LATE ECLIPSES open thread. Have a party.

I loved loved loved this book. In fact, I couldn't put it down and that's a problem when I should be doing stuff, stuff like my homework. The relationship between Tybalt and Toby has me on the edge of my seat. And now that Connor is not married anymore I can't wait for things to get even more complicated! I'm a masochist.

I absolutely adored the surprise about Toby's bloodline. I cannot wait to find out more!

SIGH. Now I have to wait for the next book, but I love this series so much I don't really mind. God knows I'm reading enough series that disappoint me with each new book; it's refreshing to wait for a book and have it be AWESOME :)

Another wonderful book - I picked up our copy on the release day and then handed it over to Kay_gmd as I wanted to wait until the weekend when I'd be able to curl up with it and finish the book uninterrupted. I read most of it on the car trip down to our monthly dance party/practice, and then had to find a corner there to curl up in and finish it.

You packed a *lot* into this one - great dialog and silly scenes between the characters we've met before, heart-wrenching tragic moments (Lily! The kittens! So sad!), great new faces (Jazz, Walther). I loved the example of forensic alchemy. And finding out Toby's real heritage made sense of a lot of things. Also, Toby as Countess - I can hardly wait to see where that leads. I could go on and on, but most of the things have been mentioned by everyone else too.

Also, I've noticed your release schedule on these, and am in awe - you're managing one of these every six months + all your other writing + working, I'm thoroughly impressed.

1) My question in the previous post about insanity totally made you cackle, didn't it? I had NO IDEA that Amandine was a Firstborn when I asked that. Go, go accidental irony!

2) I see what you did there! I love that you foreshadowed with Grianne about and her dancers; it didn't click with me until they were hunting for Oleander that you'd explained the poisoning method practically in the beginning. Nicely done.

3) I had to reread the dream sequence maybe five times to figure out what we were seeing. Mostly it was "Huh. Why would Amandine refer to Daoine Sidhe that way? Isn't she Daoine Sidhe?"
But this means that Oleander knew that Amanandine isn't Daoine Sidhe (and apparently what she is). DOes this mean Simon knows, too?

4) How do we progress from Firstborn to race? I assume that each Firstborn is unique - that there aren't born two proto-dryads like Acacia, nor two beings like the Luideag. So how does a single Firstborn give rise to a Fae race? Do they have children by another Firstborn, and those children then have more children, etc., until they even out into something recognizable as a race which has some consistent combination of abilities?

*flails* Oh, whee, now I'm going to have to re-read the whole series, including A Local Habitation (which is not at the top of my re-read list because gory murders are not entirely my thing) and WHEEEEEEE!

Fucking Raysel.

Since we seem to be drawing up camps, I felt like these were necessary.



(I actually wanted Toby to get back together with Cliff, but after this book I have to admit it looks like that time is definitely past.)

Wow! Loved the book. I think little Josh enjoyed the parts I read to him too. I had to stop reading out-loud to him while dad was around since I got to read it first, and because something about my reading to him seems to put him to sleep which is not the way to get a quick feeding in.

I thought the way Manuel was dealt with was beautiful, even if I was sad that he died.

I'm really curious to see how the larger politics in laid out in this book play out. I can't imagine the Queen of the Mists is just going to sit quietly while Sylvester goes over her head to save Toby, and I'm fascinated by the idea of Toby as a Countess. I think her domain will be interesting.

I liked getting to know Danny more, and loved it when he hauled off at the Queen of the Mists.

I thought both the Caite Court and Sylvester's court development was interesting.

While I currently find Tybalt more appealing I liked that both of them lost barriers to further relationship with Toby this book, so they're more or less still on the same availability footing.

In general I really love what your doing with this series, and look forward to watching it follow your path. Also I'm thrilled that we picked up the audio versions of the first 3, so I can re-experience them. I find I pick up different things reading vs. hearing.

I finally got it today; they were out at the first 2 bookstores I went to and I got the last copy at the B&N on PCH!

*bounces*

I bought Late Eclipses today and sat down to read the first couple of chapters with a coffee at Barnes & Noble.

Three hours later I finished the book, came up for air, and realized that it had held my attention tightly enough that I had missed a pain pill and never noticed it. (Fortunately, I was only starting to twinge a bit.)

I think the summative quote, for me, paraphrased from memory, because I've handed the book over to Dale, is:

Someone: Things are always interesting around you.
Toby: Since I'm always around me, I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Ahem.

Holy Shit.

That is all.

You, my dear, are a many tiered cake with layers of awesome frosting. Also some insane fondant and crazy-ass sugar work in there.

I'm only annoyed that Toby and I no longer share a hair color. Because some dully pointed ears and a leather jacket were all that stood between me and Toby costume.

Reading 'Late Eclipses' now and I just have to ask: lucky charms and coffee? Seriously? This is a taste sensation? I've had kahlua and frosted flakes, but I don't think I could come at the other.

TEAM TYBALT ALL THE WAY
this book was great . I enjoyed it so much. I had to take my time reading this book because the next book comes out al the way in Semptember :(. Can't wait for One Salt Sea.

Oh wow Amandine!

I love this reveal.

More thoughts:

I was both tired and busy this week, so I didn't get to read in one big chunk, which is my preferred method...

I was finding that I wasn't as engaged as usual, and put this down to the tired and busy, but then there was the bit where Walther tells Toby that she's been poisoned which is causing her confusion and headaches... and from that moment on everything really clicked because Toby was herself again.

At least that's what I think happened. Now that it's the weekend I may decide to read all four books and see how many of those breadcrumbs I can spot.

<3 <3 <3

I was gutted when Lily died, and the kittens dying gutted me all over again. Shit keeps getting more and more real with each book and the tension keeps going up, and each one is better than the last. I'm reading LE over a second time to pick up things I missed the first time because I was reading so fast to find out what was going to happen. I hope you have the chance to tell the story over as many books as you want.

I never questioned who Toby's father was, but who her mother's parents are is something I'm looking forward to finding out. Quentin totally rocks and I always love seeing him. I totally <3 May and how she's so different from Toby, and how their personalities seem to compliment each other. I'm looking forward to seeing May really come into her own now that she's no longer tied to Toby.

What I made of Tybalt kissing Toby is that making a scene was an excellent excuse for him to do something he'd been wanting to do for a while but, for a variety of reasons, he doesn't dare to be more obvious about his true feelings. I did wonder what he was going to try to warn her about before Marcia and Walther showed up, and I'm assuming it was that the Queen was setting her up to be arrested for killing Blind Michael and subjected to a joke of a trial.

I was totally not expecting the revelation about Amandine being Firstborn. Definitely a game-changer, for better or for worse. I hope we learn more about her and why she went AWOL, both mentally and physically. All is definitely not as it seems, but what else is new?