Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

The Unkindest Tide is the thirteenth novel in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. And if you haven’t heard of or read this series before, you’re missing out. The series follows Toby Daye, a private investigator and Hero to the Fae.

Toby has made a lot of bargains and promises in her past, specifically to a powerful woman known as the Luidaeg. And now it is time to pay up. And it doesn’t matter how unhappy Toby and her friends are about the situation.

Included with the promised novel is a novella titled Hope is Swift. However, I’d advise against reading it until you’ve finished the main novel, as it contains several spoilers for what happens within these pages.

Writing

Seanan McGuire has a way with words, just as Toby has a way of getting herself into trouble (and covered in blood). The series may be on book thirteen, but it is still going strong. And there’s no clear indication that an end is in sight.

Like many novels in the series before, the Unkindest Tide reminds us that everything has a cost. And that all fae must follow their own set of rules. Some of those rules are stricter than others – something this novel went to great lengths to prove to us.

The world is getting a bit larger with each and every novel. This time around, we saw more than ever before. These new facets in the fae world broaden our understanding of what is happening while also giving us an idea of what could happen next in the series.

This whole novel is a moment that has been being built up for quite some time. Despite that, McGuire managed to throw plenty of surprises our way while also building up for future plots and events. In short, it was the perfect Toby novel, through and through.

Development

The Unkindest Tide is steadily paced, with plenty of twists and dramatic turns of events to keep it all moving forward. Naturally, Toby gets into several dangerous predicaments during one novel – it wouldn’t be the same without her doing so.

This novel also allowed us to focus on some of the secondary characters in Toby’s life while introducing us to new and fascinating characters. All of the characters we know and love appeared here and a few other surprising cameos. Naturally, some characters got more attention than others (hint: many water-based ones), but that’s not bad.

It was a surprisingly emotional read, thanks to Toby and Luidaeg’s connection to what must be done. There were strong, somber notes and a few notes of beautiful hope. And it’s the hope we find ourselves clinging to alongside our favorite characters.

Conclusion

The Unkindest Tide is the most recent novel in the series, and it held up to the promise made to fans. And thankfully, it’ll be enough to keep us going until the next novel is out (we do not doubt that we’ll be seeing one around this time next year).

While we’re waiting for the next novel to come out, I strongly urge fans to go and read through all of the novellas and short stories for this series. Because there are many of them, it doesn’t take much to miss one or two of them.

Finally, I’m absolutely thrilled with Luidaeg’s portrayal in this novel. For me, it was the novel’s highlight in more ways than one. But it has also left me curious about the direction of her tale in future Toby novels.

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

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