A Killing Frost (October Daye, #14) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Aug 03, 2023 Kelly (Maybedog) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: what-modern-fantasy, what-female-protagonist, what-fae, what-magic

Tags: fae, Magic, M/F, modern fantasy

3.75 stars

This was not my favorite of the series, the first half being so boring to me I had trouble reading more than a chapter at a time. It improved, fortunately, with lots of excitement and danger. The ending was a surprise I did not see coming even slightly and I liked it even if I don’t particularly care for such things as the center of a book.

As usual, October runs amok and does foolish things without telling people whom those things would affect. It Tags: fae, Magic, M/F, modern fantasy

3.75 stars

This was not my favorite of the series, the first half being so boring to me I had trouble reading more than a chapter at a time. It improved, fortunately, with lots of excitement and danger. The ending was a surprise I did not see coming even slightly and I liked it even if I don’t particularly care for such things as the center of a book.

As usual, October runs amok and does foolish things without telling people whom those things would affect. It drives me crazy and yet is partially done for suspense for the reader. The biggest one this time, though, was at least partially obvious to the reader and kept in silence to avoid hurting or scaring those it would affect. This was also annoying to me. Maybe more so.

I think the author does a good job with Tybalt’s speech patterns. They sound formal without sounding pompous. Somehow that isn’t necessarily true for those characters who are pompous, as it should be.

I love Tybalt and his constant frustration with October and I don’t like the novels as much when he’s not in them. Fortunately he appears more frequently in the second part of the book. I think he should have been angrier with Toby for what she did near the end.

I did love how many times they commented that October’s clothes always got bloody and there was always some kind of injury around her. It was acknowledging some of the repetitive storylines—which we love or we wouldn’t be reading this series—in a humorous way.

I don’t like the travel along the rose road because it’s too much like high fantasy, or a dreamscape, because there are no rules and random things can happen inexplicably. I prefer storylines that follow the rules set by the series’ main storylines. As I said, I found myself losing concentration reading this not just for this reason. I’m also tired of hearing how arrogant the fae are and the awful things they do and have done. I’m tired of the politics. I may be imagining things but I feel there were more stories earlier where this type of thing took a backseat to the main plot.

A couple of things that have always bothered me: I think her always quoting Shakespeare is a bit pretentious for someone who eschews pretension. Also, how is saying you appreciate something not saying thank you?

I really hate October’s fall from grace with Sylvester and Luna. They were like parents to her. I can’t imagine loathing one of my children even if they hurt another and yes, I’ve fostered many kids—obviously kids I didn’t give birth to but raised—who I think of as my own. The fact that Sylvester kowtows to Luna is disgusting. My children come first before any partner. My fiancé left me because he couldn’t handle my daughter’s behavior (my ward—I had permanent guardianship of her). I loved him but even though her behavior was in many ways killing me inch by inch, I didn’t even consider choosing him. And I’ve never once thought I made the wrong decision. Sylvester should stand up to Luna in protecting his knight. There are compromises that could be made. Argh, that plot point makes me so angry!

I know that the idea of the fae comes from Ireland, a country with very fair skinned people, but that doesn’t mean that the most beautiful fae have to be pure white. And there are several of them who are described that white along with being the most beautiful by far, almost perfect. There are enough liberties taken with the lore that it would not be unseemly to have someone other than a cat be dark skinned (and that dark skinned character is the only one).

Following the novel is a short story which gives a little bit of background about Patrick, Dianda, and Simon. I liked it even though there wasn’t a whole lot of plot. I give that story 4.5 stars. ...more

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