were effected by Titania’s spell - was fascinating!

I love October and Tybalt’s relationship, and seeing how much he cares for her firsthand, as well as how infuriating her behaviour must be for those who care about her, was a really interesting experience when you’re used to seeing everything from Toby’s point of view.

I absolutely can’t wait for the next book in this series, and I will be picking it up right away!

The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire is the 18th book in the October Daye Series, and I can honestly say there has not been a bad book in the series. In fact, I’ve loved each one of them.

In book 17, Sleep No More, we get October’s version of events after a major world change, and in The Innocent Sleep we get to see Tybalt’s side of the story. It was a wonderful experience getting the story from another point of view, and just goes to show how fantastic of a writer McGuire is.

Since this is book 18 in a fantasy series, you have either been reading from the beginning, so I don’t want to give anything away, besides you’re in for a treat. Or you haven’t read any yet, and whatever I tell you won’t make sense, so I’ll just say to start with book one, Rosemary and Rue… you can thank me later.

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for gifting me an early copy of this SECOND October Daye book releasing this year!

This one, best read immediately after SLEEP NO MORE, is the first full length novel in the series that isn't Toby's POV. It's Tybalt's POV, following the same events leading out of BE THE SERPENT.

We've been in Tybalt's head before, in some of the Patreon shorties and some of the freebies, but this one really gave us some deeper insights into our favorite King of Cats. We get to see his true feelings on the people around him, the people in their lives, whether friend, acquaintance, or begrudging ally.

While the end of this one is a quick recap of the end of SLEEP NO MORE (just through Tybalt's eyes), the rest was a glorious glimpse into the catman we love so much.

Yet again, McGuire finds a way to keep me on my toes waiting for the next one to come out. It's one series I really hope continues a long, long time.

As has become the trend lately, this one includes a novella that adds to the Octoberverse, this time from Helmi, Dianda's Cephali handmaiden, and jumps through time, tracing life in Saltmist from before Dianda's birth up until the events of SLEEP NO MORE/THE INNOCENT SLEEP. It's a cool peek into more of Saltmist and their traditions and peoples.

Highly recommended, but please do yourself the favor of reading the rest of the series first. You won't regret it.

Hey, remember last book? Wonder how all that is for Tybalt, eh? (Bad. It's baaaaaaaaaaaad.) There's a bit of necessary repetition here (dialogue, certain events) from the last book, as we get Tybalt's side of how all of this went down, but Seanan also goes out of her way to expand on what went on outside of the POV constrictions of last book, and also good to get more of what was going on for what we couldn't see in the last book. (Plus, let's be honest, Tybalt is always going to be a fun POV character.) This gives us a little bit more time to breathe and absorb the big plot implication of last book, also through the POV of someone who Does Not have a good history with childbirth. (Admittedly, the last time he experienced it was back in Shakespearean England, which, let's be honest, was not great for anyone involved.) We also get a novella from Diana's lady's maid POV, through which we get more Undersea backstory and more of my new favorite triad marriage, which is always fun. I have admittedly been spoiled by two books so close to each other, but man, I can't wait to see where the series goes next.

When so much is going on in a series and the author decides to give you a book about the same story but from the POV of a character that has never been the main POV and you love it. Tybalt finds his world turned upside down with Toby missing, their home empty and her elderly cats locked out of the home. The Sea Witch is missing, and the Cait Sidhe locked in the courts with only the royal cats able to venture out and get food for them. Quickly he realizes that Toby and three of the fey kingdoms have been bespelled by Titania. And to make matters worse Toby doesn’t know she is bespelled isn’t her normal Hero self. This is an amazing companion book to Sleep No More and they fit hand in hand. So glad the author and the publisher took a chance on this.

Look, I obviously enjoyed this book and I love Tybalt so I'm glad that we are getting more of his POV but in much the same way that 'this meeting could have been an email', this novel could have been a novella and it would have been better off for it. The first half is very good and gives us a lot of new information and shows us things that weren't in the previous novel but once we hit a certain point in the narrative it's just rehashing the exact same plot points with not much new being added. If you're a huge fan you'll probably still enjoy it regardless - I know I did - but if you're more of a casual reader you could definitely put this down at a certain point and not miss much at all.

The Innocent Sleep is a companion novel to Sleep No More, the previous book in the October Daye series. It tells the story of the same events, told from Tybalt's point of view. While the two books combined don't paint an entirely complete picture of the events that unfold - that could never happen, no matter how many books were written - they form enough of a cohesive whole to answer most of the questions readers were left with after Sleep No Mor.e. It is also an outstanding book in its own right. I'd expected 300+ pages of Angry Man after the previous book, but I underestimated both Seanan McGuire as a writer and Tybalt and a character. That is not what this book is. I am, however, unable to quite say what it IS without spoilers. Suffice to say, it is a treat, and not a book to miss.

I 100% understand why she felt she needed to write a book from someone other than Toby's point of view. There was SO much going on. It was really cool to see more of the Court of Cats from an internal view, and a delight to see all the machinations behind the scenes of the previous book.

Some of this book felt a little repetitive towards the end because it was retreading the same events as the previous book, but it was still absolutely worth reading.

I love this series. The characters and world building are the best I have read. This book is about Tatiana's attack on Toby told from Tybalt's point of view. It clarifies the story of a few characters not featured in the previous book. For me the character interaction when one of them would realize that Toby didn't remember being a hero was really well done. The panic and disappointment of finding out the hero they counted on to save them would not happen seemed so real. The previous book wasn't missing anything, but this one rounds the story out in a way I didn't know it needed. The aftermath seemed very realistic. My favorite series and a great book.

Once again Titania pulled everyone into her spell to recreate faerie as she sees fit. I think this is absolutely the very best book in the series. There was so much action. It kept my eyes glued to the pages. I thought it was exciting and thrilling.i definitely recommend this book.

I was completely unaware of the intent of this book, knowing only it was the next in the October Daye series. It is to be published 1 month after Sleep No More. This book tells the same story from that book only from Tybalt’s point of view. That’s a tricky thing to pull off but it’s done here beautifully. What I love is that I found more plot depth here and a more comprehensive understanding of October and Tybalt’s trials during this siege.

The book is followed by a novella which details the history of Dianda and Helmi. It filled in a lot of gaps for me about one of my favorite series characters.

I found the book brilliant as it entwined Tybalt’s experiences into Octobers.

The Innocent Sleep is the companion piece to the previous October Daye novel, Sleep No More, and really, if I had both books in paper form, I would flip through them and tell you how to tandem read them. I personally preferred getting this story from Tybalt's point of view, because instead of dropping us smack in medias res, we get a little bit of context at the beginning. I found October's perspective in Sleep No More jarring, since she wasn't the Toby we've always known. But Tybalt here is his usual self, and we get a lovely sense of how deeply he loves Toby--this book is worth reading for the yearning alone. I also enjoyed seeing the Luidaeg through Tybalt's eyes, along with so many other characters (Simon, for example). I've subscribed to Seanan McGuire's Patreon for years, so I've read quite a bit in Tybalt's voice. It's really fun to see him narrating a full novel.

My advice: Wait until both books are out and tandem read them. You'll enjoy the story much more, and even reading the slightly repetitive scenes in which both Toby and Tybalt appear will be fun.

"The 18th novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times bestselling October Daye urban fantasy series.

For one bright, shining moment, Tybalt, King of Cats, had everything he had ever wanted. He was soon to set his crown aside; he had married the woman he loved; he was going to be a father. After centuries of searching for a family of his own, he had finally found a way to construct the life of his dreams, and was looking forward to a period of peace - or at least as much peace as is ever in the offing for the husband of a hero.

Alas for Tybalt and his domestic aspirations, fate - and Titania - had other ideas. His perfect world had been complete for only a moment when it was ripped away, to be replaced by hers. Titania, Faerie's Summer Queen, Mother of Illusions and enemy of so many he holds dear, has seized control of the Kingdom, remaking it in her own image. An image which does not include meddlesome shapeshifters getting in her way. Tybalt quickly finds himself banished from her reality, along with the Undersea and the rest of the Court of Cats.

To protect his people and his future, Tybalt must find the woman he loves in a world designed to keep her from him, convince her that he's not a stranger trying to ruin her life for no apparent reason, and get her to unmake the illusion she's been firmly enmeshed in. And he'll have to do it all while she doesn't know him, and every unrecognizing look is a knife to his heart.

For Tybalt, King of Cats, the happily ever after was just the beginning."

Speaking of the King of Cats, I have a knew theory as to how Seanan writes so many books in a year... And yes, it's because her cats are writing the books.