It’s September – time again for October (Daye), heroine of the great Urban Fantasy series by Seanan McGuire. For The Brightest Fell, eleventh novel about the Fae world in modern San Francisco, the expectations of the fans are huge. And this time the author confronts her readers – and Toby – with some long-awaited encounters.
Toby should have grown accustomed to unexpected visits. However when her mother Amandine stands in front of her house, she’s not able to find any words. The warm-hearted reunion, however, that readers might have secretly hoped for, remains unfulfilled. Amandine asks Toby to look for her missing sister, August. And to ensure her daughters co-operation, she’s willing to do anything.
Toby finds herself forced to seek help in unexpected places. With one of her oldest enemies she travels deep into the heart of the summerlands to fulfill her impossible quest …
Over the years Seanan McGuire has delivered an impressive amount of outstanding Urban Fantasy novels – and thus the expectations are pretty high. In light of this, The Brightest Fell has been a mixed bag. Basically, the author tells an exciting story with some unexpected twists and a high action level. It takes us to unknown spots in Faerie and shows us new aspects of beloved characters. One of them is the Luidaeg, still my personal favorite. Her performance in a karaoke bar at the beginning of the book is one of the highlights of the novel undoubtedly.
On the other hand, I have built up a high expectation over the years in which I became super-enthusiastic about the series. A lenghty encounter with Amandine; the mystery about August. Much of this is revealed by Seanan McGuire in this novel. But the answers are not always the ones I would have wished for. Partially, I was disappointed by the long-awaited encounters, because I had expected different things. I can hardly blame the author, but this is the reason why The Brightest Fell did not quite satisfy me that much.
Then there are wonderful moments, unexpected turns and scenes, which were simply magical. Tybalt does not appear often in this book, but Quentin plays a more important role again – a circumstance that I have greatly welcomed, and this helps the book in my opinion, as we don’t get more of the same-same. Instead we learn new things that logically fit into the overall cosmos.
Even if I was not 100% satisfied, The Brightes Fell is still a good book. I am curious how I’ll like it when I read it later for the second time – or third or fourth.
For the moment, the book can not compete with such great novels as An Artificial Night or the Game Changer The Winter Long, but Seanan McGuire has been very good at entertaining me and I’m sure there are some great adventures ahead. There’s still much to explain about Selkies and the Luidaeg, about the disappearance of Oberon, Titania and Maeve and some other things that are not resolved yet. (The Winterrose will probably not be trapped forever in her enchanted sleep).
If you love Toby, you can not miss The Brightest Fell anyway.
The book will be released in hardcover & ebook.
The advance copy was provided to me via Netgalley.