Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: September 4, 2018
Publisher: DAW
Source: Publisher
Genre: Fantasy / Urban
Things are not okay.
In the aftermath of Amandine’s latest betrayal, October “Toby” Daye’s fragile self-made family is on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Jazz can’t sleep, Sylvester doesn’t want to see her, and worst of all, Tybalt has withdrawn from her entirely, retreating into the Court of Cats as he tries to recover from his abduction. Toby is floundering, unable to help the people she loves most heal. She needs a distraction. She needs a quest.
What she doesn’t need is the abduction of her estranged human daughter, Gillian. What she doesn’t need is to be accused of kidnapping her own child by her ex-boyfriend and his new wife, who seems to be harboring secrets of her own. There’s no question of whether she’ll take the case. The only question is whether she’s emotionally prepared to survive it.
Signs of Faerie’s involvement are everywhere, and it’s going to take all Toby’s nerve and all her allies to get her through this web of old secrets, older hatreds, and new deceits. If she can’t find Gillian before time runs out, her own child will pay the price. One question remains:
Who in Faerie remembered Gillian existed? And what do they stand to gain? No matter how this ends, Toby’s life will never be the same.
Seanan McGuire's Night and Silence is the Twelfth installment in the authors October Daye series. As
the story opens, things are not going well for October "Toby" Daye and her adopted family.
Owing to her mother's latest
actions, Toby's family is cracking: her sister's girlfriend Jazz
doesn't sleep, and her beloved Tybalt has withdrawn from her and refuses
to reach out for help. In order to keep herself from breaking down,
Toby, Danny, and Quentin are tasked at hunting down creatures who are
not supposed to exist, or be in this world.
But,
nobody could have foreseen what happens next. Her
ex-boyfriend Cliff and his new wife Miranda show up on her doorstep with
an
accusation: daughter Gillian has been kidnapped and they hold Toby
responsible. While it's obvious that Toby will investigate, it's utter
horse manure that Toby would jeopardize the daughter she has had no
contact with since the day she gave Gillian the Changeling's
Choice by removing any Fae blood and leaving her 100% human.
The same choice she was given back in 1959. (Oh, there's a
novella called Never Shines the Sun that will explain that to you.) The daughter who has no clue what actually happened to Toby, thanks to her father, that caused her to disappear for 14 years. Who in Faerie has the knowledge that Toby has a human daughter? Of all those who knew, they're either supposed to be dead, or were Elf shot and are supposed to be sleeping for 100 years. Knowing that Toby has more enemies than the President of the US, anyone could be involved.
After all, it's not easy going through life being known as the King Breaker, or being the daughter of Amandine who put Toby and her friends through hell in the previous installment. It's also not easy being the so called Hero of the Kingdom in the Mists. Whenever Faerie is involved, secrets tend to be revealed, and villains pop up seemingly from beyond the grave. Toby must find Gillian before
time runs out or the cost may be too much for everyone involved. She also has to find a way to get through to Tybalt before she loses him forever.
There are
a few things you need to know to better enjoy the story. First,
the story takes place soon after the aftermath of what happened to Toby
and her crew in Once Broken Faith. You really must read
the stories back to back to understand what happened, and why characters
like May, Tybalt, Jazz, and yes, even Toby, are struggling to get on
with their lives. Especially Tybalt who has basically disappeared from Toby's life.
Second,
there is a novella included in the back of this book. It is called a Suffer a
Sea-Change. I read Toby's story first and then the novella to see where
in the story this novella takes place. If you've read Night and Silence,
you know what happens and where the novella intersects with the main
book. It's apparent to me that this is another of the author's story
arcs. I wouldn't be surprised if the story continues in the next
installment called The Unkindest Tide (2019).
I admit that I loathe Cliff and hope that we, as readers, don't ever have to hear about him again. I will never forgive him for shutting the door, literally, in Toby's face without understanding what happened to her, and then not allowing their daughter to discover the truth. For everything that Cliff did to Toby, the worse was allowing Gillian to believe that she had been abandoned by her own mother. Toby does get some satisfaction in putting him in his place. Can't tell you how happy that made me feel.
Then there's Miranda who swooped in like a avenging angel to take Toby's family away from her in her absence. There's so much I'd like to say about Miranda, but I can't because it's a major part of several plot lines. One could legitimately say that Toby's blood family is absolutely screwed up, while her adopted family are the ones who have stood by her through many, many, many episodes of Toby ending up bloody, hurt, and almost dead.
Loathe Cliff? I love to hate characters. lol
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental