Customer Reviews

A Local Habitation: An October Daye Novel (October Daye Series)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was really looking forward to A Local Habitation. Rosemary and Rue impressed me - it was smart, with a really vivid setting and amazing worldbuilding, and an appealing underdog heroine. I had some problems with the plotting, but it had so many of the qualities necessary to a good series that I was excited about continuing on with the story.

Having read A Local Habitation, I'm not exactly disappointed. I read it in one sitting, but this time I didn't close the book eager to find out what happens next. I still admired the really excellent setting and atmosphere. But the new book provided new, different plotting problems. I thought that the author telegraphed the villain too soon, and too obviously. That's overstating things a bit, but without giving spoilers, all I can say is I had a rough idea of how things were going to play out by page...I don't know, 50 or 60? Way, way too early.

And then I started getting irritated that Toby wasn't seeing the obvious. It's frustrating to read a book where you can put together all the clues, and you know that your protagonist has access to all the same information that you do, but doesn't make the same connections. It's even more frustrating when people are dying all over the place. Toby starts off the book feeling all this guilt because she couldn't keep Dare alive, and then she walks into her next assignment and repeats the same mistakes she made before.

There's one really key moment in A Local Habitation where Toby decides she needs to perform a very dangerous ritual. It's a really cool scene in the book. It's tense, fascinating, gives us insight into the world of fairy and Toby's character, shows us how brave she is and how totally willing she is to put everything on the line for the safety of others. The problem? It's ultimately a distraction. If Toby had opted not to perform this dangerous and fascinating ritual, she'd probably have solved her case a lot faster, and prevented someone from dying.

And I think that McGuire has a similar issue with the Tybalt plotline. Tybalt is an obvious love interest. McGuire writes their interactions as though they still have some sort of love/hate relationship, but they don't act that way at all. When Tybalt leaves his jacket at Toby's house at the beginning of the novel, she picks it up and wears it for pretty much the rest of the book, and takes comfort from the smell. When Toby is in trouble, Tybalt drops everything to come to the rescue. Tybalt is blatantly jealous - which Toby somehow doesn't pick up on at all - and Toby finds him attractive. So why does she consider pretty much every single other adult male in the whole novel as a potential love interest, but not Tybalt?

I love a good, slow, prickly advance-and-retreat between a heroine and her love interest. I'll follow along for book after book, watching the couple slowly, slowly, slowly get closer. But that's not what's going on here. Toby and Tybalt have advanced, neither is retreating, and the author is artificially keeping them apart to draw out their plotline. Apparently she thinks that readers can't tell the difference, but I can and I find it maddening.

So basically, the second book in the series had all the same strengths and weaknesses as the first one did. When McGuire does something well, she does it really well. But I'm starting to think that it's just not enough, at least for me. I love Toby, she has a great voice, I love McGuire's fairy-riddled San Francisco, I love the characters, so many of the twists and turns are really COOL, but I always feel like I'm being pulled along the author's guided track. The staging is perfect, but she loses me on the execution.

I really want to be more enthusiastic. I'd love to leave a glowing review. But I can't.

I preface this review by stating that there may be spoilers, depending upon how aggravated I become later on.

There are two ways to look at this book. The first presents a kinder interpretation of Seanan McGuire's writing skills: this is really the story of an incompetent detective. One whose failure to perform even the most basic of due diligence required (more on that in a moment) amounts to hundreds of pages of watching someone metaphorically fall down stairs.

The second interpretation is that Seanan McGuire can write well enough to keep you interested, but otherwise has no idea how to move a plot along. The story bumbles on well beyond what is necessary, to such an extent that for the second time in a row the plot is only resolved as follows: "Insert blatant affirmation of murderer by co-conspirator at the very end". The plot actually resolves itself in this case because there is no one left standing by the end. October actually runs out of suspects and she still can't solve the crime.

This second interpretation is further supported by the fact that a closer examination of the plot reveals not a whole lot. Nothing really happens. October gets coffee. October is challenged by a red herring. October correctly interprets red herring as pointless waste of time. Does this deter her from risking life and limb performing a completely, utterly and entirely unnecessary ritual to confirm what she already knows? No. No it does not.

And that's literally what happens. The questions I had at the end of the book were those I posed above: Is October's stupidity a function of character portrayal or a consequence of Seanan's inability to draw the plot together? Let's look at a few examples.

Basic due diligence: I'm no detective. In fact, the extent of my detective sensibilities begins and ends with a bachelors class on auditing financial statements. Yet from that class, I gleamed some basics: perform due diligence. Build a case profile. Who are the suspects? What do they do in the company? What projects are they working on? I cannot stress this one enough, because it literally would have solved the entire mystery in three seconds: WHAT IS THE JOB DESCRIPTION OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL? Really, October? You've been a detective for decades and you can't be bothered to go through something as accessible and readily available as an employee dossier?

Wait! Hold on! She does that! In fact, October and /two other people/ go through every employee profile-- in a company staffed by no more than EIGHT PEOPLE-- twice. Twice! And they learn nothing! In fact, October can't even be bothered to ask the most basic of all questions: What do you do here? What project are you working on? It's clear from the get go that there is something going on that's very recently caused deaths in identical fashion. And it's very, very clear from the beginning that it's all related to what the company in question was doing prior to October's arrival.

It's worth pointing out that the employees in question are so absolutely neurotic about fine detail that they record everything. Everything. They kept the feathers of a crow-fae long after she left the corporation.

If that is not clue enough, at one point one character says to October: "You need to ask me about what we were doing when you wake up. Please. Ask me. I have to tell you all the secrets I've been keeping from you. Please ask me." Why was she asleep, you wonder? Well, in an environment where the murder rate is about one employee per sixteen hours, October decides to ignore with impunity those galling mundane tactics in favor of a life-threatening ritual. From this ritual, she learns /nothing/. Nothing at all. And then she has to sleep to recuperate, a sleep long enough that statistically someone should die.

And they do. Someone actually dies in the interim because October is too dense to plug and chug the formula A + B = C. Who, you may ask? Why, the person who was begging October to ask the questions she should have asked a few days before more people died. Does she follow up on this? Does she do this? No. No she does not. She doesn't bother to ask the employees about their dark project, despite it having been glaringly obvious from about page 60, until a few pages before one character drops the ball and admits everything.

Most horrifying of all, you actually repeatedly sit inside October's mind and watch her struggle to piece together evidence. She actually asks: "How could that happen?" or "She can do that? Interesting" and then fails to draw a conclusion upon which to base a sentence warranting arrest. That kind of behavior is tolerable only when a teacher is instructing a student tackling a particularly difficult field. But when coming from a seasoned detective? It's basic logical analysis and it's not particularly hard when the blame can only be spread around a pool of three people.

What's next? Another red herring, in which we learn that one employee apparently thought it was a good idea to balance her checkbook at work. Usually that's irrelevant, but this employee apparently thought nothing of bringing envelopes full of cash given to her by a rival noble from another kingdom for spying on the company she works for. You've all done that, right? I'm sure Apple's spies in Microsoft regularly flip through their bankrolls at the office and then painstakingly record their ill-gotten gains in easy-to-read checkbook entries labeled "TREASON MONEY".

As is usually the case with Seanan McGuire, this actually goes nowhere and is completely irrelevant. Other than being mildly unsurprising (Fae are notorious for subterfuge in just about every portrayal of them since Shakespeare, right?), it simply brings to question the author's writing talents. I mean, is this seriously the story of an inept detective who only gets it right when it has no meaning? Or is this the patter of an author whose plots can basically be summarized as "Mystery is made appallingly obvious, October fails to see, October fails to perform research, October gets coffee and then runs around, everyone hugs October, murderer admits all"? There's really a grim humor to either interpretation, but the former really makes a show out of watching October's stupidity cause her great pain.

If you can appreciate that kind of reading, which for the sake of the author I'm going to assume is completely unintentional, then read this book. It's worth 5 stars if you enjoy watching a detective with clue-dyslexia stumble through a plot blazing with neon signs. If you can't separate the author's inability to draw her character through a plot of believable events that would provoke clever responses from someone who is supposed to be a highly experienced mystery solver... then this book is worth 2 stars and is not for you.

After reading the first book in this series and enjoying it greatly, I was really looking forward to this one. First off, it did keep my attention enough for me to be able to finish it off in just a couple of days. But...I felt very disappointed afterwards. I felt McGuire did the heroine, October Daye, a great injustice when she wrote her in as a bumbling detective. Tobie was orginally written as a character with many decades of experience as a detective. Not only that, she was awarded Knighthood in her realm. Someone of this caliber should not have made the mistakes she made. McGuire instead played the story out like an Agatha Christie novel where everyone is dying on the Bullet Express and the killer is not found until a measly three suspects are left (actually two and a half). Hmm, I wonder who it could be? Then to top it off, she has to have the murderer tell all at gunpoint at the end. "Yea, I did it, that's right, and I'd do it again. Muhahahaha!"

What made me finish off the book so fast, you ask? Tybalt. He started off the story and it has been sooooooo obvious to all the readers and not the heroine that he has the hots for her. I kept reading to find out if the V8 can was going to knock her in the forhead or not. Or not. So that was a bit of a disappointment to me, also. I don't like my main characters so dumb. Authors need to get a clue.

Will I read the next one? Sure. I thought the first was great and orginal. I'm going to hope this second one was a fluke.

My main objection has already been stated by previous reviewers, so I'm not going to say too much here. The main character is so incredibly clueless, it makes the book almost unreadably frustrating. This applies both to her insanely bumbling attempts at investigation and her failure to see the obvious in her personal life. I can't enjoy a book whose main character I consistently want to smack.

This book is much better than the negative reviews led me to believe, but sadly, it's not as good as McGuire's Rosemary and Rue. It strikes a middle ground which will appeal to readers of character fantasy, but not procedural mystery. On balance, I'm glad I read it, but that gladness does not overcome my disappointment at the workmanlike mystery.

Toby Daye's newly reclaimed life has barely come together when Duke Sylvester sends her on a search-and-rescue mission. With a trainee in tow, she finds a computer company on the edge, where workers refuse to divulge their secrets. Because of arcane rules, Toby can't call for help, and she can't force anyone to answer her questions. But everyone becomes more forthcoming when they can no longer hide the accumulating bodies.

McGuire's interest in this book is her characters. October "Toby" Daye, still recovering from the traumas in the previous book, has to sort through old wounds and conflicted loyalties. Her mentee, Quentin, must juggle his fae loyalties with the human life he has come to love. And the enigmatic Tybalt, with his petty antagonisms and unclear motivations, lingers over the story like a dark erotic demigod.

But all this character development comes at the expense of the mystery. We read almost a quarter of the book before McGuire establishes that there has even been a crime. Then she shrugs her way through a ho-hum "Ten Little Indians" plot in which the supposed detective can just identify the killer as the last one standing. This story needs a good dose of procedural rigor.

And, while McGuire intensely expands her recurring characters, she handles her ensemble very haphazardly. I only build up strong fellow-feeling for one of them. Toby keeps sizing up at least two ensemble characters as potential romantic interests, even though at least one makes me want to shout "No! Bad touch!" All this while she denies the one character she seems truly interested in.

Books of this sort walk a narrow path. They must develop the epic fantasy arc of the series while also solving the mystery of the single volume. McGuire is clearly more interested in the former than the latter. Readers who love smart, witty characterization will love this book and savvy every page. Mystery fans will finish up disappointed. Which one are you?

I just finished reading "A Local Habitation", and I feel a bit frustrated. I'll try to explain why without spoilers, but some of what I have to say may still be a bit spoilerish, so be warned.

In "Rosemary and Rue," the setting and the mystery were brilliantly executed, but Toby's conduct was frustrating because she seemed to be putting herself in harm's way gratuitously and unnecessarily because she didn't know how, or from whom, to accept help.

In "A Local Habitation," she seems to have gotten over that problem. Unfortunately, the mystery is unconvincing. It's unconvincing because neither Toby nor anyone else seems to ask the right questions of the Tame Lightning people or to try to explore why the phone network (which is, effectively, the dryad its liege has adopted as a daughter) doesn't seem to be able to connect TL with Sylvester's realm. *No one* seems to realize this is a possible clue to what is going on until halfway through the book, including Toby. However, some of the other characters might have a psychological reason for not looking at this detail. Toby doesn't, and Alex's flirtation with her doesn't seem to provide enough reason (especially when she's not in his presence or on the premises of TL).

So perhaps the real problem is that McGuire isn't really certain how to plot a murder mystery--to give the readers the proper amount of suspense and clues--without artificial contrivances. If that's the case, Toby needs a new job, pronto. Because after all the effort McGuire has invested in making Faerie, and the Fae, feel real, introducing those contrivances to cobble together a murder mystery damages the credibility of the world she has built. For me, it took a lot of enjoyment out of what was otherwise a well-written story, with some neat characters and scenes in it. That's why I gave this book only 3 stars. There is excellent writing and lots of potential here, but as a murder mystery, "A Local Habitation" just doesn't cut it. It's too obvious, and Daye's simply too inept as an investigator, to make the mystery parts work.

"Giants and witches, fairy-tale monsters...those are for heroes. For everything else, they have people like me."
~October "Toby" Daye

I said it in my review of Rosemary and Rue; I tend to not be fond of fae mythos in general because it makes my brain hurt. I ALSO said that I really liked Rosemary and Rue, the first book in the October Daye series, despite it...and despite myself. Well, with A Local Habitation, I may have to stop saying it altogether. I don't know what it is about Seanan McGuire, but she makes me like (if not totally understand) fae mythos. That's pretty darn impressive.

In ALH we pick up with October "Toby" Daye six months after the events of Rosemary and Rue, and her liege, Duke Sylvester, has called on her to check out the well being of his niece, Countess January, who has fallen off the grid, so to speak, and who rules a small annexed territory between two counties that share hostility for each other. Toby sets out with Quentin, the young noble foster Daoine Sidhe we met in R and R, to find out if January's okay and why she's fallen out of contact with her uncle. Everything they find when they reach their odd and curious destination just begs more questions than it answers, however, and what answers they do find make absolutely no rational sense. Of course, when it comes to Faery, it doesn't have to make sense to kill you - and the things that make the least sense are always the things that kill you the fastest. And that's just another day in the life of Toby Daye, Daoine Sidhe changling and PI.

Old friends and new abound in this book, and much to my delight, the fae world according to McGuire is fleshing out quite nicely...if in mostly terrifying ways. ALH is a tightly paced, tightly packed, and gut clenching mystery that I found quite a bit more satisfying than even Rosemary and Rue - and that's saying something. Toby is a great character, and I find myself liking her more and more. I completely appreciate a character who isn't ever going to be the strongest, fastest, or best at anything, and in fact, as a changling (half-fae, half-human) straddling both worlds will always leave Toby at a severe disadvantage. But she just keeps on keeping on in such gritty, spirited, kick-butt ways that I have nothing but respect for her.

In ALH we get to see a more philosophical side to Toby in those rare down times when she's taken a minute to breathe (or recover), and they're intrinsically appealing, because I really started to get a sense both of who she is as a person, and how she thinks. She's the quintessential anti-hero. She knows it, she accepts it, and she likes that about herself. It adds a breath of fresh air to the characterization and makes her a lot of fun to read. And joy of joys, the King of Cats is back, and the scenes between him and Toby literally sing with potential tension. Tybalt keeps doing things that indicate he doesn't feel as antagonistic towards Toby as she has claimed since the beginning, yet she hasn't seemed to notice yet. I just love that about them.

Of course, when Tybalt gets an up close and personal view of Toby's true nature it has an as yet unrealized affect on him, so for all I know things may change. After all, McGuire is NOT an author to trust if you prefer all main and secondary characters to be treated kindly throughout a series. She's already proven she has no qualms about fully exploring the dark side of urban fantasy. People - even fae - can and do suffer horribly and die, so hold your favorite characters close while you can. This series is a lot like life that way. There are never any guarantees.

Well...except the guarantee of a SUBERB read and a hell of a book. Because with the October Daye series, that is absolutely guaranteed.

Long title for a review, I know.

Look, the bottom line is that I LOVE this character and I LOVE this world that McGuire has created. I think the intricate world of the fae is well developed and the characters we are slowly getting to know, most notably October Daye, are colorful and interesting.

HOWEVER- this really is the worst example of detective work I have ever seen, heard of, had implied or even hinted at. Please be aware that though I enjoyed reading this book, I felt the over whelming urge to pound it on the table every few minutes in an attempt to straighten out Toby's ability to observe, reason, inquire and investigate.

Funny enough, a recurring notion is her own professionalism and skill as a detective. She repeatedly announces that the inhabitants of the little neighborhood she is visiting should allow her to take over because she is the PROFESSIONAL. She even has an apprentice with her for the specific purpose of learning how to do... something... anything... please...

I really can't understand it. I love this character. I love this universe and the mythos that accompanies it. I want to keep reading these books as long as they keep coming. I want more... but maybe Toby needs to take on a new profession.

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers in their estimation of her ability to solve a crime. She didn't ask obvious questions. She went to sleep after specifically being told she was about to be given information that would clarify the entire situation. She attempts a very dangerous spell as a last ditch effort instead of just interviewing her limited pool of suspects/witnesses. Baffling. Truly baffling.

As a reader of this story, I recommend that you disconnect the higher brain functions, put on your blinders and plow through it. I do recommend it, though, because for some strange reason, I'm STILL glad I didn't miss itand I can't wait for the next one. Ms. McGuire's writing must amount to some kind of drug...

When the main character is a quasi-immortal private investigator, an expectation is she will know how to investigate. Instead, October Daye would not know a clue if it shot her in an intimate area with an iron ball. I like the world McGuire draws, with Rose-Goblins, magic-breaking dawn, and her fae civilization. Good back-drop does not confer a 'get-out-of-plotting' card.

October Daye finds herself sent to solve a straight-forward mystery with political ramifications in the nearby fae Kingdom of Tamed Lightning, where they do computer programming. She has extreme documentation... she does not read it. She has people begging to tell her everything... she does not talk to them. If you've read *real* mystery books before, you'll hate this novel. The urban fantasy setting does not redeem a bad plot (which I had figured out around page 80). As a detective, October is unskilled and unaware of it.

Plot Summary: Faerie Knight October Daye is tapped by her sire to locate a missing royal relative. Toby travels to Silicon Valley with a teenage courtier in tow to find a group of faeries who run a software company. Toby is clueless when it comes to technology, but she takes charge when the first body turns up. She's also got her hands full dealing with a sexy surfer dude, a puss in boots, and a smitten selkie.

Seanan McGuire's first book, Rosemary and Rue: An October Daye Novel, knocked me down with a feather. It was one of the best urban fantasies I read in 2009, and so my expectations for A Local Habitation were sky high. I'm happy to say that this sequel is only a smidgen short of perfection. It almost reminded me of a good old-fashioned murder mystery, with a set group of suspects and a rapidly rising body count, but instead of `the butler in the hall with a candlestick,' this was more like, `the faerie in the cafeteria with an axe.'

Once again I connected with Toby's no-nonsense attitude, and this time she seemed more comfortable being in her own skin. She's tough without taking it to some unbelievable level, and her Halfling nature means that she's usually the underdog in any faerie fight. I'm glad Toby's not working in grocery stores anymore, and she's doing what she does best - solving supernatural mysteries.

One of my favorite characters from Rosemary and Rue is back, and I'm talking about Tybalt, the King of the Cats. Toby and Tybalt tangle in ways that raise my hopes for some sort of future between these two. I won't hold my breath, because Ms. McGuire is an unpredictable plotter, but she just might be building a first class slow-simmer romance here. My fingers are crossed, because all of my favorite scenes involve the slinky King of the Cats. Meow!

With two strong starter books, I'd say that the October Daye series is off to an awesome start. Book three, An Artificial Night: An October Daye Night, will be released in September 2010.