Friday review roundup. FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

[seanan_mcguire]

(As a quick introductory aside: remember that you have until Sunday night to enter to win an ARC of Feed. This drawing is open to everyone located on the actual planet Earth. If you want to enter from Mars, or from a parallel dimension, you have to pay me for postage.)

First up for today is...well, not exactly a review, per se, but a very well-considered endorsement of sorts for Feed, from the awesomeness that is Book Banter. This was written in response to my receiving an entertainingly bad review, and says "Feed is not just a book about zombies, running from zombies, being afraid of zombies, killing zombies, and all that zombie jazz. It’s about a changed world that has had to deal with a zombie invasion, and how life for every living person on the planet is now totally foreign to the reader." Very accurate, and very awesome.

A fun review of both Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation has been posted over at Book Sexy. The reviewer says "The endings of these stories aren’t always happy and the successes all come with high costs attached. McGuire has created a damaged heroine torn between two worlds and unable to find peace in either. Add a supporting cast of characters with motivations as mixed as Toby’s and you have a winning formula." Also: "It all makes for surprisingly good pleasure reading on beaches and buses. And while these books are imperfect—Toby sometimes misses the obvious clues and has a bizarre habit of underestimating her powers—they are steadily improving." Let's hope that trend continues, shall we?

Lesley W. has posted a review of Rosemary and Rue, and says "I've been looking at a few reviews of this story and I've come to the conclusion that whether you hate it or love it will largely depend on your opinion of the heroine. I loved her." Also: "I think I'd almost despaired of finding something new and original in UF—preferably ferret free—and yet here it is. October is a melancholy heroine, so if you prefer something jolly, this one probably isn't going to be for you. But she has lost so much, she has a right to be withdrawn." I'm not sure what's up with the ferrets, but I agree with the assessment of Toby.

Marianna at Strictly Antisocial has posted a nice, critical review of A Local Habitation, and says "I liked the book, a lot. It is not a perfect book. But it is entertaining and a slightly different fare than what I have been immersing myself in (vamps and weres!). McGuire, it is obvious, does her homework. It feels like the faeries in Toby's world are real, with a rich and detailed past, that we, as the reader, have yet to uncover." Yay!

Amy at A Room of One's Own has posted a short, sweet review of A Local Habitation. No pull quotes, but I like it.

Karissa's Reading Review has posted a review of A Local Habitation, and says "This is the second book in the October Daye series. Last I heard there were eight books* planned for this series; the third book An Artificial Night is due to come out September 2010. I thought this book was much better than the first book in the series; I really enjoyed it." Also: "I thought this book was much more well put together than the first one. The plot was more engaging and really propelled the reader forward; Toby develops into a much more likable heroine (she was not as whiny as in the first book)." She whines even less from here, promise.

We close this roundup with the obligate Livejournal review, this time from silvertwi, who has posted a lovely review of A Local Habitation, and says "A Local Habitation is the second October Daye novel. If the first, Seanan's debut, was good (and it was, I loved it) this was even better." Also: "Some mysteries of Faerie (like the night-haunts and the murders) are solved, but there's clearly a lot more to come. What's going on with Toby's mother? What will happen between Toby and Tybalt? ... And so much more. I can't wait for September and the sequel, An Artificial Night."

That's it for right now. More soon, as my link file is getting out of control!

(*This footnote is mine, not the reviewer's, so's you know. Anyway, there are currently five books sold, two books published, and somewhere between nine and eleven books planned, depending on how you count the prequel. I clearly need more hobbies.)

Comments

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Rocky Horror makes everything better.

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

Kat Richardson's heroine in the Greywalker series has a ferret. That's the only one I know about.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Huh. Okay.

[saladofdoom.livejournal.com]

The reviewer at book sexy has obviously never tried to operate after not sleeping for a few days. You miss stuff. The world gets fuzzy and stationary objects start to wobble...
They also somehow missed that, for Toby, magic is a last resort. I thought you spelled it out pretty clearly. (OK, Toby, You can break that spell, but If you do, I'm going to hit you in the head with this hammer. Repeatedly. I've got the hammer ready, so go ahead... )

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Also, Toby's had a lot of time to reinforce her own opinions on her powers. Her illusions suck; blood magic is harder than illusions; ergo, logically, she can't do blood magic.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

I clearly need more hobbies.

No, you simply need to accept that your addiction is neither controllable nor currently in need of control, and that you're going to be a writer for the rest of your life. :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Harsh but fair.

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

And while these books are imperfect—Toby sometimes misses the obvious clues and has a bizarre habit of underestimating her powers—they are steadily improving

I never saw that as an imperfection of yours; I considered that to be a part of the character.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Exactly. If Toby -- or any detective in fiction -- always spotted the clues then the book would be a lot shorter (and less interesting). For that matter, not all readers find the same 'obvious' clues, there are books I've read where I've been surprised at the end but others have said "that was obvious" and vice versa. Toby, like all interesting characters, has flaws, among them that she sometimes "can't see the wood for the trees" and that she underestimates herself (she gets bound up by mistakes she's made -- like, duh, so do a lot of us!). It's called a well-rounded character.

[kyrielle]

This. And in the first book, my husband totally pegged it and I totally missed it. I caught parts in the second book but then decided I was wrong. And in neither case was I operating on the degree of sleep deprivation and adrenaline that Toby was - neither of which are good for reasoning ability. (I'd guess the magic burn moments aren't good for reasoning, either.)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Thanks, darlin'.

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. :)

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

*chortlesquee* Aww, Room in Roundup! I know, it's what you do. Still, it's neat. I'd better post longer reviews if people are going to notice them. 8)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

That's a plan!