I love McGuire/Grant and decided to listen to the October Daye series on audio. It was an excellent decision. An Artificial Night is the third book and Toby races against time to save children from Blind Michael before her fetch carries her away.
by Seanan McGuire
Series: October Daye #3
Narrator: Mary Robinette Kowal
Length: 12 hours and 28 minutes
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchase
Purchase*: Amazon | Audible *affiliate
Narration: 5 cups Speed: 1.5x
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...
What an exciting high-stakes and fast-paced story! The audiobook grabbed me from the go. A Barghest infestation and a fetch who shows up on Toby’s doorstep are just the beginning. Before we can catch our breath missing human and fae children. I love stories surrounding the Wild Hunt and McGuire puts a nice spin on it. Going on the mission to help them won’t be simple, and Toby requires assistance from others. There are only three roads that lead you to Blind Michaels realm and danger lurks in every shadow.
The more time I spend with Toby, the more I enjoy her. While she claims she needs to save “her children” those from her circle of friends, I know she would blindly go to save any child. She’ll even make deals that could get her killed. I couldn’t ask for better world-building and the time spent in Micheal’s realm was creeptastic. I love the rhymes, bargains and fae politics.
May Daye is Toby’s fetch. She foreshadows Toby’s death. May has a personality all of her own, and of course Toby has no intention of dying until the children are safe.
Mary Robinette Kowal narrates and does a wonderful job of bringing Toby and these characters to life from Firstborns to creatures. The story lends itself wonderfully to the audio format, and I loved curling up by the fire and listening.
Each audiobook is better than its predecessor and for me, this was the best of the bunch to date. The book has all the components I adore in urban fantasy, from the draw to the suspense.
About Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire is a native Californian, which has resulted in her being exceedingly laid-back about venomous wildlife, and terrified of weather. When not writing urban fantasy (as herself) and science fiction thrillers (as Mira Grant), she likes to watch way too many horror movies, wander around in swamps, record albums of original music, and harass her cats. Seanan is the author of the October Daye, InCryptid, and Indexing series of urban fantasies; the Newsflesh trilogy; the Parasitology duology; and the "Velveteen vs." superhero shorts. Her cats, Lilly, Alice, and Thomas, are plotting world domination even as we speak, but are easily distracted by feathers on sticks, so mankind is probably safe. For now.
About Mary Robinette Kowal
Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of The Spare Man,The Glamourist Histories series, Ghost Talkers, and the Lady Astronaut Universe. She is part of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the Nebula and Locus awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.
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About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram
Sophia Rose
You remind me that I need to figure this series into my reading schedule because it sounds so good.
Kimberly
I hope you do. I know Anne is hoping to make them a read-along.
Anne - Books of My Heart
You are getting me so excited to read these. I honestly thought they would be one of my first Read-alongs but somehow other books have come up.
Kimberly
Wahoo! You are in for a treat. I am on the 7th one now, and they just continue to get better.
Laurel-Rain Snow
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Kimberly
Thanks for stopping by!
Laurel-Rain Snow
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Lover of Romance
Its been so great to see how much this author is working for you. The best audiobooks are the ones you just want to relax with.
Great review.
Kimberly
Yes, this is one of the reasons I love urban fantasy so much…I love slipping back into the world and spending time and building relationships with these characters.