They twist and bite and require too much attention. Numbers are simple, obedient things, as long as you understand the rules they live by. He knows the words that apply to this situation-exsanguination, hypovolemia, hemorrhage-but they don’t reassure him the way the numbers reassure her. The math would be true, and that’s all she’s ever asked from the world. She’d think she was being comforting, even if the number she came up with meant “I’m leaving you.” Even if it meant “there is no coming back from this.”

She’d calculate the surface area and volume of the liquid as easily as taking a breath, and she’d turn it into a concrete number, something accurate to the quarter ounce. If Dodger were awake, she’d happily tell him exactly how much of her blood is on the floor. And when she stops breathing, so does he. She doesn’t, no pun intended, have it in her. Each breath is a clear struggle, but she keeps fighting for the next one. Her chest rises and falls in tiny hitches, barely visible to the eye. This blood belongs inside the body where it began, and yet here it is, and here he is, and everything is going so wrong.ĭodger isn’t dead yet, despite the blood, despite everything. It seems impossible, ridiculous, a profligate waste of something that should be precious and rare-and most importantly, contained. Roger didn’t know there was this much blood in the human body. (Sept.TIMELINE: FIVE MINUTES TOO LATE, THIRTY SECONDS FROM THE END OF THE WORLD. This proves a wholly satisfying payoff for longtime readers. The usual blend of magic, mayhem, and mystery is fully present as McGuire continues to push her world’s boundaries and her hero’s limits. Now Toby and her allies must find a way to stop the closest thing the Fae have to a god. She’s bound by a magical compulsion to slay all those who know of her existence, making her a threat to Toby and everyone Toby loves. Toby’s frantic search for the culprit leads to a legend dating back to the origins of the Fae: Titania, the Summer Queen of Faerie, has finally surfaced after centuries of absence. But even as she catches her breath and takes care of long overdue business-including testifying at the trial of her old enemy Rayseline-a brutal attack on her friend Stacy Brown’s family upsets the fragile peace. After marrying Tybalt, King of Cats, October “Toby” Daye, a changeling detective and acknowledged Hero of the Realm, is tentatively content. This tense tale picks up on seeds planted since the very beginning, while also delivering jaw-dropping revelations. Sixteen installments into the October Daye series (after When Sorrows Come), McGuire proves that her capacity to play the long game remains unparalleled.

Middle game seanan mcguire