ROSEMARY AND RUE – Seanan McGuire | Looking For a Good Book

It’s been ten years since the October Daye series began and to celebrate the decade, DAW Books has reissued the first book, Rosemary and Rue. For those of us who came to the series mid-stride, this is a real welcomed treat.

October “Toby” Daye is a half-human, half-fae changeling. This mixed blood may not be the only reason she’s an outsider, but it definitely plays a factor. Hoping to focus on just one side of her life, Toby has renounced the fae world. Unfortunately, the fae world doesn’t quite recognize this and she is drawn back in as a knight errant when the Countess Evening Winterrose is murdered and Evening’s curse, a spell, forces Toby to investigate.

So…this is actually a little awkward to review, but I can’t quite think of it as the first book in the series since (even though it is) because I have read a few others and I know a little more about Toby and her friends and her situation.

What works here is the introduction of all the major players and the set-up of the world(s). We really do get a pretty clear picture of Toby and her situation as half-fae, half-human and the trouble that this causes her. We also get a pretty good look at the hierarchy in the fae world, as well as their disfunction.

What doesn’t work here is the introduction of all the major players and the set-up of the world(s). By this I mean that the book really feels like a set-up for future books and the series. It does not feel like a solid urban, stand-alone fantasy. I think that if I had read this book first, I may not have read any further volumes. But again, this is hard to say for sure since I have read other books in the series, which I have enjoyed quite a bit.

If you have come to the series late, this is great to read to look back and get some perspective on how it started. If you are new to the series, don’t give up.

Looking for a good book? Rosemary and Rue, by Seanan Mcguire, is a reissue of the first book in the October Daye series. It’s a bit rough but we can get a real feel for what is in store for the series.