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The Unkindest Tide

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The Unkindest Tide (2019) is the thirteenth book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. It follows October Daye, who finally has to repay her debts to the Luidaeg by using the magic of the Selkies' skins to bring back the Roane.

“ What's the unkindest tide? ”

–William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Synopsis[]

Now in hardcover, the thirteenth novel of the Hugo-nominated, New York Times-bestselling Toby Daye urban fantasy series!

Hundreds of years ago, the Selkies made a deal with the sea witch: they would have the sea for as long as she allowed it, and when the time came, she would call in all their debts at once. Many people assumed that day would never come. Those people were wrong.

When the Luidaeg–October “Toby” Daye’s oldest and most dangerous ally–tells her the time has come for the Selkies to fulfill their side of the bargain, and that Toby must be a part of the process, Toby can’t refuse. Literally. The Selkies aren’t the only ones in debt to the Luidaeg, and Toby has to pay what she owes like anyone else. They will travel to the fabled Duchy of Ships and call a convocation of the Selkies, telling them to come and meet the Luidaeg’s price…or face the consequences.

Of course, nothing is that simple. When Dianda Lorden’s brother appears to arrest Dianda for treason against the Undersea, when a Selkie woman is stripped of her skin and then murdered, when everything is falling apart, that’s when Toby will have to answer the real question of the hour.

Is she going to sink? Or is she going to swim?

Plot[]

Chapter 1: Toby brings home burritos after cracking a difficult case, where she greets her housemates, Raj, Dean, and Tybalt. She and Tybalt discuss sharing household costs, and Tybalt reveals that he has a mortal bank account with a modest sum of money. He makes a lewd joke, which causes Jazz to crack up laughing, and for a moment, things seem like they're going to be okay.

Chapter 2: A heavy petting session between Tybalt and Toby later that night is interrupted by the Luidaeg on their doorstep. They invite her in, and Toby is instructed to fetch the boys who are playing online video games with Chelsea. Once everyone has gathered, the Luidaeg says she needs Toby's blood magic to settle the Selkies' final bill: to bind the Selkies to their skins to create new Roane. The event is set to take place on "Moving Day," May 1st, in the Duchy of Ships. May chooses not to take the watery journey.

Chapter 3: Three days before they depart, Toby lies awake in bed with Tybalt, who tells her a little about what it was like when Firstborn still walked freely among their children. Toby admits that she's nervous about her impending visit to tell Gillian about the coming event and its consequences for her humanity. Together, the two take the Shadow Roads to Cliff's house. Miranda answers the door, and they are joined by Gillian who releases her human illusion and requests Toby and Tybalt do so as well. When Toby starts to explain matters, Miranda tries to stop her from speaking but Gillian accepts the information.

Chapter 4: The next day, Stacy Brown drops Toby and company off at the docks while Danny MacReady picks up Gillian. Tybalt and Quentin are joined by Dean and Marcia, then soon after by the Luidaeg and Poppy. Next Nolan Windermere portals in, acting as Arden's diplomatic emissary, along with Arden's Seneschal, Cassandra Brown. Nolan hopes to find his old nursemaid, Marianne, on this trip. With everybody gathered, a ship arrives a Satyr named Rodrick greets the group and welcomes them aboard the ship which acts as s a floating, traveling knowe.

Chapter 5: The transition into the Summerlands hits Toby harder than usual, but does not seem to affect Marcia at all. The same is true of seasickness, which Marcia attempts to help Toby overcome with idle chatter. The Luidaeg clarifies that they are technically in Leucothea, but that Queen Palatyne has ceded rulership to Captain Pete. The Luidaeg privately mourns the loss of her "Cousin Annie" façade, and announces herself upon debarking as the sea witch. Poppy is greeted by another Aes Sidhe. Captain Pete, revealed to be a shark-scaled woman of unknown species, meets the Luidaeg in an embrace after a formal greeting on the docks. The Luidaeg introduces Captain Pete by her better-known name, Amphitrite, Firstborn mother of the Merrow. Dean faints.

Chapter 6: While Dean recovers in Pete's room, Pete explains the policy of the Firstborn not to have children since the Three Creators of Faerie disappeared. The Luidaeg reminds Pete that Amandine was not the only one to have broken this policy, and implies that Dawn Winterrose may have been Evening Winterrose's daughter, not her sister. Pete challenges the Luidaeg's choice to bind the Selkies in her protected waters and bids no Fae blood be shed during the convocation, and that the Luidaeg supply the mortal families there with more faerie ointment.

Chapter 7: Marcia purchases a tincture which wakes up Dean and keeps him from fainting again while beholding his First. The Luidaeg admits that she's worried about finding bodies floating in the water from Selkies fighting over skins since Oberon's Law barely applies to Selkies. Marcia jokes about Dean sleeping in Quentin's room.

The Luidaeg abruptly decides to begin the Convocation, bringing Toby to speak with the Selkies where they are greeted by Diva Ryan, who is not yet aware of the Luidaeg's true identity. The Luidaeg warns Diva away, and tells her to fetch her mother for the Convocation of Consequences.

Chapter 8: The group is met by Mathias Lefebvre, who beseeches the Luidaeg to present his clan with Lost Skins as she had done for the Ryan clan. She dismisses him, as well as the surrounding Selkies. He soon returns with the other clan representatives: Elizabeth Ryan, Isla Chase of Belle Fleuve, Joan O'Connell of Tremont, and Claude Anthony of Sweet Water. They have heeded her call, and sent the call out to all Selkies in the world. At the Luidaeg's questioning, Joan and Isla also express discontent at the Luidaeg's apparent favoritism of the Ryan clan. Frustrated and heartsick, the Luidaeg declares open season among the Selkies, condoning any theft done in the name of obtaining a skin so long as children and human kin are left out of it. Then she leaves. Liz impresses upon Toby that as a new Selkie, Gillian will be a target, and is in grave danger. October makes a formal promise that she will rain fire down upon any clan which harms Gillian.

Chapter 9: Privately, the Luidaeg explains that she did not protect Gillian because she wants the Roane to all stand on equal footing with each other, rather than cause Gillian to live in social isolation from her peers. Upon returning to their quarters, the party is joined by Dianda Lorden, who greets her son Dean by play-fighting with him, and Patrick Lorden, who is having an awestruck reunion with Poppy. Before long, the courtyard is invaded by a dispatch of armored guards, led by Torin of the Duchy of Bluefish, Dianda's younger brother. He accuses Dianda of treason and places her under arrest.

Chapter 10: Patrick realizes Peter Lorden and his maid Helmi are probably already dead, since in Undersea citizens traditionally switch allegiances when a ruler is overthrown. Toby begs the Luidaeg for help, and she agrees in exchange for Toby owing her one irrefutable future task, one day's worth of collecting her blood, and the return of Simon Torquill. Toby agrees, and the Luidaeg uses some of Tybalt's blood to mix a tincture which will transform Toby and Quentin into Merrow.

Chapter 11-13: Toby and Quentin journey to Saltmist. They are permitted inside when they say they are looking for Peter, and are guided by a Cephali named Kirsi. Torin's guard attacks, but Toby neutralizes them. Using her blood magic tracking to follow the scent of Peter's heritage, Toby finds him and Helmi hiding in a storeroom. She offers the hospitality of the Duchy of Ships to Helmi, Kirsi, and any others who had resisited swearing loyalty to Torin. Their escape from the palace is halted by a third Cephali, whom Toby kills after Peter reminds her that they are at war and Oberon's Law does not apply. Toby guides everyone back onto the Duchy of Ships, but before she can follow them out of the water, she spies the drowned body of Isla Chase floating nearby and the group hauls it up in a net.

Chapter 14: Toby tries to ride Isla's blood for clues but only experiences her final moments of drowning. They take the body to their quarters and then Toby visits Elizabeth to understand the Selkie justice system. Elizabeth refers them to Mathias, who is holed up with his husband, René Lefebvre; René is Isla's brother.

Chapter 15-17: Upon learning of Isla's death, René agrees to help Toby find Isla's killer and retrieve her missing skin. They find the site of her struggle, and her discarded skin in the water nearby; she was not killed as part of the pelt free-for-all. Toby retrieves it and almost drowns as the Luidaeg's transformation spells wears off, and the skin tries to tempt Toby into putting it on. she resists, knowing it would override the Dóchas Sidhe and changeling elements of her heritage entirely.

They return to their quarters and Marcia offers to create a potion to safely store Isla's pelt until they determine whom to give it to; she learned the skill from Lily.

Chapter 18: En route to speak with Rodrick, Toby is attacked by Torin. Tybalt leaps to her defense, Toby tries to run, and is stabbed with a hooked fishing knife. Tybalt pulls her to the Shadow Roads and then the Court of Cats, where he must remove the knife and pulls out a piece of Toby's spine in the process. Tybalt gives her blood straight from his wrist in order to aid her in the healing process, and she sees a memory of his dying wife, Anne O'Toole. They briefly discuss their mutual desire to have children, trying to distract themselves from their worries, and then puzzle out Torin's apparent attempt to distract Toby from bringing back the Roane.

Chapter 19-20: They return to their allies only to find Torin's guards attacking their lodgings. Torin appears with a captured Gillian and threatens her in order to get Toby to turn over the Lorden boys. Toby correctly guesses that Torin and Isla had been lovers, and that her death had been accidental. Tybalt attacks Torin from the Shadows, and Amphitrite arrives to stab the Cephali who had been holding Gillian. Gillian embraces Toby before pushing her away both physically and emotionally. As Gillian retreats onto the Duchy's streets, Toby sends Quentin after her. Torin is restrained.

Chapter 21: The visitors and denizens of the Duchy assemble in the central lighthouse, where Amphitrite makes a grand entrance onto her throne and holds a trial for Torin. He claims that the Luidaeg's intent to resurrect the Roane means that she was moving against Amphitrite; both sisters disagree and manage to guess that Eira Rosynhwyr had told him so. Amphitrite disowns Torin and frees Dianda, as well as exiling the Luidaeg from the Duchy of Ships, starting at the end of the Convocation and lasting for seven years, as a punishment for allowing the Selkies to wage war against each other in what is supposed to be neutral ground.

Chapter 22-24: Toby, Tybalt, and Quentin beseech the Luidaeg to find a way around destroying the Selkies. After the Luidaeg explains the creation of both the Raven-maids and the Selkies, Toby gets an idea. They start with the skin that had been Isla's, carved from the body of the Luidaeg's grandson named Beathan. Using Toby's ability to see the weave of the spell laid upon the skin, and the combined power of Captain Pete and the Luidaeg, they multiply the one skin into five. The Luidaeg presents these to the Selkies, explaining that four of the five skins will be sealed into new Roane, while the fifth will remain bound as a Selkie. This will be done with each and every Selkie's skin save for Gillian's, since Gillian would die if parted from her skin for even a moment. The remaining Selkies will be sealed as Roane at the end of the Luidaeg's seven-year exile. Using Gillian as a conduit and the Luidaeg's power as a boost, Toby works a blood magic spell to change all of the chosen Selkies at once into Roane, their shriveled sealskins falling away.

Characters[]

Major[]

Allies[]

Antagonists[]

  • Luidaeg: Firstborn of the Roane and the Selkies, sea witch, Toby's aunt
  • Torin: Merrow, Dianda's brother

Minor[]

  • Janet: also called Miranda, Gillian's stepmother, Toby's grandmother. It's complicated.
  • May Daye: Toby's Fetch and housemate
  • Jazz: May's girlfriend and housemate
  • Raj: Prince of Cats, Tybalt's heir, Quentin's best friend
  • Stacy Brown: Changeling, Toby's friend
  • Rodrick: Satyr, First Mate of the Duchy of Ships
  • Diva Ryan: Roane/Selkie, Elizabeth's daughter
  • Joan O'Connell: Selkie clan leader
  • Claude Anthony: Selkie clan leader
  • Helmi: Cephali loyal to Dianda
  • Kirsi: Cephali loyal to Dianda

Mentioned[]

Locations[]

Mentioned[]

Continuity[]

Debts[]

  • The Luidaeg calls in Toby's mountain of debt in order to use Dóchas Sidhe blood magic to bind Selkie pelts to their wearers, bringing back the Roane
    • Toby immediately puts herself back into the Luidaeg's debt in order to rescue Peter Lorden. In exchange, the next time the Luidaeg calls upon Toby for aid, Toby cannot refuse. The Luidaeg will collect a day's worth of Toby's blood. And Toby must bring Simon Torquill home, which essentially means finding Oberon.

Current Book[]

  • Quentin won a stare-down with his boyfriend's Firstborn, Amphitrite.
  • It's possible that Fetches are not an actual death omen, but because they typically choose to appear to life-risking heroes they've become presumed one
  • The Luidaeg has attempted to break her promises before. It did not end well.
    • She also considered raising Toby for herself, but she wasn't ready to be a mother again so she passed the duty on to Sylvester[1]
  • The Firstborn all agreed to fade back and let Faerie govern itself while the Three Creators were gone. Any power they might try to take is within the political structures of the everyday fae.
  • The merrow have similar allowances to Cait Sidhe regarding Oberon's Law and killing for succession, and their definition of war is more flexible than that of the land fae.
  • Toby and Tybalt both want to have children together!
  • Titania encouraged her children to be conquerors and kings, and especially to conquer those of Maeve's descent
  • The Luidaeg is good with children

Previous Books[]

  • The Luidaeg supposedly bound Merlin in a tree for a thousand years.[2]
  • The Luidaeg attended a memorable Merrow wedding with a whole lot of violence among the wedding party
  • Patrick is delighted to learn that Lilac is still alive.[3]
  • Patrick's mother hasn't spoken to him in over a century. She wasn't happy that he married Dianda.[citation needed]
  • Dawn Winterrose is Evening's daughter, not sister as Toby had believed. The Luidaeg suspects Evening wanted to prove she was still stronger than Amandine.[4][5]
  • Tybalt is healing from Amandine's torture; he is comfortable shifting back and forth from his cat form again.[6]
  • Tybalt had dealings with the Undersea when he was young.[7][8]

Future Books[]

Suspected foreshadowing (unconfirmed)[]

  • The Luidaeg is very firm on the idea that she will be the one to kill Toby
    • The Luidaeg thinks Toby bringing people back from the dead will be good practice for later.
    • "There's never once been a prophecy that couldn't be somehow undermined or averted."
  • Marianna, Nolan's missing nursemaid
  • Poppy's Aes Sidhe friend
  • Toby and Tybalt have the "yes we want kids" talk.
  • Marcia is proving to be more than she seems
    • Despite being thin-blooded, she isn't affected by the transition to the Summerlands
    • Pete seems to recognize her, but she insists she is only the Goldengreen seneschal
    • She has no interest in taking a Selkie pelt, even when the Luidaeg offers, because her fate takes a different path
    • We still don't know what race her fae heritage stems from

Quotes[]

Cultural References[]

  • Smurfs, Costco, Coney Island, Cape Cod, The Little Mermaid and Ursula, the Sword of Damocles, John Hughes movies

Luidaeg[]

  • “Well, kiddo, since your lady knight wants to go hang out in the Undersea like a big asshole, you’re going to go with her.” The Luidaeg flashed a toothy smile. “Call it a learning experience. You’re going to learn why you need to get yourself a better knight if you want to live long enough to be High King.” -Luidaeg to Quentin
  • "Ugh. I hate politics."-Toby. "If you didn't it wouldn't be nearly so fun to make you deal with them." -Luidaeg
  • "I can never have my children back. I'll never be a mother again. I'll be a grandmother, and a great-grandmother, and so on, for a dozen generations, but I'll never look someone in the eyes and know that the ocean they carry inside of them remembers the ocean I carry inside of me." -Luidaeg
  • "I know [Amandine] was trying to protect you, but these days it feels like she's punishing you for refusing to be protected." -Luidaeg to Toby
  • "I'm the motherfucking sea witch." -Luidaeg, to a small child
  • "How much time have you spent desensitizing this kid to the idea that there are gods among us?" -Pete
  • "It's nice that you can still be sarcastic. I think if you couldn't lie or be sarcastic, you might literally explode." -Toby to the Luidaeg
  • "It's not that I want to be a monster, it's that being a monster means I don't have to deal with people acting like I hung the moons. Who has time for that shit?" -Luidaeg

Quentin[]

  • “As my squire, part of Quentin’s job is accompanying me when I do stupid shit; it’s a learning experience. Most of what he’s learning is how to get blood out of his clothes, but hey, at least it’s educational.” -Toby
  • "So how much are we going to pretend my liege isn't sleeping in your squire's room, and how much are we going to ask them to stay focused?" -Marcia concerning Quentin and Dean
  • "The Luidaeg isn't a reigning monarch. She won't get mad at me for being disrespectful. Not in that way, at least. She might get made at me for being disrespectful in other ways, but I'm pretty good about knowing where my boundaries are." -Quentin
  • "You're cute when you're murderous." -Toby to Tybalt. "That explains why you think he's cute all the time." -Quentin
  • "No spears for you. No swords or tridents or anything else, either. You don't know how to use them responsibly." -Toby. "Rowan and thorn, you are such a mom."-Quentin

Miscellaneous[]

  • “What you mean and what you say should be similar, or you risk people not understanding you.”
  • “Sometimes you need to take peoples' minds of their problems if you want those problems to resolve themselves. Focusing on things can make them worse...Not all problems can be fixed. Sometimes you have to wait until the situation changes.” -Marcia
  • "Foolishness and bravery look a lot alike if you’re not paying close enough attention,”
  • “Loving her would be like loving a natural disaster. Pleasant enough from a distance; all but guaranteed to break your heart.”
  • “And a pony, but I never get that, unless you count the Kelpies, which I don’t. Kelpies are too naughty to count as ponies."
  • “He did it by twisting the truth until it screamed, but never lying.”
  • “Families are complicated. Other people’s families are even more so.”
  • “Small untruths between lovers are not necessarily lies; sometimes they can be considered a form of kindness.”
  • "Sometimes you need to take people's minds off their problems if you want those problems to resolve themselves." -Marcia
  • "We (the Firstborn) agreed, when our parents disappeared. We're too big. We're like hurricanes surrounded in skin, storms that walk the world and do more damage than we intend to. Our wars shook Faerie when Dad and the Moms were here to reign us in, and without them, we could have ruined everything. So yes, we withdrew. We're oddities and demons now, sea witches and dark lords of the fen, but we're not Firstborn. The word carries too much weight." -Pete
  • "It's terrible to be the one who has to set things right when you didn't play any part in breaking them." -Pete
  • "What I lack in authority, I make up for in big pointy things." -Toby
  • "Merrow are hot and fast and angry. They lead us in part because letting them lead is easier than fighting with them. But when a Merrow and a Cephali go fishing, the Cephali will come back with the greater catch, because we know how to be still. We know when to be still."
  • "The king is the land. In Faerie, everything else may be negotiable, but it remains unchangeable and essential that the king is the land."

References[]

  1. ↑ Never Shines the Sun
  2. ↑ Sun Sets Weeping
  3. ↑ The Unkindest Tide, ch. 9.
  4. ↑ Strangers in Court
  5. ↑ Rosemary and Rue
  6. ↑ Night and Silence
  7. ↑ Rat-Catcher
  8. ↑ Forbid the Sea
October Daye Series
Novels
Rosemary and Rue • A Local Habitation • An Artificial Night • Late Eclipses • One Salt Sea • Ashes of Honor • Chimes at Midnight • The Winter Long • A Red-Rose Chain • Once Broken Faith • The Brightest Fell • Night and Silence • The Unkindest Tide • A Killing Frost • When Sorrows Come • Be the Serpent • Sleep No More • The Innocent Sleep
Bonus Novellas
Strangers in Court (R&R) • Never Shines the Sun (CAM) • Full of Briars • Dreams and Slumbers (OBF) • Of Things Unknown (TBF) • Suffer a Sea-Change (NAS) • Hope is Swift (TUT) • Shine in Pearl (AKF) • And With Reveling (WSC) • Such Dangerous Seas (BTS) • Candles and Starlight (SNM)
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In Sea-Salt Tears • Forbid the Sea • No Sooner Met • Heaps of Pearl
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