Changeling knight in the court of the Duke of Shadowed Hills, October “Toby” Daye has survived numerous challenges that would destroy fae and mortal alike. Now Toby must take on a nightmarish new assignment.

Someone is stealing both fae and mortal children—and all signs point to Blind Michael. When the young son of Toby’s closest friends is snatched from their Northern California home, Toby has no choice but to track the villains down, even when there are only three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael’s realm—home of the legendary Wild Hunt—and no road may be taken more than once. If she cannot escape with all the children before the candle that guides and protects her burns away, Toby herself will fall prey to Blind Michael’s inescapable power.

And it doesn’t bode well for the success of her mission that her own personal Fetch, May Daye—the harbinger of Toby’s own death—has suddenly turned up on her doorstep…

Well, I’m still way down at the bottom looking up in this series, but I’m making some progress!!

I’ve had several people tell me how An Artificial Night, book three in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire, is where the series really kicks into a higher gear. After blowing through this one in a couple days, I’m inclined to agree. As much as I enjoyed the first two books, the writing is sharper here, and McGuire continues to vividly build out this world of fae she’s created.

As always, I’ll try to stay spoiler free, but it’s book three…if you haven’t read the first two & plan on it, HERE IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU.

An Artificial Night starts off in the unlikeliest of places: a kid’s birthday party. We get to see Toby interact socially in a way that felt new for the series. On top of which, her friends’ children ADORE her, and think of her more as Aunt Toby. It’s a really nice scene, but…this book has teeth, and not long after the party, a whole bunch of kids go missing. Including those of Toby’s friends.

To make matters even more strange & grim, Toby gets a knock at her door. From herself. Or…a slightly different version of herself. Her name is May Daye, and she’s Toby’s Fetch…a Fetch shows up when someone is fated to die. So, yeah. Shit gets interesting real quick. I mean, this is clearly one of those story elements that would have had a bigger impact on me had I been reading these books as they were published. Because with the fourteenth book in the series coming in 2020, obviously Toby makes it out ok. But still, May’s presence adds LOTS of interesting dialogue, tension, and just general weirdness.

This book takes on this really cool dark fantasy/quest novel flavor, as Toby has to travel through the realm of Blind Michael in an attempt to rescue the children. Things get deeply strange, very dark, and insanely cool.

An Artificial Night also completely solidifies something I had been feeling in the earlier books: The Luidaeg is quickly becoming one of my favorite secondary characters EVER. The scenes with her & October are inevitably bonkers & funny, but with the ever-present threat that The Luidaeg might just kill Toby. They have quite the dynamic together, and I know (or hope) that sea witch is gonna be a big part of things going forward.

I loved An Artificial Night! It was the just-right amount of creepy & humorous & fantastic character moments. I’m fully addicted to this series & can’t wait to keep clawing my way to the top of the pile!