Name: Didi Chanoch's review of The brightest fell by Seanan McGuire
Item: The brightest fell
Rating: 5
Author: Didi Chanoch

Seanan McGuire

The brightest fell

Erica Freitas

Didi Chanoch

What can you say about book 11 in a series, which would be of relevant and non spoilery to non-series readers, but also tells your fellow fans how good this current volume is?

To my mind, THE BRIGHTEST FELL is one of the best books in the series. It strips Toby down to bare essence, to her roots, to what home and family are to her. It takes a lot from her. We learn a lot about the core traumas that defined her, and while one major trauma is, to a large extent, resolved, others are only highlighted. 

What would you do to save a person you love? What would you sacrifice? Who would you hurt? 

What would the long term impacts of those decisions be?

When Toby has to team up with an old enemy to find a long missing person, all of those questions are raised, and some are answered.

This is as good a book as this series has produced.

Nickie Mohler

Christina M Masters

The Brightest Fell, the 11th installment in the October Daye series, starts out giving you a glimmer of hope. It makes you believe that maybe this book will be the beginning of Toby and Tybalt getting that much closer to their much-deserved happy ending. But, as Seanan McGuire is famous for, that glimmer of hope doesn’t last, and Toby’s life takes another disastrous turn as her mother, Amandine, shows up on her doorstep, demanding Toby find her half-sister, August, who has been missing for a very long time. Toby, not having the greatest relationship with her mother in the best of times, refuses, so in order to compel her, Amandine kidnaps Tybalt and May’s girlfriend, Jazz, letting Toby know that if she doesn’t find August, she is never seeing her loved ones again. Talk about mommy issues! Now Toby must team up with her enemy, Simon Torquill, who also happens to be August’s father, not to mention the one who turned Toby into a fish 14 years ago, in order to find her before it is too late.

There wasn’t a lot I didn’t love about this particular book. Love and what one would or wouldn’t do in the name of love seems to be the bigger theme in this book. In addition, there is action, there is adventure, there is introduction to new and interesting characters, and revisiting some we haven’t seen for a while; there is the possibility for redemption, there is also heartache and heartbreak. Plus, there is bleeding, when Toby is involved there is always bleeding. Over the course of the last ten books McGuire has created a rich, interesting world that straddles the line between mortal and faerie, with an amazing political structure and a marvelous cast of complex and multi-layered characters. Nothing is ever black and white in her world. Every character has as much chance of becoming the valiant knight type as they do becoming an evil villain, especially in the name of Faerie.
 
Overall, this was one of my favorites in the series. I don’t want to say too much for risk of giving the good stuff away, but the thing I love about Seanan McGuire’s books is that you never really know which way they are going to go and this book was no exception. I left it feeling both hope and dread for the future …either our favorites are going to get their happy ending or everything is going to go terribly, horribly, let’s all wield a machete, wrong, and with the current players on the board after this book, you can’t help but feeling that this series is heading towards an epic showdown. Honestly, it felt way Empire Strikes Back-ish to me, which I love because I am a fan of a story taking you to a place you didn’t expect and are not quite sure how it will all turn out in the end.
 
So, if you are a fan of urban fantasy and have not yet discovered the joys and sometimes pain of the October Daye series, I urge you to do so. For long time fans of the series, this is a fantastic addition to a world we already know and love. You will not be disappointed.

Vanessa Bintou

This was the best of the series so far. I read the first 6 books and I was not happy about the pacing and the storylines, so I skimmed the next 4 books. This one was much better! The thing I liked the most was the different dynamics. We were used to Toby have the help of Quentin, May and Tybalt every single book. Danny was the driver and Sylvester there to be afraid.. This time she had to work with someone else, Simon, and I loved how much their relationship grew over the course of just one book. I also appreciated that we learnt a lot of things about her family, Faerie, and some side characters. 
Overall, the best book so far.

New York Times-bestselling October Daye faerie series • Hugo Award-winning author Seanan McGuire • "Top of my urban-paranormal series list!" —Felicia Day Contains an original bonus novella, Of Things Unknown! Things are slow, and October “Toby” Daye couldn’t be happier about that. The elf-shot cure has been approved, Arden Windermere is settling into her position as Queen in the Mists, and Toby doesn’t have anything demanding her attention except for wedding planning and spending time with her family. Maybe she should have realized that it was too good to last. When Toby’s mother, Amandine, appears on her doorstep with a demand for help, refusing her seems like the right thing to do…until Amandine starts taking hostages, and everything changes. Now Toby doesn’t have a choice about whether or not she does as her mother asks. Not with Jazz and Tybalt’s lives hanging in the balance. But who could possibly help her find a pureblood she’s never met, one who’s been missing for over a hundred years? Enter Simon Torquill, elf-shot enemy turned awakened, uneasy ally. Together, the two of them must try to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the Mists: what happened to Amandine’s oldest daughter, August, who disappeared in 1906. This is one missing person case Toby can’t afford to get wrong.

The Brightest Fell

Sarah

Grace Piper

Stephanie Shaw

Laura

Juliana M

Kenedi wilson

Lauren Sullivan

Amy Troschinetz

danielle bush

New York Times-bestselling October Daye series * Hugo Award-winning author Seanan McGuire * "Top of my urban-paranormal series list!" --Felicia Day Things are slow, and October "Toby" Daye couldn't be happier about that. The elf-shot cure has been approved, Arden Windermere is settling into her position as Queen in the Mists, and Toby doesn't have anything demanding her attention except for wedding planning and spending time with her family. Maybe she should have realized that it was too good to last. When Toby's mother, Amandine, appears on her doorstep with a demand for help, refusing her seems like the right thing to do...until Amandine starts taking hostages, and everything changes. Now Toby doesn't have a choice about whether or not she does as her mother asks. Not with Jazz and Tybalt's lives hanging in the balance. But who could possibly help her find a pureblood she's never met, one who's been missing for over a hundred years? Enter Simon Torquill, elf-shot enemy turned awakened, uneasy ally. Together, the two of them must try to solve one of the greatest mysteries in the Mists: what happened to Amandine's oldest daughter, August, who disappeared in 1906. This is one missing person case Toby can't afford to get wrong.

Erica Freitas &
The brightest fell by Seanan McGuire

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Erica Freitas &The brightest fell by Seanan McGuire

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Erica Freitas &
The brightest fell by Seanan McGuire