Sometime in the last few weeks, reviews of A Local Habitation started trickling in while I watched, amazed and a little afraid. It's difficult, seeing a book go out into the world for the first time. (It's also hard to keep from trying to explain things to reviewers, but I manage to restrain myself. Mostly. And when I don't, it's usually because they've asked a direct question.) Since it's a shiny new month and we're on the verge of a shiny new book, here's a shiny new review roundup to try to distract me from my impending book release.

TJ over at Book Love Affair beat the crowd with the first review of A Local Habitation that I saw anywhere. TJ says "For those of you who have read Rosemary and Rue, I have to say: A Local Habitation is even better. All the things that made Rosemary and Rue such a strong debut are still there: the wonderfully damaged heroine, the melancholy story, the gritty details, the perfect rendering of San Francisco, unique and varied fantastic creatures, and I could go on a long while. However, I would say without hesitation that A Local Habitation improves in many of these areas." She also says "Toby Daye is probably one of my favorite protagonists in urban fantasy." Such statements make me a happy girl.

Suzie over at Confessions of a Wandering Heart has posted a long and fairly involved review of A Local Habitation. She says "Toby Daye is fast becoming one of my favorite heroines in urban fantasy," and "Toby is witty, sarcastic, tough, and no nonsense, yet she has a softer side—she takes care of the people she's responsible for. And she's loyal to her friends. I feel for her. I'm hoping she'll find happiness and love (with Tybalt! I love him) and I'm rooting for her to find and punish the guys responsible for ruining her life." She also says "The October Daye series has easily become my favorite faerie urban fantasy series. Toby is the kind of kick butt heroine I can admire, relate to, and root for. This series is best read in order, so if you're interested pick up Rosemary and Rue and keep an eye out for A Local Habitation in March."

Rosemary and Rue reviews keep cropping up, on Livejournal and others. Among them is this noir-informed review from bookelfe, who is a friend of several friends but doesn't know me (and was hence understandably nervous about the book). She calls Rosemary and Rue "a genuine noir urban fantasy novel" and calls out a lot of the more noir aspects of the book very nicely. She isn't too hot on the worldbuilding, saying "it's your standard almost-entirely-European mix of fairy creatures," but that's a fair cop, and she goes on to say "if you are looking for a fun mystery-fantasy read that is high on the awesome noir tropes and low on the completely gratuitous sex, maybe give this a go!" Thanks!

Karissa has posted a long, well-balanced review of Rosemary and Rue, including "There are some wonderful action scenes in this book. McGuire does an excellent job with these. The plot is fast moving and very engaging. The book was hard to put down, you always wonder what is going to happen to October next and if she will be successful in solving the murder. This is definitely not a romance book, but an action packed urban fantasy." She goes on to list the things she didn't like (which are quite well-considered), and closes with "Overall I liked the book. I think this could be the start of a magnificent series." Works for me!

John received an ARC of A Local Habitation, which spurred him to read Rosemary and Rue and post his review. I appreciate this immensely. He says "This book is everything that I love about urban fantasy. It has well developed characters, a vivid setting, a well defined world, and a story that will suck you in." He also says "Toby is an amazing character"—a statement I'm sure she'd appreciate, with all the crap I put her through—and "McGuire's plot moves along quickly, and holds enough turns to keep the reader guessing. It also leaves plenty of unresolved things to make you want to pick up the second book to see what's going to be revisited later. It's also great to see another urban fantasy book that involves other supernatural races other than vampires at werewolves." Awesome!

Our last review of the day comes from Jennifer at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She says "Seanan McGuire begins her October 'Toby' Daye series with a bang!" I like bangs. She also says "This is a great book, full of mystery and a great story" and "This book is the first in the October Daye series and I know that I am looking forward to reading more about this character."

That's all for today. I now resume my march toward madness.

"Hey, why didn't you mention that Rosemary and Rue made the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2009?"
"I didn't think of it."
"Well, you should."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"It's not braggy?"
"MENTION IT."

So here, by order of one of my many secret masters, is the official mention: Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxy] made the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2009, under the "Debut Novel" category. I am...honestly stunned and bewildered and amazed and delighted, and a whole lot of other things. Like, emotionally, I'm scrambled eggs right now.

In case you don't know what Locus Magazine is, it's essentially the trade magazine for the science fiction/fantasy/horror literary community. They publish announcements, interviews, reviews, and basically anything else that readers (and writers) are likely to really care about. It's pretty awesome. The first time my name was in the magazine, I screamed and bought three copies. Now? Now I'm just looking stunned (and buying three copies).

This time last year, I was paralyzed with fear over the upcoming release of my first book. Now, I'm paralyzed with fear over the upcoming release of my second book, and still utterly over-the-moon and waiting to wake up. Also, if you haven't read Rosemary and Rue yet, you should get a copy.

Locus says so.