Review for Rosemary and Rue
Aug. 31st, 2009 08:32 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fourandtwentyI'll make the more official-formatted version (for the 52 Books project) later, but as tomorrow is September, I thought I'd do this now.
So. I received an ARC of Rosemary and Rue, the début novel of Miss![[livejournal.com profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seanan_mcguire, renowned filker and writer of awesome poetry. I received it like a month and a half ago, so I'm a terrible person for not posting this sooner, but you may recall my original reaction post.
I don't know if it really needs more than that, but I'll do my duty as a reader and give as proper a review as I can.
First off, Toby Daye, the main protagonist of the novel, is phenomenal. I want to say like she's this mix of Harry Dresden, Buffy Summers, and Veronica Mars, but that would do a disservice to Seanan's writing because Toby is so much more than that. She's a well-rounded, well-written character who never fails to make me feel what she's feeling. As awesome and intriguing and engaging as the plot is, I think the characters are where Seanan really shines. Each character, even the ones you hardly see at all, have this sense of three-dimensionality to them. You know that these people aren't just little cardboard cutouts who always do the same thing and say the same thing and are just there to fill a role. They have lives, and they have secrets, and they have the potential to surprise you (or Seanan, heh) if they want to. Tybalt was brilliant (you'll know him when you get to him) and so amazingly layered and inhuman. And when I say inhuman here, it's a huge compliment, because all the Fey in this book are inhuman - even Toby has her moments - in the best way, because Fey aren't human.
Now, while I think characters are definitely where Seanan's the most phenomenal, her story doesn't suffer a whit for it. From the get-go, there is something amiss in the world, and I couldn't wait to see what it was. There were so many twists that I was left dizzy and breathless after reading it - but it's not confusing, and it never feels like a cop-out or like the author is purposefully trying to confuse you. It's just pure and unadulterated plot, a mystery whose solution evaded me almost to the last. As much as the book has been compared to The Dresden Files (which it definitely shares a niche with, and Dresden Files fans will adore Toby), the mystery brought to mind all the years when I was obsessed with Agatha Christie and her brilliant novels - there was the same feeling when I reached the end, because all the clues were there, if I just used my "leetle grey cells" and put them together. But of course, I didn't, until almost the end.
The pacing, which everyone who reads knows can be horrifically off in a first published work, was perfect. It picked me up at the beginning and didn't let me go until the end, but never felt rushed.
Seriously. I will recommend this book to everyone - it's one of the best stories I've read this year (or many years previous), and is definitely worth its weight in gold.
SO!
Rosemary and Rue , by Seanan McGuire
In Stores Tomorrow!
Buy it! :D
So. I received an ARC of Rosemary and Rue, the début novel of Miss
seanan_mcguire, renowned filker and writer of awesome poetry. I received it like a month and a half ago, so I'm a terrible person for not posting this sooner, but you may recall my original reaction post. "I am struggling to find words for this other than "OH MY FUCKING GOD". When I came out of the bedroom, I passed the book along to Aubrey with a sort of wordless flail, trying to say something before eventually just holding the book out for her to take. This book is fantastic, and blew me away in a way that I haven't been blown away by a book since I first finished Return of the King when I was 14, or maybe Wicked and Lost Souls when I was 19. Regardless, it's been years since I had an honest-to-goodness, I really can't even speak right now, tears and pain and beauty and joy and life and death and the UNIVERSE in my head and in my chest, stars in my eyes reaction to a book. And this one did it for me."
I don't know if it really needs more than that, but I'll do my duty as a reader and give as proper a review as I can.
First off, Toby Daye, the main protagonist of the novel, is phenomenal. I want to say like she's this mix of Harry Dresden, Buffy Summers, and Veronica Mars, but that would do a disservice to Seanan's writing because Toby is so much more than that. She's a well-rounded, well-written character who never fails to make me feel what she's feeling. As awesome and intriguing and engaging as the plot is, I think the characters are where Seanan really shines. Each character, even the ones you hardly see at all, have this sense of three-dimensionality to them. You know that these people aren't just little cardboard cutouts who always do the same thing and say the same thing and are just there to fill a role. They have lives, and they have secrets, and they have the potential to surprise you (or Seanan, heh) if they want to. Tybalt was brilliant (you'll know him when you get to him) and so amazingly layered and inhuman. And when I say inhuman here, it's a huge compliment, because all the Fey in this book are inhuman - even Toby has her moments - in the best way, because Fey aren't human.
Now, while I think characters are definitely where Seanan's the most phenomenal, her story doesn't suffer a whit for it. From the get-go, there is something amiss in the world, and I couldn't wait to see what it was. There were so many twists that I was left dizzy and breathless after reading it - but it's not confusing, and it never feels like a cop-out or like the author is purposefully trying to confuse you. It's just pure and unadulterated plot, a mystery whose solution evaded me almost to the last. As much as the book has been compared to The Dresden Files (which it definitely shares a niche with, and Dresden Files fans will adore Toby), the mystery brought to mind all the years when I was obsessed with Agatha Christie and her brilliant novels - there was the same feeling when I reached the end, because all the clues were there, if I just used my "leetle grey cells" and put them together. But of course, I didn't, until almost the end.
The pacing, which everyone who reads knows can be horrifically off in a first published work, was perfect. It picked me up at the beginning and didn't let me go until the end, but never felt rushed.
Seriously. I will recommend this book to everyone - it's one of the best stories I've read this year (or many years previous), and is definitely worth its weight in gold.
SO!
In Stores Tomorrow!
Buy it! :D
