An Artificial Night – Seanan McGuire

Publisher’s Summary:
“October “Toby” Daye is a changeling-half human and half fae-and the only one who has earned knighthood. Now she must take on a nightmarish new challenge. Someone is stealing the children of the fae as well as mortal children, and all signs point to Blind Michael. Toby has no choice but to track the villain down-even when there are only three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael’s realm, home of the Wild Hunt-and no road may be taken more than once. If Toby cannot escape with the children, she will fall prey to the Wild Hunt and Blind Michael’s inescapable power.”

October Daye has been put to the test before, but never more than in An Artificial Night. Forced to play a life or death game with Blind Michael, one of the Firstborn’s children, she must also evade the Wild Hunt and save the children they stole, including her adoptive niece and nephew. This third book was the most breathless, must-finish installment in the series to date.

Having now posted reviews for Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation, it’s safe to say that everything I loved from those first two books was present and accounted for in An Artificial Night: deep world-building, new developments with characters I’ve come to love, and the addition of a few others that I cannot wait to read more about.

“I didn’t want to go. I’m not a hero; I never have been. I just do what has to be done.”

Toby never shies away from any situation that has the potential to do her harm; she repeatedly suffers for doing the right thing, or for taking on a problem no one else seems willing or able to. That’s part of her appeal: Toby does suffer, sometime she doesn’t come out on top, but she always gets back on her feet and does what needs doing. If not for that pragmatic, noble side of her, Toby might not have survived her encounter with Blind Michael. (Well, that and the willingness of her allies to come to her aid.) After three books, my love for Toby’s character has not diminished.

My love for some of the other characters, like, oh, Tybalt, continues to grow (and consume, in his case). A few new characters, such as Tybalt’s nephew, Raj, packed an amazing punch. And that’s something to be noted: the secondary characters in this series help boost it to a standout, knockout level. Not one is wasted, or introduced without reason; each usually appears in a future book, or has a hand in the advancement or resolution of that given plot. The secondary characters also supercharge the emotional impact of the story. To continue down that line of thought, however, would be to veer into spoiler territory, so…mum’s the word.

The layered world-building in this series is one of its great strengths. Pieces of Fae culture, for lack of a better word, are revealed in every book. In An Artificial Night, the world-building was, for me, especially impressive. We learn more about the Firstborn, their children, and Luna, Toby’s liege’s wife; those examples are just that, examples. With Toby, there’s always more under the surface. I’m not often one to dwell on the world-building, but when it comes to this series I not only notice it, I love it.

As was the case with the previous two, I finished An Artificial Night and moved on to Late Eclipses. Believe me when I say: This series just keeps getting better and better.

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