raven_morgan's review
3.0
Read as part of the Hugo packet 2013.
Competent, but just didn't resonate for me.
Competent, but just didn't resonate for me.
titusfortner's review
5.0
I have only read the McGuire's Rat-Catcher from this collection, but it is fantastic.
lavendermarch's review
5.0
This was a great prequel about Tybalt! I knew a bit from stories he'd told October, but it was really interesting to see what he was like as a prince, and in general so many centuries before the start of the series. 5 stars!
sonofthe's review
3.0
I read this immediately after reading [b:In Sea-Salt Tears|15844724|In Sea-Salt Tears (October Daye, #5.1)|Seanan McGuire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345738997s/15844724.jpg|21587708] and wondered if McGuire has a whole world set up around the different faerie creatures. As a stand-alone story, it left me wanting a little more, but seemed like it was a prelude to something bigger and made me want to know more about the prince protagonist and the relation between the different faerie kingdoms.
ETA: This review refers only to Rat-Catcher by Seanan McGuire. I added it as that book, but some time in between it was changed to this small anthology.
ETA: This review refers only to Rat-Catcher by Seanan McGuire. I added it as that book, but some time in between it was changed to this small anthology.
mugsandpugs's review
5.0
"The truth of the matter is that where there are men, there have always been cats, and cream, and Cait Sidhe hiding their true nature behind a purr."
Ratcatcher by Seanan McGuire, read during August 2018 in effort to complete the October Daye series.
Link to story here.
An excellent and interesting story of Tybalt's becoming king (in roughly the 1600s, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong.) Very informative on his character.
Every time I hear cats fighting outside my bedroom window at night, now, all I can wonder is whether our local court of cats is having an uprising.
effingunicorns's review
3.0
Fairly hit-or-miss for me, as anthologies tend to be. Like a lot of people, I bought it for Rat Catcher, but I decided to be good and read the other stories first.
Bone Garden got more interesting as it went. The whole "actors who are also frequently prostitutes" background thing put me off at first, because prostitution in fiction too often comes across as "I want this character to be poor and desperate, but in a sexy way", but the impact of immigration on cultural magic in a fantasy setting is fascinating, so I'm glad I kept reading.
The Sergeant and the General is just depressing. Mellé got what he deserved, but I don't read for cautionary tales of what happens when a main character is an irredeemably horrible person, so this wasn't a rewarding story at all.
Rat Catcher was also fairly depressing, actually, but because I'm actually familiar with the series it ties to, I was able to recognize it as a temporary emotional dip. The bare bones of the story are covered in Forbid the Sea, another Tybalt short story available on McGuire's website, but this one covers those events directly and also offers a firsthand look at life in a Court of Cats, which is useful for those of us who'd like to know every little detail of things.
Overall, I'd say it's nice to get ahold of if you've been following any of the series represented, but that limited audience makes it easy to see why there aren't more copies available even two years after it was printed.
Spoiler
Quartered made good use of the magical bard given to us by assorted RPGs and the consequences of wrong assumptions, but I saw the pregnancy bit coming a mile away and found it hard to believe that Evicka could be so deeply invested in her own suspicions that she would miss the obvious undercurrent of "they accept us here when no one else would", even though I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be equally oblivious in real life.Bone Garden got more interesting as it went. The whole "actors who are also frequently prostitutes" background thing put me off at first, because prostitution in fiction too often comes across as "I want this character to be poor and desperate, but in a sexy way", but the impact of immigration on cultural magic in a fantasy setting is fascinating, so I'm glad I kept reading.
The Sergeant and the General is just depressing. Mellé got what he deserved, but I don't read for cautionary tales of what happens when a main character is an irredeemably horrible person, so this wasn't a rewarding story at all.
Rat Catcher was also fairly depressing, actually, but because I'm actually familiar with the series it ties to, I was able to recognize it as a temporary emotional dip. The bare bones of the story are covered in Forbid the Sea, another Tybalt short story available on McGuire's website, but this one covers those events directly and also offers a firsthand look at life in a Court of Cats, which is useful for those of us who'd like to know every little detail of things.
Overall, I'd say it's nice to get ahold of if you've been following any of the series represented, but that limited audience makes it easy to see why there aren't more copies available even two years after it was printed.