Rosemary and Rue

An October Daye Novel, Book 1

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

The world of Faerie never disappeared: it merely went into hiding, continuing to exist parallel to our own. Secrecy is the key to Faerie’s survival—but no secret can be kept forever, and when the fae and mortal worlds collide, changelings are born. Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, these second-class children of Faerie spend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations. Or, in the case of October “Toby” Daye, rejecting it completely.

After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating into a “normal” life. Unfortunately for her, Faerie has other ideas. The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose, one of the secret regents of the San Francisco Bay Area, pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening’s dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby is forced to resume her old position as knight errant to the Duke of Shadowed Hills and begin renewing old alliances that may prove her only hope of solving the mystery...before the curse catches up with her.

©2010 Seanan McGuire (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Well researched, sharply told, highly atmospheric and as brutal as any pulp detective tale, this promising start to a new urban fantasy series is sure to appeal to fans of Jim Butcher or Kim Harrison." ( Publishers Weekly)

Decent story, bad narrator match

The writing was technically good, and so was the storyline. I felt like the author couldn't decide on a personality for the main character though. There were a lot of allusions to the MC being a sassy troublemaker but she was pretty bland and didn't really deliver on those claims, though that could partially be the fault of the narrator. She also talked endlessly about not having a family when her liege was literally begging her to stay with them every time she saw him.

I have never been disappointed in a narration until this book. I thought the narrator's voice was a poor pick, way too soft and classy/feminine for a character who is written as a snarky monster hunting badass. She also did the same accent for anyone who had an accent...vaguely Asian. And I pictured different inflections for the chatacters than she was giving...usually narrators bring characters to life but I felt like the narrator missed the mark with how she portrayed different characters.

I'll still probably get the next in the series. Overall it was enjoyable to listen to.

Fae!

Fantastic stories, mystery, adventure, and magic! Great combo, well told tales, characters you care about.

The narrator needs to work on her accents.

The story is ok although it rambles a bit, but the narrator died not do different voices well. It was hard to keep up with which character was talking as they all sounded more or less the same.

Entertaining but painful

Warning: This novel is filled with emotional gut-punches and does not play fair. Yes, it is well written and extremely engaging. Yes, the main character is complex and fun to read. That said, I will probably not be reading this one again for some time. Characters you start to love are ripped away and fates worse then death lie in wait around every corner. There are no happy endings in this fairy tale

Great story, the narration bothers me.

Bottom line, the series has become my comfort series. The one I listen to when my brain can't handle anything new. You know when you just can't handle meeting new characters or getting invested in them, but it's fine to reread about the characters you already know?

The writing style works for me. There's enough description that it feels real without over describing every blade of grass. It feels like there was enough of the story planned at the beginning that she wasn't bsing along with no idea how story lines would work into the full picture.

The narration is problematic enough that at times it pulls me out of the story. The different voices are limited, and aren't how the characters are described quite often, so that's confusing at times. The voices for Tybalt and the Luidaeg bug me the most. They're just too much and at times I have to laugh.
I can get past it and still enjoy the story, but it's distracting more than I would prefer.

Comfort rereading

Rereading these books in anticipation of the new one coming out. This book starts off good, and they only get better from here. I love how the characters change and grow. I've loved every first read, and there's stuff that's set up here that pays off five books later, and that rewards rereading too. Well worth it if you like becoming attached to characters and want a long-running series to get invested in.

Wonderriffical

I love this story and the characters. I read a couple of reviews that found fault with the narration and the audio, but I found Mary Robinette Kowal's voice to be wonderful, and her characterizations fun (well, most of them. I didn't enjoy her Lily.). Seanan's text - the story itself - is engrossing and entertaining, and I will definitely be buying the rest. I love this series, and MRK's voice will forever be Toby's voice in my head.

Worth a listen

The author creates an interesting world full of a myriad of fairie kind making the book an interesting listen. The plotline is well crafted. I agree with others that the narration doesn't fit the character. The narrator orates like a victim rather than a strong protaganist. I liked the book anyway.

Great story... Just need to get past the narration

I liked the story. There is good world building and a slight change in the way we may have seen the fae world in other novelst. The author gradually brings the reader up to speed in an unforced way; the explanations come about when they are needed within the storyline. That marks an experienced author, and for me that keeps me reading (listening). The biggest hurdle for me was the narrator. She does a decent job with the main character, and even a very few other characters, but some of the voices are so annoying, I found myself cringing (what's with the 80's overdone Valley Girl accent?) Also, the narrator exhibits a stilted reading throughout the first half of the book. I tried to listen at 1.25 speed to see if it would be more enjoyable, but it just sounded like the mike was closer, then farther, then closer to the reader, as if she were moving around, which made it more enjoyable to listen to the stilted form in 1.0x speed. Eventually, I either grew accustomed to the narration style, or the reader realized her error and began to pick up speed. I decided to listen to the other books in the series in order, so that I wouldn't need to get used to it again in each book. For those who cannot adapt easily, I suggest reading these books old school. The storyline *is* interesting. I'm listening to the second book now, and it's interesting as well (yes, the Valley accent is still used...I really hope this narrator abandons it at some point).
My personal rating: PG for occasional language, though there is violence as well, so some parents may consider this a PG-13 book.

Bad narrator brings down a great book

I love the October Daye series. Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors, and I've been reading it faithfully since the first book came out, so when I joined Audible I thought I'd get the audio versions. I cannot listen to Mary Robinette Kowal's narration beyond this book. She reads slowly and her male character voices are painful to listen to. Kowal is an amazing author in her own right but playing this many characters was beyond her narrating capabilities.

I absolutely love Toby, Tybalt, Sylvester, Quentin, and the rest of the characters. This book is a great urban fantasy that wonders, "what if the Fae were hiding in plain sight?"