Rosemary & Rue by Seanan McGuire

4 out of 5 Robots!
 

Rosemary & Rue
Author: Seanan McGuire 

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: September 1, 2009

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: DAW
ISBN-10: 0756405718
ISBN-13: 978-0756405717

My Copy: Provided by the Author

My Review:

Rosemary & Rue is the first installment in the October Daye series- and what a fresh start! Dark, wicked and creative. The story begins with a prologue set in 1995, October "Toby" Daye is on a stake out. She's tracking a man who is believed to have kidnapped her liege's wife and daughter. Unfortunately for her, she is caught and subsequently turned into a Koi fish... flopping into a pond where she spends the next 14 years. She left behind a human who stole her heart, Cliff, and her daughter Gillian. Both refuse her when she returns all these years later... leaving her numb and willingly ready to avoid her life as a Changeling.

Our stubborn heroine is determined to live a life of loneliness, but fate has other plans for her. Her extremely old, powerful, pureblood fae frienemy has been slaughtered... And with her last dieing breath, she releases a curse that forces Toby to avenge her death or die trying. The curse throws her back into the world she has given up on- and she meets both old and new enemies, friends... fun, fae creatures. She's shot, beaten and even stabbed on her new adventure to find justice for her friend. Lucky for us, we get to watch first hand as she battles it out and finds the truth behind the gruesome murder. Now, I wasn't quite expecting the killer to be who it was- though others say they saw it coming from a mile away. Not sure if I should have admitted that ;) That being said, for me, the ending was solid.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I do have a couple complaints. I felt like I was getting information dumped on me and it was quite repetitive at times. Wordy. For some reason (the plot) I was able to over look this and love the book despite these "flaws" and just could not put it down. I grew tiresome of hearing how magic smelled by the end of the book. At the same time though, I wish the fae would have been given more in depth descriptions, rather than the magic or environment.

Now, what I truly loved about this book was the defeatist attitude that Toby sported at the start of the story. Slowly her attitude improves, we get to watch her evolve from a hurt, numb half-fae to someone who is looking forward to finding who she once was again. Her character had some depth, but was hard to relate to. Blame this on the wordiness of the text. The next books to come are sure to have less information dumping, so I look forward to relating more with Toby then. (Don't get me wrong- She was likable!)  

This book was packed to the brim with world building. It did cause minor distraction from the plot, but it was entertaining. Seanan did a beautiful job, and I can't wait to read the next installments! Strongly recommend this book to those that love the Fae and Urban Fantasy.

Books in this series in the order that they should be read:

1. Rosemary and Rue 
2. A Local Habitation 
3. An Artificial Night (September 7, 2010)
4. Late Eclipses (March 1, 2011)
5. The Brightest Fell (TBA)