Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire starting February 5, 2023.

Thank you, Yanique:)

Will probably start Monday! ;D

Me too!

This is next up on my list! I don't know if I'll make Monday though...

I am going to start once I finish my current book. Looking forward to reading this series with everyone!

Read about a 3rd of this one yesterday, before iPod died... This one tends to drive me crazier than the first book in the series, because it's the one where I figured a bunch of stuff out faster than October, and also felt she was blind to some other obvious stuff too...

(view spoiler)[ between the brother/sister that never appear at the same time, the clear phone shenanigans, and how omniscient/omnipresent April is as a cyberdryad... I always feel like I want to beat some sense into October throughout this book (hide spoiler)]

I love the rest of the series to pieces tho, so I've grown more forgiving on rereads...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Read about a 3rd of this one yesterday, before iPod died... This one tends to drive me crazier than the first book in the series, because it's the one where I figured a bunch of stuff out faster th..."

Yes was about to say that! Probably my least favorite of the series... And the one I remember the most somehow?

Did a very quick reread of this one...

(view spoiler)[ I really like the beginning with Toby going out with friends and then Tybalt helping her home... A bit of a contrast from the first one when the meet on the streets. And she adopts his jacket :D

We get good bonding between Quentin and Toby in this one with some teaching about blood magic... series spoiler (view spoiler)[ I'm not sure why she didn't think its odd why she's so good at blood magic and not anything else... Theoretically as a Daoine Sidhe she should be good at both.. Who knows Amandine's true nature again? Just Luideag? (hide spoiler)]

But yeah the mystery here isn't well done.. Alex/Terry were pretty obvious to me first read and even more so now.. And the technical glitches that almost killed Toby and Quentin couldn't have come from anyone else really... (hide spoiler)]

I just got started last night. So far so good for me but I'm only in chapter four. I'll be slow because I'm reading the ebook instead of audio.

Oh another thing. Kowal pronounces kitsune as "ki-tsu-ne" in this one! I knew it wasn't "kit-soon" in later books haha

In chapter 4 (view spoiler)[This part when Elliot asks when she last bathed and then asks if he can clean her...I was like WHAT? Then it got explained, but that was so weird at first. (hide spoiler)]

Starting today? Tomorrow? Only 10 mins left in today, so we'll see...

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Read about a 3rd of this one yesterday, before iPod died... This one tends to drive me crazier than the first book in the series, because it's the one where I figured a bunch ..."

Kind of a bummer to hear y'all say that, because so far I'm definitely enjoying it more than book 1... then again, I'm only through Chapter 5. Oh! That means I can open Tammie's spoiler tag!

Tammie wrote: "In chapter 4 [spoilers removed]"

LOL! re: ch. 4 (view spoiler)[I was a little surprised at that at first too... then I was like, oh that kind of sounds nice...

I was also surprised that she's being so open so far... maybe it's that I'm just coming off of reading Amber #2 and there were big trust issues there, but I can't help but feeling that October's being a little too... like... she's taking things for granted a little too much right now. Like that the people she's meeting in the knowe are January's people.... well I'm sure we'll see soon. (hide spoiler)]

Am I the only one here reading for the first time?

Okay, up through Chapter 5.

chapter 1 description--(view spoiler)[I really liked the description of "kitten heeled shoes"--manages to both sound drunk and very unwieldy. And made me wonder if maybe McGuire had come up with that description while drunk.

Does anyone else imagine David Bowie as the Goblin King playing Rum Tum Tugger from Cats as Tybalt? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 2--dammit, I need to keep better notes. (view spoiler)[My notes say "Fremont=picture" and I have no idea what I meant... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 3 Luideag--(view spoiler)[Her "I'll kill you as soon as you ask me" routine reminds me of the Dread Pirate Roberts in Princess Bride "Good night Wesley, I'll most likely kill you on the morrow." (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4... so, Klingon and Elvish? (view spoiler)[Klingon definitely has a larger lexicon and more widespread use, with thousands of episodes and a dozen movies... I'd say Elvish has an actual linguist who created it, but probably Klingon did too... at least Game of Thrones hired a linguist to make Dothraki, so...

All or none, I say. Votes? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 5--I get it! (view spoiler)[Tamed Lightning! It's electricity! LOL I wonder if someone in Jannie's old court referred to technology derisively as such--"Oh that strange tamed lightning! It will never take off, let me tell you." And so she named her Court after it... a great title for a tech startup.... (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6--(view spoiler)[Okay, siblings who set the same sex on edge while attracting the opposite... sirens? Lamia? Are Veela a real thing?

Seeing things that disappear--the girl, the flash of gold...

Blocked communication... magical wire taps? Or is something going wrong with the Shallowing? Tech & Magic making an explosive mix? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)[Succubus & Incubus! That's what I was trying to think of.

And a Dryad in a pear *cough* information tree. Communication problems. Hm.

Kissing at this point in an investigation is suspicious. (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 9 (view spoiler)[Three bodies with puncture wounds, a comment of "Colin has suffered a hardware failure and fallen out of synch with the server." Blood drained of information. No Night-haunts. Communications failures, videos wiped. Currently suspicious of Dryad living as information tree... can't imagine that information tree on an internal server is any sort of replacement for a real tree and real world interaction.... also, if she's in their system, she probably can control everything... she's probably either responsible or knows. Surprised no one has tried to ask her yet. Did she drain the victims of their information like a tree tapping water? What feeds a server tree?

But if that's the case, why did it take so long?

I'd think vampires but these folks still have their blood. (hide spoiler)]

I'm having fun guessing so far!

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Oh another thing. Kowal pronounces kitsune as "ki-tsu-ne" in this one! I knew it wasn't "kit-soon" in later books haha"

Hah! Glad to get that fix already.

Pretty sure me and Emily are the main rereaders

Oh cool! So Tammie & I are the newbies. :) so far anyway.

Chapter 10 (view spoiler)[Ok, so Alex must also be Terrie. Two souls in one body? Or one person who changes genders daily? Makes me think of the triad people in the Sebastian books...three sisters in one body... If that's the case, I wonder if the other is conscious when one is ascendant, or if they are sleeping? (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "Chapter 10 [spoilers removed]"

This observation helped me out a lot! I was wondering what the term was.

I am also reading this for the first time. I started out really enjoying it but the past couple days have slowed down. There is something about the story that is bothering me but I can't put my finger on it. I am currently on chapter 16.

Nirkatze wrote: "Chapter 6--(view spoiler)

Chapter 7 (view spoiler)
..."

I was thinking the same things. (view spoiler)[Incubus and Succubus maybe. I even wondered if they weren't the same person that could shift from one body to another. I can't remember them being around at the the same time. (hide spoiler)]

I'm in chapter 9. (view spoiler)[The mystery of the deaths is interesting and I wouldn't be surprised if the Dryad knew something.

I really want to know what's going on with the phone calls. Are they both telling the truth, and is something interfering? The Dryad maybe? Or someone else through magic? (hide spoiler)]

Lol Nirkatze your notes that sometimes don't make sense make me laugh.. I took notes like that in classes sometimes and I went back to them and just scratched my head.

Am enjoying everyone's notes as they read! :D

I hope everyone sticks around for book 3… it’s a favorite of mine, and really sets the tone for much of the rest of the series to date…

Even as Insee people making the same comments about book 2 that me and Emily alluded to…

Timelord Iain wrote: "I hope everyone sticks around for book 3… it’s a favorite of mine, and really sets the tone for much of the rest of the series to date…"

Every time Gordan is around I get frustrated, close the book and then I tell myself that Iain was not wrong about Dresden getting better as the series went on so I need to stick with this book.

RachelG. wrote: "Every time Gordon is around I get frustrated, close the book and then I tell myself that Iain was not wrong about Dresden getting better as the series went on so I need to stick with this book...."

That's the same thing I keep telling myself.

Words to live by… always trust Iain ;)

Haha believe in the Iain :D

LOL Trust the Iain. May He Always Be With You.

Haven't had much energy to comment these last couple days--I usually find myself low on energy and time in the latter half of the week. I'm starting to see why y'all said you get annoyed at Toby for not seeing the obvi that y'all do... and I think it's less that she's not getting the clues faster, and more that she's doing a lot of "What?" and having a bit over-stubborn back-and-forths of misunderstanding, at least for me, like--through Chapter 20--(view spoiler)[the whole phones thing. Really? Why are you thinking it has anything to do with Shadowed Hills end? It's OBVIOUSLY at the local end! Someone is blocking outward/inward calls from them! So, who has that tech wherewithal, or the access to the communications? What bugs me isn't that Toby isn't putting the clues together--it's more that she isn't even asking questions in this vein, focusing almost wholly on the blood & death routes.

Gordan is the one everyone says fixed their phones to even be able to work with knowes. All the deaths so far have been purebloods and Gordan hates purebloods. Though we don't know why--part of me wonders if maybe the other County (Glass something?) is blackmailing or extorting her into something? Why was the first death the known collaborator? Unless it was planted evidence? I'm hoping we find out WHY she hates purebloods so much--it seems worse than typical outcast syndrome.

And then we have Dryad girl--who is literally INSIDE all the communications networks. Toby says something about this type of blood-memory draining never having been seen before... and what else has the world never seen before, but a frickin' Dryad in an information tree? If Alice is responsible, I don't think it would be intentional though... maybe she is an unwitting tool? Or the model? Could there be another ghost in the machine? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 21 memory (view spoiler)[Well, Jan's reaction to stealing the memory makes me think my hindbrain thoughts--that maybe the victims are expiring from attempted uploads to the server... like Kern in Children of Time, or the Matrix... are the puncture wounds from computer connectors? Is Alice trying to "save" them to memory, so they can't expire? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 23 (view spoiler)[Gunshots and fire-axes don't seem like the same MO... (hide spoiler)]

I'm enjoying yelling at Toby though, so I'm still up for round 3. :) Oh, and (view spoiler)[the bit about Mandrakes and doppelgangers makes me wonder if that's going to play into things at some point... here or later in the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Luideag reacts to having her debt paid off.

And if I ever need evidence of how oblivious Toby is as a detective, I can just point to her impressions of Tybalt. (hide spoiler)]

Nirkatze wrote: "Haven't had much energy to comment these last couple days--I usually find myself low on energy and time in the latter half of the week. I'm starting to see why y'all said you get annoyed at Toby fo..."

I didn't think of what you said in your chapter 21 spoiler. That could be it! I agree with everyone about Toby. She is clueless about a lot of things in this book, and not looking at the right things.

Me and Emily are only really complaining about that for this book, and to a lesser extent the first book… in future books, the reveals are more surprising and/or the villain is known and the problem is figuring out how to defeat them…

I agree with your thoughts, Nirkatze.

Nirkatze wrote: "Haven't had much energy to comment these last couple days--I usually find myself low on energy and time in the latter half of the week. I'm starting to see why y'all said you get annoyed at Toby fo..."

Re Tybalt (view spoiler)[ I thought by impressions you meant like... doing impressions... and I was like... when did Toby do that? xD (hide spoiler)]

I finished today! It was a fun story, but it definitely does feel like early books--both for author and character. Figuring things out, stretching wings.

I actually never commented on this at the beginning--but I think I must have missed something at the end of the last book--(view spoiler)[I didn't realize Toby had started up her P.I. Practice again, even though I do remember Sylvester (or someone) saying that they'd kept her license up to date for her (or something like that) and who were those friends at the beginning? I knew she'd gotten back in touch with Stacy and... Daryl? but other than Lilly and Sylvester's folk, I didn't realize she had friends. (hide spoiler)] I felt like I'd missed a short story in there somewhere... was there a short story between books 1 & 2?

Definitely a lot of dangling tidbits for more story in there too...

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Haven't had much energy to comment these last couple days--I usually find myself low on energy and time in the latter half of the week. I'm starting to see why y'all said you get a..."

LOL now I want to see that... (view spoiler)[but I'm not the only one who sees that Tybalt has a Thing for Toby, right? Maybe it started off as just possessive, or enjoying someone who would verbally spar with him on equal footing, but it's grown into more than that... and she just thinks he dislikes her or enjoys bating her or is only helping her because of their Deal. (hide spoiler)]

Finished. (view spoiler)[We were all pretty close with our guesses of what was going on. I just knew the brother and sister were the same person, or sharing the same body, at least. It was way too obvious that Gordon was the perpetrator. It's good to hear that the next book won't be so easy to figure out.

I felt very bad for April, but in the end it looked like she was adapting. I wonder if she ever would have 'grown up' if Jan had lived, or if she would have been stuck as a child.

I agree Nirkatze, I think Tybalt may have a thing for Toby. (hide spoiler)]

I don't think I enjoyed reading this one any more than the first book, but for different reasons. Toby being dumb was part of it. Also, I don't feel much of anything for the characters yet. I think that's my biggest problem with the series. I'm not connecting to the characters the way I want to. I know a lot of people didn't care for the Dresden Files series until after 3 or 4 books or the Kate Daniels series until after the first book, but I actually liked both of those series from the start, despite their flaws. That was because I connected to the characters. So I'm a little worried that this one won't improve for me, but I'm still going to stick it out for another book or two, to see if that changes.

Next book is THE BOOK for me… for one thing, Toby is finally taking cases she’s emotionally invested in, not ones foisted on her by Evening Winterrose or Sylvester Torquill…

Tammie wrote: "Finished. We were all pretty close with our guesses of what was going on...."

I think I have some similar feels as you as far as the character connections are concerned... still feeling a little disconnected, but enjoying the ride anyway... I think I loved Dresden as a character from the start, though the books were a little bumpy for the first few...

Fingers crossed yall have the character-connections in the next one! :D

Oh, hearing y'all praise it so, I'm really looking forward to it!

A little late to the party but Ice started and I am really liking it. It just sucks me in ans I'm probably going to finish it tomorrow or the day after
until chapter 17 (view spoiler)[ I don't have many thoughts. It's just have been very entertaining and I've lived the relationship between quintin and Toby and I wish tybalt appeared more. Alex and her sister are suspicious to me, they are enchanting Toby and quintin and it doesn't help that Alex is very cagey about his sister. She probably isn't his sister.

It's so weird seeing fae and technology together but combining their magic with technology only makes it even more crazy (hide spoiler)]

Tybalt appears more as the series progresses… especially books 6++

nirkatze, I'm also a first time reader

(view spoiler)[yeah, I also though that siblings were like succubus or incubus. I think veelas are a Harry Potter thing but you have made me doubt

I agree, the dryad supposedly sees everything and have not the murders...suspicious (hide spoiler)]

I really liked the Fae and technology meeting :D Bringing them into the modern era and whatnot..

Gotta agree with Emily & Paula--magic + tech is always a fun combo... especially when it turns combustible.

Also, @Paula--your comments on the sibs is making me wonder how many of the creatures that show up in the October Daye series are recorded historical creatures... and if any are straight made-up.

Oh hey, we're continuing with the series, yes? Are we good to put in more than 1 book at a time, and keep it the 5th/mo?