Monday, July 1, 2013

Rosemary and Rue (October Daye #1), by Seanan McGuire (author), Mary Robinette Kowal (narrator)

Brilliance Audio, June 2010

October Daye is not having a good year. Or decade.

October (Toby) is half-human, half-fae, and currently on the outs with everyone in both parts of her life. In 1995, she was on a stake-out in a case involving her fae liege, Duke Sylvester, trying to track down his brother Simon, who had kidnapped and hidden Sylvester's wife Luna and their young daughter. Simon discovers her, and his partner in crime turns her into a koi, and she's tossed into the koi pond.

Fourteen years later, when she finally escapes from the koi pond, she doesn't want anything to do with the fae world that led her to disaster, and her fiance and daughter (two years old in 1995) aren't all that interested in reconnecting with the woman who, as far as they can tell, simply abandoned them for fourteen years.

So Toby is working as a checkout clerk in a supermarket in San Francisco when Faerie stops ignoring her and drags her back into its intrigues and battles. Her one remaining contact with with Faerie, Evening Winterrose, is murdered, and before she dies lays a binding on Toby compelling her to find Evening's killer or die.

Toby is a likable but sometimes frustrating character. She really doesn't want to accept her role in Faerie, resists the fact that people like and respect her, and keeps reacting rather than acting, until very late into the book.

Despite that, she's tough, she's loyal, and she's funny. This is a nicely plotted book that moves along and keeps the reader reading.

Excellent summer reading.

I borrowed this book from a friend.

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