Rosemary and Rue

Rosemary and Rue was a good debut UF. It was an intro into the world of October Daye. Much of it felt like just that, an introduction into her fae world where, in the midst of solving a murder, we learn about the many,

many different types of fae and fae lines, including changelings (half breeds, like Toby). There were times where I was a bit lost. But, for your reference, there's a long list of types in the front of the book.

(I sometimes cringe when I see those, wondering how easy it'll be to follow the story without first memorizing all the info thrown at us before the first "Hi, how are ya".) If you removed all of that {world-building} the book would've been short, but still interesting.

That being said though, now that we have all been

fully educated on Toby's world and the inhabitants in it, I'm hoping book #2 will be heavier on the character interaction and lighter on the world-building. :)

October said,

"I live in a city by the sea where the fog paints the early morning, parking is more precious than gold, and Kelpies wait for the unwary on street corners. Neither of the worlds I live in is quite mine, but no one can take them away from me. Stuck between two worlds ... her journey to find "home" continues in book #2, [b:A Local Habitation|6782465|A Local Habitation (October Daye, #2)|Seanan McGuire|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275916957s/6782465.jpg|6984561].

This is a tough one to rate.

I liked the world, and that alone has me interested in continuing onward, but this story as a whole was pretty unsatisfying. It was really circular... like, every 3 chapters ended with Toby almost dying, and accepting it as she sank into darkness... and then being surprised to wake up. I mean, seriously, she was "dead" about a half dozen times in this book.

It just didn't feel like any real forward progress happened in this story at all.

I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt, here, and assume it was just a mess of setup for the rest of a really great series, because I've heard plenty of great things about these books from other people. We'll see.

it wasn't a quick and easy read. It didn't grab me from the beginning keeping me reading all the night. I'm not sure why. The plot is absorbing and the world-building is well done. Maybe it's because this world-building, there are so many descriptions of it and of the customs of fae. It was a bit slow from time to time. And it is definitely much darker than I expected. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. But it definitely makes the whole story more complicated and intriguing.

October is such an interesting character with all her tragic past and mixed ancestry. I don't think she likes herself a lot and I wish she eventually find her peace and a place for herself. She is one of the reasons the book is so dark in my opinion.

I will definitely read the other books in this series.

The first book needed a stronger pace & more interesting plot. It was like a babbling brook, with only a few scary depths. I fear many people drop the series because of #1. But: please hold on! I'd already gotten #2 together with #1, and because it wasn't all bad and the premise was still interesting, I read it. Boy, am I happy I did! Book 1 is a bit of a fluke and doesn't give the right idea of October Daye. What you hoped for and didn't get in #1, you'll get more in #2, and for sure in #3. The series gets better by the book. I'm at #12 now, and it's become an 'UF kickass heroine recommendation' with good story arcs per book, antagonists you can truly hate, side characters to love and a love interest that's indeed actually interesting. Not within my "Absolute Faves*", but certainly one I'm thoroughly enjoying now. (* Harry Dresden, Rachel Morgan, Cat & Bones, Kate Daniels etc).