Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: awake
  • Music: DJ Earworm, "United State of Pop 2008."

CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT open thread!

To celebrate the release of Chimes at Midnight, here. Have an open thread to discuss the book. Judging by the comments I'm seeing, some of you have had time, and I'd really, really rather book discussion (sometimes including spoilers) didn't crop up on other posts.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Seriously. If anyone comments here at all, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. So please don't read and then yell at me because you encountered spoilers. You were warned. (I will not reply to every comment; I call partial comment amnesty. But I may well join some of the discussion, or answer questions or whatnot.) I will be DELETING all comments containing spoilers which have been left on other posts. No one gets to spoil people here without a label.

You can also start a discussion at my website forums, with less need to be concerned that I will see everything you say! In case you wanted, you know, discussion free of authorial influence, since I always wind up getting involved in these things.

Have fun, and try not to bleed on the carpet.
Tags: chimes at midnight, open thread, toby daye
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kerrykhat

September 3 2013, 17:02:17 UTC 3 years ago

Bought this book on my way to work this morning and IT'S SO HARD NOT TO JUDT SIT AND READ IT!

(I may be sneaking in small snippets at my desk. TOBY!)

seanan_mcguire

September 3 2013, 17:28:33 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

ebartley

3 years ago

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kerrykhat

3 years ago

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kentuckckykat

3 years ago

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ohari

September 3 2013, 17:56:26 UTC 3 years ago

The always-wonderful Mary Robinette Kowall is reading it to me right now!
Yaaaaaaaaaaay!

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 15:57:55 UTC 3 years ago

Mary is splendid.

kentuckckykat

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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listicath

September 3 2013, 18:12:32 UTC 3 years ago

The paperback is on its way, so I'll just have to wait for a while.

No kindle love for us over here in the UK.

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 15:58:12 UTC 3 years ago

I'm sorry. :( Hopefully we'll get me a UK publisher, and that will change.

listicath

3 years ago

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jillheather

September 3 2013, 18:13:58 UTC 3 years ago

I preordered the paperback and it got here Friday (which is nice, often it gets here a week after release and it is not fun that our postal system is slow) and I just went home and sat down and read it. One of my cats was eating my hair during the Tybalt-meets-the-Sphynx scene, which I am sure meant something. (Also yes: Toby should get Quentin a Sphynx and we should see a lot of Tybalt and/or Raj interacting with them because that scene was great.)

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 16:00:45 UTC 3 years ago

Poor Tybalt just had no frame of reference for a hairless cat.

jillheather

3 years ago

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yellowblackhaze

3 years ago

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ladymurmur

September 3 2013, 19:42:18 UTC 3 years ago

Bought it for my kindle first thing this morning. Because, MINE! :-)

And now I must finish work, and errands, and make sure we're all fed, before I can sit down and start to read. Silly work, silly errands, silly food!

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 16:00:53 UTC 3 years ago

Woot!

tylik

September 3 2013, 19:47:39 UTC 3 years ago

I, um, just finished it.

And I really oughtn't to have, since I was working from home today, not staying home and reading books, but then by forcing myself to earn reading by meeting goals, I got my other things done. So, yay?

And more seriously, yay the book. And particularly finding out the whole Arden comment, and a few more comments around Toby and her mother's heritage and accompanying mythology.

And Tybalt. And more May, and Jazz (I adore Jazz), and all the general calling in of allies. And so glad to get through the reveal with Quentin.

The Luidaeg's blood jewels are making me twitch.

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 16:02:37 UTC 3 years ago

I love that the reveal was so low-key. Enough people have guessed over the years that it was starting to feel like a huge production, and...nope. It just sort of happened. Moving on.

tylik

3 years ago

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deor

3 years ago

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jenfullmoon

3 years ago

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sleary

3 years ago

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wendyzski

3 years ago

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museclio

3 years ago

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jenfullmoon

3 years ago

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wendyzski

3 years ago

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cerulean_sky

September 3 2013, 19:57:34 UTC 3 years ago Edited:  September 3 2013, 19:57:52 UTC

Got it this morning to much (quiet because my boyfriend was still asleep) squeeing and flailing. Since starting it, the squeeing and flailing have only continued. :)

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 16:02:47 UTC 3 years ago

Hee hee yay.

brimaresh

September 3 2013, 20:03:52 UTC 3 years ago

Now that Quentin's secret is out of the bag, does that mean he'll have to go? Because it's a blind fostering. They're not supposed to know who he is. It may directly put his life in danger for people to know who he is, because hello, actual Toronto prince (which we would have had to have been silly not to notice before, but heck, now we really know!). And October is so good at putting his life in danger, it's practically a hobby with her. And while that was fine before, now she knows, and suddenly it's a lot more significant. And he's changed so much since he first walked on scene, grown a lot as a character. I'm afraid we're nearing a time when he's ready to go home. Anyone else stuck on that, or is it just me?

Also, Toby sure has a lot of loose enemies stacking up. And there's still so much more going on, so many plot threads I'm waiting to see tie back in. But I am more afraid for what Quentin's secret being out will mean than worried for the Luidaeg after her lengthy delays, or what Amy did to October that we had hinted about in both the blood and Never Shines The Sun, or even the new queen, and meeting Quentin's family, and all those things I am sure are going to resurface eventually, and probably soon.

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 16:03:42 UTC 3 years ago

That's not a question I can answer in the long term, but in the short term, his secret isn't fully out to anyone who wouldn't have eventually needed to know anyway. I think his parents love him too much to pull him out of the city immediately. Eventually? Who knows?

brimaresh

3 years ago

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wendyzski

3 years ago

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ashabardon

September 3 2013, 20:16:24 UTC 3 years ago

I'm at the library (plot wise), listening to MRK's awesome narration of the audiobook. Loving it so far! Libaries! The Queen in the Mists! Intrigue!

seanan_mcguire

September 4 2013, 16:03:54 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

groblek

September 3 2013, 20:26:40 UTC 3 years ago

I just got to the scene in Borderlands and nearly dropped my phone in delight. I have no visual imagination, but we've been to enough release parties that I can see that part quite clearly indeed.

And now I guess it's time to put the book down and go back to work. :(

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:53:19 UTC 3 years ago

Hee.

I got their permission to put the bookstore in the series YEARS ago. I think they were surprised when it finally happened.

shenya

September 3 2013, 20:39:24 UTC 3 years ago

*closes her eyes* *chants mantra*Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks*/end chant*

*makes mental note to come back to this thread once has book*

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:53:35 UTC 3 years ago

Aw.

mbarr

September 3 2013, 21:03:27 UTC 3 years ago

I've requested that Brookline Booksmith get a few copies. Hopefully, they will have it inside the 1st week to be part of the sales numbers.

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:54:08 UTC 3 years ago

Hope this worked out. If not, that's okay too. :)

notalwaysweak

September 3 2013, 21:11:06 UTC 3 years ago

*closes eyes to avoid spoilers*

Since my bricks-and-mortar store where I usually go is closed I've ordered it from Dymocks Online but I am 99% likely to jump on Amazon when I'm on the train and download it there.

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:55:04 UTC 3 years ago

Eep!

tapati

September 3 2013, 21:23:52 UTC 3 years ago

spoilery in a coded fashion


Laughing at Toby for not figuring Quentin's origins out before now. It was pretty obvious. Loving that we get more information about her bloodline and how she fits in the scheme of things and the story from her childhood is lovely.

And yay, redwoods. (Bay Area reader here)

Already started to read through again. ;)

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:55:33 UTC 3 years ago

It was obvious for us, on the outside. For her, as part of a feudal system, it was genuinely unthinkable.

idancewithlife

September 3 2013, 21:41:16 UTC 3 years ago

No one Toby loves died. And her car didn't get crunched. Those were frosting on the awesome cake of #7.

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:55:44 UTC 3 years ago

Hee.

sirriamnis

September 3 2013, 22:24:09 UTC 3 years ago

Not going to read the thread. But I just picked it up!!!!

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:55:54 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

lazzchan

September 3 2013, 22:26:48 UTC 3 years ago Edited:  September 3 2013, 22:28:07 UTC

*laughs*

This book was the absolute best, with all the little threads piling up (beholden to the Night Haunts Toby?) Jeeeez, you don't play gentle with yourself (and never have). This book made me and my roommate laugh out loud the most, especially Tybalt's reaction to the cat in the bookstore. XD I love the dog and the cast of new characters that popped up and BOY, I was wondering with that bit with the shallowing would pop up again. It seemed a little too important...

Quentin, bless you. We figured out your heritage long ago and we all know Toby had to suspect, but I think the idea of all the danger she put him in gave her a mental block. XD I love our lovely sea witch more and more.. and GOSH, the Library. *swoons over it* And INTERESTING that the Library didn't know about Amandine. Curiouser and curiouser...

And whoa, Toby-- way to pull a rabbit out of your hat with using blood there.

I have no more coherent words to explain my love for this book-- it was just simply all sorts of fantastic. Giggled a bit over what my roommate and I dubbed the "Leverage" endings to chapters. We were half expecting a "Let's go steal us a kingdom" at one point. XD

Just simply amazing. ^____^

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:56:27 UTC 3 years ago

Thank you for catching the Leverage endings that is all I ever wanted anyone to do.

You are best.

lazzchan

3 years ago

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Sean Robinson

September 3 2013, 22:57:15 UTC 3 years ago

What drives me a little batty (Despite waiting another year for a book that i read in an afternoon, because it was delicious) is that Toby is really oblivious sometimes.
Arden talks about Amandine's husband not being cool with a changeling being born. Toby just sort of files it away. Come on. Now, I wonder who Amandine's husband was/is.
From the short story about opening Goldengreen, we see Amandine and an unknown red head opening the Goldengreen knowe. From Rat Catcher we learn that September Torquill has red hair. It means that Amandine is connected to the family. My money says Simon was Amandine's husband. Which leads to the next question (that, once again, Toby ignored). Before she died Oleander was discussing other Dochas Sidhe. I wonder who/if Amandine has other children and/or whatever happened to them.

I'm also curious to know if the earthquake from 1910 was somehow related to the situation discussed in Ashes of Honor where a Tuatha changeling punched a hole through to the heart of faerie. There was also a reference earlier on about Maeve's ride being broken and that being why she left. I wonder if Amandine was involved.

As far as Antigone goes too--i'm wondering when we get back to the Selkies. She mentioned that one of her sisters showed humans how to skin the roane. i wonder if that was Eira? And if Antigone is Maeve/Oberon's oldest daughter why she isnt stronger/as strong as Eira.

I assume we all suspect that Toby's final quest is going to be to go find the three....am i wrong?

cheshire_bitten

September 4 2013, 12:57:30 UTC 3 years ago

The sea witch mentions that there were other children of amandine, and that Toby is the "last one left to play heir". What I want to know is what was the great betrayal that amandine was involved in. I previously wondered if it was that amandine was the sister who put knives in the hands of the murderers of the rohan, but I can't sea olianda caring about sulkies.

ravenclawed

3 years ago

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nomadmwe

September 4 2013, 03:01:13 UTC 3 years ago

Downloaded this morning. Finished this evening. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa so many thoughts aaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

...on the other hand, I cannot wait for the Selkie stuff to come up again, because I love me some Luidaeg. Also also, the story. Also also also AGH THAT PRISON CELL AGH AGH.

But hey, the parents. :D

seanan_mcguire

September 10 2013, 16:58:54 UTC 3 years ago

It's coming!

nomadmwe

3 years ago

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Poppy Lochridge

September 4 2013, 04:09:35 UTC 3 years ago

Once again, there's more new questions than ones that have been answered!

Loved the pie incident - what a great use of slapstick.

Going to be on tenterhooks for the next year to see if Marcia's odd behavior gets explained in the next good. Every time the old king was mentioned in front of her, she dropped something - and as a quarter fae, she can't possibly be old enough to remember him, can she?

I'm loving the hints of the bigger plotline - waiting to see if my guesses are correct - but starting to think a chart of the fae races and from whom they descend might be highly useful soonish.

cheshire_bitten

September 4 2013, 12:10:24 UTC 3 years ago

I need to get around to making a timeline and a chart of the fae races. I think the world of October daye is sorely due for a spoiler full wiki. I can't keep track of who is who.

paradisacorbasi

3 years ago

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angelamaria

3 years ago

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killjoy188

3 years ago

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rymenhild

3 years ago

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jenfullmoon

3 years ago

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deor

3 years ago

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valkyrie_tina

September 4 2013, 09:39:39 UTC 3 years ago

finished it 3:30 Am, including the short story that was included accidentally (Disabled the wifi on the Kindle so they couldn´t snatch away it before I had read it).
And- wow. I liked it best of all the Toby books sofar (and I liked all the stories). I love all those characters, male and female, and having Toby assembling them in a band of merry men and leading them against the queen was a fairy dream come true! At last we know who Quentins parents are (as if we hadn´t guessed) and who Arden is (honestly I didn´t have a clue). Also the library! I want to know more about the library!!
just two things i didnt like:
1. Tybald almost dying: he´s done that now for the...third time? Stop dying already!
2. The book is too cheap! You are a good person, Seanan, for keeping the prices affordable for everyone, but that was the most enjoyable book I read this year, and 4,30 Eur seems like nothing for that. Well I will solve that by picking up the paper version in my local bookshop tomorrow (not today though. We have your Obama roaming Stockholm today, and the traffic chaos is insane).

kentuckckykat

September 5 2013, 01:00:55 UTC 3 years ago

I wondered about the book price...it is several dollars cheaper at Amazon than at other retailers. I would love to know whether that affects the author's take (as I have desperate hopes that Seanan will eventually write full time)

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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kentuckckykat

3 years ago

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boxlawyer

September 4 2013, 11:27:12 UTC 3 years ago

I still don't know how on earth Quentin hasn't had a complete breakdown, given that he's a teenager basically having to take on the responsibility of looking after a self-destructive Toby since like, book 3. If anyone needed to cop an evil pie to the face to get a break it's him!

I kid, I kid, but one of the things I am appreciating is how Toby's self-destructive tendencies are explicitly shown to be utter hell on the people around her, and how Toby doesn't even notice until it's explicitly pointed out to her.

valkyrie_tina

September 4 2013, 12:56:31 UTC 3 years ago

What do you mean by "Self-destructive"? Toby ´s sometimes speaks her mind too openly around others, but so do most of the heroes in urban fantasy like Kate Daniels or Harry Dresden (honestly, i love that guy, but he never knows when to shut up)

In all the 7 books I ve only encounterd one instant when Toby really was self-destructive, and that was her crusade against the drugs in book 6. And she had a good reason for it, blaming herself for Connors death and as she is not the type that gets depressive, she gets reckless.

It is true that Toby almost constantly ends up in dangerous situations that almost kill her. But that is because things happen around her (or Seanan likes to throw them to her). It is always some extremely powerful enemy (Simon, Blind Michael, Oleander) that hurt her friends (Silvester, Karen, Tybald) and those friends ask her for help, and she doesn´t refuse them- most of the time because there is no one else who could help!!! She only has the options to say: "I will help, though it will probably kill me" or "I am sorry, but he/she is too strong for me, so you will not see your wife and daughter again/ you will stay prisoner of Blind Michael forever/ the one who poisoned your people will go free. And what a lame-ass hero she would be then?

And concerning Quentin- there was only one time where I really thought Toby should refuse help, because the situation is beyond her, and that was in book 3, when she went back into Blind Michaels land for the second time. And she did that because of Quentins girlfriend, because she knew that it would break Quentin if he couldn´t help her.

If anything I thought that Toby was uncharacteristically careful in chimes at midnight, taking backup, waiting for friends, ringing ahead.

boxlawyer

3 years ago

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valkyrie_tina

3 years ago

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tylik

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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silvertwi

September 4 2013, 16:04:15 UTC 3 years ago Edited:  September 4 2013, 16:04:43 UTC

So much squee! I finished the novel last night and just read the short story. There was much giggling at various parts of the book.

I may or may not have laughed out loud at:
-The Dumbo reference
-Toby and the banister
-Tybalt and the hairless cat
-The inclusion of Borderlands books after you've written so much about going there
-Toby's reaction to Quentin's reveal
-Meeting the Cu Sidhe

Bahahaha.

On the other hand, I spent half the book worried about how Toby was going to put herself back together before she died of the goblin fruit. I mean, the books are about her, and I remembered the hope chest sooner than she did, but I still couldn't put the book (okay, my Nook, w/e) down until I was sure she'd be alright. She did seem to delight in telling people how a pie in the face started the whole thing XD.

I was also intrigued by the nighthaunts and their arguing amongst themselves. For the first time, I'm starting to understand what May did and wondering how lonely she is.

All of which leaves me with one driving question: Is Toby going to be addicted to coffee again or did she kick that habit, too? ;)

silvertwi

September 6 2013, 03:43:56 UTC 3 years ago

A few more thoughts have occurred to me while reading other responses:

1) Was Toby asking the Luidaeg for diet coke at all a reference to Newsflesh? Because it felt like it to me.

2) I'm really impressed at how strongly Toby losing her fae-ness affected both her and me. She once wanted to give up and have nothing to do with faerie. She's consistently chosen faerie over mortality every time she takes the changeling's choice, but in Ashes of Honor she was worried about how much of her humanity she had lost, that she had to try to save the human in Annwn. So the fact that it felt like getting kicked in the gut when she lost her fae blood to her own powers--that's incredible and masterful and gut-wrenching. :D

jenk

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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silvertwi

3 years ago

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paradisacorbasi

September 4 2013, 16:08:39 UTC 3 years ago

I read it. I loved it.

I kind of somehow forgot that I expected Quentin to be who he is, but then it was a lovely "oh, yeah!" moment.

I love the Library. I even like Mags herself. She reminds me of a certain other Mags, and I believe that was intentional.

I love how Toby is finally starting to learn that she has a family, people who love and care about her, people who do not want her to be dead, but who also understand that it is just NOT in her to refuse to help when she is able to help.

I loved the blood losenges. And I swear I think she still has a few Ludaig ones left.

I loved the big fight at Saltmist when you could've shown us the big fight at the opened Knowe.

I loved Madden who comes off like a big dumb dog but really isn't.

I loved the shoe betrayal as seen in Newsflesh.

And the pie. Oh god, the pie in the face made me stop dead and go "ohhhhhhhhhh shit," in such a voice of dread that truebluespark shouted, worried, from the other room, afraid something had happened to me.

faecat

September 5 2013, 17:44:02 UTC 3 years ago

[I love the Library. I even like Mags herself. She reminds me of a certain other Mags, and I believe that was intentional.]

SO GLAD that wasn't just in my head.

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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taylweaver

September 4 2013, 19:53:35 UTC 3 years ago

Bought it yesterday on the way home from work. Read it last night when I should have been packing. Went to work today on way too little sleep.

Thoughts my exhausted brain is currently producing:

Loved the Quentin reveal scene. Even though I knew it was coming, it was an odd sort of shock when it actually happened.

I was in tears at one point, I think the part where Toby realized she was mostly human all of a sudden. That part was hard to read - in a good way. It was intense.

Tybalt nearly dying left me wondering two things:
a) does this mean he's on his last life? (Because he didn't come back to life on his own this time)
b) what's the actual definition of death for the fae? It seems like it's different than it is for humans. (Which would explain why no one ever tries CPR, etc.)

I like the new things Toby can do with blood.

I'm pretty sure I have more thoughts than that, but they may have to wait until I go back for a second read - preferably followed by a longer night's sleep than last night.

heavensgardener

September 5 2013, 13:51:11 UTC 3 years ago

I have to wonder whether he's on his last life or whether it was because they were in an iron-laced room. (I don't think any of his other deaths onscreen have involved iron?)

taylweaver

3 years ago

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jenfullmoon

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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