★★☆☆☆ There are knives...

And with Reveling

Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire has made a practice of including a bonus novella with each of her published novels. And With Reveling is the bonus novella for When Sorrows Come. When Sorrows Come recounts the events surrounding Toby's wedding to Tybalt, culminating after a lot of fuss and bother in the wedding itself. When Sorrows Come ends with Toby a married woman and Tybalt a wedded man. (Well, whether Tybalt is a man is debatable, but if you've read previous October Daye novels, you don't need me to go into that.)

The wedding is followed by a reception, as weddings typically are. And With Reveling tells us what went down during the reception. And it's mostly the sorts of things you expect to happen at a wedding reception: people eat canapés and cake, have conversations, and friends congratulate the bride and groom. That's all pretty dull, which is why only two stars.

Long-time October Daye readers will not be surprised to learn that knives are involved. But you may be surprised that no one gets stabbed, and no one bleeds.

Since And With Reveling is the very last October Daye work to be published before 3-Mar-2022 (the date of writing this review) and therefore the last or almost the last before the release of Be the Serpent next fall, it is, I think, appropriate to speculate a little on where the series is going. Since the big prophecies concerning Toby have been fulfilled -- the Roane were restored in The Unkindest Tide and Toby brought Oberon home in A Killing Frost -- I feel it is about time for the series to wrap up. We know that there are at least two books yet to come, Be the Serpent and These Violent Delights. The publisher's blurb for Be the Serpent tells us that a betrayal is in store for Toby. I know who I think the betrayer will be, but I will not say more here. It is interesting that the cover of Be the Serpent, rather than being the traditional picture of Toby, is plain black, with the title and author in white. It is as if McGuire wants us to know that heavy stuff is going down.

It is my hope that Be the Serpent disposes of the left-over Toby prophecies, particularly the return of Maeve and a promise The Luidaeg made to Toby that has yet to be fulfilled. I rather expect Be the Serpent to end on a cliff-hanger, and These Violent Delights to deliver the final triumphant apotheosis.

Wir werden wissen.

Amazon review of When Sorrows Come

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