Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

A slight deviation for me, the October Daye novels by Seanan McGuire are considered 'modern fantasy,' which is like here and now except with magic and fairies and other illogical things. The world of the Fae exists alongside of mortal Muggles- I mean, humans- and interacts with humans quite often, even while spells keep mortals oblivious to its existence. Humans aren't dumb, just blind, which can be just as bad, October reasons.

Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation are so much like some of my current favorite books, the Vlad Taltos novels, that I feel the similarities remarkable (thus, I will now remark on them). Both written in first person with a sardonic twist, you end up getting to know the main protagonist quite well.

October and Vlad are both fish out of water. October is what is known as a changeling- half Fae, half human, without a place in the world she can easily belong. In the world of the Fae, she is scorned as a half-breed, as are all changelings, while in the human world she must use her weak magic to maintain her human disguise all the time. Vlad is a human, or Easterner, in a city of elves, or Dragaerans, as they're called. Both October and Vlad run their own business- after a fashion- and end up having to solve very strange and sometimes complex cases or murder or intrigue. Both October and Vlad end up getting injured so often it's an absolute miracle they're alive at all, but I guess that's what makes them worth reading about. 

Here's some differences- too many guys keep throwing themselves, with serious intentions, at October. I'm sick of it. She can't be that special. Another thing- when reading about the political structure of Fae society and geneology and everything, I have yet to come across a moment where I did not understand the circumstances. The Taltos books are written such that you have to work to put the pieces together, and read each book several times in order to understand what is going on. Both worlds, Fae and Dragaera, and very complex, and yet in McGuire's books I have not felt confused yet. I don't necessarily think of this as a plus, either- I love a challenge, I love it when the author gives me a bit more than I can actually handle, so that I can choose to rise to the occasion. I was not so challenged reading about October Daye.

In fact, I was able to guess most of the endings and twists in the two books I read upsettingly early on. It's frustrating when you are sure you know the answer and it's right in front of the protagonist's face and yet they can't see it- it makes me lose faith in them. I am utterly convinced that Vlad Taltos is much smarter than me. October Daye, I'm still not sure about.

Apparently I have to get all the negative out of me first when I'm talking or writing about a book. I very much enjoyed A Local Habitation. It was sufficiently creepy and disturbing, with a very well thought-out overall plot, and characters whose motives made sense. I was more iffy on Rosemary and Rue (which is why I picked up the second book- to give the series another shot) where the plot twists were just a little too convenient and some things were annoyingly left unexplained (things that shouldn't have been, I mean; things that seemed pertinent to this particular story). And even though I didn't think much of Rosemary and Rue, you cannot skip it- too much backstory.

But what a fascinating, rich world McGuire has created. I'm looking forward to An Artificial Night.