A Red-Rose Chain (October Daye, #9) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Nov 08, 2012 The Flooze rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy-paranormal, vanquished_2016

An excellent installment - perhaps the best one yet. It had all the charm and humor and madness that one could hope for from Ms. McGuire and Sir Toby Daye.

The plot is perfectly designed for Toby's habit of barreling around until opportunity hits. Sent to the neighbouring Kingdom of Silences as a diplomatic emissary (::snort::), she finds herself confronted with all the worst of faery's prejudices and tortures. Can she broker a peace, or is she just going to make deposing rulers her thang?

It was An excellent installment - perhaps the best one yet. It had all the charm and humor and madness that one could hope for from Ms. McGuire and Sir Toby Daye.

The plot is perfectly designed for Toby's habit of barreling around until opportunity hits. Sent to the neighbouring Kingdom of Silences as a diplomatic emissary (::snort::), she finds herself confronted with all the worst of faery's prejudices and tortures. Can she broker a peace, or is she just going to make deposing rulers her thang?

It was interesting to delve more into the history of different realms, reigns, and wars (funny that I have zero patience for the political machinations of the human world, but when it comes to the fae I can't get enough). Watching Toby try to learn as much as she could while still adhering to diplomatic rules was also a treat, as we keenly felt her frustration, wrath, and fear. That last is particularly important, since it shows that even though she's still inclined to risk herself, Toby also knows she has people who depend on her to stay alive. She realises her value more and more, and doesn't want to disappoint those she loves, those who love her.

That still doesn't stop her from being blood-soaked all the damn time. She wouldn't be Toby without it!

There's plenty of Tybalt in this volume, and with him a growing need to understand more about the Court of Cats. We get to visit one of Tybalt's peers and I dearly hope he and his family will show up again down the line.

Finishing this on the heels of The Winter Long, I'm very aware that A Red-Rose Chain is another tale of wrapping up old business - or at least putting it on a very distant back burner. McGuire seems to be clearing away the cobwebs, but what's the reason for all this tidying up? I can only imagine it's preparation for new and uglier things to come. We've had so many hints of future mysteries to be explored, and all of them have the potential to be convoluted and life-changing.

No matter which one McGuire chooses to address first, I'm confident we're in for an entertaining, blood-soaked ride. ...more

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Oct 26, 2014 Jesslyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pre-ordered, cat-epic-fantasy, cat-urban-fantasy, auto-buy-author, auto-buy-series, audiobook-whispersync-companion, audio-book, audiobook-discounted, cat-too-good-for-words, z2015-kindle-reads

My only complaint is that it felt short.

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Dec 21, 2013 Christal rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

See this review and others like it at Badass Book Reviews!

A Red-Rose Chain is the ninth (yes, ninth!) book in the fabulous October Daye series. While I did enjoy this one much more than the previous story and I know the series is contracted for thirteen books, I'm starting to get annoyed with the lack of Amandine. I'm not sure how many more "side stories" I can take when the real story of who Toby is and why Amandine acted as she did and "why are there so many secrets!?!" is hanging just out of See this review and others like it at Badass Book Reviews!

A Red-Rose Chain is the ninth (yes, ninth!) book in the fabulous October Daye series. While I did enjoy this one much more than the previous story and I know the series is contracted for thirteen books, I'm starting to get annoyed with the lack of Amandine. I'm not sure how many more "side stories" I can take when the real story of who Toby is and why Amandine acted as she did and "why are there so many secrets!?!" is hanging just out of reach. As a self-contained story, this was great but it didn't further the overall plot as much as I would have liked.

This story touches on previous events -- Toby ousted an imposter queen and put the rightful heir on the throne of the Mists -- but now that imposter is back with a vengeance. In A Red-Rose Chain, she's found herself a partner in the king of the neighboring Kingdom of Silences and he has declared war on said Kingdom of the Mists. Toby is nominated unwitting diplomat and it's up to her and her friends to stop the war before it starts. Nothing can be taken at face value, of course, and Toby and her friends finds themselves in a bigger political mess than they expected.

While it was interesting to see Toby try to solve problems diplomatically, she still ended up covered in blood by the end of the book. That's our Toby, though! Her real growth came from her willingness to depend on her friends instead of trying to tackle everything on her own. Quinton and Tybalt accompanied her, of course, but Spike, May, and Walther were also along for the ride. It was nice to learn more about Walther and to have his own identity developed instead of just being Toby's pet alchemist. I do love Toby and Tybalt together, as always. Tybalt always has a pretty turn of phrase ready for every situation. I was hoping for a bit more inclusion for Spike, Toby's rose goblin, but his presence had almost no purpose.

Hopefully, A Red-Rose Chain is just a transitional book for October Daye and we get back to the real meat of the series in the next book. As I said though, it wasn't a bad book at all. It was well-written, full of Seanan's trademarked wit, and the characters came alive as always. It's just that there is a much larger story that has been waiting to be told for nine books now and I gots to know!

Thank you to DAW for providing a printed ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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