Couldn't resist reading this one even though pub is still a bit away. Will also put other reviews out closer to pub. This was a delight! You can bet that Toby's birth plan is going out the window and there is going to be blood everywhere.

So I had not read most of the previous books and couldn’t remember much from the first section of the series which I read a long time ago, before starting this one . Why? Because I like to go in and see if it can be picked up/ read as a stand- a-lone especially when series are getting high in number. This one is a toss up. While I think one can glean enough of the history to enjoy it on its own, it (the series) definitely needs to be full read to get the full benefits.

So I paused and backed tracked, speeding my way through several previous books to give me a bit more context , and started again. It was definitely worth doing as the world that was created builds in each book along with the adventure the characters take. However, it really can be enjoyed if it’s simply picked up. The author has the skill to draw someone in and you don’t know you’re missing information.

This book is well written and well paced as is usual from the author and I think fans with eat it up. All of my specific thoughts would cause spoilers so I’ll leave it at the above!


I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary eARC from Tor through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My general rating system is below. Since I primarily read ARC books I rate according to how I think like minded readers will receive the book. I will round up or down depending on many factors and try not to let my personal wants affect a books ratings.

⭐️ Hated It but pushed through as so don’t DNF ARCs I have received.
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, content issues, poorly edited.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but it had something that stopped me from rounding up. Usually the book may have much more potential than what was given. I recommend it but with reservations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I Really enjoyed it or think others will. These are solid reads that I definitely would recommend for a variety of reasons.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! These are books that remain rent free in my head for well after unfinished the book. It can be for a variety of reasons from being very well written or just the vibes that captured my mind. These books are also ones I would probably read again.

Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire

A marvelous book, a tad smaller in scope than the last two but no less impactful.

I love Seanan McGuire’s body of work. (Note: I review a bunch of her books so I am copying part of some of my other reviews here to save time.). She has quickly become my favorite living writer and I feel very lucky that she is so prolific. I was first introduced to her work when her book Parasite, written as Mira Grant, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved it and quickly devoured the Newsflesh series before I realized that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire were the same person.

I started reading her works under her own name, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, which is amazing, but I picked it because I was intimidated by her long running October Daye series. I had read some Urban Fantasy before, and I fondly remember Mercedes Lackey’s Diana Tregarde books, but my tastes run more to science fiction and then secondary world fantasy, so I was hesitant to dive into such a long series. I picked up the first book, Rosemary and Rue, when it was on sale as a kindle daily deal, and I found it somewhat disappointing compared to her other work. I reminded myself that it was her first published novel, so I cut it some slack. Then Incryptid was nominated for the Best Series Hugo in 2018 and I dove into that instead. I loved it! So I vowed to give Toby another chance. And I was so glad that I did! It is now one of my favorite series.

October Daye is perpetually on the top of my best series Hugo ballot - she deserves to win. This type of excellent in a long running series is what this award was designed for and none of the other nominees come close.

I was overjoyed when Tor and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of their first October Daye book after the series switched publishers because we have been waiting a long time to find out what the fallout of was of Toby and a large chunk of Faerie was totally ensorcelled. This was another amazing entry in this series and I cannot wait to devour the next one!


This book picks up several months after the end of the last one. It felt a little bit like when your favorite sitcom picks up after summer break and the characters tell you that not much has happened in the past few months. Toby is a few weeks from her due date and has been effectively sequestered by her family, who are concerned about her safety and the safety of the pregnancy. I would’ve had a lot of harder time reading this book if I didn’t trust Seanan McGuire so much as an author. I know that she is never going to have her characters be raped, and I believed that she would not hurt or kill this baby.

This book had a couple of blasts from the past show up again to cause trouble, and it really made me wish that I had done a complete reread before this book. My plan is to get all of the audiobooks and listen to them before the next volume comes out. But she did a good job catching people up on what was going on. Is it bad that one of my favorite parts of the book was a tease for the future? Once again, Marcia popped up in a very tiny role and I can’t wait to find out what that reveal is going to be.

Many of the secondary characters got a moment to shine in this book, though I would have liked to see a little bit more of Jazz. I feel like she is often sidelined.

But that is a minor quibble. This book was a fantastic page turner from beginning to end.

Toby has recovered from the chaos that was books 17-18, and is getting ready to have her baby!

. . .But of course, Toby's life as a knight and hero of the realm mean she's never left alone for very long, and she is recruited/ordered by Arden to investigate some shady stuff going on. It's not supposed to be very complicated or dangerous since everyone is aware she's super pregnant. And. . . let's just say it doesn't go to plan. I love that Toby now has a very deep bench of talented friends she can call on when she has to go on these quests, as well as some old nemesis that we can immediately dislike.

This is another excellent installment in the October Daye series. I enjoyed reading it, and did not expect some of the plot twists! Even after 14 books, McGuire is keeping us on our toes, and I think Toby's fans will like this one.

First Review:
I was so lucky to get an ARC of this book. I've loved this series since I found it around the time of Once Broken Faith, and this latest installment, what with the 2 year wait after the double release and publisher change, the wait was pretty hard, but now it's been reset, for the next book!

Toby is so close to delivery, and is almost out of her mind, what with how everyone's treating her like she's glass. I mean, we expected it from Tybalt, but everyone else, you'd think they'd know better, May has Toby's memories of being pregnant with Gillian. But with the missing artifacts,

I think we're all agreed that Marcie is Maeve, right? I mean, she isn't affected by Evening's magic, either here in The Winter Long, or later on in The Brightest Fell. That October can't get a read on her fae bloodlines? Like, is it meant to be obvious in hindsight with a bait and switch, or what?

Seas and Shores was really great, I loved the perspective, and what happened, with that one reveal. And that one reunion. I mean, with this reread, there was that one interaction, but that was on the phone, so they hadn't seen each other in person in who knows how long, but that was just so heartwarming! Can you guess what reunion, or have I been vague enough?

It's been a while since I reread the early books in the series. I've reread the later half a few times with the more recent books, but I haven't gotten to the beginning since 2018, so it's been a while. So I'd forgotten things like her reliance on coffee before her blood changed and the goblin fruit got rid of the craving. She's really come a long way, and everything that she's done since, and still has to do, yeah, I'm so excited for more!

Absolutely loved reading these books and I can't wait to continue with my reread!


Second Review:
I had to reread this book! I know, I just read it last month, but since it had been so long since I'd read the whole series, and there were a few things that I wanted to confirm, I need to reread. Which meant that I was loving being in this world, and wanted to spend more time-and why not reread it?

I feel for Toby, she's only remembered and processed she's been pregnant for 4 months, but the later 4 months in pregnancy, she's close to delivering. She's so close to the finish line when her services are required with the missing artifacts. Here's hoping that Arden builds out her court more so Toby's not the only Hero of the Realm, because if Toby was a different person, she would've had to wait another month in a quickly escalating situation.

It was so interesting to see Toby still carry on being a hero, while trying to take things easy, to keep her baby safe. Because her tendency is to just throw some blood into the situation, even when it seems crazy to do so, that's her line's strength. The question mark is what qualities the baby is going to get, which parent's line they'll more closely follow.

One big question that my reread answered, was whose magic Toby was smelling in that final scene. Because it was pretty important, and I had been thinking it was one character, but the reread told me, if I understood things correct, who it is, which has me really excited to see what happens in the future of the series!

Loved reading these stories and I can't wait to continue on with this series!

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the pre-release copy of Seanan McGuire's Silver and Lead, book 19 in the October Daye series. Below is my honest review.

Anyone who knows me or has seen or followed my reviews knows with absolute certainty that I am a HUGE Seanan McGuire fan. It should come as no surprise that I devoured and adored this entry into one of my favorite series, the October Daye series.

In this one we have Toby almost ready to pop, so of course, the villains have to get up to their shenanigans and disturb the last bit of her pregnancy with an adventure. This time it involves items stolen from the Windemere's royal vault - items that are VERY dangerous - and naturally, as hero of the realm, it's up to Toby, on the verge of childbirth and with a very zealously overprotective family (due to the events of Titania's spell from the last two books) who want to keep her safe, to retrieve these items. And naturally, hijinx of the greatest order ensue.

This one was so much fun (for the reader, not for the characters!), and I really enjoyed getting to see some relationships revealed, repaired, or restructured as we went along. And let's be honest, the end reveal makes me SO ready for the next book.

Also included at the end is a little shorty from Simon's perspective, and it brings about its own little joys as well.

Highly recommended, but with the caveat that if you start here, you're going in with 18 prior books and countless short stories of this world's history missing from your context.

We’re many many books into the October Daye series and somehow they do still manage to entertain even this many books in. This one is a direct continuation of the aftermath of the occurrences in the last two books, so feels a bit meandering at times. While a decent installment in the series, it’s not my favorite.

I will read anything by Seanan McGuire. And I'll love it. The end of each book leaves me waiting for the next.

This series gets better book over book. We've so far in and I'm still obsessed with the world and all the characters. This one had a lot of flavor and a lot of things going on. I felt like we got a perfect amount of recap without too much. And things really took a left turn. I can't wait for the next installment! There's still so much we don't know!

Fantastic, amazing. I adore this series and it's only getting better! Feels like a cycle is completed, can't wait for the next to begin!

This is one of my favorite series, and I am constantly amazed at how McGuire can continue to devise new trials and tribulations for Toby and the gang without ever feeling like she's duplicating her efforts or going with tropes... She doubles back on character development and plot lines in a way that leads me to imagine a vast wall with overlapping strings showing how everything ties together that is 75ft long!

Her characters are marvelous. Her pacing and plotting are spot-on perfect. I could read Toby's books over and over and constantly find new connections and bits of lore that I'd overlooked. You definitely need to start at the beginning - she makes WAY too many references to characters and situations that happened in the early books to jump in without the necessary backstory. Well, you probably *could* jump in, but you'd miss so much of the magic that comes with the slow building and revelations of treachery and connectivity that have been so carefully established over time that it would be a crying shame... Besides, the books are amazing and definitely all worth reading!

Seanan McGuire is a favorite author of mine. I will pick up anything she writes and devour it. This series is my favorite though. As usual you never can tell who the main villian is right away or how it’s going to end. I don’t mind a predictable book but this author’s are not and I think that is why I adore her writing.

Toby's back, and getting very angsty. Eight months pregnant, and on effective house arrest following the Titania drama and Tybalt's stress level, Toby is more than ready when a royal command puts her back in the field. The aftermath of Titania's spell is still being felt, and Toby needs to start picking up the pieces. Too bad those pieces are setting up a trap for her, a trap even her invulnerabilty might not save her from. A return to form for the long-running series, despite dabbling with some of my least-favorite pregnancy cliches.

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

Toby's adventures continue to entertain, but this time she's off to solve the kingdom's troubles while 8+ months pregnant. As you might imagine, she is a bit grumpy at her overly protective extended family, but trying hard to keep from upsetting them all. However, she still needs to do her job, so it's off to solve the case of all the stolen artifacts. All your favorite characters are here, making this a truly enjoyable read.

Nineteen books in, and somehow this series still manages to stay fresh, emotional, and totally addictive. Silver and Lead is everything I love about October Daye — the heart, the grit, the magic — with the added layer of seeing her navigate it all while pregnant and still absolutely badass.

Seanan McGuire knows how to keep long-running characters evolving, and this book is a great example of that. The emotional beats landed, the plot kept me hooked, and the pacing never dragged. It’s rare to find a series that can carry this much weight so deep into its run without losing momentum, but October Daye continues to prove why it’s one of the best in urban fantasy.

There were a few small grammatical hiccups, but that’s expected in an ARC and didn’t take away from the story at all.

Longtime fans will be thrilled — and if you’re new to the series, trust me: the journey is 100% worth starting.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was a thrill ride. The author tends to take you on and kept me guessing at every turn. She takes you through Toby‘s life and makes you go absolutely crazy. It’s also nice that you see parts of other people in Toby’s life. I honestly have to say that I’ve enjoyed all of her books so far and she does not disappoint. Her characters are relatable, enjoyable, and very well written I would offer this book to any of my friends. She definitely paints a vivid picture in the minds of the reader.

Another great (19th!) installment in the October Daye series! The last two books were game changing, but I’m pleased to say we’re inching toward normal action after Titania derailed everything in Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep, but still in transition. Everyone has a lot to process, having been implanted with a lifetime of false memories. Like learning the truth after being told a lie, the falsehood still pops up at inconvenient times. So many other stories* drop the ball when characters undergo a huge mind altering event, expecting everyone to pretend it never happened when they go back to normal life. There is so much potential when your characters have conflicting memories and instinct, and McGuire takes full advantage of the dramatic possibilities, playing with the false memories Titania trapped everyone within against actual lived reality, and the hopes and struggles that ensue.

This series has come such a long way, and with all the main characters part of a long-lived world, there is always a story to be told. This book returns us to Toby's point of view, with her hugely pregnant and everyone suffering from the aftereffects of Titania's enchantment. With just a few weeks left in her gestation period, October is tasked as hero of the realm to investigate the whereabouts of a missing hope chest - an object that can completely transform a changeling's blood to fae or human without consent. It's a VERY BIG DEAL, and after much negotiating about safety, Toby begins to interview individuals. At this point, this roller coaster of a tale speeds off into a thoroughly enjoyable adventure.

October's pregnancy makes her choose differently when she's faced with making difficult choices, and I think it provides an excellent change of pace. The author also wraps up some major story arcs, so the series story feels much more complete - enough so that the author has room to leave the series as is or take up some of the looser threads to create another major story line. A definite must-read in the October Daye universe!

Many thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

3.5-4 stars. I still enjoy the October Daye series though this book felt a bit like filler. As Toby and Tybalt continue to recover from Titania's widespread spell, Toby must also deal with Tybalt's overprotective nature. Pregnant and feeling like she's under house arrest, Toby readily accepts Arden's request to find a cache of stolen treasure. Of course, being Toby, she charges in without thinking, only now, both she and her baby must face the consequences.

I really enjoyed this 19th book in the series, I thought it got back to more of the adventure that was more like earlier book after a few heavy hitters in a row. Not to say that the stakes weren’t high, but it gave me a general feeling along the lines of earlier books that i really enjoyed.