Review: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

Title: Rosemary and Rue

Author: Seanan McGuire

Series: October Daye

Audience: Teen/Adult

Rating: 5 stars

TL;DR: October Daye, a changeling P.I., is compelled under threat of death to solve the murder of Countess Evening Winterrose.

Longer review: Half-fae private investigator October “Toby” Daye is building her life with her husband and daughter in the mortal world, when a case she is working for her liege goes south, and the bad guys turn her into a fish.

Fourteen years later, the spell has worn off and Toby has reappeared in the mortal world. Her mortal husband and daughter want nothing to do with the wife and mother who they think abandoned them, and Toby wants nothing to do with the Summerlands.

Understandably bitter, Toby is keeping her head down and just trying to readjust to life. But when Countess Evening Winterrose, one of Toby’s few friends from Fairie, is viciously murdered shortly after she calls Toby begging for help, Toby is drawn back into a world she hates.

What makes this book incredible is McGuire’s easy writing style, her well-developed characters, and the depth of her world-building. Once you sink into this book, you’ll have to be dragged out of it. Better yet, there are currently eight books in the series, with at least five more planned.

McGuire is a prolific author, with two series under her own name, and another two under her pen name Mira Grant.

Author’s Website: http://www.seananmcguire.com

Read alikes:

Marie Brennan’s Onyx Court series: Set in Elizabethan London, the first book in this series, Midnight Never Come, follows Michael Deven, a mortal courtier in Elizabeth’s court and Lune, a fairie lady sent to manipulate Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster. Although this book is set in a different time and place than McGuire’s series, there are similarities in the court politics and the interaction between the Fae and mortal worlds.

Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series: Set in Seattle, this series features P.I. Harper Blaine, who, after a near fatal accident, develops the ability to see and move through the Grey – the realm of ghosts, witches, vampires and magic. Like October Daye, Harper Blaine is a tough woman dealing with both real and otherworldly problems.

Kim Harrison’s The Hollows series: Set in a post-epidemic Cincinnati, bounty-hunter and witch Rachel Morgan must contend with elves, vampires, werewolves and demons. This series has a lighter feel than McGuire’s, and is a little faster-paced, but both series have a strong and resourceful female protagonists.

Teresa Dahlgren

Waterloo Public Library