Am I behind on my review roundups? Yes. Yes, I am. Am I about to drown in links? Yes. Yes, I am. So here. Reviews for you!

First up for this batch, Paul Goat Allen wrote one of the most beautiful explanations of the Toby Daye books I've ever seen over the Barnes & Noble Book Club, and said, "For me, these novels are ultimately about Toby's inner quest—her search to find herself, her place in the world, not some soul mate or better half who will 'complete' her. It’s delicious existential speculation wrapped up in fantastical candy-coated shell. That's why this unique and addictively readable saga resonates so powerfully with me—I identify with Toby as the proverbial outsider, the seeker, the misunderstood hero."

Um. Wow.

The Discriminating Fangirl posted a lovely review of Late Eclipses, and says, "I think this is my favorite book in the series so far. Everything that I loved about the first three books came together in a perfect storm of awesomeness in Late Eclipses. The plot is smooth, engrossing, and terribly exciting." Also: "If you’re already a fan of the Toby Daye series, Late Eclipses definitely won’t disappoint. If you’re a newbie looking for some great, original urban fantasy, get thee to a bookstore and pick up this series. You won’t be disappointed." Victory!

Charlaine Harris listed Late Eclipses as one of her books of the week, and says, "Seanan McGuire is another of my favorites, and Late Eclipses continues her saga of the life of October Daye, a true and acknowledged hero in the world of the fae." Also: "It's impossible not to like Toby." Could someone tell the Queen of the Mists that? It would make book six ever so much easier to write.

Angela over at The Outhouse has posted a review of Late Eclipses, and says, "For the past three books, I cringed at the 1st person narrative that gave little details painstakingly slow about Toby’s life. For the past three books I wanted to grab October by the shirt and ask her why won’t she push farther into her odd standings with Tybalt. For the last three books, I nearly cried when Toby would just bend over and take it from the Fae court. And now here is the fourth fantastic book and it has been worth every little bit of frustrating agony! Seanan McGuire is a sneaky woman, knowing how to play her audience like a fiddle book by delicious book; never giving too much, but making you want a whole of a lot more." I'm a fiddler! Amy would be so proud.

Finally, for right now, it's our requisite LJ review, from ambermoon, who has posted a lovely review of Late Eclipses. She says, "Each novel passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors, and I love the heroine. Toby (short for October) is smart, funny, sarcastic, and believable. She's capable without being either 'too good at everything' or unwilling to accept help. She gets literally carried several times, but I never felt her agency was reduced. She has maternal aspects without that being the source of her strength or relegating her to a caretaker role. She can sometimes be a jerk, and sometimes seems almost deliberately obtuse about personal matters, and she's extremely stubborn. The books are first-person narration so Toby carries all the action, and she doesn't disappoint." Yay!

That's all for today. Next up, Deadline reviews! Yay!

Allentown, Pennsylvania. June 11th, 2014.

Hazel Allen was well and truly baked. Not just a little buzzed, oh, no; she was baked like a cake. The fact that this rhymed delighted her, and she started to giggle, listing slowly over to one side until her head landed against her boyfriend's shoulder with a soft "bonk."

Brandon Majors, self-proclaimed savior of mankind, ignored his pharmaceutically-impaired girlfriend. He was too busy explaining to a rapt (and only slightly less stoned) audience exactly how it was that they, the Mayday Army, were going to bring down The Man, humble him before the masses, and rise up as the guiding light of a new generation of enlightened, compassionate, totally bitchin' human beings.

Had anyone bothered to ask Brandon what he thought of the idea that one day, the meek would inherit the Earth, he would have been totally unable to see the irony.

"Greed is the real disease killing this country," he said, slamming his fist against his own leg to punctuate his statement. Nods and muttered statements of agreement rose up from the others in the room (although not from Hazel, who was busy trying to braid her fingers together). "Man, we've got so much science and so many natural resources, you think anybody should be hungry? You think anybody should be homeless? You think anybody should be eating animals? We should be eating genetically engineered magic fruit that tastes like anything you want, because we're supposed to be the dominant species."

"Like Willy Wonka and the snotberries?" asked one of the men, sounding perplexed. He was a bio-chem graduate student; he'd come to the meeting because he'd heard there would be good weed. No one had mentioned anything about a political tirade from a man who thought metaphors were like cocktails: better when mixed thoroughly.

"Snozberries," said Hazel, dreamily.

Brandon barely noticed. "And now they're saying that there's a cure for the common cold. Only you know who's going to get it? Not me. Not you. Not our parents. Not the kids. Only the people who can afford it. Paris Hilton's never going to have the sniffles again, but you and me and everybody we care about, we're just screwed. Just like everybody who hasn't been working for The Man since this current corrupt society came to power. It's time to change that! It's time to take the future out of the hands of The Man and put it back where it belongs—in the hands of the people!"

General cheering greeted this proclamation. Hazel, remembering her cue even through the haze of pot smoke and drowsiness, sat up and asked, "But how are we going to do that?"

"We're going to break in to that government-funded money-machine of a lab, and we're going to give the people of the world what's rightly theirs." Brandon smiled serenely, pushing Hazel gently away from him as he stood. "We're going to drive to Virginia, and we're going to snatch that cure right out from under the establishment's nose. And then we're going to give it to the world, the way it should have been handled in the first place! Who's with me?"

Any misgivings that might have been present in the room were overcome by the lingering marijuana smoke, and the feeling of revolution. They were going to change the world! They were going to save mankind!

They were going to Virginia.

***

A statement was issued today by a group calling themselves "The Mayday Army," taking credit for the break-in at the lab of Dr. Alexander Kellis. Dr. Kellis, a virologist working with genetically-tailored diseases, recently revealed that he was working on a cure for the common cold...

When will you Rise?