October “Toby” Daye is a changeling, the daughter of Amandine of the fae and a mortal man. Like her mother, she is gifted in blood magic, able to read what has happened to a person through a mere taste of blood. Toby is the only changeling who has earned knighthood, and she re-earns that position every day, undertaking assignments for her liege, Sylvester, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills.

Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightning—otherwise known as Fremont, CA—to make sure that all is well with his niece, Countess January O’Leary, whom he has not been able to contact. It seems like a simple enough assignment—but when dealing with the realm of Faerie nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Toby soon discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, whose domain is a buffer between Sylvester’s realm and a scheming rival duchy. If Toby can’t find the killer soon, she may well become the next victim.

So, in the time between me reading Rosemary & Rue and A Local Habitation, the cover was revealed for the thirteenth (13th!!!!) October Daye novel by Seanan McGuire, The Unkindest Tide.

This had me feeling a lot of feelings. Here are just some of those feelings:

-I am so far behind

-I wonder if I can catch up before The Unkindest Tide is released

-Goddamn, that cover is fucking amazing!

-I mean look:

-But there’s no way I can catch up…can I?!

-Is Toby on a pirate ship?

-Is Toby a pirate or something now? Like, whoa…

-Seriously though, that cover is gorgeous & Chris McGrath is just a fucking genius!

But anyway. Back to my review.

I had heard some faint rumblings about book two in this series, & that things really start to pick up with book three & beyond. And while I really liked this one overall, I can definitely see where some readers may have been frustrated (I was as well).

A Local Habitation takes on a bit of a horror movie/locked-room mystery vibe, which is right up my street. This volume finds Toby sent to the county of Tamed Lightning, in Fremont, CA. She’s checking up on her liege Sylvester’s niece, Countess January O’Leary, who has been unreachable. January runs a computer company, and when Toby & Quentin arrive to see what’s what, it becomes quite clear that shit is getting spooky. People are being violently murdered, and there are no suspects or apparent motivation.

There’s a repetitive quality to this book that really challenged me. People keep turning up dead, even after Toby & Quentin begin their investigation. There were more than a few times when I was asking myself why everyone continued hanging around this facility when the odds of turning up murdered were like, ridiculously high. But then that sort of contributed to the horror movie vibe, when not everyone is behaving in the most rational ways.

Where the book shines is in really developing the relationship between October & Quentin. She’s sort of the reluctant mentor to Quentin’s eager protégé, and their back & forth banter is pretty fantastic. He’s really coming into his own & I’m excited to see what becomes of him in this series! Additionally, the chemistry/dynamic between Toby & Tybalt is on full display here…I wonder about those two…

A Local Habitation also introduced April, a character I’m hoping I’ll see more of in this series. Her story is tragic in a way, and also incredibly odd. Sort of what Seanan McGuire specializes in.

All in all, I dug this. It didn’t blow my mind, but it’s as solidly written as you’d expect coming from such a talented & imaginative writer. I’m really hoping to read these books somewhat frequently, but will I catch up in time for The Unkindest Tide’s release, on September 3rd?

I super doubt it, but stranger things have happened!