Seanan McGuire may be my new favorite writer from last year. I have been anticipating A Local Habitation ever since I put down the first book in the series, Rosemary and Rue. I didn't think it was perfect, but the world building was amazing, and I've been anticipating what would happen next. There are a lot of hints about unfinished business in Toby's life which have me hooked to this series already.

If I were to look for problems, I'd say the mystery may be the weakest part of the story while the world building was the strongest. There's a small pool of suspects and the pool dwindles as more characters become victims. There are some hints which point at someone who Toby kept discounting, so I had my suspect for a while. On the other hand, I didn't guess the whole thing. I don't think most people would guess it all.

I liked this A Local Habitation better than the first book. I love the heroine and the pacing of the story seems just right, although I wish there was a tad more romance (I hope there is in future releases - and I'm pulling for Tybalt!). I highly recommend this series if you like Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs or Ann Aguirre. The author writes complete installments but threads each book with hints as to the ongoing drama of Toby's life,and anticipating what could happen next is delicious. This is actually a series that I hope won't end at three books.

My full review: http://janicu.livejournal.com/98521.html

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Not sure about this one.I really didn't enjoy most of it and when I got to about page 180 is when I finally started to enjoy it.I paid full price and just didn't feel it was worth it.

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A Local Habitation is the second book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire.

Once again Toby has found her self at the service of her Leige Sylvester Torquill. This time she is asked to go to another county, the County of Tamed Lightening, that is not a part of her Leige's territory. This territory is under the rule of Sylvester's neice Jan. Upon arriving, Toby finds that things are not what they seem. For one, people keep being murdered and for two messages to Sylvester do not seem to be getting through. Toby races against time trying to solve this mystery and get herself out alive. With the aid of Page Quenton she must determine the source of the message blocking and find the murderer.

I enjoyed this addition to the series and am looking forward to more books coming out. This book was no less interesting than the first one, and the plot twists kept coming out. The list of characters did not entirely change, most of those from the first book were there as well as some new additions. I did enjoy and hope to see more interactions with Toby and Tybalt.

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Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 5

Review: This book picks up a few months after the end of "Rosemary and Rue". Tobe has been enjoying getting to know all her old friends again. Then she's sent on a job - her Liege hasn't heard from his niece for several weeks, when previously they'd talked weekly. To complicate things, his niece is the Duchess of a neighboring Duchy, bordered on the other side by a very hostile Duchy. Tobe goes to investigate and quickly finds things are worse than she could have imagined - to begin with there are already 2 dead bodies by the time she gets there. While she tries to figure out what's going on the body count keeps climbing.

I still love the characters in the book, both the characters who appeared in book 1 and the ones that we meet for the first time here. I also love the world that McGuire has set up. It's very imaginative.

That said, the mystery side of the book was atrociously bad. I had the "who" figured out before I finished the first half of the book. The "why" took a bit longer, although I figured out part of it. The other part had to do with the fact that once again, we get a bad guy who is completely insane. Tobe drove me absolutely nuts with her "investigation". She did it haphazardly and completely missed some basic questions, and obvious lines of thought, that could have brought the whole thing to a close much sooner - and possibly with more people left alive. Two books in the series now and I still can't figure out why Tobe is considered such a great investigator. She only seems to solve mysteries when she's either led by the hand to the answer, or the only person left alive is the bad guy.

Despite the really bad mystery, I still love the characters and the world and can't wait to read the next book. I'm just hoping that the mystery part of the book improves!

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This is the second book in the October Daye series. Last I heard there were eight books planned for this series; the 3rd book "An Artificial Night" is due to come out September 2010. I thought this book was much better than the first book in the series; I really enjoyed it.

October (Toby) is back in with the fairy community. Her liege lord, Sylvester, has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightning to check on his niece, January O'Leary. The political situation in Tamed Lightening is touchy; Toby brings along Quentin to help with the case. When they arrive they find out things are much stranger than they were originally lead to believe. January runs a computer company that is focused on bringing technology to the Summerlands. The computer company employs a number of interesting types of faerie as well as a dryad that is now housed in a network tree (her forest was destroyed). What Toby doesn't know right away is that faeries there have been dying and no one can figure out what's killing them. Toby's time to figure out what is happening is running out; and now her and Quentin may be the hunted ones.

This was an excellent book. It is fast paced and the plot is well put together and never really wanders. Toby is a great character that shows admirable practicality, determination, and initiative. I am amazed at how many interesting types of magic she pulls off despite her supposed lack of magical power. Toby is very good at using what she has effectively. Many of the side characters are also very intriguing; McGuire does an excellent job with character development. I really enjoyed the King of Cats, Tybalt, and hope that he features in future books. I also enjoyed that the Night Haunts played some role in this book, they were fascinating to learn more about.

I really loved the creativity of the plot. Having the faerie community merging with technology was an interesting concept that brought up a number of interesting questions. We get to meet a wide-variety of types of fairy in this book too. I enjoyed the creativity that went into developing these races and making them really fun to learn about. This book is definitely more of an urban fantasy than a paranormal romance; although Toby does have a potential love interest in Tybalt.

I thought this book was much more well put together than the first one. The plot was more engaging and really propelled the reader forward; Toby develops into a much more likable heroine (she was not as whiny as in the first book). I also liked that Toby spent some time in another duchy. I hope in future books we are exposed to an even broader world of faerie that goes outside the coastal US area.

I only have one major complaint about this book and that is that it was rather predictable. From the moment Toby and Quentin set foot in Tamed Lightning I new who was involved in the deaths. I was kind of hoping that I was wrong. I also have one minor quibble...that was that Toby spent more time than I would have liked having breakdowns. It was nice to see that Toby had a soft side; but towards the end of the book it seemed like she spent most of her time crying or passing out...

Overall I liked this book much better than the first book. It would have been 5 stars, if not for the predictability of the conclusion to the mystery. I am excited to read the third book in the series and am happy I only have to wait six months for it to come out! This is developing into one of the better urban fantasy series out there right now.

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