Rosemary and Rue

There are a lot of noir detective stories out there. But lately it seems to be written tongue in cheek. There is a lot of urban fantasy out there. But most of it is gentle or even twee. Rosemary and Rue is not gentle. It is dark, dark, dark urban fantasy with all the contempt for humans and

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halflings that you would expect from immortal fairies.

October Daye is a halfling who at the moment of Choice, chooses the Fae instead of a human life. Swept out of her human life as a preteen and into the wonder of Under the Hill, she is a third class citizen to the true born Fae. She has been making a living as private detective with a human lover and child. But while following Simon Torquill, the twin brother of her fairy liege lord, Torquill, Simon turns her into a fish. And she remains a fish for fourteen years. When the spell wears off, she has lost her human life and her life in fairy. She tries to hide her pointed ears and odd facial features with her meager glamor, but is pulled back forcefully into the fairy realm by the iron born death of Evelyn Winter, a powerful mage.

What follows is an adventure with many of the dangerous and odd creatures of Fae that humans rarely see. October is shot twice and barely escapes death a dozen times over. It almost seems a bit too much for any heroine to bear, but ends in a satisfying denouement while allowing the room for at least two sequels.

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I haven't been fully grabbed by other urban fantasy books that deal with the fae, but this one snared me from the very start. Toby is a fantastic protagonist who feels more human than fairy, and that humanity makes it easy to sympathize with her as she is attacked and brutalized and snubbed by the

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high echelons of the hidden side of San Francisco. Now I have yet another series I want to continue. No wonder my to-do stack is out of control.

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Why had I never heard of these books until recently, and why I had I not read them before now? This book was so wonderful. I loved the portrayal of San Francisco, the Faerie Kingdoms, and all the various types of fae involved. I didn't even catch on to who the villain was until not long before Toby

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did (although it WAS before her). I'm definitely going to be reading the next book as well.

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At first I had some trouble getting through this book. The book starts out with the main character being depressed over some admittedly devastating setbacks she has endured. Fine, I understand she's depressed, but it very quickly started grating on my nerves. When she gets cursed to solve a murder,

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she fortunately gets over it, and then the book picks up. It has an intriguing world, with faeries and half-faeries mixing with the regular world. October Daye is a half-faerie detective. Since she is only half faerie, her magic is quite weak, which I found a bit annoying. I've read enough books about people running themselves into the ground trying to do too much, and 'Toby' is a classical example. On top of that she's not even competent: she gets herself shot three times that I can remember, and continuously needs to be patched up or rescued by her friends. I would have preferred her to be a bit more self-reliant, or, if she has to rely on her friends and allies, to at least rely on them beforehand, by Planning and Asking For Help At Judicious Times, instead of by Blundering Into Things And Hoping Allies Are Nearby To Pick You Up. Ah well, despite of all that, I did enjoy the book.

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It is a testament to how incredibly good they are that whenever I read myself to a stopping place in the series (i.e. the last published book - so that I have to wait for McGuire's writing to catch up with my reading), the world becomes a sadder place. Patience is never my strong suit. I began

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reading the October Daye series largely because I love the Newsflesh series so much (first book is Feed, by Mira Grant, McGuire's pseudonym). I am now hooked into this one as well, though to a lesser extent. Toby Daye's world is reminiscint of Charles De Lint's, with more of an emphasis on Celtic folklore and more believable, multi-dimensional characters. Toby is a faery knight cum private investigator, and she never runs out of crimes to solve, thanks to the faery-world's Macchiavellian royal court system and abundance of shady characters. There is a lot of backstory that is revealed in tantalizing little bits - and even more, the further you get into the series. McGuire has said on occasion, on her blog, or in interviews, that she admires Stephen King, and I can see it. As a would-be writer myself, I admire her, because she's learned a lot of King's tricks without copying him in any way. She is very much her own voice. This is a smart fantasy book series, and I think you all should read it.

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Not a series I will be continuing. I didn't care for the writing or the mostly cheesy wit at the oddest moments. For example, if there is a horrible creature about to kill you, its not likely you would engage in inane conversation such as Beast: "Guess what I'm going to do to you" Heroine: "Oh, I

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don't know, leave me alone?" Beast: "Are you stupid?" Heroine"Oh a lot of people would say I am stupid" Without this type of dialog, I would have enjoyed the story a lot more, even with the extremely slow moving plot. I really wanted to like this book. I usually love reading about the fae, but one of my pet peeves is cheesy dialog and this book had an over abundance of it. I'm giving it 2 stars because it would have been an interesting enough story if it had been written differently.

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This book, while interesting enough, didn't really grab me. I tend to dislike stories where children are on the wrong end of the stick. In addition the heroine is one of those tough cookies who goes it alone and never wants to ask anyone for help to the point where she completely isolates herself

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and makes a huge mess of things. Of course everything works out in the end but I find it hard to empathize with someone when her choices are so utterly unproductive most of the time.

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Rosemary and Rue is an excellent read. The challenge of a first novel of a series is to describe not only the characters and plot, but also the world the characters inhabit. From the beginning the author gives the reader a feeling of how different the fae world is, in spite of its close proximity

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to our own. Living as long as they do, time has a different meaning for different characters.

While the world is fascinating and complex, it is the characters that really drive this story, starting and ending with October “Toby” Daye. She is a fiercely independent person who would rather be left alone by her mother’s people. In spite of (or perhaps because of) her independence she is much sought after by those in the fae.

The central story is the simplest of the many mysterious questions that crop up in course of this book. It is Ms. McGuire’s knack for throwing in plausible curveballs which keeps things from becoming too predictable.

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A welcome return to the roots of urban fantasy, which originally meant Faerie intruding in a modern urban setting, in this case San Francisco. October Daye is a changeling, half human, half fae. She is a private investigator and in the service of a powerful faerie duke. As the story begins, she is

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trying to track down the duke's abducted wife and daughter, but things go horribly wrong. After fourteen years out of circulation, Toby is trying to pick her life back up again, working as a late-night supermarket cashier and avoiding the fae as much as possible. But when her former mentor/patron is murdered, Toby is sucked back in.

The plot of this is classic murder mystery, private investigator subtype. But the real charm is the interaction between our world and the world of Faerie. Toby is an appealing character, strong but flawed and damaged by life.

There are two sequels in the works; I am eagerly looking forward to them.

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After seeing the overwhelmingly positive reviews for "Rosemary and Rue" this book had some huge expectations to fill. The basic premise sounded exciting enough. Toby Daye used to be a fae PI but once on a case she was cursed to fourteen years as a fish in the water. When she breaks free of the

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spell, her husband and young daughter want nothing to do with her.(Honestly this part baffled me. I would have thought they would have rejoices knowing she was alive, especially the daughter. Her disappearance was odd enough that it would be obvious she didn't volunarily leave, so this was a weak point) Now she struggles to keep up a human appearance and a human life using just a few Fae touches to keep herself looking the part. When her friend/enemy Evening is murdered, Evening puts a curse on Toby that forces her to find Evening's killer or die trying. Unable to resist, Toby takes on the hunt for the killer. During this course of activity, Toby faces many people in the fae community and at first I was overwhelmed trying to keep track of each new character and how they fit into the world McGuire was building. Just before the halfway mark, the book found its groove and all the characters and pieces started to fall in place for me. After this point, the story flew off the pages for me. Toby is no hero and a lot of things go wrong for her. This was refreshing and I enjoyed rooting for Toby. So many urban heroines have powers coming out their ears and Toby doesn't so much, which leads to her having more humanity than one would think. I thought I knew 'who done it' early on and I was correct yet the I never felt cheated by that fact. I am more than intrigued by this first story and I have added the follow up to my wish list. If this series takes off the way it should based on "Rosemary and Rue", it should be a can't miss set of books no urban fantasy lover should miss.

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I absolutely loved this book! I read it in one sitting, over a long leisurely Sunday. October (Toby) Daye is half Fae/half human (her mother is Faerie, her father human). She has some magic, although not enough, as she says, to make her landlord believe that she's paid the rent. She used to work as

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a private eye, but was bewitched and turned into a fish in a pond, where she remained for fourteen years. Now, after having been away from the world, and her profession, for so long, she works as a night clerk in a supermarket and tries to stay away from any reminder of her previous life. She's pulled back into it, though, when she gets a call from a friend asking her to solve a murder.

This was a really wonderful urban fantasy set in San Fransisco. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and am highly anticipating the two upcoming books in the series.

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Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan McGuire, is the first of a series of books featuring the changeling character October "Toby" Daye. As the product of human and Faerie blood, changelings are not entirely welcome in either world, and although Toby once forged a place in Faerie as a knight for the Duke of

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Shadowed Hills, she has since repudiated all connections to that world. In fact, Toby apparently lived quite an event-filled life before the book even begins: she was engaged to and had a daughter with a human man before her "private investigator" status in Faerie landed her in a fourteen-year imprisonment in a koi pond. As the action begins, she works as a grocery clerk, is unable to speak to her daughter, and exists in a voluntary state of friendlessness. The setting may be fantastic but the action is a straight-up mystery, revolving around the death of one of Toby's old allies, Countess Evening Winterrose. The Countess has cursed Toby with discovering the truth of her murder with cold iron, and the task becomes a race against time as well as Toby's forceful reintroduction into the world of Faerie. Although there is a lot of (necessary) exposition and explanation of the laws of Faerie, etc., this is a solid series opener with some intriguing characters that left me hopeful that some of the many threads left hanging will be picked up in the next volume.

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October (Toby) Daye is a half-fairy PI with a young daughter and a loving fiance—until an investigation gone wrong turns her into a fish for over a decade. When she’s freed, she has nothing left and just wants Fairy to leave her alone. Of course it won’t, forcing her to go back to the corrupt

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lover she left, the court whose knighthood she wants to forget, and obligations enforced by magic. And also, her sovereign’s son-in-law is flirting with her, except that his wife is crazy, possibly because Toby screwed up that investigation all those years ago. It’s a good debut, giving information at the right pace and creating an engaging urban fantasy world. I’ve seen criticism that Toby isn’t much of an active force—things basically just happen to her at a pace she can barely survive—and that’s true, but given the plot, just being able to hang on is a virtue. Plus, she starts out with a pretty damn good reason to be depressed, reactive and angry. Try it out for the worldbuilding, and maybe Toby will take more control of her destiny in later books.

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Fresh Fare for Fae Fans

October Daye, better known to her friends and enemies as "Toby", has seen better times. Having recently recovered from a spell that left her trapped in the form of a fish for fourteen years she's lost everything she valued. A Changeling--half-human, half-fae--by birth she

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doesn't truly belong in either world. She may owe some allegience to her fae leige but having lost the human she loved and the now teenaged daughter she adored have left a mark on her.

With her old frenemy, Evening Winterrose, murdered it falls on Toby to find her killer or face the possibility of her own death. Dragged back into the world of Fae politics and secrets Toby must renew old ties and seek out the very persons she has been trying to avoid. There's no telling who she can trust amongst the Fae fiefdoms when enemies can be more straight-forward than one's own friends.

October's series is off to a good start with Rosemary and Rue. These are the fae most faeriephiles are familiar with but with some twists. McGuire gives readers just enough detail and hints to keep them reading but leaves a lot open for disclosure in future installments. I found her Cait Sidhe particularly interesting because I'm a cat lover. The variety of changelings make for an curious lot as there are many different types of fae in this particular world building. Where the author will go with this is anyone's guess.

As a heroine Toby is a little iffy. I liked her but felt like she wasn't telling us everything and some of her motivations seemed a little contrived. At times I felt like I had to guess at her motives and the lack of explanation of her relationships with her friends and enemies could have gone much deeper. There is a certain quality to her character that does make it hard not to want to continue getting to know her and wishing she was more forthcoming as the narrator of her story that will keep most readers entertained though. The wide variety of secondary characters were well done, strengthening the story even if (like Toby) I felt the surface was barely scratched with most of them. One issue I had here is that I frequently felt like I was told instead of shown how Toby related to the others.

Overall the story wasn't flawless but I found it hard to put down. After a while certain mythologies can feel redundant and Rosemary and Rue does its best to steer clear of that. Anyone who likes urban fantasy with Fae should pick this one up and check it out. The heavy sexual overtones of some other faerie series aren't present in this first book but may pop up in future ones. I recommend this one for urban fantasy fans looking for something fresh and original.

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I love books about the fairy world mingling with our world. Since I haven't been all the thrilled with the Meredith Gentry books lately, I was excited to start another series that deals with the fairy world. There are a number of young adult series out there that deal with the fairy world but not

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many adult novels. This ended up being a pretty good book. I think this series has a lot of promise.

October Daye is a changeling, half human half fairy. She is also a Knight of the fairy realms and has a daughter and a human boyfriend. At least she had those things until she made a fatal mistake and was changed into a koi fish for fourteen years. When she returns to the human world everything has changed for her, her daughter won't see her, her investigation business has been sold off and she has been declared dead. In her new life she has one goal, to never deal with fairy again. Unfortunately her new goal will not be realized. She receives a call from a prominent fairy noble named Evening. Evening is in trouble and she magically binds October to figure out what is going on. Now October is thrust back into the fairy world and she must solve Evening's murder; if she doesn't her life is forfeit.

There's a lot to like in this book. The world McGuire has created is complex, detailed, and very believable. It is focused mainly on the city of San Francisco and surrounding California, but does look like it could easily be expanded to wider horizons. The characterization is another strong point. The characters are believable, unique, have intriguing pasts, and are not always good or evil but a mix of both. These characters are fascinating and that extends to the side characters as well as the main ones.

There are some wonderful action scenes in this book. McGuire does an excellent job with these. The plot is fast moving and very engaging. The book was hard to put down, you always wonder what is going to happen to October next and if she will be successful in solving the murder. This is definitely not a romance book, but an action packed urban fantasy. Although October is not an action hero or a super hero; she is more of an ordinary everyday girl trying to make a living but constantly getting thrust into extraordinary situations.

McGuire did an excellent job of keeping October focused on her goals. I hate it when the heroine gets so scattered and distracted that she doesn't know what she's doing; that didn't happen in this book. McGuire also did an excellent job of bringing the main storyline in this book to a close; while leaving some threads hanging for the next book. Another nice thing was how McGuire summarized what October needs to focus on in the next book at the end of this book. I appreciated the pronunciation guide included as well. It would have been nice to have a Glossary to help you keep all the fairy races straight.

There were a couple of things that I didn't like about the book. Personally I didn't like October as much as a character. She spent a lot of the beginning of the book trying to shrug off her responsibilities; she also does a lot of stupid things throughout the book. I also wasn't a huge fan of McGuire's overall writing style. At times it didn't seem to flow all that well for me and it was a bit difficult to read. This is a pretty small quibble, but there are some books out there that are absolutely effortless to read they are so natural and this wasn't one of those books for me. Lastly you get a lot of different types of fairies thrown at you right away. McGuire is inconsistent about describing these different races, sometimes she does and sometimes you are left to struggle through it on your own. This is another reason why a index or glossary of fairy races would have been nice.

Overall I liked the book. I think this could be the start of a magnificent series. Like many first books, this one could have used a little more polish, but the main elements are there. Mcguire is very good at world-building and characterization and writes some awesome action scenes. I am looking forward to reading the next book "A Local Habitation" due out in March 2010.

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Just too silly for me. Could not get into the fairy land theme ; could not finish the book.

This book was very disappointing to me. Just as I began to get into the story, it skips to ten years hence. Everything is different and the protagonist hero is suddenly zero.

It was so jarring, I couldn't keep reading. It frustrated me that the author gave readers an enticing set-up, then took it

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all away. I can only assume the protagonist spent the rest of the book rebuilding herself, but that's not what I wanted to read.

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Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel
Seanan McGuire
DAW (2009), Paperback, 368 pages

Drat it, Seanan! You really do make it hard to not write a spoiler filled review! I shall endeavor to do your craft the credit it deserves. Sigh

Rosemary and Rue may be Seanan’s debut novel, but is FAR from the

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beginning of her writing career. As a writer who has her quill in all manner of projects, from novels to writing – and singing – baudy songs, to doing what she does in her ‘other life’ (which benefits many people greatly) she’s always processing huge amounts of information to be used later. And she eventually will find a place for every single scrap of it. I know she will!

Having said that, R&R is a complicated story from the start, as we discover Toby, a half-bred human/fairy, trying to put things together after spending a considerable amount of time rather inconveniently indisposed after the PI assignment she was working goes terribly wrong.

As a Private Investigator in San Francisco she handles all kind of cases, from the mundane missing mutt to the crafty dealings of the Fae. She settles down to a ‘relatively’ normal life, working at Safeway, because her PI license was suspended during her unexplained absence, and comes home one morning (liking the night shift) to find a message that embroils her in an investigation – whether she likes it or not.

This is something that she can’t walk away from, and has her ranging the locales of San Francisco as well as the ways to the Faerie Lands. You see, she’s not just Toby Daye, the worst night clerk Safeway had ever seen, she’s also October Daye, Knight of the Shadowed Hills, in service to His Grace, Duke Sylvester Torquill of the Shadowed Hills and the Daoine Sidhe.. You just know it’s going to get complicated.

Ms McGuire writes a complex and crafty tale… far too much to be one book, or even the three that are currently contracted for. There are a lot of loose threads hanging around this tapestry, but I believe, given the opportunity, Seanan will skillfully weave them all together in as many books as it takes. When she does, it will be a truly spectacular tapestry.

Overall; 4 Stars (hate to dock you that star, but there are still too many things running around loose in here. One of them probably carried it off -- are Rose Goblins like raccoons and find *Shiny* things irresistable?)

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A new voice in the ever growing world of Urban Fantasy. Admittedly, The nifty looking orange title and the curious looking androgynous figure on the front had more to do with my picking it up than any desire for a new taste in an abundant field. We have a spunky and hapless heroine in Toby, and

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while she's not as ditsy as, say Betsy the Vampire Queen, She's neither as Ruthless as Anita Blake or suave as Meredith Gentry. She's a nice and happy medium between all these. Actually, thats wrong, she's a sad medium. The story begins in the 80's with a rather twistedly quirky tragedy that baffled me. It picks up again in the present day with an evidently beat down character and I was surprised to find that the story was not about Toby regaining what she'd lost in the beginning. It was a nice touch, threw me for a loop and keep me hooked while promising me a much bigger story than what I knew was in those 346 pages. And the preview in the back proves that there is indeed, a series to be had out of this new world. And quite a complex world it is too. Most of the mystery in the story is unfolded in equal parts police work, extensive characterization and expose on the half hidden world of faerie in San Fran. I believed everyone, the plot was arrow straight and practical while still being able to lead me by the nose 'cause I had no idea where it was going till the last minute. By the end, like any good story should do, I wanted more. The only real problem I have with it is that I don't quite buy that her family would cut her off the way they did; it's the only unrealistic and unexplainable thing I found in this fairy tale. =

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Faerie is around the corner in this well designed world . October Daye is one of the inhabitants of this world a half-faerie, who has constructed a life for herself with a husband and child and a job of detective when she is turned into a fish for several years. When she comes out the pond she

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finds herself displaced and wants as little as possible to do with her past life, it hurts to have missed so much.

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A good book - not quite very good. I like the setting and the society(s), and of course I find the Bay Area setting fun since it's local to me. Toby spends just a little too much time agonizing over stuff, though. It rides the edge between gritty and grim - and while I don't mind gritty I dislike

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grim. I will definitely look for the next book and see where Seanan takes it, but I got burned with Saintcrow's Dante Valentine stories recently where things just kept getting worse. Toby's a lot better off at the end of this book than she was at the beginning, in both obvious and subtle ways, so that's an argument that things won't just slide downhill. I'll have to see. This story starts with Toby losing to an enemy and suffering serious losses - fourteen years of her life, for one thing. Her business, her SO and daughter. And, from her own guilt and anger, all her friendships and other relationships with the Fae (she's a half-blood Fae, and the case that knocked her out was a Fae one). Then crisis happens and she's drawn back into that world. Where she begins to discover that she misjudged a lot of things, both in cutting off her relationships and in what some of those relationships actually were. Various and sundry adventures ensue, including several near-successful attempts to kill her, a lost treasure, and a lot of new understandings of old friends and enemies (some improved, some worsened). But she does rebuild her life - or rather, take up the parts she can and go on to build a new one. There are traces of the (also highly annoying) trope where the heroine is desperately desired by just about every man she comes in contact with - Connor, Devin, and (heavy hinting) Tybalt are all trying to lure her. Yawn. I don't know. I like the story in many ways, and dislike it in almost as many. Well, gotta read the next one and find out how it goes...

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October (Toby) Daye has it rough. The world of fairy still lives, hiding along side the human world. As a changeling (half human, half fairy), she is second-class and hated by most pure blood fairies. A betrayal strips her of any desire to be a par of the fairy world, and she's living in avoidance

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of everyone and everything she once knew. Things get really rough when the Countess Winterrose is murdered. Before she dies, she curses Toby, pulling her back into the fairy world and forcing Toby to find her murders.

Seanan is brutal to her main character. Toby more often gets her ass kicked than kicks ass. However that does not diminish her awesome. Toby has enough sass and self conviction to burn. Every time she's knocked down, she recovers and keeps going. Nothing diminishes her drive.

There are certainly abundant flaws, but this is really a fun, snappy read, and from what I've heard the subsequent books in the series just get better from here.

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McGuire gets an A+ for world-building. I loved the unique combination of murder mystery, gritty urban fantasy, and Medieval courtliness of the Faerie world. Although the movement of the plot gets bogged down by description and details, the creativity of the setting and interesting characters pull

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the reader along. Shakespeare fans will enjoy the numerous references and parallels to his plays. Overall, it was entertaining and intriguing enough for me to definitely want to read the second book in the series.

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It takes place in San Francisco, in the present day. Our heroine, October "Toby" Daye is a Changeling - half human, half fae. She is trying to pass as human, but that requires a little bit of magic, to round the corners of her ears and cheekbones. It's working, mostly, and has a husband, a

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daughter, and a job as a Private Investigator. That is, until a surveillance gig goes wrong, and she spends the next 14 years as a koi in a pond in Golden Gate Park. The shape shifting eventually wears off. That is where the story begins. She is pulled into a murder investigation, and can't seem to get a break. But it allows the reader to see this world of the fae that co-exists with our San Francisco, and meet the people / fae who shaped Toby into who she is now. Lots of action, some interesting characters, but not fully engaging. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

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