It’s a Toby Daye year for the Hugo Awards and I was all too happy to have an excuse to finally continue the series. I’m still far from being caught up but I have also managed to avoid spoilers thus far, so I can experience the series like McGuire’s long-time fans. Just a little bit later.
LATE ECLIPSES by Seanan McGuire
Published: DAW, 2011 eBook: 400 pages Series: October Daye #4 My rating: 7.5/10
Opening line: The downtown San Francisco safeway was practically deserted.
October “Toby” Daye, changeling knight in the service of Duke Sylvester Torquill, finds the delicate balance of her life shattered when she learns that an old friend is in dire trouble. Lily, Lady of the Tea Gardens, has been struck down by a mysterious, seemingly impossible illness, leaving her fiefdom undefended. Struggling to find a way to save Lily and her subjects, Toby must confront her own past as an enemy she thought was gone forever raises her head once more: Oleander de Merelands, one of the two people responsible for her fourteen-year exile.
Time is growing short and the stakes are getting higher, for the Queen of the Mists has her own agenda. With everything on the line, Toby will have to take the ultimate risk to save herself and the people she loves most—because if she can’t find the missing pieces of the puzzle in time, Toby will be forced to make the one choice she never thought she’d have to face again…
Oh, Toby, how do you always manage to get yourself into such deep trouble? To be fair, it’s not Toby’s fault, at least not this time. It appears that Oleander de Merelands is back, she who is to blame (alongside Simon Torquill) for Toby’s 14 years spent as a fish in the Tea Gardens. It’s been a while since I read that first book but I still remember my utter shock at that twist of events, even though it was what kicked the book series off. Losing your partner and baby daughter plus 14 years of life is pretty bad. You do not want the people responsible to come back and turn your life upside down again. Especially not by hurting the ones you love… That’s exactly what’s happening, though, as Lily of the Tea Gardens is sick. And Undine are not supposed to get sick. Ever. Toby of course does everything to save her friend, but no matter what she tries, seems to dig herself ever deeper into a web of conspiracy that leads to one outcome: Toby’s own demise.
I was a bit deflated after reading An Artificial Night , but this fourth insalment of the series worked really well for me. Not only does Seanan McGuire kick the book off with something I’d been waiting for most eagerly (it involves Tybalt, teehee) but she also doesn’t mess around with the rest of the plot. Things happen fast and with very few breaks in between, but we do get some breathing room around the middle part of the book. Toby is up to her neck in trouble, doesn’t know who she can trust and which of her numerous enemies are in on the plan to get her killed. There are those who hold grudges, those who have been biding their time, and those who are simply standing by, enjoying the Torment of October Daye as it unfolds. I was not worried that anything truly bad would happen to Toby – she’s pretty much indestructible, after all – but that doesn’t mean I didn’t fear for the repercussions Lily’s sickness and the other dangerous situations might have. Toby’s life, if indeed she gets to keep it, would never be the same.
As much as I enjoy the plot of this book as a self-contained story, I was really happy that we get some more information about Faerie, its politics, Toby’s past, how the knowes and Kingdoms work, and also that the potential romance(s) progressed a bit. By now, I am very much hoping that Toby and Tybalt will end up together. His protectiveness without being creepy is a rare thing in this kind of book and I quite enjoy it. I’m still not taken with Connor and I wish he’d just go away. He feels like the dude we need in order to have a love triangle, and that’s super annoying. But even if I hope he and Toby don’t get romantically involved, I like him as Toby’s friend. Also, I do feel bad for the guy what with the crazy, jealous wife and all.
There are also some big revelations in Late Eclipses that change pretty much everything. Starting from Toby living with her Fetch as a roommate, to certain secrets that people very close to Toby have been keeping from her, there’s a lot to learn in this volume. I can’t say very much about this if I want to keep this spoiler-free. But I do like how the things that come to light make some previous incidents more believable, explain a few unanswered questions, and especially how they open up a whole new world of possibilities for upcoming books.
I still have a bazillion questions and want to learn more, more, more about… well, pretty much everything. But some things in particular. The Luidaeg (whose absence in this book felt a bit contrived), Toby’s mother, the politics of the Kingdoms and knowes and how they interact with each other, and also about the various Faerie types and their characteristics. It’s a rich world filled with amazing creatures and cleverly interwoven mythologies that I enjoy exploring.
It depends on how well my Hugo reading is going (I have a lot to catch up in the series category) but I would very much like to read the next Toby Daye book soon! I need more Tybalt in my life.
MY RATING: 7.5/10 – Very good!
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