McGuire, Seanan: One Salt Sea
One Salt Sea (2011)
Written by: Seanan McGuire
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 354 (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: Book Five (October Daye)
Why I Read It: I'm thoroughly hooked on this series, and therefore had this puppy pre-ordered. Once it arrived, all I had to do was wait for the right time slot it into the immediate TBR stack, and voila! It's read!
The premise: ganked from publisher's website: October "Toby" Daye is settling into her new role as Countess of Goldengreen. She's actually dating again, and she's taken on Quentin as her squire. So, of course, it's time for things to take a turn for the worse.
Someone has kidnapped the sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist. To prevent a war between land and sea, Toby must find the missing boys and prove the Queen of the Mists was not behind their abduction. Toby's search will take her from the streets of San Francisco to the lands beneath the waves, and her deadline is firm: she must find the boys in three days' time, or all of the Mists will pay the price. But someone is determined to stop her-and whoever it is isn't playing by Oberon's Laws. . . .
Spoilers, yay or nay?: OMG YES. There's a lot I want to discuss in this book, especially the nature of how things are progressing in this series, and I can't do that without some MAJOR reveals, so please, DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW if you aren't caught up with the series. If you've read this book, then you're caught up, and you may keep reading. Everyone else, skip to "My Rating." Also, start reading the series if you haven't already. Go!
So the first thing I want to talk about is relationships. Because how they play out and how they're portrayed is important in this book. And I'm going to say something that's going to sound rather cruel, but I maintain it needed to be done from a narrative point of view.
Connor had to die.
Don't get me wrong: he didn't have to die if he was going to royally fuck up, like betray Toby or something, but he could not last in this world as Toby's lover/boyfriend/husband. He's too good and too normal. Carrying out that relationship would've killed one of the more interesting tensions in the series, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Toby/Tybalt shipper.
It's interesting to consider. When I compare that particular triangle to, say, Carrie Vaughn's Kitty/Ben/Cormac triangle that pops up in the third book, Kitty Takes a Holiday and consider what happened from there, I realize that my conviction that Connor had to go is heavily based on my reaction to the Kitty Norville books. It's not that I don't like beta heroes like Connor or Ben. It's just that they (especially in Connor's case) just aren't that interesting and never provide any tension to the narrative. In Connor's case, I never really liked him, because while he was stuck in a loveless marriage, I felt he should shut up and deal with it rather than mooning after Toby. But he mooned. And he had to be taken care of. And that just doesn't make for an interesting couple.
However, I really like how McGuire handled their relationship in this book. Some time has passed since Late Eclipses, and Toby and Connor have already established their relationship. And thank god for that. We don't have to see those first few tottering steps of getting back into what they used to have. Instead, we get to see them happy, and we get a taste of what things might've been like for them had Toby's life not been so crazy, if Raysel hadn't been so easily manipulated. And for that, I do feel sorry for them. I don't blame Toby for her grief. We've seen her with someone HORRIBLE (Devin), we've met her ex-husband (utterly forgettable), and we've seen her with someone too good (Connor). Now it's time for a little bit of spice that isn't horrible, but someone who's still good (Tybalt).
This book had quite the few punches. I was sorry that May and Spike (ha!) didn't play a larger role, but I was impressed with how this story built on what came before. Things like Toby hating candles doesn't make much impression unless you've read An Artificial Night. Things like absolutely hating water make no sense unless you've read Rosemary and Rue. Toby's desire to be rescued by her mother, as she was in Late Eclipses makes it particularly prominent that she's on her own now.
Toby's oh-so-short time with Gillian was heart-breaking, particularly the choices that had to be made. At first, I was certain Gillian would become fairy and we'd have a new source of tension in the series: Gillian learning to navigate fairy while butting heads with her mother. But no, Gillian chose her human side, which was heartbreaking, and it makes me wonder if we'll see Gillian in the series again. What ended up happening feels final, but I want Toby to find some kind of happiness with her daughter. I also want to shove Cliff and his wife's attitudes up their asses. But what a powerful development that was, and I'm so curious to see where that goes as the series progresses.
Also interesting was learning that Dare's haunt from A Local Habitation ended up being Toby's Fetch May. A fascinating development, and I wonder what the repercussions for that will be in later books. Right now, it feels like the revelation is enough, but surely that's got to lead us somewhere, right?
However, I have no idea where this series is taking us. Yes, there's the promised showdown to wrap up what was started in the prologue of Rosemary and Rue -- one can easily surmise that once THAT is wrapped up and we learn the truth about the kidnapping of Luna and Raysel, when Toby finally gets her revenge. But at the moment, Toby has given up her title (which made sense) and she's back to where she started (plus some emotional growth, of course), so I'm not sure what to expect of the story, not yet.
And can I just give a shout-out to how well the under-water world was handled? What I wanted from The Mermaid's Madness in terms of immersion of culture was found here, and I was happily engrossed.
My Rating: Couldn't Put It Down
Another great installment that doesn't pull back from any punches, so brace yourself, because there are plenty of surprises and revelations, and Toby just keeps growing, whether she wants to or not. The central mystery starts out interesting and then takes a rather personal turn, upping the stakes to the point where you can't imagine where the story will go from here, but you can't wait to find out. I also continue to love how well previous details from previous novels are woven into the current story, so that Toby's world feels more and more lived in and her character someone I recognize a little bit more with each book. It's a great series that I'm so very glad I stuck with, and I'm happily awaiting the next installment.
But more Spike next time, please. :) Rose goblins FTW!
Cover Commentary: It took me a bit to warm up to this, because unlike the previous covers in the series, this one is bright! And orange! And Toby has reddish hair! And a . . . tail? But this cover's really, really grown on me, and the shadow beneath her tail is so dark I wonder if she's transforming back to human. It's just a great cover, and I love it.
Next up: On the Edge by Ilona Andrews