October Daye #5: One Salt Sea Review

Title: October Daye #5: One Salt Sea

Author: Seanan McGuire

Date of Publication: September 6, 2011

Formats Available: Paperback, E-Book

Synopsis: For October "Toby" Daye life is going pretty well; she's agreed to take Quentin as her official squire, she's growing used to her role as the Countess of Goldengreen, and she's even picked up with her old lover Connor. However, when the Luidaeg approaches Toby calling in her favor Toby knows the news can't be good. Faerie is on the verge of war, someone has kidnapped the children of Duchess Dianda Lorden and if they aren't found the underwater duchy of Saltmist will attack. Now Toby is the only one who can find the children and stop the war. With only three days before Saltmist attacks Toby and her allies are racing against the clock to stop what promises to be a devastating war, but when things get personal Toby takes the extra leap to find the kidnappers and learns that not everyone will walk away from this war unscathed.

My Review:

As anyone who reads my blog knows I am a huge fan of the October Daye series. With non-stop action and two delicious love interests this series is almost impossible to hate. This proves true in One Salt Sea, a fantastic addition to the October Daye series I raced through this novel in no time, savoring the heart pounding action and the interactions between the characters I've come to love.

While the plot of this novel wasn't my favorite of the series I still really enjoyed it. One of my favorite things about the October Daye novels is the constant action. Toby doesn't sit around and talk about what the problem is she goes out there and makes it right. Impulsive and protective she isn't afraid of what she has to do to keep everyone she loves safe, even if it means risking her own life.

One plot twist I wasn't quite sure about but ended up working out really nicely was the introduction of Gillian into the series. While it doesn't look like she'll ever be playing a major role in any of the novels it was really nice to learn more about Toby's past and see her interact with her daughter. The introduction of Gillian softened Toby's otherwise tough to the bone exterior and opened her up to a softer and more gentle side of her character.

As usual I absolutely loved the characters, from the grittiness of the Luidaeg to Tybalt's cat-like personality I ended up loving the characters even more than I already did by the end of this novel. While Connor and Toby's relationship bugged me (probably just because I'm a HUGE Tybalt fan...) I still ended up liking Connor a little bit in the end. With the introduction of some new characters and the death of some old ones it's going to be  exciting to see where McGuire takes this series next!

The October Daye series is one of my favorite series of all time. I would highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this series to fans of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, or really to anyone in general. A fantastic series through and through this is not one you're going to want to miss.

5/5