coral reviewed The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
None
5 stars
I was given an advance review copy of this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
For transparency, I should probably start by acknowledging that this is my favorite series, out of all of the series in the world. I generally enjoy Seanan McGuire's storytelling, her sense of humor, and her knack for very good foreshadowing, and I specifically love this world and these characters. The Luidaeg is my favorite character. So the fact that I enjoyed this book: not a surprise.
The rest of this review is not going to be a plot summary--Goodreads doesn't need yet another review that summarizes the plot--but it IS going to have opinions that people who want to avoid spoilers will probably want to avoid. Especially if you're not through books 11 and 12 yet. Seriously, stop here if you're behind.
What I did not expect, and I honestly can't tell …
I was given an advance review copy of this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
For transparency, I should probably start by acknowledging that this is my favorite series, out of all of the series in the world. I generally enjoy Seanan McGuire's storytelling, her sense of humor, and her knack for very good foreshadowing, and I specifically love this world and these characters. The Luidaeg is my favorite character. So the fact that I enjoyed this book: not a surprise.
The rest of this review is not going to be a plot summary--Goodreads doesn't need yet another review that summarizes the plot--but it IS going to have opinions that people who want to avoid spoilers will probably want to avoid. Especially if you're not through books 11 and 12 yet. Seriously, stop here if you're behind.
What I did not expect, and I honestly can't tell if it was McGuire's intention, was how much I came out of this book loathing Gillian. The short story after the previous book did a fair bit to humanize her (yeah, OK, I was already not a fan), which makes me think maybe we're not supposed to feel this way? But she's just such a perfect foil for Quentin, who is brave and loving and generally a great person (due in no small part to Toby's influence). Toby loves Gillian with all of her heart, and Gillian seems entirely incapable of returning that love--maybe in part because Toby was trapped in a pond and then kept away during her development. (So, sure: maybe it's not her fault. She's still awful, though.)
I do appreciate that Toby's and Gillian's relationship is the inverse of Amandine's and Toby's, in a lot of ways; and Toby's the one who gets crapped on in both, which I take to be an underscoring of the point of the whole series: "found family is your truest family." We love the Luidaeg, Lily, Quentin, Tybalt, Maye, Jas, Raj, and Spike (and sometimes Sylvester), and we hate Amandine and Gillian and August and Janet.
Anyway.
I enjoyed the new Firstborn character. I'm puzzled by what Marcia's deal is. I am also enjoying watching Patrick and Dianda's children grow up.
And if the big thing that we've been building up to with the Selkies, for several books now, ended up feeling more like a side plot than the point of the book, I can honestly forgive that. Or I can decide it was deliberate misdirection. At any rate, I'm comfortable with it.
