One Salt Sea ( October Daye 5) by Seanan Mcguire

Good Weekend too all^^

Seanan Mcguire is one of the few authors who can keep me so captivated by a story despite me being sick like hell or exhausted beyond common measure… this time didn’t change that and I couldn’t stop turning the pages, devouring Toby’s adventures… a great start for this year and I’m so impatient to read the next one though I’m also glad I waited since I’m slowly getting up to date with the release… so that’s mean resisting the urge to read them back to back without delay.

[On a side note, after finishing this one I had to read the novella that were set after this story and those I couldn’t resist…sadly I discovered that they weren’t my cup of tea and fortunately they are not essential for the series so you can pass them if you are not into f/f ( In Sea Salt tears ) or m/m (Forbid the Sea) but if you are interested you can check the review for those on my goodread account.]

 Now this review will perhaps be a little short because I can’t reveal too much without spoilers but let see what I can tell you.

Happy reading!

Publisher: DAW

Publication: 2011

ISBN:  0756406838

Genre: dark urban fantasy
Violence: strong
Language: mild
sex: mild
Public: 18+

Source: won

Short description from goodreads :

 October "Toby" Daye is settling into her new role as Countess of Goldengreen. She's actually dating again, and she's taken on Quentin as her squire. So, of course, it's time for things to take a turn for the worse.


Someone has kidnapped the sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist. To prevent a war between land and sea, Toby must find the missing boys and prove the Queen of the Mists was not behind their abduction. Toby's search will take her from the streets of San Francisco to the lands beneath the waves, and her deadline is firm: she must find the boys in three days' time, or all of the Mists will pay the price. But someone is determined to stop her-and whoever it is isn't playing by Oberon's Laws...

My opinion:

          October will never get a real reprieve, despite nearly dying several times on regular basis she has too much on her plate to rest. Now a Countess against her wills, she must learn that role, while taking in charge part of Quentin’s training, and less formally Raj’s. Add to that, the fact the Luidaeg comes to collects debts when a war is on the verge to explode and you have the recipe for a disaster.

Oh, disaster there are how could it not when children are taking from their homes, tortured and with their life threatened? October couldn’t let that kind of crimes unpunished, children are too sacred and if it means having to fight against the Queen or at least to be diplomatically correct and doing others things she would dreams of never doing ( like approaching water) so be it because before being a countess she is a knight.

 I was really happy to see her having the start of a normal life even if I deeply inside new it couldn’t last and to be honest I didn’t like her lover’s choice but still I wanted her to have a bit of happiness…. I loved Spike and her cats which we just learned are really spies for Tybalt (someone had doubt about that fact, really?!), finding May, Quentin and Raj living (or nearly) with her was simply fabulous…it was a great way to see how she matured since the first book.

She also had to adjust to the event in the last book and how it affected her, that part was interesting and I wasn’t expecting it to be so difficult for her but Seanan managed to make the situation really comprehensible and described Toby’s feeling so well I just wanted more. In this book we learn more about the fae.. so far we learned about the land faeries we got a glimpse of others like the luidaeg and selkies but that’s all.  This time we learn about a complete new range of aquatic faes and discover that there are also some aerial ones nothing catch my attention better it was really interesting to discover them from Toby’s perspective.

What made this book even better was the constant presence of the cait sidhe Tybalt, more often in his cat form than I saw in the past.  He wasn’t his humourous self and he didn’t antagonised October but the situation was too dire for that. In any case he was loyally at her side, fought by her side and for her and never let her down ( the perfect mate I’m telling you). We also learn a lot about the Luidaeg and saw a more vulnerable side of her which drew me to her, she always was fascinating now she is more “human”… she suffered a lot and still do I think.

This book has heartbreaking moments, I nearly cried several time but the author balances all the elements in the story at the perfection and it was never too much or not enough. You get to see and feel things from October’s point of view… yes sometimes I wanted to strangle her at other time I wanted to hug her or cry for her but all along I wanted to be by her side. If you love dark urban fantasy with a touch of romance, fae and shifters  really this is a fabulous series, a must read however I can’t recommend you enough to be careful and read all the books in order ( include the free novella if you want it’s even better) it’s the only way to get completely immersed and have all the insights to follow the red lines ( but each book have some closure so far even if the ending just make you want more since it doesn’t answers all questions) this one was a perfect addition to the series with moving moment, adventures, magic and all the rest

Score:  5/5

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and no compensation was received in exchange for this review

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