I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
"Forbid the Sea"
by
Seanan McGuire
It is part of the October Daye #0.3 series and is a paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition on September 18, 2013 and has 20 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses, One Salt Sea, Discount Armageddon, Home Improvement: Undead Edition, “Never Shines the Sun”, Chimes at Midnight, "In Sea-Salt Tears", Indexing, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Half-Off Ragnarok, Midway Relics and Dying Breeds, Games Creatures Play, The Winter Long, Sparrow Hill Road, The InCryptid Prequels, Pocket Apocalypse, Black as Blood, Blocked, White as a Raven's Wing, The Ghosts of Bourbon Street, IM, "Good Girls Go to Heaven", A Red Rose Chain, "Full of Briars", Reflections, Once Broken Faith, "Dreams and Slumbers", Shadowed Souls, Chaos Choreography, Magic For Nothing, Indigo, Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, The Brightest Fell, "Of Things Unknown", Beneath the Sugar Sky, Night and Silence, "Suffer a Sea-change", The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, "The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork", Tricks for Free, That Ain't Witchcraft, "The Measure of a Monster", The Unkindest Tide, "Hope is Swift", Come Tumbling Down, Imaginary Numbers, "Follow the Lady", In an Absent Dream, "The Fixed Stars", "No Sooner Met", Across the Green Grass Fields, A Killing Frost, "Shine in Pearl", When Sorrows Come, "And with Reveling", "Singing the Comic-Con Blues”, "Candles and Starlight", "Such Dangerous Seas", Sleep No More
A free short story, 0.3 in the chronological order of the October Daye paranormal fantasy series (7.2 in publishing order), normally revolving around Sir October Daye, but the focus in this story is of Tybalt back in 1676 in London, where he reigns as a young and lonely king.
My Take
A fascinating reveal of Rand’s transition to Tybalt, from prince to king, in first person protagonist point-of-view from Tybalt’s perspective where we finally learn how Rand became king and why.
In “Forbid the Sea”, we meet that Rand/Tybalt and discover how lonely he’s been, a meeting that leads to Tybalt and Dylan having a romantic fling, that ends too soon.
It’s a sweet tale that will make you cry…
The Story
It’s been ten years since the plague destroyed Londinium, and the Divided Courts are finally returning to the city they fled. Rand hoping to see the return of his ladylove…until he realized a truth.
It’s an unscheduled trip down river that finds a friend and a lover for whom Tybalt would go to war.
The Characters
The theatre-loving Rand, er, Tybalt now, is the only Cait Sidhe in Londinium in his lonely Court of Fogbound Cats where all things lost eventually find their way. Jill and Colleen had been his sisters.
Dylan, a.k.a. Bradwr, is a newly created Selkie from Cambria. Murtagh is king of the Undersea.
The Divided Courts are…
…led by King Heydon and Queen Lettice, who have only just returned. September Torquill gets a mention.
Russell is an old sailor. Molly is a serving maid at a coastal inn.
The Cover and Title
The cover looks like a bomb went off with the ruined stone walls, a Roman road up which a cat walks. In the rocky background are two seals, resting with a watery coastline stretching off in the distance, a low range of hills behind the body of water. It’s all in oranges, grays, and muddy yellows. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name immediately below it. At the bottom is a distressed title in a deep yellow with another info blurb informing us that it’s a story about Tybalt.
The title, to “Forbid the Sea”, is a reflection of Tybalt’s grief.
