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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knittingwoman

September 11 2013, 16:50:38 UTC 3 years ago

I really loved this book. I have enjoyed the entire series, some books grabbed me a little less than others but this was one was FABULOUS. I just read the short story afterwards, great bonus.
I loved how so many different threads came together in this book.

seanan_mcguire

September 12 2013, 00:52:37 UTC 3 years ago

I'm so glad.

tsgeisel

September 12 2013, 09:41:24 UTC 3 years ago

So, I couldn't get a copy at my local non-chain bookstore (really Kepler's?), and resorted to B&N (these days even chain bookstores need help).

Picked it up, finished it. Great job, as usual. The ending short story was...spooky, which, of course, is probably what you intended.

I'm just glad we don't have to wait 7 years for the next one. That's a long time to wait.

seanan_mcguire

September 12 2013, 16:05:09 UTC 3 years ago

That really, really is.

notalwaysweak

September 12 2013, 12:45:46 UTC 3 years ago

I got it!

I snuggled down on the couch last night to start it with some music playing (Imagine Dragons) and a bowl of lemon sorbet.

The sorbet melted. I was too engrossed.

I'd post about the bits I loved but as usual there were too many. But Labyrinth references, and the Cu Sidhe, and Mags, and I always love Danny, and I always love the Luidaeg (even if I can pronounce Luidaeg but not spell it without checking), and the fireflies, and Toby and Tybalt <333, and... see, I knew it was everything.

I am positive there was another quote from somewhere (not Labyrinth or Leverage, somewhere else) that I recognised as an homage, but I now can't remember it. If I remember it, except an incoherent tweet or comment in like a month's time along the lines of SEANAN I REMEMBERED THE THING.

seanan_mcguire

September 12 2013, 16:05:26 UTC 3 years ago

I will be delighted to see that tweet. :)

elliemurasaki

September 12 2013, 16:02:39 UTC 3 years ago

Home sick from work, which means I finally had time to read the book!

...!!!!!!!!!! *_*

seanan_mcguire

September 12 2013, 16:05:37 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

Not yay sick, yay reading.

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

September 13 2013, 20:08:27 UTC 3 years ago

I, um, don't know what client you're using? But you have now posted this comment eleven times. Please stop. :(

I'm really glad you liked the book.

acanthusleaf

3 years ago

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kentuckckykat

September 13 2013, 18:51:43 UTC 3 years ago

Evening also used the pixies for lighting (mentioned in One Salt Sea, IIRC)...so, I haven't fully trusted her for a while.

amazon_syren

3 years ago

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seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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darkladynyara

September 14 2013, 03:25:20 UTC 3 years ago

I finally got my copy in the mail, and got a chance to read it last night. I really loved it- and I now feel the need to re-read the rest of the series. XD And I'm hoping we get to see more of Dianda. She was awesome.

ibmiller

September 14 2013, 20:00:11 UTC 3 years ago

Dianda was indeed amazing. Pissed off mermaid smashing guards with her tail is perhaps my very favorite part of Chimes. :)

seanan_mcguire

3 years ago

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kit cat

September 14 2013, 05:51:56 UTC 3 years ago

I just finished reading, but I have a question, over how many days does the book take place ?

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 19:35:28 UTC 3 years ago

I would have to re-map it to be sure, but no more than three, not counting the coronation at the very end (which is a few weeks later).

memoryanddream

September 14 2013, 05:59:09 UTC 3 years ago

Finished it this afternoon. Loved it. Thoroughly enjoyable the whole way through. Sad it's over.

What can I bribe you with to make the next one come out sooner?? Like, tomorrow is good. ;)

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 19:35:42 UTC 3 years ago

Nothing, sadly. My publishing schedule is very tight.

alicetheowl

September 16 2013, 05:07:01 UTC 3 years ago

I picked it up the day it came out, but only just remembered I can only access this thread through my laptop. Which I haven't turned on in a couple of weeks. So.

My local independent had several copies, and they were faced. Yay! So, clearly, I'm not the only fan in the area. I keep trying to get my book club to pick one of your several books, but, so far, no luck.

Anyway.

Kept exulting at how affectionate and adorable Toby and Tybalt are together. Then I'd get a sinking feeling about something bad happening to keep them apart, or Tybalt dying, or something along those lines. Definitely kept me flipping pages.

I chuckled at the references to dog parks. I'm pretty sure the final copy of this was turned in before you started listening to Welcome to Night Vale, but I still decided they were Night Vale references, anyway. Even if it just added a level of humor to Cecil's reference to the dog park when you listen.

I loved Tybalt's horror at meeting the Borderlands cat. It's nice to see Toby nonplussed and him freaking out about something that won't kill her. The whole Borderlands inclusion was pretty awesome, and now I really, really want to see it for myself. Damn rest of the country between me and it . . .

Are the humans populating it anything like the current staff? Or did you use artistic license there?

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 19:36:12 UTC 3 years ago

Jude is a real person, as is Alan; Madden and Arden are fictional (naturally).

amazon_syren

September 17 2013, 01:03:59 UTC 3 years ago

Okay, maybe this is weird, but one thing I really, really appreciated in this book was the explanation of where Tybalt's leather pants come from... and that they're (possibly) the result of a studied insult. I like that there's a reason for it and that it isn't because someone is being "nice" (or even libidinous, for that matter).

Beyond that, it's lovely. Beyond that, I like knowing where "Annie" came from as a name. Beyond that, way to settle the act-one gun of the hope chest (so far, at any rate). Beyond that, thank you for May/Mai and her interaction with her siblings - that was beautiful and aching. :-) Beyond that, Quentin talking about duty -- I like that he used a tone that Toby had never heard, because it means it's not the way he would have said it (if he would have said it) back when he was a bit of a snot in Book One.

Thank you. It was lovely. :-)


TTFN,
Amazon.

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 19:36:34 UTC 3 years ago

I am so glad you enjoyed it.

<3

yellowblackhaze

September 19 2013, 00:31:14 UTC 3 years ago

Finished it last night, purposefully delayed dinner so I could finish it before. My favourite part was Toby bargaining with the pixies, they seriously weren't going to do it until she added the fries. I love the idea of characters like the pixies though, so that could be it.

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 19:36:45 UTC 3 years ago

Yay!

anne_d

September 19 2013, 13:00:14 UTC 3 years ago

Oops, hit the wrong key and lost my comment, not that it was deathless prose or anything. What? It's not even 6AM here.

Anyway, I got the book last Saturday in the mail and stayed up way too late (for me) and finished it Saturday night. I read fast.

Then I thought about it for a few days, and decided to reread the previous two. I'm just now starting Chimes over again. It's a wonderful book, as usual, and the short story made me want to cry. I really do love the Luidaeg, and poor little Toby, she was so happy, and so damaged without knowing it. Dammit, Seanan, you keep making me care about people!

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 23:02:47 UTC 3 years ago

Making people care is what I do!

amazon_syren

September 24 2013, 01:31:39 UTC 3 years ago

Also: Thank you for the harm-reduction stance on drug addiction.
I never thought I'd see that in fiction, and I'm so glad you included it. <3 :-)

seanan_mcguire

October 5 2013, 23:03:00 UTC 3 years ago

You are very welcome. :)

grammarwoman

October 18 2013, 15:29:19 UTC 3 years ago

I have come to love all your series so much that you are one of the only authors whose books I buy the first week, instead of waiting for them to be available through the library. :) (Though if I'd known that Chimes had a short story included only in the print edition, I would have bought that instead of the Kindle one. :( )

Cast in point: I loved Chimes so much! It's a great treat to read Toby being happy in her relationship with Tybalt. I also appreciated the payoff of finding out about Quentin's parents, after being kept on tenterhooks for so many books. I'm glad that Oleander is most sincerely dead, because Toby is accumulating other mortal (heh) enemies at an alarming rate.

Marcia was being awfully sketchy in this book; I kept waiting for a betrayal from her. I suppose this is one of those things I have to wait and see about, hm?

The only bad part about this latest novel is a recurring issue; I want to know how everything turns out, but I don't want to finish and be done with her world, having to wait a whole year for another new installment! It's a good problem to have, I guess.

Thank you so much for providing us with another great look at Toby's ongoing story! :D

hasufin

January 5 2014, 10:53:23 UTC 3 years ago

I cannot believe it took me this long to get around to reading Chimes at Midnight... I knew I'd not be able to stop, so I had to schedule it. I guess getting the flu had a net positive?


I loved the reference to Borderlands; I hope to visit the place again someday.

What's your source on naming etymology? I can't believe that the names Arden, Nolan, and Aethlinn aren't deliberate.

seanan_mcguire

January 8 2014, 19:34:25 UTC 3 years ago

It's all over the place, really. Arden and Nolan both got elements of their names from their mother, who was otherwise unacknowledged by their father (for reasons of her own safety).

I'm glad you're feeling better!

hasufin

March 25 2014, 17:22:15 UTC 3 years ago

Can a Dochas Sidhe ADD a bloodline?

We've seen that she can shift someone's blood - like in Toby's case, make herself more human, or more dochas sidhe. We've seen her now "borrow" a bloodline's ability to teleport like a Tuatha. And we've seen her remove the Siren's abilities. But if a person doesn't have a bloodline - e.g., you have someone who'e pure Daoine Sidhe and wants to be able to teleport - could she add Tuatha blood to that person? Could she if aided by a Hope Chest, or the blood of a Firstborn?

seanan_mcguire

March 26 2014, 17:07:03 UTC 3 years ago

No, they cannot.

Toby can only work with what is there, which is why turning Gillian 100% human was such a crushing loss: once all the fae blood had been removed, it could never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever be given back. Gilly can't even become a Selkie now, because Selkies were originally merlins and had a small amount of fae heritage, which is what allows the skins to work.

hasufin

3 years ago

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