A Red-Rose Chain

October Daye, Book 9

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Things are looking up.

For the first time in what feels like years, October "Toby" Daye has been able to pause long enough to take a breath and look at her life - and she likes what she sees. She has friends. She has allies. She has a squire to train and a King of Cats to love, and maybe, just maybe, she can let her guard down for a change.

Or not. When Queen Windermere's seneschal is elf-shot and thrown into an enchanted sleep by agents from the neighboring Kingdom of Silences, Toby finds herself in a role she never expected to play: that of a diplomat. She must travel to Portland, Oregon, to convince King Rhys of Silences not to go to war against the Mists. But nothing is that simple, and what October finds in Silences is worse than she would ever have imagined.

How far will Toby go when lives are on the line and when allies both old and new are threatened by a force she had never expected to face again? How much is October willing to give up, and how much is she willing to change? In Faerie, what's past is never really gone.

It's just waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

A Red-Rose Chain is the ninth installment in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy October "Toby" Daye series.

©2015 Seanan McGuire (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

What happened to the director?

As always, Seanan McGuire writes an amazing book, and Mary Robinette Kowall does a good job of narrating it. HOWEVER, I have some issues with the direction/production of this particular title. Once again, Kowall pronounces things differently than she did in the first 7 books of the series. Now, however, there are VERY long pauses between chapters (talking 30 seconds or longer, enough that I often think something's gone wrong), and I have heard Kowall's chair creak at least three times in the course of the book. Yeah, the vocal production of this title definitely leaves something to be desired.

Excellent story

Even after nine books, the October Daye series (and the Chris McGrath cover art) is still fantastic!

The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire is one of my very favorite Urban Fantasy series. A Red Rose Chain, Book 09 in the series, is an excellent installment AND an object lesson in why you should take out your enemies when you have a chance — because if you don’t, they’ll come back to stab you in the heart!

The Kingdom of Silences has declared war on the Kingdom of the Mists, and Toby is sent to Silences to either 1) negotiate peace, or 2) infuriate the monarch into violating law or custom bad enough to get himself deposed. Guess which one Toby is best at?

Some of the things the King of Silences is doing to his people are atrocious. I found myself wondering what the High King of what is essentially North America is doing. Does he not visit his kingdoms? Does he not check in on the state of his people? How did Silences get away with what they were doing without someone finding out?

This book highlights Toby’s growing relationship with Tybalt. It’s quite fun to see a lighter side of Tybalt every once in awhile. It’s also good to see the two of them communicating and saving each other. There is no one-sidedness to Toby and Tybalt’s relationship, which is awesome to see in this genre. Tybalt is still an alpha male to be sure, but also a rational creature who can do more than act on instinct.

One thing I really enjoy is when long running series do more than stand-alone stories. A Red Rose Chain deals with the consequences of things that have happened in other novels. I think this is a sign of great writing, AND it makes the reread of the books even better.

As always, narrator Mary Robinette Kowal does a fantastic job with the characters in Toby’s world.

Purchased. Review courtesy of One Book Two | one book, two reviews.

Virtue signaling at its best

The story is good. I appreciate inclusion of a trans fae. Here's the issue though the squire was straight dated a girl now he's gay, while simultaneously being introduced to the trans character, may is also gay, the dog fairy gay etc.... Introduction to the trans fae comes with a good ten minute explanation on why humans where so closed minded. Now I'm no expert, but the gay virtue signaling is going overboard. Frankly I want more story less lecture. I get your virtue signaling to make yourself feel good, but oh how about we create a story that a person can enjoy? Making the main character a whiny fae crying over the ills of man is just annoying. We read to get away from the world.

They're your characters have them sleep with birds for all I care. Just don't veer off the story so much.

Filler book

Hmmm, I'm not sure what happened here. I'm left feeling disappointed and confused because surely I missed something...

After Queen Windermere's seneschal is elf-shot, Toby and the gang head to the Kingdom of Silences on a diplomatic mission. This is not a position that Toby is particularly good at because she has a tendency to muck things up. Fae politics are tricky and every word spoken has the potential to cause war, insult, death and any number of things. Toby and politics don't mesh well and it usually ends up with her being almost killed- same old, same old.

The thing is, this read more like a novella- a filler book. It was missing a few key components. There was very little Luidaeg mojo, little blood magic which is Toby's power, no Sylvester or any of the other side characters that aren't part of her everyday life, no important history lesson about First Born or Toby's powers, just some politics and some alchemy. I'm not even sure where the story arc is going anymore. *scratches head*

There are still at least 4 more books left for this series. As much as I hate to see an end to a beloved series, there is a time for everything. I hope this was just a fluke and we'll be back to the October Daye books that I love with the next one. Unfortunately, this book offered very little for me. It wasn't a total loss because I have developed a connection to the characters. I liked it okay. However, if I skipped it for some reason, I don't think I would have missed anything.

The narration was distracting

I very much like the October Daye series and I have enjoyed the previous eight volumes (both print and audio). Because of that history, I stuck with this episode in the life of Toby. I liked the story but, for some reason this book had Ms Robinette Kowal having Toby sounding like a 14 year old snarky Valley Girl/Clueless style privileged girl who is convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that she is the most hilarious person you will ever meet. Toby has been through a lot, including being a street rat, having a child, and having been on journeys that would age the Luidaeg! Even IF seven years in the Koi pond had stunted her development, I think she would sound more mature than a 7th grader. Looking closely I think this is in part due to how it was written, and possibly the direction of the production (as the narrator hasn't sounded THIS level before) and probably where I am in my life (my quirks and foibles). The (continuing) saga of Toby and Co. is well worth the listen and if you find the tones as distracting as I do, then I recommend you got to print!

love this series I hope this is not the end of it

love this series I hope this is not the end of it I want to find out what changes where made to her anatomy and hear the next adventure

Maybe the book is better?

I am really enjoying the series, but the performance really detracts from the characters. I feel October is read as an insecure person who bumbles her way thru these adventures which is contrary to the books.

Umm...

while I enjoyed this story so much, as I have all the previous ones, I am so disappointed in mrk's performance. since she is one of my favorite narrators that is really saying something. she pronounced a lot of important things differently and tibalt's voice was not quite the same. the same can be said for some of the others as well. also, this time, there was a lot more blood and gore, as well as more torture. it was pretty annoying, but not enough for me to stop listening. I really hope the next book is back up to speed ... I am really into these characters!

Ignore the comments about 'virtue signaling'

There is no virtue signaling in this book. There is a revelation that a character is trans. There may be a total of a paragraph devoted to this development, NO MORE. there is no major plot that surrounds the trans nature or decisions. I have no idea why this has been so marked as virtue signaling.

Another reviewer mentions other revelations that occur in later books in this series, apparently claiming that because one character had a hetero relationship in one story & later becomes involved in a gay relationship, it's another case of so-called virtue signaling. You'd think by the homophobic reviewers here that the series has developed into constant hardcore gay erotica. Instead, some characters are revealed to be gay, others are exploring their feelings & may be gay or bi or straight, & this series is one of the least sexuallly graphic series of urban paranormal I've read. That's for any orientation-gay, straight, or multi.

The narrator definitely has some issues. She reads for the main character great. Since it is first person, that means it's often enjoyable. Unfortunately, for the main interest of the main character, the way the narrator voices him is nothing short of atrocious. Most other characters are okay, male & female, but for Tybalt, I want to claw my own ears. There's also a secondary female character that has become my fave, & the way the narrator reads for her is like she's using nails on a chalkboard.
She does these voices so terribly that I usually go back to reading the books to escape.

Most of all, I wanted to kill the reviews that are crying about virtue signaling, b/c this ain't that. It's seriously so far away from virtue signaling that the reviewers are clearly only homo/transphobic & are making a very good portrayal of life & love into something that is just flat out false.

The narration complaints, while not horrible across all characters, are so atrocious on a couple that I do recommend switching to the written version if that's possible, because the stories are great & the narration can be bad enough to detract from a wonderful experience.

I was wondering when this would show up.

I was honestly wondering when this character would show up. Seannan has a huge thing for transgendered characters and they finally showed up in this series. I guess you need something when you write such a psychologically fragile character as Toby.