Thursday, December 9, 2010

An Artifical Night by Seanan McGuire

From Seanan McGuire's website:
Everyone in the Bay Area knows about Blind Michael, the unseen, dangerous figure whose Hunt sweeps the Berkeley hills on full moon nights. He's a familiar hazard of life in the Kingdom of the Mists, and most people don't waste time worrying about him. October "Toby" Daye certainly doesn't. She has better things to worry about, like paying the electrical bill on time. So it's understandable that she'd be upset when Blind Michael suddenly starts taking an interest in people that matter to her, like the youngest children of Mitch and Stacy Brown.
Tasked to find the missing children, and with the stakes growing higher by the minute, Toby has few choices and fewer allies to help her through the dangers yet to come. With the Luidaeg's help and a candle to light her way home, there's a chance that she'll come through this latest danger...but the sudden appearance of her Fetch doesn't give Toby all that much in the way of hope...

After not enjoying A Local Habitation as much as I enjoyed Rosemary and Rue, I really hoped that McGuire would recapture my attention and let me enjoying being in Toby's world again. And I really enjoyed this book. I really feel like the series is going the right way now.
In An Artificial Night, Toby investigates the disappearance of her friend's kids as well as several missing children from the Cait Sidhe. Her investigation takes her in and out of the fairy realms. I was really glad that Lily and Luidaeg got a lot more attention in this book. They are really interesting characters especially Luidaeg, a sea witch. Both of their powers were put on display and I enjoyed Toby's interactions with them.
Toby's Fetch shows up early in the book. A Fetch is a copy of you that helps guide you to the afterlife. When your Fetch shows up your days are numbered. And if you've read the previous books, you know Toby has a tendency to wind up in some life or death situations. Of course Toby's Fetch is interesting. I look forward to learning more about her Fetch. What you thought Toby died at the end of this one? Yeah right :)
Really looking forward to the next one coming out in 2011. Others who posted their thoughts about An Artificial Night: Lavinia Shadows, Cookies, Books and Bikes, and The Book Smugglers.

2 comments:

  1. Hm getting book 1 for xmas, so glad to hear that book 3 again is good

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  2. I'm glad that you enjoyed this one! It looks like you and Linda (Finland) have a lot of the same books in common!!

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