Novella Review – Full of Briars (October Daye, Book 9.3) by Seanan McGuire (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 44 pages
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: August 2, 2016
ASIN: B0191WS1EE
Stand Alone or Series: 9,3 book in the October Daye series
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Meet Quentin Sollys. Squire. Hockey fan. Canadian. And Crown Prince to the entire continent of North America, known as “the Westlands” to the fae, currently ruled by his parents, High King Aethlin and High Queen Maida. Not that most people know that, since he’s a blind foster squired to a changeling—not exactly something that screams “hidden royalty.”
But with a new Queen on the throne in the Mists, his parents have finally come to town to see how he’s doing…and to take him home with them. That’s going to be a problem, since Quentin doesn’t particularly want to leave, and his knight, Sir October Daye, doesn’t particularly want to let him go.
Set after Chimes at Midnight and before The Winter Long, it’s finally time to meet the parents in our first-ever story narrated by Quentin himself.”
This is a novella in the October Daye series that is told from October’s squire’s (Quentin Sollys) point of view. This novella gives some good insight into Quentin’s character and sets things up nicely for following books.
I am going to be honest I didn’t like reading from Quentin’s point of view as much as October’s; he just comes across as a lot more vanilla. However, it was nice to see what Quentin thinks about October and how he views his role as the Crown Prince.
The whole novella is basically dedicated to the debate of whether or not Quentin should stay on as October’s squire. A couple interesting things happen at the end of the novella that will lead into future stories.
Overall I enjoyed the novella. It’s not critical to read to follow the story happening in the October Daye series, but it was some nice filler while fans wait for the next book.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge
