Book Review: Night and Silence (October Daye) by Seannine McQuire

Night and Silence is the twelfth book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. You do need to read these books in order to understand the characters and world. I highly recommend the series, but you do need to start from the beginning.

In the aftermath of Amandine's latest betrayal, October "Toby" Daye's fragile self-made family is on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Jazz can't sleep, Sylvester doesn't want to see her, and worst of all, Tybalt has withdrawn from her entirely, retreating into the Court of Cats as he tries to recover from his abduction. Toby is floundering, unable to help the people she loves most heal. She needs a distraction. She needs a quest. What she doesn't need is the abduction of her estranged human daughter, Gillian. What she doesn't need is to be accused of kidnapping her own child by her ex-boyfriend and his new wife, who seems to be harboring secrets of her own. There's no question of whether she'll take the case. The only question is whether she's emotionally prepared to survive it. Signs of Faerie's involvement are everywhere, and it's going to take all Toby's nerve and all her allies to get her through this web of old secrets, older hatreds, and new deceits. If she can't find Gillian before time runs out, her own child will pay the price. One question remains: Who in Faerie remembered Gillian existed? And what do they stand to gain? No matter how this ends, Toby's life will never be the same.

Night and Silence is a book that made me wonder how we got to book 12. So often by this point in a series characters and the problems they face start getting old or predictable. Somehow McGuire keeps avoiding all of those pitfalls. Toby is facing her own crisis, dealing with the fact that she can not fix the damage her mother has cause to Tybalt and Jazz. Those are battles that she can not fight for them, and talking and facing emotions head on (not her strong suit) is all that she can do to help. The latest crisis falls in Toby's lap she discovers more secrets and complications that lead her on another crazy quest, dealing with dangers and conspiracies, to save her daughter again. I loved that October had to face her emotions and deal with facing big surprises. I loved seeing the characters from previous books make their appearances, some of which were key to the story and seeing everything come together to make things work they way she needs it to. Sometimes I worry that the story will end, and the series will stop- others I worry that not everything can come together in time- but McGuire makes it all work. I really loved the short story at the end of the story, giving readers a look at Gillian's point of view.

Night and Silence is another nail biting adventure for October, with plenty of character and emotional crisis along side the physical. Fans will need to pick it up, and will likely devour it as quickly as I did.