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This thread is open to discuss The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire.



Synopsis
For once, it seems like the Kingdom of the Mists has reached a point of, if not perfection, at least relative peace. Queen Arden Windermere is getting settled on her family's throne; no one's going to war with anyone else; it's almost like everything is going to be okay. Even October "Toby" Daye is starting to relax her constant vigilance, allowing herself to think about the future, and what it might entail.

And then Simon Torquill comes back, and everything begins to fall apart. In Faerie, nothing stays buried forever. No matter how much you might want it to.

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I’ll be starting tomorrow. That way I’ll finish by Friday. Fortunately, I was able to use this book for wheelathon.

i'll be starting thursday [got too many halloween books to finish lol] and this one works for either week of wheelathon for me so i'll probably decide later whether i want to finish it saturday morning or wait until the time changes over in the afternoon.

Devann wrote: "i'll be starting thursday [got too many halloween books to finish lol] and this one works for either week of wheelathon for me so i'll probably decide later whether i want to finish it saturday mor..."

Ok. I can discuss it when you’ve read the book. I have read the first 8 chapters. It’s good as usual. Lots and lots of reveals! And now I’m worried for the Luidaeg! LOL

Too bad goodreads doesn’t nominate these books for their choice awards. It’s a great series.

I'm starting this tonight!

@Geri yeah i always find the goodreads choice awards to be a little bit annoying [although i love voting in them anyway lol] because it seems like it's the same handful of authors every year and people will just vote for a more popular author even if they haven't read the book. seanan is more popular now that she writes some YA books [apparently you can't be popular without writing YA these days, which is like a whole other rant] but still nowhere near the kind of numbers i assume she would need for goodreads choice.

i just added it to my currently reading and it's like ok you KNOW it's gonna be a wild ride when toby's entire shirt is literally dyed red with blood on the cover lol

Devann wrote: "i just added it to my currently reading and it's like ok you KNOW it's gonna be a wild ride when toby's entire shirt is literally dyed red with blood on the cover lol"

lol I didn't register that until you pointed it out lol.

I'm on chapter 4 and the first plot twist appears and my jaw just drops and I'm like "What?!!!"

I didn't realize that either!

And what about the Acknowledgment by SM before the start. Interesting that she had what will happen here in mind at the start of the series. Have a feeling this one will be especially epic!

Got thru Chpt 4 last night too - I've been wondering all this time when Simon was going to come back. Crazy that so much else has been going on that it's not until this book (book 8!).

Funny the revelation about Amandine/Simon didn't hit me as hard... maybe I was too tired. Or maybe it's because so much has happened in this series. But I am interested to see if Amandine FINALLY makes an appearance!!

yeah i definitely caught a few references in the previous book to some of the stuff that gets revealed at the beginning of this book, especially in chapter six where we find out that (view spoiler)[toby has a sister (hide spoiler)].

i read chapters 1-7 today but as always i find it difficult to say much before people have finished because - as i think we're all realizing by now - seanan is so good at foreshadowing things and weaving plots points together that basically everything is a spoiler lol.

i can't wait for the next chapter when they go the library though, i think that's when they discover the thing that i thought they were gonna discover last book.

Finished!!
So I could not put this down and binge read it in a day. I cannot believe that even after all the reveals in this book from what everyone says there are still other reveals to come.
(view spoiler)[ Let’s start with Evening. I totally guessed that Evening was the one behind everything. When he gave them the bouquet and they go to Golden Green and get rebuffed I instantly knew it was Evening. I was still shocked at what an utter B*tch she was. I was like damn I didn’t like her much in the first book when I thought she had been murdered but this just ramped it all up. I do have to wonder if the elf shot will last a hundred years in her as well. When she wakes she is going to be pissed.
Simon- I actually really liked Simon. I mean he’s a bad guy and he straight out cops to that but I totally buy that he’s not evil. I think I was actually sympathetic to him though he continued to make super bad life choices. So he falls under the category of bad guys who I don’t hate like burning.
Luna- What was up with Luna? I mean we’ve seen this coming with how Luna has been acting towards October recently but way to transition into outright illogical hatred.
Luidaeg –Does anyone else feel like she got the shaft a lot? Like we basically find out that her sister is behind the killing of her children and that her sister also arranged it so that Luidaeg could never strike out against her. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
(hide spoiler)]
There was so much more but I think I’ll leave it there for now and see what you guys thought.

I think I'm going to be in the minority here. Only got thru Chpt 9 so far but October is starting to get on my nerves.

(view spoiler)[I agreed with the Luidaeg that Simon being her stepfather didn't change anything. There was no relevance to it that she be told, especially seeing as how him and Amandine aren't really together anymore and had not been for some time. Her anger at Sylvester made me a little sad (for him).

2nd at the Library when Tybalt mentions the possibility that Amandine has the connections and power to cast the geas, October gets a little too defensive IMO. Especially seeing as Amandine hasn't been a good mother to her, and actually hasn't even been around. I get that you don't want to think your mother could be responsible for these things (& wanting to kill her) but her mother isn't entirely right in the head either.

3rd why didn't they call Sylvester when they saw Simon at the Library?

The Luidaeg being in trouble like this is just so wrong! Was it ever mentioned how many siblings she has, or how many Firstborns? (hide spoiler)]

But then I got around to thinking about Chelsea. October completely changed Chelsea's blood so that she's no longer human at all. Isn't that what the hope chest could do as well? So why is October still partially human?

@claudia i totally did not pick it up the first time but now when he gave her the bouquet i was like oh my godddd he made it so obvious lol. also don't worry, we have not seen the last of simon yet! and i totally agree that while he's not a good guy, he is pretty relatable sometimes.

@cathy i agree with you about amandine and i don't get why october still doesn't want to believe anything bad of her considering all she has done to her. i disagree about simon though because whether or not it was really 'relevant' i would still be pissed if it was something most everyone knew and just didn't tell me. i mean i guess it would be different if she had never met simon or something but the whole turning her into a fish thing kind of changes matters to me.

and i don't think it's been mentioned how many firstborns there are/were. i'm guessing there's one for every race so probably quite a few? i guess a few of them probably share a firstborn but i wouldn't think very many would.

and october is still partially human basically just because she wants to be. she said before that she's afraid she will stop seeing human and changeling life as important if she goes all the way fae so she keeps holding off on it

finished earlier today! i'm so glad we got to this point because i've basically been holding this in since book one lol. like all the discussion questions about (view spoiler)[what we thought about evening and her death and blah blah and i was just sitting here like SHE'S A HORRID BITCH AND SHE'S NOT DEAD AND ALSO SHE'S A FIRSTBORN!!! (hide spoiler)]. and as always love seeing more of the luidaeg and hearing more about her past. seanan is definitely in it for the long haul for this series, a lot of the stuff that happens here comes back up in books 11 and 12 as well.

it's been kind of quiet over here, do we need to put off reading the rest of them until after wheelathon or after the holidays lol

I'm reading the BOM and school stuff but I'm good to keep going on this series. I think Cathy was still reading the book.

No!!!! Kidding, whatever everyone wants but my vote is to continue since we only have a couple left :)

Sorry, I meant to log on and comment yesterday. I stayed up until 4:30am finishing it the night before so it did turn around (October didn't annoy me as much). I know I feel differently about October's response to Simon's being her stepdad but I still think it was Amandine's truth to tell.

(view spoiler)[Did anyone else feel like October was so upset about the Simon thing that the fact that she has a missing half-sister was just sort of glossed over?

Did not guess who the villain was going to be! Evening coming back, and her being a Firstborn, sort of blew my mind. I was NOT expecting that. Especially people not knowing that she was a Firstborn. But then again, I feel like it's been so long since she's been a part of the story, and her role wasn't that big (screentime-wise) so I didn't feel like I knew enough about her. Or maybe I just didn't remember a lot about her since I wasn't a huge fan of the 1st book. But is elf-shot the go-to to get rid of the villains for now? Oberon's law is stupid... in 100 years, all these people are going to wake up and then what?!?!

And poor Tybalt. October is really bad for his health :/ it was funny when he said how she's saved him more than the other way around.

Sylvester is a little on the fence now but not as drastic as Luna. I don't remember her being so hostile to October! She had been slowly getting colder but damn! She has definitely switched to one of my least favorite characters. Interested in seeing how October's relationship with Sylvester especially will change now. (hide spoiler)]

haha ok, i'm good to keep going at the same pace but i just wanted to make sure everyone else wasn't too busy with other stuff

@Cathy yeah i agree that october should have been way more interested in (view spoiler)[the half sister thing. i guess at this point she just assumes that since she's been missing so long she must be dead but i'm like come on october, you KNOW this is gonna be a whole thing lol when is anything in your life not a thing (hide spoiler)]

and yeah elf shot is pretty much their go-to thing to get people out of the way. i agree that it's kind of ridiculous because they're just gonna wake up again but i guess 100 years is a long time. it is still one of the most annoying parts of the series for me though.

Devann wrote: "haha ok, i'm good to keep going at the same pace but i just wanted to make sure everyone else wasn't too busy with other stuff

@Cathy yeah i agree that october should have been way more interested..."

(view spoiler)[The whole thing with October seeing that glimpse of August with one of Luidaeg's candles was a little ominous. Take it we'll actually get to meet her later on? (hide spoiler)]

@Cathy [spoilers for future books i guess, but you did ask and i am just saying yes or no lol] (view spoiler)[yeah August shows up in book ...11 i want to say (hide spoiler)]

Devann wrote: "@Cathy [spoilers for future books i guess, but you did ask and i am just saying yes or no lol] [spoilers removed]"

I don't mind spoilers, can probably find it reading summaries for future books after all :P

(view spoiler)[But yea figured she would come up eventually. Why else would it be mentioned, and again that glimpse of August with the candle. it appears that she's been on a quest of sorts, or maybe just really got lost. I really hope she's not batshit crazy after being lost for 100 years! (hide spoiler)]

haha good to know. i don't mind spoilers either but i've had people get mad at me before for saying something that i didn't even think was a spoiler but apparently was to them so i try to be more careful now ;)

are you all still wanting me to request the next thread for the 1st?

Yes please!

lmao there's my stray comment, i put it on the wrong thread XD