A Red-Rose Chain: October Daye, Book 9

Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.A Red-Rose Chain is the ninth installment in the long running October Daye Series. The October Daye series is one of my all-time favorite Urban Fantasy series with the likes of Kate Daniels and Mercy Thompson. October is no stranger to danger because she always finds herself in the middle of it whether intentionally or not. In this latest addition, October is sent to the Kingdom of Silence to broker a peace treaty with their king. But instead of peace talk, the false king and queen are determined to incite a war. And as usual it’s up to Toby and her friends to save the day.I enjoyed A Red-Rose Chain for the most part but I couldn’t help but feel like this was just a filler book. There wasn’t much happening plot-wise. This is the beginning of a new arc in the series but there was no progression to the story or the characters. It was cool seeing a different area of Faerie but that’s about it. The plot felt recycled and uneventful. I also thought the ending was anticlimactic and resolved way too quickly. Once again Toby easily sacrifices herself for the greater good but of course is saved/cured immediately. A little too convenient if I must say. Many reviewers mentioned the overkill in recaps and I definitely agree. I don’t think every single little thing needed an explanation.This wasn’t the best or strongest book in the series but overall still good. I’m just excited that Toby and Tybalt are going to get married. With that said I hope the wedding is somewhere in the next two books. Or maybe we'd get to see Quentin's home.

The Kingdom of Silences have declared war on the Mists, and Toby, of all people, was selected to act as Arden's diplomat to stop the war, but at a price: They can't protect her until changeling hater King Rhys acts against her first. Treading these new waters is risky, and she always ends up covered in blood... Just how much can she bleed before it's too late?Here's what I didn't like: I felt like there was an unresolved issue with Arden, but it will most likely be brought up again in a later book. I wish I had seen what happened with Tia. It seemed they forgot they had tuatha de dannan back up blood.Here's what I liked: The gang, as usual. Leather pants are back, however momentarily. Quentin's Great Big Sea shirt. Glad that May finally got to act as backup. The Court of Whispering Cats. Rhys was particularly gruesome and vile.Overall, it read well and flowed nicely., Fast pacing. Looking forward to the next book!

*****SPOILERS READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL*****This book was just sad, Walther, his whole family was basically held prisoner using elf shot. Walther never wanted to return to the Silences because of the things that were being done to his family and everything that would be done to him. But of course, Toby drags him back there because the puppet king Rhys wants to get rid of Arden because he wants to put the false king back on her throne. Also they want Toby to fix the false queen's blood, since she removed the Siren blood that was causing most of the trouble. But that isn't all of it, they also want to use Toby's blood to gain lots and lots of power.The Silences is a really messed up place, all changelings are forced into servitude, they are seen as less. Many of them are addicted to Goblin Fruit, and a few die every year. Walther's whole family/the previously king and queen are all elfshot and hidden away. So Toby needs to find a cure for elfshot. Since Evening was the one that created the elfshot, and Toby knows what her magic smells like, she was able to get that information to Walther so that he would be able to create a cure. All of this was laced into a lot of farie court stuff, which boarders on politics... which bores me. I don't really know what else to say here... except that Toby almost dies a lot.Character development: holes in character personalities⭐️ World building: freebie⭐️⭐️ Ease of read: easy⭐️⭐️⭐️ Plot twist: kept things interesting⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lasting impression: disturbed

I read a few reviews before buying this one and a lot were disappointed because this was a kind of transition book. Basically getting rid of a few old enemies. There has been mention in the books, and my mentions I mean barely alluded to and then smeared over, that here is a prophecy or a mention of “great things”, about Toby’s life. At this point, if this is going to be a focus of her story, maybe we should know it. Having said this, I love the author and these books are great so I’m not going to knock it with a bad rating. All stories have to transition or they would just be malingering. On to the next book.

Not sure what happened in this one, but this book was quite bad. A low point for the series. A complete shame since the series was building some momentum with the previous couple of books, among the high-point of the series, so this one was a complete letdown.They setup a potential war and is completely mishandled with terrible enemies, a return of one which honestly brought nothing to the table other than ruining the character even further.Furthermore, can we have some more creativity with the character interactions? There's a rinse and repeat of just about every conversation we've had in this series so far. It was all, been there done that throughout it. To say nothing of the new interactions with the enemy. Every time they met, they repeated the same nonsense.The only plus is that I saw some potential in the political machinations, but that in the end was also mishandled.Honestly, there was nothing to like in this one. A big shame as the previous books were good. McGuire needs to do a better job in maintaining momentum for the series.

Seanan continues to delight with hthis series about Toby. I love the developments and twists in her story, and the way her characters have grown.

Obviously don't start with this one but if you've read the others and wonder how this one stacks up be reassured. It is good.

Another great October Daye novel. I love the characters, story and world. Recommend it to any fans of the series.

I look forward to these books so much and when a new one is released I am always over the moon. It didn't disappoint and I think it was wonderful as usual. I love Seanan's writing style and her character development. Can't wait for the next one now.

Oh I am on book nine one more to go feel I know October just been a tremendous read