Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

This thread is open to discuss Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire.



Synopsis
October "Toby" Daye, changeling knight in the service of Duke Sylvester Torquill, finds the delicate balance of her life shattered when she learns that an old friend is in dire trouble. Lily, Lady of the Tea Gardens, has been struck down by a mysterious, seemingly impossible illness, leaving her fiefdom undefended. Struggling to find a way to save Lily and her subjects, Toby must confront her own past as an enemy she thought was gone forever raises her head once more: Oleander de Merelands, one of the two people responsible for her fourteen-year exile.

Time is growing short and the stakes are getting higher, for the Queen of the Mists has her own agenda. With everything on the line, Toby will have to take the ultimate risk to save herself and the people she loves most—because if she can't find the missing pieces of the puzzle in time, Toby will be forced to make the one choice she never thought she'd have to face again...

Late Eclipse is the fourth installment of the highly praised Toby Daye series.

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i was thinking about starting this tonight but i think i want a night off after tower teams so i'll probably start tomorrow lol

Tonight is a no reading night for me so I can actually sleep after TT :P I'll be ready to start tomorrow!

i read chapters 1-12 today and for a book i have no memory of there certainly is a lot going on lol i forgot that (view spoiler)[the queen giving toby goldengreen and oleander being back and also everyone being sick (hide spoiler)] was all in the same book!

toby and tybalt (view spoiler)[looking back i am amazed that i like tybalt so much in the later books because he's more than a bit infuriating early on (hide spoiler)]

may and jazz (view spoiler)[i love may and jazz! and am glad we're finally getting some lgbt rep in the series. it definitely picks up after this point bc seanan basically said that she realized that in her head almost everyone in faerie was bi but on paper they all looked straight so she started trying to fix that (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "i read chapters 1-12 today and for a book i have no memory of there certainly is a lot going on lol i forgot that [spoilers removed] was all in the same book!

toby and tybalt [spoilers removed]

m..."

May - (view spoiler)[Since she's a Fetch she's full fae? Just want to make sure I got that correct. Funny how she's so different from Toby when all her memories are the same (cut from the same cloth only until months ago). But do like this new relationship with Jazz. (hide spoiler)]

Tybalt - (view spoiler)[I didn't care for him in the 1st book but he's growing on me. Like that this series has not been romance heavy but they need to get together already! (hide spoiler)]

I'm thru Chpt 13 now -

(view spoiler)[Can't believe Lily died!! Well technically... So what was the big reveal by Lily at the end? That she loved Amandine? I thought it was going to be something more. So curious about what this big secret about Toby is!

The Queen giving Toby the title is nothing good. Thought someone was going to attack Toby after that for the title/lands but since that did not happen, have no idea what is in store for her on that front. But I don't think it has anything to do with the sickness/poisoning going on. Have a feeling we are really going to see just how crazy Raysel is. So many things going on! (hide spoiler)]

May: yeah she's full fae because she's a fetch. i think it's gone into more about where exactly fetches come from in the future sometime but basically she's a full fae and she has like shapeshifted i guess into october's form permanently so she looks like a changeling but isn't. i like how it seems to be kind of like she has all the same memories but maybe they're a bit more faded [seems like she forgets things often] which i guess would work since all the memories were 'implanted'

Tybalt: agree that it's nice that at the beginning he seemed to be kind of 'standard asshole love interest' but that instead of her just getting with him immediately and having him treat her like crap he is actually kind of growing as a person. i like that seanan can kind of write little romantic things into the sides of the story but not have them take over the entire thing.

Thru chpt 21 -

(view spoiler)[Its crazy how the closer Toby's death is all the changes that May has done to herself change on their own so she looks exactly like Toby. Talk about big blaring warning bell!

Can't believe Raysel is in on it. She's never been right in the head but to be part of a plan to kill her mother! And to be working with Oleander, one of her captives! Like it was Toby's fault that Simon turned her into a fish...

Manuel is also in on it. He keeps blaming Toby for Dare's death but its more his fault than hers. If he didn't listen to Devin and pull the gun on Toby Dare might still be alive. And for her to also blame herself? MAkes me also wonder if the queen was in on it because she did give Toby the title right before all these things started happening. (hide spoiler)]

yeah it kills me how everyone keeps blaming toby because she didn't save them or whatever and i'm like mmmm how about blaming the actual asshole who did the thing rather than the person who tried and failed to save them???

i'm about to start chapter 21 now and hope to get through chapter 25 by the end of the day

Thank you, EXACTLY!!!!!

At least she' s only called herself a hero once so far hahahaha!!

up to the end of chapter 25 now and IT'S ABOUT FRIGGIN TIME. well, not everything has been revealed about toby's past but i've been waiting for this since the first book lol

(view spoiler)[i've been sitting over here like CAN'T WAIT TO TALK ABOUT HOW TOBY ISN'T ACTUALLY THE KIND OF FAE SHE THINKS SHE IS AND ALSO FOR HER BLOOD TO GET SHIFTED but of course i can't say that because major spoilers lol. i hope the rest of it is revealed in this book because honestly it's pretty neat but i guess we'll see (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "up to the end of chapter 25 now and IT'S ABOUT FRIGGIN TIME. well, not everything has been revealed about toby's past but i've been waiting for this since the first book lol

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Okay so is it a really big deal that she's not a Daione Sidhe as she always thought but a different type of fae? And boo for Amandine having such a short scene! And has she been manipulating Toby's blood to make her more fae? And so is she now closer to full-blood fae? She says she still feels her mortality so still a changeling but I'm so confused so gonna read this chpt for the 3rd time...

I really hate Raysel & Manuel. They both need to die.

And lastlt what is going to happen to May now that she's not Toby's Fetch?!!!!!?! (hide spoiler)]

Thru Chpt 28 -

(view spoiler)[Huh so Amandine is a Firstborn. Even though Toby is a half-blood she should still be more powerful then right because Amandine's is almost at the top of the chain? The ability to change her blood is an interesting outcome! So she can make her blood more human to kill the iron poisoning, or earlier, change her blood more fae so the elf-shot didn't kill her.

But I also wonder - if Amandine is one of the Firstborn, shouldn't the Queen have some sort of fear of Amandine? Or is it because Amandine is known as being mad.

And another thing, that means the Luidaeg is her aunt right?! Is that why she has never killed Toby, has an affection for her & continues to help her when she can? (hide spoiler)]

@Cathy yeah it's a basically a really big deal because (view spoiler)[because she is the only one of this type of fae that anyone knows about [with her mother being firstborn and all] and we're already seeing a bit of it here but she's going to discover more abilities that she didn't really know about before as we move forward in the series. also the whole thing with her mom changing her blood to make her more human.

i think at this point she is basically half and half bc at some point in this book someone is like 'now you're back where you started' so before when she thought she was half human i think she was really mostly human [although i guess not enough to need the faerie ointment like marcia] whereas now she's kind of like back to how she was born although her mother was messing with from such a young age that she doesn't really remember.

also people don't really know that amandine is firstborn. like tybalt had to go searching for that info so it's not necessarily readily available. i think most people think she's just crazy or whatever and don't realize that she's firstborn.

and yeah part of the luidaeg liking toby i think is because of the family ties but there is also something else that she keeps hinting at that STILL hasn't been revealed yet in the series so i'm kind of still in the dark about that as well (hide spoiler)]

i finished up this morning and yeah this book has a lot of big reveals in it so definitely an important book in the series.

also re: the whole connor / toby / tybalt like i don't want to say too much bc i don't want to spoil the future books but god i will be so happy when 'fight over toby' time is over lol i mean it's definitely not as unbearable as love triangles in other series but i'm still like y'all need to chill

All caught up now. :) Through chapter 21

Tybalt -(view spoiler)[ He is starting to grow on my despite how annoying he can be. He kind of reminds of a little kid sometimes pulling Toby's pigtails. I find it funny that Toby still hasn't really caught on that Tybalt actually likes her. (hide spoiler)]

Lily -(view spoiler)[ I was completely heartbroken by Lily passing. Even more so when it turns out later they found her pearl before she died but didn't hand it over and instead let Lily die. (hide spoiler)]

Raysel -(view spoiler)[I am seriously torn on her. Like it sucks that she had such a shitty childhood. And i can see how she could be angry if her mom constantly told them they would be saved by Toby and Sylvester and then no one saved them. then to have to be constantly compared to someone else and found lacking can also suck. I still think it's horrible that she plans to have Toby killed off just so she can get revenge. (hide spoiler)]

Oleander & Toby - (view spoiler)[Toby seems so focused on it being Oleander but part of me has to wonder if it's someone else making it seem like it's Oleander. I think they deliberately got her focused on Oleander to throw her off. What do you guys think? (hide spoiler)]

I'm a bit behind and will be starting today!

Finished. It seems like this book brought up a lot of revelations for Toby but also brought up a lot more questions.

(view spoiler)[ Wow I don't even know where to start. I was really disappointed that Raysel was the one trying to kill her parents. I mean I saw it coming but I kinda hoped she was just really angry and not you know murderous on top of her crazy.

Then there was the queen who just seriously wants Toby dead and is probably plotting other evil things since didn't manage it this time. She was not happy that they got Toby pardoned for Blind Micahel by the high king.

Then there is Quintin who is starting to become really interesting. several times through the book they kind of alluded to him being more important than he seems. Like he actually seemed to think he could take on Raysel and Raysel seemed to emphasize that he was only a courtier while in her father's court. This made me wonder more about who he is outside Sylvester's court. (hide spoiler)]

@claudia lmao i read book 12 yesterday and this entire series is just 'tons of answers but EVEN MORE QUESTIONS' like seanan you're killing me!

and i'm so excited for quentin's background to finally be revealed although i don't actually remember when that happens so it might be awhile. it's definitely making the reread interesting to me because there are a lot of clues dropped that i totally missed the first time around [noticing that with a lot of things actually]. although i don't think raysel actually knew who he was, i think she was just talking shit lol

do you guys want to do the next one on the 15th or wait until the beginning of october? i only ask because i noticed the thread this time around was a little quiet so i thought people might be getting burnt out lol

I'm in for the 15th but am fine with October as well.

Personally I would like to read them a little faster but I'll stick with you guys as long as you want to continue to read them.

I was a little burned out from TT so took a couple days break from reading & coming on GR. Am having a hard time deciding what I feel like reading next :/

Part of me does want to read it a bit faster. Just because each book just adds more questions and makes me want to know what's going to happen next. :)

Devann wrote: "@Cathy yeah it's a basically a really big deal because ..."

(view spoiler)[Yea it became more and more clear as I read - how her & her mother are different than any other fae. That's crazy how Amandine changed her blood to be more human so I'm really interested to see how many more abilities she will have. Because Amandine was Firstborn, Toby should be mad powerful, even if she is half human! (hide spoiler)]

Claudia wrote: "Finished. It seems like this book brought up a lot of revelations for Toby but also brought up a lot more questions. ..."

(view spoiler)[That WAS disappointing that Raysel tried to kill Luna & drive her father mad. Just for revenge & power. I knew she had to be part of the whole bring Toby down scheme but was sort of hoping that she was being coerced or being manipulated somehow. Oleander WAS one of the ones to kidnap her all those years ago and we know how messed up in the head she was. I'm sure this won't be the last that we see of her though I'm not really looking forward to it.

At least Oleander's gone. It was a nice turn of events that Raysel was the one to kill her. Wondering now where Simon has been all this time.

I've always liked Quentin. Didn't really catch on that he was more important than he seems but love when he's around :) (hide spoiler)]

ok i will request the thread for the 15th then. i'm totally fine with reading them at that pace but it did seem like people were a bit tired from tower teams so i didn't know if we wanted to push it back or if we were basically recovered lol.

also i literally read book 12 the other day when it came out and it's still just 'here are some answers but also EVEN MORE QUESTIONS' like seanan you are an evil genius WHY lol

I was quiet only because I couldn't put this one down!!!
Adding a spoiler in case someone isn't finished yet.
(view spoiler)[ All the reveals!! But it still so confusing!!! Mentioning that she's where she started has me wondering if she is a changeling at all? I don't know she seems to see some of herself in her father when she was dying from the elf-shot so urggg I'm still confused as to what she is!!! I really really really loved this one! To me this one is the best by far!! My only two complaints are still not big enough for me to knock any stars of because they're pretty minor. My first - The use of the word deadpan. It wasn't used as much as the word hero in the last book but it was still used a bit too much. It was stupid. My second - everyone blaming Toby for things that were not her fault. The Queen hates Amandine, why? I don't know but let's hate Toby just for that alone. Or so it seems for now. Manuel, oh geez, I watched someone else kill her but I'm going to repeatedly scream "You KILLED her Toby!!" Raysel, oh my lord at this point I'm losing my patience. She blames Toby for not saving her but teams up with the bitch that actually tormented her, yeah ok that makes sense...I guess. At least she killed Oleander in the end but it makes up for absolutely nothing. Anyways, I digress because the rest of the book was just genius brilliance! I really liked that even though Toby was still running around like a chicken with her cut off she wasn't doing anything too stupid. Except at the ball when she caught the scent of Oleander's magic and just decided to chase her...alone. But she did stop herself so that's HUGE progress for Toby! (hide spoiler)]

Can't wait to read the next one and I'm good to go for the 15th!

Jessi wrote: "I was quiet only because I couldn't put this one down!!!
Adding a spoiler in case someone isn't finished yet.
[spoilers removed]

Can't wait to read the next one and I'm good to go for the 15th!"

I know what you mean. (view spoiler)[ Everyone in the book seemed to hate Toby for things that were not her fault. The thing with Raysel was also particularly infuriating because she did team up with the person who is actually behind her hellish childhood. Like I get she is jealous of Toby but that was just so stupid to me. Raysel seemed to be like"I hate you for not saving me. Let me team up with the actual person who tormented me and try to kill my parents for liking you more." I was like seriously?!! Especially since later per Sylvester they would have totally forgiven Raysel for killing Toby & Lily and the only reason he doesn't forgive Raysel is that she harmed and tried to kill her mother.

Toby did actually do a bit better in this book regarding her safety but she still had some impulsive moments that had me shaking my head. She got really worked up over Oleander and totally lost her cool and calm but considering the history it makes sense. (hide spoiler)]

@Jessi i'm gonna put this behind a spoiler cut in case but it's not really spoilery if you've finished the book, re: what toby actually is (view spoiler)[she definitely is a changeling, it's just that before when she thought she was like 'half and half' her mother had actually made her more mortal than fae. and since her mother is firstborn, even though she's half human now she's going to be stronger than most changelings because like the firstborn are strongest and then their kids are next strongest after that and it's like the 'magic' kind of gets more diluted the further it gets from the 'source' i guess, at least for those first few generations (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "@Jessi i'm gonna put this behind a spoiler cut in case but it's not really spoilery if you've finished the book, re: what toby actually is [spoilers removed]"

That makes total sense and I'm kind of mad at myself for not getting something that easy.

Wasn’t able to post earlier. Things got too crazy with me reading the BOM. But I read book 4 and loved it. I agree with Jess that this was the best book so far. It keeps getting better, so I’ll keep reading. But it does become tiresome that everyone blames everything on Toby. I read through the comments and I didn’t see anything about what the Luidaeg said (I think it was the Luidaeg) about Amandine’s (view spoiler)[“children”. (hide spoiler)] That struck me as odd. More secrets to be revealed?

I’ll be reading the next book too. I may be late.....as usual!

Geri wrote: "Wasn’t able to post earlier. Things got too crazy with me reading the BOM. But I read book 4 and loved it. I agree with Jess that this was the best book so far. It keeps getting better, so I’ll kee..."

I actually did catch that then promptly forgot about that while I was complaining lol.

Geri wrote: "Wasn’t able to post earlier. Things got too crazy with me reading the BOM. But I read book 4 and loved it. I agree with Jess that this was the best book so far. It keeps getting better, so I’ll kee..."

I totally forgot about that! (view spoiler)[So that has to mean Toby has siblings somewhere right?!?!?! (hide spoiler)]

Cathy M. wrote: ".I totally forgot about that! (view spoiler)"

I think so!