An Artificial Night: An October Daye Novel, Book 3 (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

October Daye is private detective, half Daoine Sidhe and half human. As well as knight errant for her liege of Shadowed Hills. In An Artificial Night, she finds herself drawn into another potentially life threatening case as she tackles the lord of the Wild Hunt. Toby is given an enigmatic message simply stating: 'he rides'. Someone is stealing the children of the fae as well as mortal children... all signs point to Blind Michael. Toby has no choice but to track him down. She goes to see the Sea Witch, and is informed that there are three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael's realm, and no road may be taken more than once. If Toby cannot escape with the children, she will fall prey to the Wild Hunt and Blind Michael's god-like power.

An Artificial Night is the third October Daye novel. It's a tense, exciting, at times creepy affair with twists and turns, hidden worlds, reluctant heroes and nursery rhymes. You get the sense that October's world is opening up, becoming grander, more epic in its scope. All the main characters return in this novel: Tybalt, Quentin, Connor, Luna and the Duke of Shadowed Hills, the Luidaeg etc. Not forgetting Spike the rose goblin!

The book was fantastic. It was incredibly atmospheric, Toby's world feels as real as our own on the page and the colour and eerie quality it can sometimes exhibit shines through in this tale of monsters in the dark, blind men, terror and dark worlds of endless night. There was a real sense of childhood nightmares at play here, childhood logic and black and white cruelty.

Tybalt is one of my favourite characters in the series and he's much more in the background here. It's become obvious in the past that he has some kind of feelings for Toby, being the enigmatic Cat King that he is however, his feelings have not been easy to decipher and it seems it may not even be as simple as Tybalt being secretly in love with her. There are numerous hints that something else is going on behind his words -- his many disappearances also lend credence to hidden agendas or issues. I'm looking forward to the point where Tybalt can be the focal point of the novel as it's clear he's a well of secrets. Connor continues to vie for Toby's affections, but it's unclear as to whether she's willing to return them. The other characters like Lily and Luna show other, surprising, sides to them. I liked this fleshing out of the characters very much -- it helps to give the story more life and depth.

Toby faces some very tough choices in An Artificial Night. In many ways the theme of this book could be choices, the good, the bad and the ugly. Toby is continuing to reassess her life and making room for those around her. She comes to an important realisation at the end of the book concerning her lust for danger; it'll be interesting to see where the author takes this development.

An Artificial Night is darker than its predecessors and all the more awesome for it.

We catch up with Sire October Daye as she finishes up a case of rogue barghests (canine/scorpion hybrid monsters) and then attends a birthday party that her best friend is throwing for one of her children. Toby is their de facto aunt whom they affectionately dub Aunt Birdie. She drags herself home with memories of her own lost daughter dancing circles in her mind.

That's only the beginning of the pain because soon she comes face to face with her Fetch (May Daye; death omen)then she receives a panicked call from her best friend Stacy telling her that two of her five children are missing and a third is in an enchanted sleep and wont wake up. As if that wasn't trouble enough Tybalt turns up. Children are missing from his court too and since Toby owes him a debt (Rosemary and Rue) she's on his case too. To find and reclaim the missing children Toby must face The Wild Hunt.

This is more of an adventure than an investigation and Toby does much better in this roll. Unlike the previous books this one takes place almost entirely in Faerie. This is not the twilight Summerlands where flowers turn into butterflies though. To get the kids back she must brave the land of the wild hunt where the shadows are not comfortable and not all innocents get saved.

The characters are still fascinating and not all characters are what they seem to be. Although I must admit that I am not really happy about the character May Daye. I don't really like her and don't see that she serves any purpose. I also had a small issue with the final show down.
Aside from those two small gripes I enjoyed the story immensely because the storytelling and loves characters by far out way any complaints I have. I defiantly recommend this book to friends and anyone else.

This tale is dark and scary and emotional and we get to meet Raj the Prince of Cats. Have you bought it yet?

I greatly enjoyed the first two Toby Daye books. The set up of the first book, wherein Toby is stolen from her (semi) human life as a wife and mother of a small child by being locked in the body of a koi carp for 15 years, resulting a twisted and depressive personality shift, is strangely credible in a way that most modern fantasy romances can't reach. Inside is a true hero waiting to emerge, and we see her gradually come more into her own over the series.

Some elements that come from this I don't find entirely engaging - Toby's inability to relate to the men in her life, for instance. I can intellectually see the logic, but it's more frustrating for me that I'd like it to be (as in, there are times I just want to slap her).

As for "An Artificial Night", the story is based on the power of folk tales, from simple nursery rhymes to the Childe ballads. It works well. This is one series I plan to persevere with.