This book opens with an author's note, saying that the Events Of This Book have been planned since the beginning of the series. When I first read that note, I felt the declaration was a little overdramatic.

However, when I actually read the Events Of This Book, it turned out that it was just the right amount of dramatic. The plot twist(s) are well done, surprising, and pack an emotional punch.

This is book 16 of the October Daye series, which follows a Hero navigating the human world and the fairy knowes and everything in between.

I have now read book 3 and this book (#16). And they are linked in a supremely satisfying way. There are plot threads introduced in book 3 that are payed off here, and thematic patterns that continue and deepen. I assume that the rest of the books in the series feel as connected as these two, and conclude that fans of the series will be incredibly happy with this new entry and what it does for this world.

Now, after the "end" of this book -- after everything has been wrapped up -- we get another plot twist (or two?). I feel like this cliffhanger ending robbed the book of the nice closure that it had built, and soured my experience a little.

Here is my video review of this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGDeZDm_wCc&feature=share&si=ELPmzJkDCLju2KnD5oyZMQ&t=376

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW books for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

Oh, wow. I just finished this book, and I am speechless. So many things happen in this book, and I’m thrown for a loop. First, this book contains the great writing this series has had from the beginning. I really hated to put this down, and I read this in a day taking just a few breaks when I had to. The characters, plot, reveals, secrets…pretty much everything is on point. I have so much to say, and I really can’t, or I’ll give it away. Toby is almost driven to the point where she is about to give up, but being the hero she is, she does her duty. This book ends on a cliffhanger, and I am so very upset it’s going to be awhile until I’ll find out what’s going to happen. Urban fantasy at its absolute best: splendid writing, long term seeds planted coming to fruition, wonderful characters, pulse-pounding action, and a great ride. Very highly recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

I've enjoyed this series since the beginning, and watching things come to such a total and complete head here was fascinating. You cannot fail to be impressed at the extensive world building and story building that led to this point. McGuire has done a fantastic job bringing her characters through ridiculous trials and tribulations that somehow never feel overblown even when objectively speaking they are. I am constantly amazed at her ability to keep finding new ways to torment poor Toby and her friends, as well as at their ability to manage the stressors with aplomb and style.

I wasn't sure where she was going to go as a follow-up to the wedding story, and in a million years would never have guessed this is where things would head. Then again, once I read it, it felt like such a natural next step. There are only so many ways McGuire can keep ramping things up, and I think the way she delivered this magnificent punch to the head was cool and snarky and aggressive and out of this world - exactly as it needed to be in the context of the story arc by book 16.

With this book we're getting into the really good stuff kids, here's hoping she brings the next installment along very soon.!

Berkeley gave me an advanced copy through Netgalley. I really appreciate it! I've decided to review the book, and this is my honest opinion.

Phew, this one was a long time coming, and it has completely shaken up the world of October Daye. Big reveals, big twists, big losses, big changes, and what appears to be a cliffhanger that will kill me slowly over the next year waiting for the following book.

I really can't say much about the book, because pretty much anything will give away spoilers. Let's just say that this one has some devastating consequences for both Toby, her family, and Faerie in general. Like big massive serious consequences. I'm totally here for it... but I'm also saddened by the hits Toby has taken.

Following the novel, there is a brief novella staring the Luidaeg, long before we know her, with some big things happening to her as well.

Five+ stars, but highly recommended to read the rest of the series first.

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.