When
I found out that one of my new favorite authors, Mira Grant, had a
different name under which she wrote novels in a genre I’ve wanted to
write for years- urban fantasy- I was both excited and trepidatious
about it. After all, Seanan McGuire makes it very clear that her and
Mira have very different and distinct writing styles and target
audiences, and I wouldn’t want to get all hyped up for something that
only appeals to teenage girls… would I?
Well, honestly, I would, as long as it wasn’t Twilight style faux romance. And Rosemary and Rue,
the first book in the October Daye series, is anything but that.
Instead, it’s one of the most engaging true mysteries (check my Timecasters review for the distinction) I’ve read since I was a kid picking up Hardy Boys books at tag sales.
Rosemary and Rue
is about a changeling- a half-Faery, half-human- woman trying to make
it in a world that seems stacked up against that particular breed. Not
only that, but Toby’s (short for October’s) particular talents seem to
make her the target of a lot of attention- the type of attention she’s
been desperately trying to avoid. Like an old friend putting a curse on
you to find and punish the person who killed her, or else, because Toby
is the only detective skilled enough to do the job.
Don’t
let this talk of her skills deceive you, though, because Toby’s not
Batman or Sherlock Holmes.
She is very much the underdog in this story
every step of the way- arguably so much of the underdog that I have a
feeling a sizable percentage of men would have trouble empathizing or
even sympathizing with some of her difficulties. Toby is very much your
damsel in distress-turned-heroine by sheer virtue of refusing to be put
down and stay down, which isn’t a bad place for an author who knows that
position to start off from. To be perfectly clear, what I’m saying is
that while the amount of times Toby gets beaten up and taken advantage
of does make me uncomfortable, the manner in which Toby recovers and my
familiarity with author Seanan McGuire through her blog keeps it from
being an overly bothersome artistic choice- especially in a realm that,
try as I might, I have little say or expertise in. What Rosemary and Rue does
do is to show Toby refusing to let any of the racism or mistreatment
get her to devalue herself as a person, and overcome the limitations it
sets upon her, which are some strong traits in their own right.
Difficult
to discuss themes that I’m sure at least one person is going to hate
for me aside, there’s plenty of action, fantasy and mystery here, not to
mention some hard-hitting points that so much fantasy these days is
willing to avoid for the sake of making their story safer for younger
audiences. Seanan McGuire has none of that bull, and nobody in this
story has a happy day. Some get off better than others- there just
aren’t enough coals to drag everybody
through- but “Happily Ever After” isn’t on anybody’s mind. Nor was it
in the beginning, either- this first entry to the series feels like
we’re just picking up in a story that’s been going on for some time. I
don’t mean that in the negative “where did this come from?” sense, but
rather the sense that you’re entering a living, breathing world with
real characters who have storied histories. By the end of the book I,
for one, was pretty interested in learning what it was to earn Toby her
knighthood- but at no point was I required to speculate or know in order
for the plot to move forward. If more second and third installments of
stories used this approach, fiction wouldn’t be in the state it is
today.
The
fantasy of the book focuses mainly on the various Faerie species, using
what I believe are Gaelic names. Similarly, the magic used hearkens
back to the pre-Dungeons & Dragons tradition: there are no named spells here, the Fae simply use
their magic. I have a fondness for Fantasy that knows its roots beyond
Tolkien, even if I have to struggle at times to pronounce the names of
the creatures in the book. The important thing to know is that
purebloods = feudal royalty, changelings = might as well be peasants as
far as half the purebloods are concerned, and humans live blissfully
ignorant in our own world.
Having delved into all of the technical aspects of Rosemary and Rue,
I find myself in the situation of having still not conveyed what makes
this book so good. Well, if you haven’t guessed by now, it’s the
characters. Toby Daye is absolutely excellent
to follow around; already a hero in her own right, she’s nevertheless
called once again on her Hero’s Journey after attempting to leave that
life behind. She’s forced to rely on friends, enemies, and terrifying
myths alike, to learn who she can truly trust. Unlike most Hero’s
Journey survivors, you don’t get the impression that she’s going to come
out of the story as Kate Beckinsale and kill everybody- but like many
other half-human characters, I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side and
find out.
If mysteries, European fantasy and awesome underdog heroines are your cup of tea, pick up Rosemary and Rue
and you won’t be disappointed. Sure, it’s not as gory or as zombie or
as pro-Nerd as her work under the Mira Grant pseudonym, but that doesn’t
diminish Seanan McGuire’s skill as an author or her appeal as a writer
of interesting stories. So far it seems like the stylistic differences
between the two personas is skin-deep- like the difference between
Sci-Fi and Fantasy- more than anything else, but then again, I’m only
scratching the surface. I guess now’s the time to see how deep the
rabbit hole goes.
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