An October Daye novel #3
Originally read for the Once Upon a Time VI challenge, 18th May 2012 reread for OUaT 8, 22 June 2014
And on my reread I enjoyed a huge amount more than I did first time around. I’m bumping it up to 8 Stars
October Daye, she’d much prefer you call her Toby, is a changeling, living in San Francisco. And if you’ve read that first sentence there you’ll see that there is a whole heap of back story for you to get through before you start this book. So unless you’ve read books 1 & 2 don’t read this one. You simply ruin the story for yourself.
A very, very brief plot synopsis before the review begins properly: Children are missing. Fae children, changeling children, and human children. Children Toby knows have gone missing, so of course she is on the case. Only this isn’t a simply find the bad guy and save the kids story. Because in this case, the bad guy is Blind Michael, one of the Firstborn, he leads the Wild Hunt, or a version thereof, and he is not to be trifled with.
I’ve really enjoyed reading the first two books in this series. I really like the character of Toby Daye, and the world in which she lives. But for some strange reason this book just didn’t do it for me. I still enjoyed it, I still read it whenever I could but I finished it thinking that it was just lacking something. At first I couldn’t really put my finger on it, because Blind Michael was a brilliant villain. Creepy, unknowable and evil. Capricious and cruel as only the fae can be :(
I just got the feeling that there was a lot of set-up. It felt unfinished. But as well as that I didn’t entirely buy Toby’s reasons Show Spoiler ▼
Maybe a reread will clear up any issues, and I certainly won’t mind that at all. Because whatever its flaws I still really enjoyed reading this book. And I would still recommend the series to almost anyone.
This was the book that irretrievably hooked me to Toby series. I loved the fairy tale structure and creepy Blind Michael. However, the repeating structure clearly doesn't work for everyone.
I loved the fairy tale bit, and Blind Michael was awesomely creepy. It was just that I didn't feel any real risk to Toby.