Book Review: The Unkindest Tide

The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Number thirteen in the ongoing October Daye series.

Pick this book up if you like:
- found family
- snarky FMC
- magic hidden in plain sight
- faerie politics
- have read the other books in the series and want to know what happens next

It's been a little while since my last foray into the October Daye universe, so it took me a minute to catch up at the beginning of this book. You definitely need to have read the other books in the series, and be up to speed on all the various dealings between the rather large cast of characters. That said, there were enough hints to jog my memory so that the story made sense even after taking a break.

I like that McGuire infuses levity into her books, but Toby's humor felt a little flat/forced to me, like she was trying too hard to have witty/snarky/sarcastic dialogue that just wasn't coming naturally. I think this may be a side effect of the length of the series. Her speech patterns are becoming a bit redundant. Still, I liked the balance of action to emotion to comedy.

Toby and Tybalt's relationship maintains its holding pattern, neither progressing nor regressing in this story. They are a sweet couple, and I totally approve of the pairing, but again, their dialogue felt a bit "been there done that." They're stuck in a cycle of "Toby does something reckless and Tybalt complains about her recklessness." Similarly, Toby and her squire tend to fall into repeated speech patterns, as do Toby and the Luidaeg. For me, this caused all the dialogue to blend together in a somewhat forgettable way.

The plot of this story was pretty fun. I particularly liked getting to visit the Duchy of Ships and meet Captain Pete. The story was framed such that there was an emotional central plot that bookended an action-driven parallel plot. That is, the main premise of the book was that the selkies (including Toby's daughter) were going to be permanently fused to their skins, which set up the emotional conflict at the beginning of the book and provided the final resolution at the end. The middle of the book, however, was about a coup against the Undersea, which Toby had to take care of. This provided the main action for the story, which was necessary to keep the pacing steady for the length of a full novel. Together, they provided both a compelling internal and external conflict for Toby.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I plan to read the next book in the series.

View all my reviews