Another official blog post after like…3 months 😂
Honestly this blog post is pretty much gonna be me infodumping about my favourite book series and why if you're a fan of contemporary/urban fantasy and the "found family trope" you should definitely read it. So here goes nothing!
The October Daye novels by Seanan McGuire are about a half-fae (changeling) knight/detective in modern day San Francisco named October (aka "Toby") who solves cases (usually murders or missing persons cases) and over time eventually getting involved in fae politics shenanigans and protecting the realm from harm. I personally like to describe it as Nancy Drew meets Buffy with fairy tales mixed in. * I was a massive fan of Nancy Drew as a kid and I love fairy tales, so this was totally up my alley.
I'm honestly so grateful for discovering the October Daye series during the pandemic because it's so refreshing to find a story centred around faerie mythology that doesn't have a ridiculous amount of sexual content in it (and there are WAY too many nowadays, looking at you Court of Thorns And Roses) There are some mentions of it but nothing too graphic thankfully.
Like there technically is romance in the books but it's never the main focus, it's very subtle and it's a slow burn which honestly makes it feel more natural (and it's one of the few romance tropes I actually enjoy) There are also some legit funny moments and one liners throughout the series even with all the dramatic and action scenes (I always like books with humour in them ^_^) The characters are also very lovable as well.
I had already read some of Seanan McGuire's other stuff back in the late 2010s after being recommended by some people on tumblr (around when I was graduating high school) and I really liked them. Every Heart A Doorway was the very first book I've ever read with an ace protagonist and is still one of my favourite books years later. Some of the ideas she comes up with are so unique and weird (in a good way!) and there's a lot of casual queer rep in her books which is obviously great.
I probably should mention that it's a 19 book series (and still going!! I'm not even caught up yet as of posting this!!) so just be aware going in. But if anything I've said so far sounds interesting to you I highly recommend this series!!
(IMO though feel free to skip the second book since that's easily the worst one lol, and they recap it later on so you should be ok)
Anyways that's basically all I have to say about that for now! Thanks for sticking around if you actually read the whole thing 😊
*alternatively if you've heard of The Dresden Files, it's basically almost the same concept but without the gross misogyny and a female protag!