Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Sleep No More by Seanan McGuire Series: October Daye #17
Published by DAW Books on September 5, 2023
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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October is very happy with her life as the second daughter of her pureblood parents, Amandine and Simon Torquill. Born to be the changeling handmaid to her beloved sister August, she spends her days working in her family’s tower, serving as August’s companion, and waiting for the day when her sister sets up a household of her own. Everything is right in October’s Faerie. Everything is perfect.
Everything is a lie.
October has been pulled from her own reality and thrown into a twisted reinterpretation of Faerie where nothing is as it should be and everything has been distorted to support Titania’s ideals. Bound by the Summer Queen’s magic and thrust into a world turned upside down, October has no way of knowing who she can trust, where she can turn, or even who she really is. As strangers who claim to know her begin to appear and the edges of Titania’s paradise begin to unravel, Toby will have to decide whether she can risk everything she knows based on only their stories of another world.
But first she’ll have to survive this one, as Titania demonstrates why she needed to be banished in the first place—and this time, much more than Toby’s own life is at stake.
Sleep No More is the seventeenth novel in the October Daye series and it is a trip. This is a well established series and you will need to read all the books in order to understand most of the storyline in this one. Titania is back with a vengeance and she might not be able to physically harm Toby, but that leaves a lot of latitude on what she is allowed to do. Being the Queen of lies, she had woven a huge one where Toby never met Tybalt, changelings all know their lowly place and purebloods rule. What would a faery look like if all those things were true and Toby is the submissive servant child of Amandine and Simon, born to serve her pureblood sister August.
It has been four months that October has lived in this lie and for the reader an October that has forgotten all of her history and how awesome she is, well it is a struggle. She doesn’t understand why the man they call the King of Cats looks at her with something that looks both like pain and hate when they meet. She can’t tell why when she accidentally tasted her blood different memories flood back of things she doesn’t remember and when she rode someone else’s blood it was the same. There is definitely something wrong but does she really want to give up this life and the family she has for the other version of Faery. We the reader are screaming yes…but Toby oh Toby isn’t so sure and it takes some convincing from our favorite character the Sea Witch to assist her in coming out of this lie and possibly saving Faery before it helps Titania set this lie as fact.
“The truth is, four months ago, Titania wrapped as much of Faerie as she could reach in an illusion so seamless that it’s taken us this long to find a way to reach you. We need your help if we’re going to put Faerie back the way it’s meant to be. We need you so we can save our world.”
“Oh,”I said faintly. “Is that all?”
Again a fantastically original story from Seanan McGuire. She really has created an intricate world and it was fascinating to see where all our favorite characters were and what they would be doing in an alternate Faery. It was also terrifying to see what Titania was capable of. I still hope we someday get to see Maeve as we now have two of the three in current time. Oberon while present is still somewhat of an enigma and we only get a few glimpses of him. There are a few issues with Titania’s world, since in her version all the Sea Fae have been destroyed so she had to stash their land ridden halflings somewhere while trying to make this reality stick. As new horrors come to light Toby is driven more and more into the woman she really is and finds the version of herself as Sir October Daye who is willing to dive into danger, cause trouble and be the disruptive force she always is to set right what once was wrong.
Courage isn’t knowing everything will be fine. It’s knowing everything might not be, and doing what needs to be done anyway, because someone has to.
Seventeen books into the series and again I am really wowed by the imagination and storytelling brought to life. I really look forward to reading the companion book to this one from Tybalt’s PoV, since we don’t get a lot of time with him in the story. But I’m sure there are going to be some great nuggets in that one as we see this world of lies through his eyes as he tries to get the love of his life back and hopes she remembers the news shared with him right before this nightmare happened.
“Why are you in my dream?” I asked, challenging.
Lowering his hands, he looked at me. Without anger, without hate, with only sorrow and love in his eyes. “Because, little fish, a man is allowed to weep for the loss of his heart,”
If you are a fan of stories with Fae mythos in modern day, I have not found a better one. The first few books of the series are a little dark but by book three I was hooked and never looked back.
Bonus story:
Candles and Starlight is a bonus story told from Rayseline Torquill’s PoV about her journey in Blind Michael’s lands while she was tucked away with all the other halfling kids that aren’t supposed to exist in Titania’s world and the things they did to survive. I liked this story and how Rayseline is a different person than the one she used to be while she was going crazy. With her blood balanced she has a chance to become something else and she took this situation to really explore some of who she could be in the future. She may have even made up for some of the bad deeds of her past.
About Seanan McGuire
Hi! I’m Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I’m also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
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I have wanted to read this series for a very long time. It is good that it is still going strong at book #17 is a very good sign.
Yes…There are only a few series that I don’t think have overstayed their welcome by this point. But the series still has so much to be explored I think.
I am listening and currently on the eleventh audio, so I just checked your rating…lol Glad to see you enjoyed it.
I’m glad you’ve found it. I think I love that the world just gets bigger and better the longer the story goes on.
Someday I’ll read more by this author. This series sounds good. Sooo maybe.
I hope you get a chance. It is one of my favorite series. She has a great imagination and thinks up so many cool stories and characters.