Review: Forbid the Sea

Forbid the Sea by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another short story about Tybalt’s past. It picks up a while after the last short story. We learn yet another bit about what things were like for him and why he acts the way he does with October Daye. It also builds on what we’ve learned about Selkies in both mainline book One Salt Sea and short story In Sea-Salt Tears. So, definitely read those first if you want to get the most out of this short story.

I love how Tybalt’s stories are an opportunity for Seanan McGuire to explore deeply passionate emotions. Toby seems to have the normal range for a human, but Tybalt (perhaps due to his Cait Sidhe nature) seems to experience all his emotions more deeply. In fact, I would have probably rated this story 4.5 stars if we had half-stars available.

I think if you’re enjoying the character relationships in the October Daye series as much as the mystery stories, you should definitely seek out the short stories.

• Seanan-McGuire
• Fantasy