Book Review: When Sorrows Come, October Daye Book 15, Seanan McGuire
Fantasy: When Sorrows Come, October Daye Book 15, Seanan McGuire
Happiness can be elusive for some of us. Depending on our level of damage, we may feel guilty about being happy. We don’t deserve happiness. We dread feeling happy because we just know that it is our karmic fate for our happiness to be counterbalanced by sorrow or tragedy.
October “Toby” Daye is one of those damaged people. Although, as a fae, she will have a very, very long time to either fix things or endure them. Happiness seems to be within her grasp. Her pending wedding to Tybalt is coming soon, some (though far from all) of her family issues have reached a measure of reconciliation, others have achieved a point of resolution that she can live with. Her friends are concerned, though, that she is not focused on her wedding, that she is borrowing trouble.
They are partially right, though Toby doesn’t exactly borrow trouble. It seeks her out like an old friend, refusing to let her out of its sight for any length of time.
Even at her wedding trouble is an uninvited guest. Doppelgangers have infiltrated the host’s staff, threatening to assassinate him and place the blame on Toby. In fairness she does have a bit of a reputation, although she has never deposed anyone who didn’t need deposing. Deposing the high king of North America would be bad form, especially when he has offered to host the wedding. One thing after another starts happening, each of them threatening both the stability of the kingdom and the pending nuptials of the couple. And although Toby would not have voluntarily chosen to involve herself in this attempted coup, she is beginning to get ticked off.
After all, the plotters are threatening her wedding, her fiance, her friends, and her happiness. Do as they may to the high king, when they threaten to disrupt the wedding Toby will not stand for that.
Seanan McGuire has three ongoing series, this one, InCryptid, and the Wayward Children, which regularly get nominated for the Hugo award for outstanding series. The only reason I can think of why she hasn’t already won it is that people can only vote once and they split the vote. She is one of the queens of fantasy, winning more awards than most people are ever nominated for. I personally have trouble deciding which book or series I like best. I am just grateful that her output is so prolific.
Part of the beauty of Seanan McGuire is that she truly sees people who live in shadows. I am one of those people whose brokenness sometimes makes him doubt the sincerity of happiness. I am much more acquainted with sorrow than with joy. I would not compare myself with anyone else; my pain is definitely more body chemistry than external factors. When I read a McGuire book, I know I am seen. People with mental health issues are not ancillary characters. They are often, maybe even usually, the protagonists. Toby and so many other of her characters are much more effective against external threats than they are in subduing their own inward demons. In writing them, McGuire lets me know that I am seen.
Also see by Seanan McGuire —
Book Review: Across the Green Grass Fields, Wayward Children Book 6, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Calculated Risks, InCryptid Book 10, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Imaginary Numbers, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: The Brightest Fell, October Daye series #11, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, Ghost Roads Book 2, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Middlegame, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Night and Silence, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Sparrow Hill Road, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: In an Absent Dream, Wayward Children Book 4, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Angel of the Overpass, The Ghost Roads Book 3, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: Dusk or Dawn or Dark or Day, Seanan McGuire
Book Review: When Sorrows Come, October Daye Book 15, Seanan McGuire