Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Synopsis
Things are starting to look up for October "Toby" Daye. She's training her squire, doing her job, and has finally allowed herself to grow closer to the local King of Cats. It seems like her life may finally be settling down...at least until dead changelings start appearing in the alleys of San Francisco, killed by an overdose of goblin fruit.

Toby's efforts to take the problem to the Queen of the Mists are met with harsh reprisals, leaving her under sentence of exile from her home and everyone she loves. Now Toby must find a way to reverse the Queens decree, get the goblin fruit off the streets--and, oh, yes, save her own life, since more than a few of her problems have once again followed her home. And then there's the question of the Queen herself, who seems increasingly unlikely to have a valid claim to the throne....

To find the answers, October and her friends will have to travel from the legendary Library of Stars into the hidden depths of the Kingdom of the Mists--and they'll have to do it fast, because time is running out. In faerie, some fates are worse than death.

October Daye is about to find out what they are.

      ~ Buddy Style Reads ~
    Three Ways to Enjoy a Book!

At NRBC we use three styles of buddy reads. These will be indicated in the thread title as “Buddy Read”, “Relaxed Buddy Read” or “Informal Buddy Read”.

A “Buddy Read” has a discussion leader and a reading date is set to start the book. A reading schedule is posted prior to the start date and discussion questions are posted each day regarding that section of the book. More information about these types of reads is below. An example is here, showing a reading schedule here.

A “Relaxed Buddy Read” is similar to our usual “buddy reads” except there are less questions and break points. For example, a book may be split into three sections and those reading the book should pause at the end of the section to answer some discussion questions, make comments, or ask their own questions to other readers. An example is here.

An “Informal Buddy Read” doesn’t have a discussion leader and participants are asked to consider some generic questions when making comments about the book. An example is here.

A “Read and Watch Buddy Read” may be set up as any of the above, but we will also watch the movie or T.V. series - or even go to a play! - and make comparisons, discussing what has been left out or changed as well as the actors and actresses. There is a long debate of what one should do first: read the books or watch the movie? We usually read first, but it isn’t essential. Also, if you would like to join in, but don’t want to watch the movie, show, or play, but only read the books, that is fine, too. An example is here.


MORE UNDER SPOILER
(view spoiler)[

“Buddy Reads” (“BRs”) include:

• A reading schedule which can range from 50, 75, to 100 or so pages a day.

• Discussion questions posted daily by moderators and occasionally group members
   who help one of us out. If you want to be a Discussion Leader, let us know.

• If the book is really long, we'll plan a break day.

• Members do NOT have to answer every question, they are meant to stimulate
   conversations about the books AND allow us to glance back upon them when the
   sequels come out. This helps us to remember what exactly happened in the previous
   book.

• We find the buddy style of reading to be more fun than just posting one or two
   sentences about a book. We feel this is what distinguishes us as being a ‘book club’
   rather than just another GoodReads ‘group.’

• If you can NOT start the book on time, feel free to join in at a later date. They are
   set up to make it easy to do so.

• Moderators are people too, so occasionally we get sick, have to work late at our real
   jobs, or have something that keeps us from writing the questions. Please forgive us;
   we're only human and we don't get any compensation for what we do--not even
   free books!

• Discussions and questions are set up to make you think, analyze, and see things you,
   or even we, may have missed. Feel free to add your own thoughts at any time, if you
   think we've missed something.

• If you've read the book, feel free to let us know what you thought about the book.
   You can do so at the end of the buddy read, or, if you can't wait, add spoiler tags
   before you comment like:

   **************BEWARE! SPOILER FOR THE END OF THE BOOK**************

   Or insert a (view spoiler)[spoiler (hide spoiler)]. If you do NOT know how to do so, just check out our
   GoodReads 101 explanation on how to Insert a Spoiler.

• If you are looking for a reading buddy, post an inquiry in our Buddy read requests thread. Use that thread, if you want to have a repeat read of a BOM
    or buddy read, too.

• Have fun! We always do when more than one person joins in. And we look less silly
   if someone else discusses a book with us. (hide spoiler)]

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Finally, FINALLY, the Queen of the Mists will get what she deserves! LOL

I read the first 10 chapters today. Toby has come a long way. She’s part of a “scooby gang” now. Not a loner anymore!

That Queen really gets my blood boiling! I’m glad we are getting to know more about her. The book revealed that she is (view spoiler)[ not the rightful heir to the throne. And I was happy about that. (hide spoiler)] But I wonder if there is more to her (view spoiler)[ hatred of changelings. Because she is always after Toby and doesn’t care if goblin fruit kills changelings (hide spoiler)]

Also, it was creepy when Toby waited for the night haunts. (view spoiler)[ seeing Devin, Oleander and Connor again was freaky! LOL (hide spoiler)]

I’m enjoying this book too. Not sure what I will do when I catch up on the series. I’m used to reading a book every two weeks. Waiting a year will feel like an eternity!

I'm starting on this tonight :)

i'm reading it now and i just hate the queen so much, like it's very rare that i hate a fictional character THIS MUCH but she's just so awful. i'm excited for what happens next though lol

ok i read chapters 1-9. so excited for this book, a lot of shit really goes down. in this first section mainly that (view spoiler)[the queen isn't a real heir to the last king and that arden is really supposed to be queen (hide spoiler)] but if i'm remembering right we have like 3 more big reveals also in the rest of this book

I can not wait to see where this book goes. I am already sucked in and have only gotten into the first 8 chapters.

The queen (view spoiler)[is so hateful. I am not at all surprised to learn she is not the real heir to the throne. I do however question her intelligence. I mean why would she go out of her way to antagonize the local chaos magnet and set her against her. She practically waved a red flag at Toby and was like come at me. Does she just have an irrational hatred of changeling or is there a story there? (hide spoiler)]

@Claudia i think it's kind of explained a bit later in this book [although it has also already been touched on a bit] but basically it's just (view spoiler)[that she has so many different bloodlines in her and it makes her 'crazy' or whatever. which is like ...probably my least favorite part of this series tbh. i mean i get that they are literally different kinds of creatures and it's maybe not so great if someone is like ... part cat / part mermaid / part something else entirely but also the continued talk of 'mixed bloodlines make you go crazy eventually' is not great if you're thinking of it in a real world kind of way. although i know she didn't do that on purpose but sometimes i'm still just like #yikes when it talks about raysel or the queen and attributes their behavior to their bloodlines (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "ok i read chapters 1-9. so excited for this book, a lot of shit really goes down. in this first section mainly that [spoilers removed] but if i'm remembering right we have like 3 more big reveals a..."

Definitely want to find out what the other reveals will be!

Got sucked into it last night and got thru Chpt 13. I think I say this every time but damn so much is happening!!!!!

1st off - why would the goblin fruit thing be Toby's fault? Because she killed Devan (since he kept it out of the city)????? I just didn't get that. I mean, come on, not everything is HER fault! But if it is the Devan thing, if the Queen wanted it distributed, it's not like he could've stopped her.

Claudia you were right about Quentin's family - the comment about Quentin having met princesses before and I think he said 1 other thing that made it more clear. So technically he's a prince then :)

And oh my god, what just happened in the story!!!!! (view spoiler)[That had to be something the Queen made happen right? Crazy that the goblin fruit is making Toby automatically change her blood to be more human... This can't go on like this. I wonder if Amandine is going to make another appearance? Or will they get a hope chest to change her back? Then how the heck is she going to fight this goblin fruit addiction?????? (hide spoiler)] Gah, I seriously did not want to stop last night, especially with things ramping up the way they are.

And I am totally loving Toby + Tybalt together!!!

Geri wrote: "Finally, FINALLY, the Queen of the Mists will get what she deserves! LOL

I read the first 10 chapters today. Toby has come a long way. She’s part of a “scooby gang” now. Not a loner anymore!

That..."

(view spoiler)[Seeing Connor as a night haunt was really sad! And how he couldn't meet her eyes :( (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "@Claudia i think it's kind of explained a bit later in this book [although it has also already been touched on a bit] but basically it's just [spoilers removed]"

That totally makes sense (view spoiler)[but could be that I remember the passages about the mixed bloodlines and how it makes them crazy) (hide spoiler)]

on chapter 12 now, it's sad that toby realizes something is wrong because she feels content for once. womp womp -_-;

Cathy M. wrote: "Got sucked into it last night and got thru Chpt 13. I think I say this every time but damn so much is happening!!!!!

1st off - why would the goblin fruit thing be Toby's fault? Because she killed ..."

This WAS hard to put down! The whole goblin fruit thing did worry me. I know Toby can’t die, but I didn’t know how she could get over this addiction. Seanan kept me in suspense for sure!

I finished today. So much blood sucking and eating, I could have been reading a vampire novel! LOL

So now we know who Quentin’s parents are. Toby was flabbergasted, I think. LOL

And Tybalt. Once again we almost lose him! I hope he has 10,000 lives since he is royalty.

And where oh where is the Luidaeg?? Hopefully, we find out more in the next book!

Did everyone like how the Queen’s story ended? Sometimes I don’t like the law that prohibits killings. Some of these faeries do some terrible things. Anyhow, I’ll be ready for the next book!

I finished today as well. One of the reveals that I thought was in this book apparently actually wasn't. It was something they learn at the library so I assumed it was here but apparently they go back later lol

Quentin's parents though! Glad that that is finally out in the open. There's a short story later where Toby actually meets them that is pretty fun.

And I agree that I generally don't like the no killing rule. I mean for one it doesn't include everyone so it's automatically bullshit but 1. sometimes you just need to permanently get rid of someone and 2. often the things they actually do are in my opinion worse than killing so like ...just get it over with. Also the whole ~Oberon's Law~ thing and he abandoned them centuries ago so like why are you still going by that???

also apparently there's like a million Patreon-only stories about Tybalt between this book and the next one? I've read Forbid the Sea bc I found a download of it years ago but I might need to figure out how Patreon works if it gets me access to extra Tybalt content lol

So I got sucked in on the first day and after I posted the first time I read the rest of the whole book. There was so much greats stuff in this book and so many revelations. It was awesome to see my theory be proven true about Quentin's parents.

(view spoiler)[One of my favorite parts just because of the humor was Tybalt's reaction to the hairless cat and how it was naked.

There was also the running gag of the queen trying to kill Toby by having a pie shoved in her face. Who doesn't want to be assassinated by slapstick means?

Then there was the craziness that is Toby's powers. First, she was a living hope chest and could shift blood around. Now she can actually rip out people bloodlines and also temporarily take on another's powers by drinking their blood?

Also I'm confused she only changed herself back into a halfling right? OR did I misread that? Cause I thought she would have to shift to completely faerie to kick the goblin fruit addiction but it seemed like she only switched herself back into a halfling. So if she is still only half shouldn't she still be addicted to goblin fruit? (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "also apparently there's like a million Patreon-only stories about Tybalt between this book and the next one? I've read Forbid the Sea bc I found a download of it years ago but I might need to figur..."

I had no idea there were so many novellas between the full length novels. I am listening to the Audible audio and they don’t have any of the in between books. I will have to research which ones I might want to read. Hopefully, on Kindle.

The author lists the short stories on her website. A few are on there in pdf but the rest are not. http://seananmcguire.com/tobyshorts.php

haha Tybalt reacting to the hairless cat was great. Also interesting to see Madden now and have a fairy dog to compare to our fairy cats. I love how Arden is like 'how can you stand to hang around cats' and October feels pretty much the same way about the dogs [gotta say I'm probably with October on this one, I can't take that relentless enthusiasm and need for praise for long lol]

also re: Toby's blood. I think that (view spoiler)[the act of changing the blood at all is what protects her because it like burns the addiction out or whatever. Because really last time she shouldn't have been fine either but I guess changing your blood is like rapid detox lol (hide spoiler)]

Also if you just click on the part at the top of the Goodreads page that says like (October Daye #whatever) after the title then it takes you to a listing of all the short stories and where they fit into the series. I definitely have missed a bunch of them because I don't think she had actually written all of them last time I started this series.

Claudia wrote: "The author lists the short stories on her website. A few are on there in pdf but the rest are not. http://seananmcguire.com/tobyshorts.php"

Thanks, Claudia and Devann for the info on the short stories and explaining the blood thing. Changing the blood was confusing for me too.

i don't know if anyone here has seen bojack horseman [new season came out recently so it reminded me] but there's a dog on there named mr. peanut butter and that's basically how i inadvertently picture madden even though it's not even mildly accurate except for the personality lol