The October Daye Series, Part 3
by Seanan McGuire

Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted August 31, 2026
Edits and Addenda on September 17 and October 7 & 10

The Brightest Fell / "Of Things Unknown" / Night and Silence / The Unkindest Tide

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Even though I would like to, it is possible I will never find the time to re-read the October Daye stories. It will be hard enough keeping up with the later books, plus all the other things Seanan writes. The Brightest Fell is the 11th novel in this series. September 29 will see the publication of the 20th! book, plus Seanan has several other ongoing series, as well as writing under at least two pen names. We have seen characters recur several times, some being friends and allies of Toby's, others are antagonists. Toward the end of the previous page of reviews I said I was interested in learning more about Toby's mother, Amandine. Not sure about that now, since I don't like her, and Toby has a lot of animosity towards her. Many of the other fae refer to her as Amandine the Liar, but based on what happens in this book I am inclined to forever think of her as Amandine the Lying Bitch. Another of her family might have been mentioned before, but I can't recall it now, someone Toby had never met, but she gets the chance here.

Several books back, and I think several years in Toby's life, she and Tybalt became a couple. Unfortunately, different adventures came up, sometimes keeping them apart. If things would ever settle down (not likely) they might actually be able to take the plunge and get married. That's the plan of course, but… This book begins at Toby's bachelorette party, held at a local bar where many of the regular customers (but not all) are fae or changeling. When Toby and May (originally her Fetch, now her sister) get home, Toby wants to spend the rest of the night with Tybalt, and May wants to spend her time with her girlfriend Jasmine (Jazz). But then…Amandine happens. She wants Toby to find someone who has been missing a long time; her other daughter, August, the half-sister Toby has never seen. Apparently August had set out on a quest about 100 years before, an attempt to enter the deeper fae realm to find their progenitor, Oberon, in hopes of getting him to accept the rest of the fae back under his protection. Granted, Toby is a private investigator over and above being a changeling in service to her liege lord, Duke Sylvester Torquill of Shadowed Hills, and she has many skills of deduction, as well as more fae powers now than she ever thought possible. But Amandine is one of the Firstborn, a direct descendant of Oberon, and her sister Annie, aka the Luidaeg, is another Firstborn. If they couldn't find August what chance did Toby have?

Toby had gone to Luidaeg several times before when she needed information, and in most cases she got the answers she needed. Barely. I'm still not sure who was responsible, maybe Oberon himself, or perhaps Maeve, but Luidaeg is always limited in what she can reveal, and she can only give an adequate answer if Toby words the question the right way. Luidaeg says she does not know where August is, but she was responsible for sending her on the journey towards Oberon, even though she warned August against it. Anyway, long story short, Toby asks her question in such a way Luidaeg is obligated to reveal how she helped August. Toby is accompanied by her squire Quentin Sollys, along with another person she doesn't like, and is loath to trust. Sylvester's twin brother Simon, August's father. He is the one who turned Toby into a fish in the first book. They do eventually find August, yet she does not know Toby, thinks Toby is a liar when she says they are sisters, and on top of that, due to the magic Luidaeg initially performed, does not recognize Simon as her father. August gives them the slip, venturing back into the mortal world, but Toby tracks her down again. Something else I don't want to reveal is the reason Toby agreed to Amandine's demands, and the reason she is furious with Amandine when they return with August, since Amandine doesn't care about fulfilling her end of the bargain. As I said earlier, she is a bitch. She had barely had any regard for Toby before, and now that she has August back, Toby is again persona non grata..

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The novella "Of Things Unknown" is only available as a bonus feature with either the print or digital version of The Brightest Fell. It is another story featuring characters and situations encountered before, in this case from the second novel, A Local Habitation. January O'Leary was Duke Sylvester's niece, the Countess of Tamed Lightning, until one of her employees went rogue, which resulted in her death. Her "daughter" April has a plan to bring her back to life. April had been a dryad, but January had been able to extract her essence, her vitality (April is reluctant to use the word soul), from her tree, in order to store that essence within the digital realm of the servers at her ALH electronics corporation. At that time January was able to adopt April as her daughter. Due to the vagaries of fae law, April is the new Countess, rather than January's wife, Li Qin, April's other "mother." Toby is summoned to help in a ritual to bring back to life the other ALH employees who had been killed, but April is prepared to abandon them if she is not able to manage what she needs and wants the most, bringing her mother back to life. The problem with that lies in the fact January's body no longer exists, unlike the others whose bodies have been preserved in the ALH basement for several years.

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Posted September 17, 2026
The other day on Facebook I posted about not liking spoilers, and that I had accidentally stumbled across one early in my reading of the October Daye books. But I have been told I reveal too many things in my "reviews" (more like synopses), but I try not to reveal major things. I give you a road map of the path the characters take, but limit comments on everything they see and do along the way. One thing about this book series is that everything that happens is cumulative, each revelation building on previous events. I am just trying to tell you why you should read them if you haven't already. Toby Daye is a remarkable character, but not perfect by any means. She has made mistakes, but some of those are the result of lack of information, lies and evasions of the truth from so many she thought she could trust. Even before what happened in the previous novel, Toby knew trusting her mother was off the table. However, the major revelation in Night and Silence involves her mother, which not only blew my mind, it was just as startling for Toby. It also makes me wonder about so many other things I thought I knew. It is such a bombshell I don't want to reveal it, but still tell you why this is another great book in the series.

I skirted around a few things about the previous book, and don't want to go back on that now, except I will say it involved Tybalt and Jasmine, both of whom are absent through most of this book. I will need to re-cap some things about Toby's previous adventures, including how she was the victim of a spell that turned her into a fish, spending fourteen years in a koi pond before she could shake off that spell. When she returned to her previous home, her fiancé Cliff (I originally thought they were already married) rejected her, and their daughter Gillian hardly remembered her at all. Gillian was about three when Toby disappeared, so seventeen when she returned. I don't know how many years have passed since then, but now Gillian is a student at UC Berkeley. She had been kidnapped (fifth book, One Salt Sea), and when Toby found her she gave Gillian the Choice: remain part fae, or become totally human. Gillian chose to be human, to go back to her father and her stepmother Miranda. That did not settle all her problems, since there would always be those who have a grudge against Toby, and Gillian is one way to get to her. Early one morning Toby is awakened by loud knocking at her door. It is Cliff and Miranda, informing her that Gillian is missing again, and essentially accusing Toby of the kidnapping.

Toby preferred not going out during the day, mainly because her magical ability of camouflage was not as good then, harder to hide her fae appearance. Even though Gillian had rejected her, Toby would never abandon her daughter in time of need. At least she had the help of her squire Quentin, whose magic was better, as well as May, and she implores Queen Arden to let her seneschal Madden accompany them. Madden is a Cu Sidhe, a canine-like fae, useful as a scent tracker. They are led to several deceptive dead-ends, but eventually follow a clue to where Gillian might be, and by whom she had been kidnapped. It wouldn't really be a spoiler to say Toby is successful in finding her daughter, but I won't tell you why she has not yet been returned to Cliff and Miranda by book's end. The bonus novella for this volume backtracks a bit, revealing Gillian's reaction to her ordeal. I won't reveal the novella's title since it might be considered a spoiler too. Tybalt is part of the rescue, but he still suffers from previous trauma. Part of the wrap-up to the novel is a return to the Kingdom of Silences in Oregon, and Toby and Tybalt take a side trip to Portland. I suspected it was to elope, but they had other reasons. I haven't looked ahead for info on the next novel, but based on its title it might follow up on what Gillian is up to. I may get to it next month..

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Posted October 7, 2026
Once again I need to be very vague about some things. The best way to tell you about this book is to re-cap previous events, some things only hinted at in the novels, but that I did not mention in my reviews. Seanan has several extra stories available for download on her website, others exclusive to her Patreon, but there are some she can't share since they were published in anthologies, so I guess the editors/publishers retained copyright. One I downloaded but haven't read yet is about the Luidaeg and her relationship with another person who has appeared before, including at the end of Night and Silence, then recurs in this book. I've searched for a story further back in the Luidaeg's life but haven't found it yet. It is about an event that traumatized her a great deal, something for which she found a temporary solution, but she had been putting off the resolution. It is possible some of the Fae in these books are Seanan's creations, but others are from older stories and myths. One of the latter is the Selkie, which I have read about in other stories, as well as seen in films and TV. Seanan's notion made me think of a certain John Sayles film, except Seanan added an 'e' to the name of the island in that film. The Luidaeg, being one of the Firstborn, created a Fae species to be her children, grandchildren, etc. The Roane were seal-like, and I think they were shapeshifters, but they also had a power that angered and frightened other Fae. They were soothsayers, fortune tellers. Some of their pronouncements came true, leading some to think they might have caused the events to happen.

I'm not sure how far in the past it was, but the majority of the Roane were killed. The slaughter was directed by another of the Firstborn, one who has appeared several times in the novels, someone both the Luidaeg and Toby hate. The killers of the Roane skinned them, but the skins retained some of the Roane magic, so the Luidaeg's temporary solution was to offer the skins to some of the killers' children, thus creating the Selkies. She swore she would figure out how to resurrect the Roane, at which time the Selkies would be bound to relinquish their skins. She knew she would need the help of someone with strong blood magic, someone she could trust. She now knows that someone: October Daye. Toby has agreed to help her, even though she is not sure if what the Luidaeg intends to do will be a real solution, or if it might lead to other complications. Selkies passed their skins down to their descendants, but the number of skins was always the same from the beginning, so many in the families were passed over. The Luidaeg has summoned all Selkies to attend a Convocation at the Duchy of Ships, which is in the Summerlands, or I guess you could say the Summerseas. The ruler of the Duchy of Ships is another Firstborn, but I'm sure she had not been mentioned before. The Luidaeg was the daughter of Maeve, Amphitrite daughter of Titania. Most all of the conflict between the Firstborn, quite a few who are no longer living, was between the descendants of Titania against those of Maeve. The Firstborn who called for the death of the Roane was also a daughter of Maeve, which is another reason to hate her. However, the Luidaeg and Amphitrite are friendly to each other, both even saying they love each other, as sisters should, even if they didn't share mothers. The Luidaeg had always made it clear that one day she would call the Selkies to honor their debt. Will they now accept the consequences?

Everywhere Toby goes she either impresses other Fae, pureblood or changeling, or else antagonizes them, creating new enemies. Other than in the case of war, pureblood Fae at least try to abide by Oberon's Law: Fae should not kill Fae. That does not include changelings, and certainly not humans, and when Fae do kill other Fae, the perpetrators aren't executed, only put in a hundred year coma with elfshot. Toby has always tried to protect all those who deserve it, but she has killed Fae, and possibly might do so again. Those she has killed deserved it, and she had been absolved by the High King of the Westlands. She makes another enemy here, but he has been disciplined and banished by his Firstborn, Amphitrite, creator of the Merrow (mer-people). I anticipated Toby might create a new enemy by refusing to complete the task the Luidaeg asked of her. From the very first time Toby encountered her, when she wasn't aware she was Firsborn, and actually one of her aunts, the Luidaeg told her that one day she would be the one to kill her, and reminds her of that in this book. This is the 13th novel, the 20th was published last week, and Toby is still alive, although I can't be sure she hasn't died again at some point, since she has at least twice now. If the Luidaeg is the one to kill her, that lies in the future, perhaps the final book. As it stands now, the Luidaeg has reason to thank Toby, since she came up with a solution that satisfied everyone. Another indication that Toby is destined for greater things. She faced down two Firstborn and didn't flinch. She has also once again endeared herself to (most of) the Merrow. If she could only breach the gulf between her and her liege lord, Duke Sylvester Torquill, things might improve significantly. Oh, also, she and Tybalt need to clear their calendar and get married already. The subject of children finally came up, and both seem willing to tackle that challenge too.

The bonus novella overlaps the time frame of the novel. "Hope is Swift" begins shortly after October, Tybalt, and the others have set sail for the Duchy of Ships. The first-person narrator this time is Raj. I didn't go back through all the other reviews, but I probably mentioned him before. He is Prince of Cats, due to rule the Court of Cats after Tybalt marries October (if that ever happens). The reason Tybalt went to Oregon was to request that area's King of Cats to loan him one of his court to act as regent to Raj while Tybalt worked through the trauma experienced in The Brightest Fell. Raj has been a good friend and ally of Toby, and sometimes considers himself her second squire, after Quentin, who is his best friend. But he is on his own at this time, having convinced his regent, Ginerva, that he needs some time alone with his girlfriend. I don't recall Helen, who is a changeling, part human, part Hob, but if she did appear before it would have been in the third novel, An Artificial Night. Raj and Helen were among many others who had been stolen by agents of Blind Michael, and they both helped each other to survive until October rescued them. Now Raj has to consider ending his relationship with Helen, since a King of Cats needed to be loyal to the Caith Sidhe, which is the reason Tybalt would be abdicating his throne. Ginerva sent Cal to watch over Raj, but it is Raj that saves Cal from the injuries he suffered himself. It was that sacrifice, thinking of others before his own safety, which impressed Ginerva that Raj would make a good King, and surely Tybalt will agree when he returns to San Francisco.

Related links:
Go back to the beginning of the series, October Daye, Part 1.
Then continue with Part 2.
A list of all my Seanan McGuire reviews

 

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