Just like with the previous book in the series, Night and Silence, I can’t make any promises here with regards to spoilers. I’ll try and avoid anything too shocking from this book in particular, but the rest of the series? Be on your guard.
Of all the characters in the October Daya series, I have to say that the Luidaeg is probably one of my favourites. Underneath her tough as nails exterior and her grim sense of humour lies someone who’s life has been marked by grief. Hundreds of years previously, well before anyone else who’s still around can remember, one of the Luidaeg’s sisters engineered the murder of her children, the Rhoan. The murderers took the lives of the Rhoan under the belief that if they came to possess their skins, they too could become part of Faerie. The murderers themselves, in turn, were killed by their children, who were horrified of the crimes their parents had committed. When their children confessed to the Luidaeg what had happened, she put magic into the skins of the Rhoan and made a deal with those who possessed them – they could live on the outskirts of faerie as selkies. This way, some part of her children could continue to live on – at least for a while. But she promised one day she would come back for those skins, and restore the Rhoan.
In The Unkindest Tide, the Luidaeg is now ready to make good that promise. But despite her grief, the Luidaeg is feeling some trepidation about causing so much upheaval for the Selkies – she’s grown oddly fond of them over the centuries. But whether or not its a geass or her own personal code of conduct, the Luidaeg doesn’t give herself much a choice. So she’s off to the Duchy of Ships to bring back the Rhoan – taking Toby along with her to help.
When it comes to such long-running series as the October Daye novels, some books are going to contribute more to the overall story than others. With regards to the last two books, they were throwing around so many bombshells about Toby’s personal life, you could be forgiven for thinking you were at her personal version of the Somme. But in The Unkinest Tide, the story takes a bit of a break, and the focus is more of faerie politics; although you can see that things are being set up around the protagonists that will no doubt impact them a few books down the track.
While I did love the fact we got a book the focused more on the Luidaeg, and I loved the introduction of Captain Pete, I was less enthusiastic about one of the side plots, which felt like a re-tread of something we’d already seen in a previous instalment. I’m also still a little indifferent about Gillian, who, while I understand has plenty to angst about, is still mildly irritating. But it did tidy up one of the longest-running plot threads – the selkies. And it also tantalisingly opened the door on a few other things as well.
Overall, while I still enjoyed this instalment (and I can’t say that there has been an October Daye book I have disliked) I don’t think it hit as many high points as the previous few books have.
But if she wasn’t so damned scary, I’d offer The Sea Witch a hug.
This one goes under Rainbow Flag, as Seanan McGuire identifies as Bi.
And with that, I think I have myself a Bingo.