| Week Two |
Welcome to the Read Along of Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire, organised by Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow.
Welcome to the second post of the Rosemary and Rue Read Along!! I am loving this Read Along so far and this section was no exception! I cannot wait to carry on! This week is being hosted by the marvellous Lynn at Lynn’s Books and she has some juicy questions in store for this week’s installment. Here’s how the schedule looks:
Week 1 (Saturday 9th January)
Chapters 1-6 – hosted by Over the Effing Rainbow
Week 2 (Saturday 16th January)
Chapters 7-14 – hosted by Lynn at Lynn’s Books
Week 3 (Saturday 23rd January)
Chapters 15-20 – hosted by Anya at On Starships and Dragonwings
Week 4 (Saturday 30th January)
Chapters 21-End – hosted by Over the Effing Rainbow
There will be spoilers!
| Week Two Rating |
| The Questions |
| 1. |
We finally get to meet Devin and Sylvester. They’ve both played important roles in Toby’s life. What were your initial impressions of both of them and the worlds in which they live. What were your first thoughts about them?
Devin is a rather disreputable character who Toby is obviously very drawn to. It seems as though it was quite an abusive relationship so I definitely don’t trust him all these years later. There’s something strange about her decision to go Home rather than face Sylvester when she probably would have gone to see him anyway. So perhaps there was a more personal reason… perhaps after losing so much she was craving Home. And Devin seems the sort of character that people are drawn to, whether out of desire or neccessity, and once he has you hooked it’s hard to let go. We always want what’s bad for us after all, and it looks like Toby is no exception!
Sylvester, however, is on the other end of the spectrum! He appears warm and loving and ultimately forgiving. He seems the sort of man who would never resent or blame Toby for any of the wrongs in his life, no matter how responsible she felt or seemed. But perhaps that’s why she felt she couldn’t face him, because she felt as though she had let him down and couldn’t forgive herself for it. Though it did come as a surprise to me that Luna and Raysel were fine and at the Knowe! It made it seem even more strange that Toby went to see Devin before she worked up the courage to go and see Sylvester. But poor Toby’s head is all over the place so who can blame her!
| 2. |
I’m totally intrigued by the Hope Chest – do you have any ideas about what exactly it is and what might be the significance of it being found?
I honestly have no idea what is in the Hope Chest! It seems like an incredibly important artefact to changelings and a not so important one to purebloods. Perhaps the Hope Chest grants changelings full pureblood powers, or perhaps it just fulfils their whims and desires, or perhaps it’s nothing like that at all and it contains an alternative fae dimension! Who knows! I can’t wait to find out though – especially when it’s worth killing for!
| 3. |
Tybalt – I was curious as to Toby’s reasoning to trust him with the Hope Chest – what do you think?
I think Toby reasoned that the last place anyone would look for the Hope Chest would be in the hands of her ‘enemy’. Not that I would call Tybalt an enemy. And the fact that he’s a pureblood means that the Hope Chest seems inconsequential to him and he would have the power to protect it. Or perhaps Toby thought that Tybalt couldn’t wait to get something to hand to hold over her so she just handed something over to be done with it! I was hoping for some more Tybalt involvement though so it’s all fine by me!!
| 4. |
We experience the reaction of other members of the fae to the murder of Evening and Toby telling them about the Queen’s reactions – did their reactions give you any clues at all??
Devin and the kids at Home seemed to take the murder of Evening quite badly. Though I don’t trust Devin one bit, I don’t think he had anything to do with her murder… even if he does run a half way house for changelings who might desperately want to get their hands on the Hope Chest and stop short of nothing to get it…
Sylvester and Luna seemed deeply saddened and Raysel seemed… well… crazy! I think she’s just slightly unhinged (and somewhat evil) though and can’t imagine her being involved in the murder of Evening. Raysel’s husband Connor didn’t seem the type to kill Evening either… though he is definitely still into Toby!
| 5. |
What were your thoughts on Raysel and Luna?
Luna seems lovely! A beautiful fae with a beautiful heart and a fondness for flowers. I can’t wait until we get to see more of her! Raysel however seems completely unhinged! Where Luna looks back on her bad experiences with sadness, there is something wild and crazy about Raysel which permeates her coldness and makes her seem dangerous. Very dangerous.
| 6. |
That ending, did we just end up back in the first post? – what is going on? Speculation?? Lets just talk about it please.
Oh my! What an ending! Poor Toby is having a very tough time of it!!! Clearly the Hope Chest is very important if someone is trying to kill for it. And kill for it so soon! So will Toby be lying with the fishes for yet another eternity? I guess we’ll have to wait and see! I am so excited by this storyline!
Oh and… favourite creature so far – the Rose Goblin! How can anyone not love something described as “the bastard child of a house-cat and a rosebush.”
Stay tuned for the next instalment of this Read Along on 23rd January
Books by Proxy 
The whole issue with Devin and Sylvester is puzzling. Why did Toby not go to Sylvester first – particularly after the way he behaved when she turned up – he was just so thrilled and he didn’t try to make any deals with her. I don’t really understand but no doubt it will all become clear eventually.
Raysel – definitely seems unhinged! And, in fact, I think that’s being polite about it.
I know – the Rose Goblin – I totally forgot to mention it. I loved it.
Lynn 😀
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I took it as shame was was reasoning for going to Home first. She couldn’t face Sylvester yet. She was afraid he hated here, even knowing he’d want her. I guess it’s one thing to have Devin’s possible scorn. He’s an asshole, but her liege… that would hurt. I love Luna and Sylvester, which makes me that much more afraid they’re going to turn out to be the bad guys in the end. D:
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Yes, that always worries me in books too! There’s always a twist and then boom! – Heart broken!
And you’re right, Toby seems to have a lot of feelings of shame and self doubt. I’m not sure she’ll be getting a break any time soon though!
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“We always want what’s bad for us after all, and it looks like Toby is no exception!” — This is an excellent way to put that! Yes. Devin seems to represent the things Toby wants, and Home is what she’s familiar with and knows how to handle, whereas Sylvester, who represents more the things Toby *needs*, makes her feel awkward and uncertain because that sort of genuine, sincere goodness of heart isn’t so familiar to her. Which is pretty heartbreaking when you think about it…
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Very heartbreaking. Toby works so well as a dysfunctional character. I guess she seems very real and is easy to relate to (if not with all the fae and the shooting and complete DISASTER ZONE!). One things for certain though.. she needs more people like Sylvester!
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It’s such a delightful experience to follow new readers into their journey through Toby’s world! (it’s also frustrating, because I have to bite my tongue to resist the temptation to say too much…)
I like your conclusions about Toby’s choices, especially regarding Devin and Sylvester: if there is something Toby is big on, it’s her sense of guilt and inadequacy – it’s a huge burden she struggles under…
Happy reading! 🙂
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Hehe, thank you! 😀 Poor Toby definitely doesn’t make it easy on herself! And she seems unable quite unable to resist Devin in the next section…. She’s a wonderful protagonist though, I’m so glad I picked this one up!
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I love the Rose Goblin too. I am now deeply hoping that if I take especially good care of my roses, one or two will come to live in them.
It was hard for me to read Tybalt on the Hope Chest. He was surprised that one actually still existed, but beyond that, I am not sure he had much interest in it. I too look forward to learning what it can do.
Connor definitely doesn’t seem like a killer and he’s obviously still into Toby, but she’s been rejected by him (or rather his family) once before, so I don’t see an immediate future for the two of them. And now he’s married, so that has to raise questions for Toby.
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I want some living in my garden too!
Yes, Tybalt seemed surprised but no more about the Hope Chest. Perhaps it is absolutely as Toby said – it means nothing to Purebloods.
I’m absolutely intrigued about whether anything will happen with Connor in this book or beyond (our Toby is getting around a bit) but he does seem like a good guy on the whole.
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