fireun | Mar. 16th, 2010

I so love it when a sequel not only continues upon the same excellent track as its predecessor, but adds to it. A Local Habitation takes everything I adored about Rosemary and Rue and gives it more depth, more of a kick.

Again, McGuire displays an excellent talent for keeping a reader on their toes. I swear I had the mystery solved half a dozen times, and every time I was comfortable with my conclusion something would happen, a tiny detail would be revealed, that would make me rethink my decision.

The whole book takes place in pretty much one location. For me, that added a fascinating sense of urgency to each page. There was such a finite space for all of this danger to be lurking it was tangibly inevitable that there would be a breaking point. And I loved it.

McGuire's fae world is dangerous, it has the edge to it that led the people of the Old World to refer to the Fae as the Good People/Good Neighbors, lest you offend them. That edge gets left off a bit too much in recent urban fantasy, and I cannot express how happy dangerous Fae make me. I am a mythology/folklore geek, and the excellent mix of well known and obscure creatures that McGuire peoples her world with makes me damn near giddy.

Wonderful prose. Excellent world building and intriguing characters...it is a tragedy if any fan of the urban fantasy genre misses out on these. They are part folktale, part mystery/thriller, and honestly they can, and do, appeal to folks in both the fantasy and mystery genres.

If you haven't yet, pick up Rosemary and Rue, the first October Daye book. While you are at it, get A Local Habitation. You will want to move directly from one to the next. Trust me.