Good start of a series. Easy to read and decently paced to keep you interested even if the plot leaves a bit to be desired. It's supposed to be a mystery but we don't get all that many actual clues to follow. Check those content warnings too.

I liked elements of this, a lot of the ideas and works presented, and a lot of it I find really cool and unique - the sort of modern integration of Fae magic/legends, the way magic had specific smells/tastes depending on who was casting it. I liked Toby's snark, that she was flawed and messy, and some of the side characters seem intriguing. 

But I also struggled with a lot of this... I feel like there was a near constant amount of big pauses to impart world building/lore elements, often with what felt like lengthy explanations, even up to the last pages. And even with all of that, I think it ended up being *so much* that instead of clarifying many things, it just ended up feeling needlessly complex and confusing and misplaced.

A lot of the story felt like Toby just going to people from her past who almost all somehow read like someone she'd only go to as a last resort, and yet, that was basically all of them??

The set up for this was very intriguing, with Toby getting stuck as a koi for 14 years or so, but then it felt extremely strange to me that basically zero percent of the story involved her trying to reunite with her daughter and former fiance. There was like a couple throwaway lines about how she tried a bit years ago and it didn't go well so oh well she'll just wait until her daughter is ready to come around. It just seemed *suuuper* weird that she never thought about them, never attempted any further reach out, nothing. I kept thinking we'd circle back to them somehow, in some way, but naw. (and since this appears to be book 1 in a long series, likely this will come up later? But still???)

Also the whole mystery/situation that got her into the pond in the first place was never investigated by her? And honestly aside from enjoying some of Toby's voice and snark, she seemed really hollow? And she was a very odd mix of seeking all this help "as a last resort" but then refusing individual help or protection, for no real reason, in obviously dangerous situations? Also what on earth age is she??? She casually mentions being alive in like the 50s but then makes zero reference to her life in between then and now, save the pond disappearance? Whatever the lore is that explains that got completely lost in everything else - I kept waiting for some clarification about her actual age or appearance (aside from noting a few of her changeling features), but none ever came. 

And her parentage seemed not important, really, until suddenly the last quarter is the book when it feels like suddenly everyone is remarking about her similarities to her mom, and then she busts out an ability out of nowhere she could've just done like, waaay earlier?? Again, whatever lore to explain this was lost on me and lost in the perpetual big world info chunks. 

Idk. Like I said, there was a lot of cool elements here, a lot of potential, and after the first chapter or so, I was thrilled to see a series... but now I've hit the end, and I don't feel at all connected with Toby. I don't feel like this unfolded like the mystery/action it seemed to propose to be - it was mostly just Toby running around, getting shot a lot, almost dying a lot, going to various last straw/last resort types, who also acted like she was an incredible legend (but there was like no context or backstory specific to why this was, past a few vague throwaway lines?)... 

I think ultimately it spent too much time pumping out complex lore, creating questions/intrigue but then ignoring them in order to make Toby get shot/overwhelmed by the curse (which just seemed debilitating rather than motivating in any way, and I guess that was the point?? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️) and then either keep ignoring the intrigue, or bring it up to remind you it was interesting only to then purposefully ignore it again. 😅

Idk. I wanted this to be way better because there WAS some cool stuff. But... 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I just feel mostly indifferent, which is too bad.

Probably my fifth reread of this book. As an introduction to a long series, this was a great book. It touched on several overarching plot themes and met a lot of characters you will see throughout the series, establishing a good baseline for all of it without being overly informative like a lot of fantasy series can be. The story is set in recent day (catching up to modern 2024) San Fransisco giving a familiar feel to the story and allowing the reader to balance the new magic and fae system and references with something more familiar. Out of this series, it’s not the best, but is close. There are times when you’ll love October, the main character and times when you’ll chastise her, giving her a very 3 dimensional feeling. As detective novels go, I would say it’s intermediate. The twists aren’t too predictable, and if you’re reading it for the first time, you may not ever see the end coming (I remember not expecting that twist until October starts puzzling it together). As fae series goes, I’d say it’s really good. It blends common knowledge with more niche references to fae folklore easily and only scratches the surface of larger themes and ideas as it should being the first of a long series. The sex scenes are fade to black, and the only real graphic moments are of fantasy violence. 

I've been following Seanan McGuire on social media for several years, and she's always been upfront that this book has some issues. She's said it's kind of a rough start to the series and contains language and attitudes she would edit out if she could. I have read far worse things. This was a fun and snappy popcorn read - extremely readable and entertaining. I've never read a urban fantasy book before and I found it to be fun. 

It's not perfect. We have a prologue that leads into a 14-and-a-half years timeskip that really felt like starting the story off by smacking into a pothole due to a lack of explanation. The story then later gives us the infodump of how that 14+ year situation resolved in a dream sequence, which was, certainly a choice. Our protagonist really has no self preservation instinct and almost bleeds to death multiple times. I felt the plot struggled a little because it had to introduce so many characters to us, not all of whom are big movers and shakers in this particular story. But I never felt like putting the book down. Even if I was a touch annoyed at how slowly we collected clues for the mystery, I just kept reading. I found myself thinking about the story and the characters at work. I just had to know more, and as soon as I finished this book I picked up the second book in the series without even pausing to mark this one off as "finished." 

[Side note, I've heard Seanan McGuire talk about the language issues in this book and early series before, it's probably that she kept negativity comparing things to "hookers" and women kept calling each other bitches.]

I had fun with this one. I always love fae stories.

Rep: white female MC with PTSD, Asian coded female side character, various other fae race side characters.

CWs: Blood, confinement (in a pond as a fish), death, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping/attempted kidnapping, medical content, murder, racism (within the fae there is discrimination and prejudice towards changelings and half fae), toxic relationship, violence, emotional abuse. Moderate: Ableism, child death, gore, sexual content. Brief: Dementia.