October "Toby" Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.
I'm going to make this review a little on the quicker side, just because I'm still recovering from not-so-fun illness. McGuire does a good job of creating a different faerie world here, especially since she concentrates on changelings. The life of a mixed blood fae isn't always at the forefront of urban fantasy novels, maybe because as a half-blood, sometimes limitless power is too limited to make an interesting read. I would disagree with this assessment though, because having a character that's forced to be inventive due to lack of magical power usually ends up resulting in a more well rounded character. I do think that the series ended up slightly darker than I expected, with things happening to Toby and her friends that I just didn't seem coming, but in the end the story demanded that darkness. There was no way it could be too frivolous or light and maintain respect for what was going on. In the end I'd have to say that I have urban fantasies that I like more than this one, but it's a series I'm definitely going to watch.
Overall Feeling - Thumbs Up. Darker than I originally expected, this book left me interested and wanting more.
Series - 1) Rosemary and Rue 2) A Local Habitation
