(no subject)
My computer has a new background. For those of you who know some of my quirks this is a fairly big deal - my wallpapers are all things that mean a lot to me and also stay parked on my screen for several years. Previously I've had Waterhouse, Trigun, Maiden, and the anomoly of the background my current laptop came with just because it was pretty and very green, but now it's Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye. I just discovered this series, and I couldn't love it more.
I'm still getting started on my foray into urban fantasy and so far it's a mixed bag, but this is a treasure. Gritty-ish detective drama and the world of Faerie - think A Midsummer Night's Dream and other works and folktales from the British Isles as a starting point. There's some lyricism mixed with the grit, more than I've found elsewhere in the genre. The plot is fast-paced with appropriate tension, and I couldn't put the books down.
Each novel passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours, and I love the heroine. Toby (short for October) is smart, funny, sarcastic, and believable. She's capable without being either 'too good at everything' or unwilling to accept help. She gets literally carried several times, but I never felt her agency was reduced. She has maternal aspects without that being the source of her strength or relegating her to a caretaker role. She can sometimes be a jerk, and sometimes seems almost deliberately obtuse about personal matters, and she's extremely stubborn. The books are first-person narration so Toby carries all the action, and she doesn't disappoint.
The main love interest is also a fantastic character, and a brief glance around the Web confirms this is the prevailing opinion. This is a large part of why I love this series so much - it's one of the best literary romances I've read in a very long time, the pages light like fire when the characters interact. I am hoping for an actual, stable relationship, I am not one of those readers who prefer UST, love triangles, and drama (had enough of that in my own life, very glad it's long over and I just don't need to live any of it vicariously), but I'll just have to see how the next few books go. On the other hand, the under-emphasized love triangle does not include competition between the men or treating Toby like a prize.
Who knew two of the most endearing characters would be teenage boys? That is a mark of a good writer :) (Really, it's just teenagers in general, I was no great joy either when I was 15.)
The villains are evenly split between males and females, and in the fourth book we even see a (f/f!) queer couple. Here's hoping for more authors joining Tanya Huff in portraying actual bisexual characters. (Lynn Flewelling now is a qualified mention, since she has referred to Seregil as "gay" and also has not corrected readers who've done the same. Melanie Rawn has one bi character I can think of, if I'm missing anyone remind me.)
The foreshadowing is well-done: subtle but clear, giving some information in advance if you think about it but not all, and the revelations have been well-timed. Overall the books are a bit more adventure than whodunnits, and Toby more of a hero than a P.I. I whole-heartedly recommend them: Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, and Late Eclipses.
I believe the author once played in an old WoD Changeling game, and the world does sort of have that feel, but done right.
Talking about books involving this world and Faerie reminds me of Patricia McKillip's Solstice Wood, which I try to pretend didn't happen even though it's sitting in hardcover on my bookshelf. It would have been fine if it weren't a sequel to Winter Rose, but as such I have a hard time accepting it.
Up soon is the most recent Donaldson, which I never got to read when it came out. Because I really do want to do the equivalent of putting my soul through an industrial car wash. I'm just kind of like that.
I'm still getting started on my foray into urban fantasy and so far it's a mixed bag, but this is a treasure. Gritty-ish detective drama and the world of Faerie - think A Midsummer Night's Dream and other works and folktales from the British Isles as a starting point. There's some lyricism mixed with the grit, more than I've found elsewhere in the genre. The plot is fast-paced with appropriate tension, and I couldn't put the books down.
Each novel passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours, and I love the heroine. Toby (short for October) is smart, funny, sarcastic, and believable. She's capable without being either 'too good at everything' or unwilling to accept help. She gets literally carried several times, but I never felt her agency was reduced. She has maternal aspects without that being the source of her strength or relegating her to a caretaker role. She can sometimes be a jerk, and sometimes seems almost deliberately obtuse about personal matters, and she's extremely stubborn. The books are first-person narration so Toby carries all the action, and she doesn't disappoint.
The main love interest is also a fantastic character, and a brief glance around the Web confirms this is the prevailing opinion. This is a large part of why I love this series so much - it's one of the best literary romances I've read in a very long time, the pages light like fire when the characters interact. I am hoping for an actual, stable relationship, I am not one of those readers who prefer UST, love triangles, and drama (had enough of that in my own life, very glad it's long over and I just don't need to live any of it vicariously), but I'll just have to see how the next few books go. On the other hand, the under-emphasized love triangle does not include competition between the men or treating Toby like a prize.
Who knew two of the most endearing characters would be teenage boys? That is a mark of a good writer :) (Really, it's just teenagers in general, I was no great joy either when I was 15.)
The villains are evenly split between males and females, and in the fourth book we even see a (f/f!) queer couple. Here's hoping for more authors joining Tanya Huff in portraying actual bisexual characters. (Lynn Flewelling now is a qualified mention, since she has referred to Seregil as "gay" and also has not corrected readers who've done the same. Melanie Rawn has one bi character I can think of, if I'm missing anyone remind me.)
The foreshadowing is well-done: subtle but clear, giving some information in advance if you think about it but not all, and the revelations have been well-timed. Overall the books are a bit more adventure than whodunnits, and Toby more of a hero than a P.I. I whole-heartedly recommend them: Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, and Late Eclipses.
I believe the author once played in an old WoD Changeling game, and the world does sort of have that feel, but done right.
Talking about books involving this world and Faerie reminds me of Patricia McKillip's Solstice Wood, which I try to pretend didn't happen even though it's sitting in hardcover on my bookshelf. It would have been fine if it weren't a sequel to Winter Rose, but as such I have a hard time accepting it.
Up soon is the most recent Donaldson, which I never got to read when it came out. Because I really do want to do the equivalent of putting my soul through an industrial car wash. I'm just kind of like that.