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"Shine in Pearl"
by
Seanan McGuire
urban fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by DAW Books on September 1, 2020 Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
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", "Forbid the Sea", "No Sooner Met", Across the Green Grass Fields, A Killing Frost, When Sorrows Come, "And with Reveling", "Singing the Comic-Con Blues”, "Candles and Starlight", "Such Dangerous Seas", Sleep No More
A novella, 14.5 in the October Daye urban fantasy series, revolving around Sir October Daye. The focus is on the time just before Simon Torquill becomes enthralled by Evening Winterrose. It’s set in 23 October 1901 in San Francisco.
“Shine in Pearl” is found in the back of A Killing Frost, 14.
My Take
“Shine in Pearl” is a flashback, a memory that provides insight into Simon. One influenced by his love for family and the Daoine Sidhe directive to keep their bloodlines pure and gather power.
McGuire uses third person triple protagonist point-of-view from Patrick’s, Dianda’s, and Simon’s perspectives, so we discover how each perceives their predicament. Poor Dianda. The loves in her lives certainly haven’t been permanent, and it does contribute to her skewed view of land-based fae. Be aware that there’s not a lot of action, as it’s mostly thinking on Simon’s part.
This 60-year(!) courtship between Patrick and Dianda has plenty of background and “Shine in Pearl” gives us a whole ‘nother side to Sylvester, and it does not paint him in a good light. Ambitious, embarrassed with a need to conform to their fae world, and yet Sylvester rejects his Firstborn’s demand. It’s sad how Patrick’s and Simon’s lives seem to be unrolling.
I do prefer the more violent Undersea world whose Firstborn only wants them to be happy and follow their natures. Who looks out for a race that isn’t even her own. The Daoine Sidhe Firstborn wants them to gather power and keep their bloodlines pure.
I like that Patrick is a nice guy, unassuming, content to go his own way and not that of his pretentious fellow fae. He likes to make jewelry from sea glass — he calls it driftglass, and McGuire has a poetic description of how it comes to be.
Ya gotta love Dianda for loving a man who saw her and not the “princess”.
Simon. Poor Simon and that low self-esteem of his, although he will stand up for his friend. A stand that starts him down a corruptive path. It seems that Simon’s wife, Amandine, has similar self-esteem issues only she likes to beat him down.
It is sweet that Simon also likes to garden. Unfortunately, he likes to let things unfold at a natural pace. So unfae of him, lol.
The mention of an Undine seeking to establish a knowe to give shelter to changelings in Golden Gate Park gives a starting look at Lily (Rosemary and Rue).
McGuire notes that Selkies are essential to the Undersea as couriers and observers.
I do love setting stories in a series in a chronological order, but there are times when knowing the background would interfere. That’s the case with “Shine in Pearl”. While it is set at the start of the twentieth century, we’d get an entirely different view of Simon that would affect all the stories prior to A Killing Frost.
The Story
Landless, Patrick finds happiness in his workshop and the pixies with whom he’s friends. Yes, he’s madly in love with his mermaid, but his Firstborn refuses to allow this love to continue.
And when Patrick disappears, Simon is lost, desolate without his beloved friend, lost in his association as his wife’s pet, his Firstborn’s dupe.
The Characters
Patrick Twycross, the landless Baron of Feathered Stones, is a Daoine Sidhe in love with Dianda Lorden, a Merrow of the Undersea and the newly raised duchess of Saltmist. Twycross had been his childhood home in Tremont. Patrick’s pixie friends include Daffodil, the no-longer-broken Lilac, and Poppy.
Saltmist is . . .
. . . Dianda’s undersea duchy. Henry is a Selkie. Helmi is a Cephali, a Daoine Sidhe from the waist up and an octopus from the waist down, and Dianda’s personal lady’s maid. A Naiad will only speak when she has something worthy to say. Hydor is the Naiad who comes to help Patrick — they like to gather water and sculpt it, but you had better be specific about which water they can take from you! And I don’t understand how “Hydor” fits in. It could be a name but it would be one shared with all the Naiads?? Dianda thinks it may be a family name.
Simon Torquill is Patrick’s closest friend and also from a family of little power. Sylvester is Simon’s hero brother married to a kitsune, Luna, who loves to garden. Their sister chose to remain in Europe.
Amandine is married to Simon — some say when she was too young. She and Simon have a daughter, August, in whom Simon delights, even if she takes after her mother too much.
Evening, the Countess Winterrose, is quite the snob. Dawn Winterrose is her sweet sister. Treasa Riordan is beautiful on the outside . . . but not on the inside.
King Gilad ruled Windermere in the Mists, i.e., San Francisco and more. Arden and Nolan are Gilad’s children although he does not acknowledge them. The Undersea has its own king in Leucothea.
The Firstborn are . . .
. . . those children who can claim Oberon as their father. Eira Rosynhwyr is the Daoine Sidhe Firstborn whose mother is the vicious, cold Titania. Rhew of the Glass Shadow is Eira’s oldest living daughter. Amphitrite is the Merrow Firstborn.
Lily, an Undine, had been a friend of Amandine the Liar. There is a “dreadful King of Cats” around.
The Cover and Title
The cover is dimmed with its foggy background in gray stone ruins: a wall, a low fence, and a path. The black-haired Toby with her pale face and pointed ears is dressed in a white T-shirt, a black flannel shirt, jeans, and a black leather jacket. She’s carrying a dagger in her right hand while her left is propped against a wall. At the very top is a deep teal info blurb with the author’s name in a grayed turquoise below it. Below that, to the left of Toby is the series info in the same teal. Below that is a grayed-turquoise round badge with its info in white. The title begins inside Toby’s right wrist and at her waist in a distressed white font.
I’m guessing the title is metaphorical referring to pearls formed inside oysters under the sea, and Patrick and Dianda’s love will “Shine in Pearl”.
