A RED-ROSE CHAIN open thread!

Oh bother, my computer did something funky and I lost the comment I was working on, so here I go again.

Amazing, inspiring, gripping, outstanding; I could go through the whole dictionary for superlatives and never come up with one that does justice to this book. How do you do it, Seanan? Every book is better than the one that came before, and since I consider Rosemary and Rue to be one of the best books I have ever read, that's a tremendous feat. One might even call it heroic! :)

The way you built the tension and suspense was masterful; I mean we all know Toby will come through in the end, but her friends? They are her strength and her weakness; you can cut, stab, beat and bloody Toby to no end, but the only way you can really, truly hurt her is to hurt those she loves. It's the risk of letting yourself care and, I suppose, the price of being a hero. This book makes that the appropriateness of that title once more abundantly clear, because only a hero could do what she did in the end.

I'm trying to avoid outright spoilers, but with this next part I can't, so stop reading if you don't want to know.

You told me I would like this one, and you were right. Walther's revelation isn't the sole reason for that, in fact it's actually a very minuscule part of why I loved this book. It wasn't even part of the story, just an aside really, but that's why I love the way you handled it. Without that bit the story would have been unchanged, but with it the world of Faerie gains even more depth. And the way Toby handled it -- the way any being with a functioning brain should handle it -- just makes her all the more a hero in my heart. I've said it before, but I can never say it enough; on behalf of all of us in the transgender community, thank you.

I did have one moment of stark, raving horror at the end, when Toby asked Queen Granola (Fruits, flakes and nuts -- get it?) what her name was. A thought popped into my head when she refused to answer, but then I told myself it couldn't be. I mean if she was August, she would have had Dochas Sidhe blood, and Toby would have known that, right?

Anyway, I'm going to end this before I start babbling incoherent praise. I loved it, and I can't wait for the next book. At least I still have Indexing:Reflections to keep me going, and the Incyrptid books, which I have yet to start. I'm very much looking forward to Every Heart a Doorway as well, and getting into your sci fi stuff. I'm not in your league, but my dabbling in writing has taught me some of what an author goes through, I think. It can be hard, when you put your work out there for the world. It's like presenting your child, and the world can be cruel to children. If I can only convey one thing, let it be this; you have touched one heart, and filled it with joy, wonder and hope. My world is a better place because of the worlds you have shown me, and I know I am not alone in feeling this way.

Hugs,
Breanna Ramsey