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A LOCAL HABITATION is the second book in Seanan McGuire’s “October Daye” urban fantasy series. The first book in the series, ROSEMARY & RUE, was a stellar debut for McGuire while A LOCAL HABITATION is a worthy successor. Toby, the series protagonist, returns to the service of her Duke for an ‘easy’ job of checking on the Duke’s niece, Countess January, who has mysteriously gone silent in the wilds of Fremont, California AKA the County of Tamed Lightning. This job is supposed to be such a piece of cake that the Duke sends a fostered squire, Quentin, along for the ride as a learning experience.

This would not be an October Daye book if anything nice or easy happened to Toby or anyone with her.

This is an excellent standalone book that may be read without reading the first book in the series while still fitting into the supernatural world McGuire has created to overlay the San Francisco Bay Area. However, this is also a very different book than its predecessor. Where the first book was a gritty noir tale, A LOCAL HABITATION is basically a locked door murder mystery where the bodies keep growing and the list of suspects keep shrinking. This is not a bad thing.

While I miss a bit of the gritty noir feel of the previous novel, I strongly approve that the character of October Daye is growing, changing and healing. This is nice to see. I enjoy her friendships with the unlikeliest of people like Tybalt and the Luidaeg and her requited but untouchable love in the very married Connor as well as her sudden role as a mentor to Quentin. What I don’t like is Toby’s apparent abandonment of her lost mortal love and daughter. Then again, in the first book, Cliff and Gilly (the mortal love and daughter, respectively) pretty much told Toby to DIAF. I’ve been told this kink in Toby’s tale will be addressed in a future novel.

The story itself starts months after the end of ROSEMARY & RUE, allowing Toby time to heal some, grow into her duty as a Knight again and to continue to straighten her life out as best she can. Once the first bit is through pointing out that things have changed, the reader is thrown head first into the murder mystery at the computer company of the Duke’s niece, Countess January, when Toby arrives on the scene to discover a dead body—and it is not the first. After that, the action is fast and furious. Through it all, Toby’s relationship with Quentin grows. The squire softens Toby’s edges and that is exactly what the sarcastic, blunt changeling needed.

Over all, A LOCAL HABITATION is an excellent book that continues October Daye’s story after a 14 year curse, a hell of a wake up, the murder of her only friend and her attempts to make sense of a life that refuses to cooperate. This is my favorite urban fantasy series to date and I’m eagerly looking forward to the next installment.

Review by Jennifer Brozek

Tags | urban fantasy