It can be easy to forget that worlds don't wait for heroes before they begin. It can be easy to forget that things happened before the lights came up and the story started. This is one of those things that happened: this is one of those tales that slipped through the cracks. It is the story of a girl named Elizabeth, and a girl named Annie, and what they were to one another, in the sight and sounding of the sea.
Maybe it isn't fair. But fairy tales never really are.
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:
In Sea-Salt Tears is a free short story that can be downloaded from Seanan McGuire's website, events actually occur before the first book but one of the main characters isn't introduced until One Salt Sea so I'd recommend waiting until after you read that book before you start this so you can avoid spoilers later on.
If you've already read One Salt Sea then you'll already be familiar with the connection between the Luidaeg and the selkies and why they aren't on the best of terms, what you won't be familiar with is the personal history between Elizabeth and Annie and how that added a whole extra layer of complicated between them.
Seanan McGuire always manages to pack a punch in her short stories, I don't know how she does it but she always makes me care about her characters no matter how short a time we spend with them and I was totally invested in Annie and Elizabeth's relationship even though I knew going in that it didn't all end in sunshine and rainbows. This was a really sweet romance, one that developed between two lonely and desperate girls who were both looking for friendship and someone to turn to when their lives weren't going to plan. It was heartbreaking to see it all fall apart and that is made even worse when you think about the huge debt between the selkies and the Luidaeg, a debt that large is going to be impossible to pay but a promise is a promise and something is going to have to change soon.
Source: Downloaded for free from Seanan McGuire's website
Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.
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