HOW MANY MILES TO BABYLON?
Everyone in the Bay Area knows about Blind Michael, the unseen, dangerous figure whose Hunt sweeps the Berkeley hills on full moon nights. He's a familiar hazard of life in the Kingdom of the Mists, and most people don't waste time worrying about him. October "Toby" Daye certainly doesn't. She has better things to worry about, like paying the electrical bill on time. So it's understandable that she'd be upset when Blind Michael suddenly starts taking an interest in people that matter to her, like the youngest children of Mitch and Stacy Brown.
Tasked to find the missing children, and with the stakes growing higher by the minute, Toby has few choices and fewer allies to help her through the dangers yet to come. With the Luidaeg's help and a candle to light her way home, there's a chance that she'll come through this latest danger...but the sudden appearance of her Fetch doesn't give Toby all that much in the way of hope...
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I have to say that this is rapidly becoming one of my favorite series. It took me a bit to put my finger on it, but I think it's got a lot to do with just how scary these books can be. McGuire does an incredible job taking the now popular urban fantasy genre and making it her own. These books are not copy cats of anything else - the characters are unique, their problems are even unique-er, and the bad guys scare the pants off me! It's the way she tells a story; I'm worried about Toby surviving, I'm worried about her friends surviving, I am worried that the ending isn't going to be a happy one!
Because with McGuire there isn't that feeling of a guaranteed happy ending. Bad shit is going to happen and her use of foreshadowing and linguistic clues just keeps me on the edge of the seat. With this latest book I found myself switching between wanting to know what came next and wanting to put the book down cause I was too afraid to find out! Toby going after Blind Michael is no joke; everyone's telling her she's got almost no chance, her Fetch has shown up as her own personal prediction of death, and there's almost no one who's going to be able/willing to even try to help!
I think this book is just an frightening and suspenseful as any horror movie and I think after you take a trip down memory lane with the first two books you're going to have a damn good time. Highly recommended!
Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.
Series - 1) Rosemary and Rue 2) A Local Habitation 3) An Artificial Night
