October “Toby” Daye, changeling knight in the service of Duke Sylvester Torquill, finds the delicate balance of her life shattered when she learns that an old friend is in dire trouble. Lily, Lady of the Tea Gardens, has been struck down by a mysterious, seemingly impossible illness, leaving her fiefdom undefended. 

Struggling to find a way to save Lily and her subjects, Toby must confront her own past as an enemy she thought was gone forever raises her head once more: Oleander de Merelands, one of the two people responsible for her fourteen-year exile. 

Time is growing short and the stakes are getting higher, for the Queen of the Mists has her own agenda. With everything on the line, Toby will have to take the ultimate risk to save herself and the people she loves most—because if she can’t find the missing pieces of the puzzle in time, Toby will be forced to make the one choice she never thought she’d have to face again…

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I feel like the cover reveals & release days for each new book in the October Daye series have become this strange marker of time for me in a way. It feels especially true for the two most recent books, which is certainly an effect of how covid-time isn’t the same as real time. I have no idea how many books Seanan McGuire has planned for this series, I only know that without a serious change to my reading schedule/habits, the odds of me truly “catching up” are…not great.

But anyway.

LATE ECLIPSES picks up not long after the events of AN ARTIFICIAL NIGHT, but there’s definitely a darker tone to this story nearly from the get-go. This one has a bit of a Big Bad vibe about it, with Oleander coming back into October’s life and wreaking all manner of havoc with the people October cares about. LATE ECLIPSES is MURDERY AF & almost a little bleak. A lot of the dynamics & politics of the fae world come into play as well.

We also get a lot more backstory about October’s family & childhood. Some of which is just heartbreaking & hauntingly beautiful in a way that only Seanan McGuire could write. Oof.

The slowest of slow burn romances continues to burn slowly between October & Tybalt. I mean, like…it’s gonna happen.

Right?

This story also feels super impactful in some ways I can’t really get into, without spoiling everything. But there’s some significant changes coming for October.

Hey, if you’re reading this review, thanks. It really feels like the further along you get in a series, the less likely it is that people will actually read the reviews. Unless they’ve already read the book, that is (hi, Mackenzie).

I’m quite certain I’ve mentioned this in one Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant review or another, but there’s always such an intensely comforting feeling for me whenever I start one of her books. Which is fantastic, because I’ve got a literal shelf full of her books to read…miles to go before I sleep, you know?