One Salt Sea, by Seanan McGuire
Book Review by Joshua Palmatier
Have you read this book?
I've been reading Seanan McGuire since her first release from DAW,
and while I've fallen slightly behind (she's fairly prolific after all),
I'm still an avid fan. This is the fifth book in her October
Daye urban fantasy series, and I'm happy to say that it's by
far the best one in the series so far.
This time, October "Toby" Daye finds herself pressed into the
service of the Luidwaeg, who asks Toby to find the two kidnapped sons of
the Duchess of Saltmist, who's convinced that the Queen of the Mists
has something to do with the abduction. If Toby can't find them within
three days, war will break out between land and sea. And while the
Mists are preparing for battle, they haven't fought a war in hundreds of
years. Saltmist is far more prepared for battle. Toby will have to
travel to the undersea kingdom with the help of the Luidwaeg to track
the kidnappers down. But before the end, the hunt will become far more
personal than Toby ever dreamed.
One of my issues with past October Daye books is
that Toby's investigations did not often make much sense. They felt
loose, with Toby wandering from place to place, action to action,
without any significant plot thread connecting each sequence or scene.
Toby often acted completely on impulse or instinct, or was simply
reacting to events around her, rather than following her own course of
action. So while the stories were still fun to read, her decisions and
the plots often left me frustrated as a reader. This is why they often
received only 3 or 4 stars: fun and interesting, but frustrating.
Not so with One Salt Sea. This is the first
book in the series where I felt the plot was rock solid and Toby's
investigation into the two boys' disappearances made total sense. Toby
wasn't just reacting to the events around her, she was actively
controlling them and following the leads that she found as she
investigated. Toby's special abilities also factored into the search in
significant ways. Overall, it was a much more satisfying read as both
urban fantasy and mystery than any of the previous books.
In fact, the overall writing was excellent. Not just the plot was
rock solid, but the characters and their development as well. It was
smooth reading and great flow all the way through. While I enjoyed
Seanan's previous books in this series, I walked away from this book
completely satisfied.
I'm certainly looking forward to the sixth book in this series now,
and have even moved it up higher in my short TBR stack near my bed (as
opposed to the huge TBR stack that's relegated to a separate room). I'd
definitely recommend this book to any urban fantasy enthusiast.
Joshua Palmatier/Benjamin Tate
www.joshuapalmatier.com
One Salt Sea, by Seanan McGuire on Amazon
www.joshuapalmatier.com
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