★★★☆☆ Simon is still droopy, but at least we learn things

With Sweet Peace

Seanan McGuire

With Sweet Peace is Seanan McGuire's September 2022 Patreon reward. It is a story in her October Daye series, and continues the recent series of short stories about Simon and August Torquill's settling into their new lives in Saltmist. Here's how she introduced it on Patreon,

Uh-oh! Here we go again. Faerie needs therapists, but at least August knows what those are, and can help her father a little bit with trying to figure himself out. We're Undersea again, as the timeline marches forward, and August gets info Toby lacks.

With Sweet Peace is the sixth Patreon story set in what I will call the Lorden household (because Lorden/Twycross/Torquill becomes unwieldy). In A Killing Frost Simon Torquill was freed of his entanglements with several horrifying fae women: Eira Rosynhwyr, Amandine, and Oleander (although to be accurate, Oleander had already been dead for several novels at the time) and immediately entered into new, one hopes less horrifying, entanglements, this time with Patrick Twycross and Dianda Lorden and August Torquill. Patrick and Dianda are husband and wife. However, we learned at the time that Patrick's feelings for Simon are more than a purely Platonic friendship. Thus Dianda and Patrick propose marriage to Simon. Simon accepts, and as a result they all ended up in a mariage a trois. August is Simon's daughter with his now former wife Amandine. August, having the choice as to which parent to stay with, separates herself from Amandine and goes with Simon.

All this domestic reshuffling is especially fraught because Dianda is the Duchess (i.e., head of state) of the Duchy of Saltmist, a Fae domain in the Pacific Ocean. Yes, literally in the Pacific. Dianda is a Merrow, i.e. a mermaid, and her home and castle is underwater. This of course complicates life for August and Simon, who are an air-breathers. However, since Patrick is also an air-breather, Saltmist has developed ways to accommodate terrestrial fae.

The first two Lorden household stories, And Deeps Below and Sacrifice Your Tears were told from Simon Torquist's point of view. Their prevailing characteristic was the droopy, depressing tone of Simon's narration. These were followed by Into the Sea and In Safety Rest, which are told from August's point of view. August has her troubles, but she is altogether a happier presence than Simon. With Upon Your Honor we returned to Simon, and he was, if anything droopier than before. This month we have both August and Simon. The story is told from August's point of view, but Simon does a lot of talking, so it continues the droopy tone.

As McGuire's introduction suggests, we get some new information about Eira Rosynhwyr's past machinations. For that reason I'm giving this one three stars, rather than two.

With Sweet Peace on Patreon

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