Review: Through This House - Seanan McGuire

The knowe known as "Goldengreen" has been locked and alone since the death of Evening Winterrose...which is why it's a bit of a problem when Toby and her allies are called upon to reopen the knowe. Knowes can have minds of their own, you see, and they don't take kindly to being disturbed. And since Toby would rather keep herself and her friends alive than actually succeed in her mission, it's entirely possible that things will not end the way that they were originally intended to.

Not that failure is an option. And not that trying to be careful is going to make any difference when the problem involves not just unreal real estate, but crumbling cliff faces, giant spiders, pixies, and smart-mouthed Fetches who insist on poking their noses in where they're not wanted. Oh, and did we mention that there's no coffee?

"Through This House" is best read between Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea, as it falls chronologically directly between these two books. It naturally contains spoilers for the first four Toby adventures.

"Through This House" was originally published in the anthology Home Improvement: Undead Edition, released in August of 2011.

October Daye Series:
In Little Stars (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Rosemary and Rue
A Local Habitation
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
Through This House (Short story in the Home Improvement: Undead Edition anthology)
One Salt Sea
In Sea-Salt Tears (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Ashes of Honor
Rat-Catcher (Free short story available on the Lightspeed Magazine website)
No Sooner Met (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Chimes at Midnight
Never Shines the Sun (Short story included in the print version of Chimes at Midnight)
Forbid the Sea (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Stage of Fools (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Voice of Lions (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Act of Hares (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Instruments of Darkness (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
With Honest Trifles (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
In Deepest Consequence (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Jealous in Honor (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Quick in Quarrel (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Winter Long
Heaps of Pearl (Free short story available on Seanan's website)
Shore to Shore (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Write in Water (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Live in Brass (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Ambitious Ocean (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
And Thrice Again (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
The Fixed Stars (Free short story available on the Baen website)
A Red-Rose Chain
Full of Briars (Short story)
Once Broken Faith
Dreams and Slumbers (Short story included in Once Broken Faith)
The Brightest Fell
These Antique Fables (Short story available to purchase through Patreon)
Of Things Unknown (Short story included in The Brightest Fell)
Night and Silence
Suffer a Sea-Change (Short story included in Night and Silence)
The Unkindest Tide
Hope is Swift (Short story included in The Unkindest Tide)

Visit Seanan McGuire's website for more information

Review:
Through This House is a short story that can be found in the Home Improvement: Undead Edition anthology. It is set between Late Eclipses and One Salt Sea and definitely contains spoilers so I wouldn't recommend even reading this review if you've not that far into the series!

The Goldengreen Knowe has been empty since the death of Countess Evening Winterrose but now that Toby has been handed the reigns she needs to open it to make a home for Lily's subjects. If she can just get Goldengreen to accept her it should be a fairly simple job so she recruits May, Quentin and Danny to help her make the place liveable again. Unfortunately things aren't quite what they seem and the knowe has already accepted new inhabitants, ones who aren't quite so keen on letting Toby and her friends move in.

This is such a fun story and I enjoyed every minute of it. May, Quentin and Danny are some of my favourite side characters in the series and any time they're on hand to help Toby you just know chaos will ensue so you can expect some madcap antics in this one. Toby definitely gets more than she bargained for when she finds herself negotiating with the current pixie and bogie residents and it was really interesting to see just how sentient that the knowe actually is.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
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Anthology Paperback / Kindle: