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Alchemical Journeys #3
Tidal Creatures
Every night, a Moon shines down on the Impossible City…
New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire takes us back to the world of the award-winning Alchemical Journeys series in this action-packed follow-up to Middlegame and Seasonal Fears .
All across the world, people look up at the moon and dream of gods. Gods of knowledge and wisdom, gods of tides and longevity. Over time, some of these moon gods incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City―the heart of all creation―to keep it connected to reality.
And someone is killing them.
There are so many of them that it's easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren't limitless.
In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks―control of the Impossible City itself.
New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire takes us back to the world of the award-winning Alchemical Journeys series in this action-packed follow-up to Middlegame and Seasonal Fears .
All across the world, people look up at the moon and dream of gods. Gods of knowledge and wisdom, gods of tides and longevity. Over time, some of these moon gods incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City―the heart of all creation―to keep it connected to reality.
And someone is killing them.
There are so many of them that it's easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren't limitless.
In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks―control of the Impossible City itself.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published June 4, 2024
About the author
Seanan McGuire
481 books16.3k followersHi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
June 21, 2024
꒰ 4 ⭐ ꒱
okay let's ignore the fact that for 95% of the book i thought that this was the series finale 🥴
anywayssss these characters were so much better than the ones in the previous book - like they actually felt compelling and made me want to root for them!! my only issue was that the resolution (once again) felt too abrupt. but other than that, i really enjoyed this character-driven story!
getting to know the Lunars was so interesting, and the way Seanan McGuire described how they walked 'the everything' and shined down on the Impossible City was so beautiful and entrancing that it made me so jealous i couldn't experience it for myself 😭✨
જ⁀➴ 🌘┊pre-read:
i have a good feeling about this one!! :D series finale you will not disappoint 🙏🙏🙏
okay let's ignore the fact that for 95% of the book i thought that this was the series finale 🥴
anywayssss these characters were so much better than the ones in the previous book - like they actually felt compelling and made me want to root for them!! my only issue was that the resolution (once again) felt too abrupt. but other than that, i really enjoyed this character-driven story!
getting to know the Lunars was so interesting, and the way Seanan McGuire described how they walked 'the everything' and shined down on the Impossible City was so beautiful and entrancing that it made me so jealous i couldn't experience it for myself 😭✨
જ⁀➴ 🌘┊pre-read:
i have a good feeling about this one!! :D series finale you will not disappoint 🙏🙏🙏
April 2, 2024
Moon gods, metaphysics, and sneers
Tidal Creatures is the third novel in Seanan McGuire's Alchemical Journeys series, or the seventh if you include the Up and Under books. The unifying principle behind the series is the personification of things that are not persons, objectively or scientifically speaking, such as the Doctrine of Ethos (Middlegame), Winter and Summer (Seasonal Fears), and now the Moon. Five of the main characters are Moon goddesses (Aske, Change'e, Artemis, Diana) and a Moon god (Máni). We also meet Kelpie, who is not in fact a Kelpie, but a personification of Artemis's Hind. Each of the gods/goddesses is in fact two persons -- a god/dess and an ordinary human whose body the two share. McGuire explains the relationship at length.
Roger Zelazny began his career by writing about thirty stories, which he sent to all the Science Fiction magazines, for which purpose he had made a comprehensive list. In this way he collected 150 rejections and no acceptances. He then sat down with all his stories, read them, and tried to figure out what the problem was. He decided that he was explaining too much -- that he would be insulted if an author told him so much, rather than letting him figure it out. So he stopped doing that, and immediately his stories began to sell.
McGuire knows this lesson. As a short story writer she is beautifully economical. But she seems somehow to have unlearned it to write Tidal Creatures. Unnecessary explanations of folklorical metaphysics go on and on.
But there was another thing that bothered me even more -- the sneering. I first noticed it when Judy (that's Chang'e's human) visits Prof Roger Middleton, and thinks this
For instance, one of the main characters is Isabella, an hechicera. Isabella works with a circle of would-be witches who meet at the home of Catrina, who is one of them. Isabella seldom thinks of Catrina without a sneer. There are pages and pages of this. The problem with this is not that it diminishes Catrina -- we are meant to hold Catrina in contempt. The problem is that it diminishes Isabella. There are few point-of-view characters in Tidal Creatures who don't despise someone else and reveal that contempt in sneering thoughts.
The story is essentially a murder mystery -- moon goddesses are dying. (That's not a spoiler -- the publisher's blurb tells us "someone is killing them".) I think this could have been a rather good story. But the overexplanation and sneers really drained a lot of the fun out of it for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and TorDotDom for an advance reader copy of Tidal Creatures. Release date 4-Jun-2024.
*Quotes are from an advance reader copy of Tidal Creatures and may change before publication. This review will be corrected if necessary on the release date.
Blog review.
Tidal Creatures is the third novel in Seanan McGuire's Alchemical Journeys series, or the seventh if you include the Up and Under books. The unifying principle behind the series is the personification of things that are not persons, objectively or scientifically speaking, such as the Doctrine of Ethos (Middlegame), Winter and Summer (Seasonal Fears), and now the Moon. Five of the main characters are Moon goddesses (Aske, Change'e, Artemis, Diana) and a Moon god (Máni). We also meet Kelpie, who is not in fact a Kelpie, but a personification of Artemis's Hind. Each of the gods/goddesses is in fact two persons -- a god/dess and an ordinary human whose body the two share. McGuire explains the relationship at length.
Roger Zelazny began his career by writing about thirty stories, which he sent to all the Science Fiction magazines, for which purpose he had made a comprehensive list. In this way he collected 150 rejections and no acceptances. He then sat down with all his stories, read them, and tried to figure out what the problem was. He decided that he was explaining too much -- that he would be insulted if an author told him so much, rather than letting him figure it out. So he stopped doing that, and immediately his stories began to sell.
McGuire knows this lesson. As a short story writer she is beautifully economical. But she seems somehow to have unlearned it to write Tidal Creatures. Unnecessary explanations of folklorical metaphysics go on and on.
But there was another thing that bothered me even more -- the sneering. I first noticed it when Judy (that's Chang'e's human) visits Prof Roger Middleton, and thinks this
As she watches him, she realizes she doesn’t really know much about the man; she’s read his published papers, which are meticulously researched, and precisely as petty as any other academic work...*This amounts to an implication that all academic works are petty, and all equally petty. Once I started noticing the sneers, I couldn't stop. They're EVERYWHERE.
For instance, one of the main characters is Isabella, an hechicera. Isabella works with a circle of would-be witches who meet at the home of Catrina, who is one of them. Isabella seldom thinks of Catrina without a sneer. There are pages and pages of this. The problem with this is not that it diminishes Catrina -- we are meant to hold Catrina in contempt. The problem is that it diminishes Isabella. There are few point-of-view characters in Tidal Creatures who don't despise someone else and reveal that contempt in sneering thoughts.
The story is essentially a murder mystery -- moon goddesses are dying. (That's not a spoiler -- the publisher's blurb tells us "someone is killing them".) I think this could have been a rather good story. But the overexplanation and sneers really drained a lot of the fun out of it for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and TorDotDom for an advance reader copy of Tidal Creatures. Release date 4-Jun-2024.
*Quotes are from an advance reader copy of Tidal Creatures and may change before publication. This review will be corrected if necessary on the release date.
Blog review.
July 9, 2024
This is the conclusion of the Alchemical Journey. So it was weird to be surrounded by total strangers right at the beginning and up until about 50% of the book. However, that kind of disorientation also provided with nice looks into the alchemists' organization.
We meet different incarnations of a lunar deity and learn of them being able to go to the Impossible City and back into our world almost at a whim. Naturally, the alchemists want that kind of power, if only to finally seize control over the Impossible City. But there are also more cockoos, constructs and whatnot - until we finally meet a sort of witch and her coven.
All these elements come together - almost like magic. ;)
I liked and enjoyed that this book, like the first two, was quite bloody and didn't shy away from cruelty in all its forms. The writing, equally, was as good as before.
However, the afore-mentioned introduction of so many new elements kinda made me lose the emotional connection to the characters quite a bit and I needed quite a lot of time to regain traction. I felt thrown for a loop, kinda. It wasn't that I didn't like the story in the beginning; it's more that it felt like a different story.
Still, great story overall.
We meet different incarnations of a lunar deity and learn of them being able to go to the Impossible City and back into our world almost at a whim. Naturally, the alchemists want that kind of power, if only to finally seize control over the Impossible City. But there are also more cockoos, constructs and whatnot - until we finally meet a sort of witch and her coven.
All these elements come together - almost like magic. ;)
I liked and enjoyed that this book, like the first two, was quite bloody and didn't shy away from cruelty in all its forms. The writing, equally, was as good as before.
However, the afore-mentioned introduction of so many new elements kinda made me lose the emotional connection to the characters quite a bit and I needed quite a lot of time to regain traction. I felt thrown for a loop, kinda. It wasn't that I didn't like the story in the beginning; it's more that it felt like a different story.
Still, great story overall.
June 4, 2024
Check out my video review: 
TLDR: a noticeable improvement over Seasonal Fears, but there are still places where things get clunky. I think fans of Middlegame will nevertheless leave this mostly satisfied.
It had been four years since I last read Middlegame when I decided to reread it for this review. My reread of Seasonal Fears was less removed from my first read of it, with its release in 2022. Perhaps my reading experience with Tidal Creatures would have been better if I had let Middlegame remain a more distant memory. Instead, I'm left acutely aware of Tidal Creatures' shortcomings, but in contrast, I can also see its clear improvements over Seasonal Fears.
Middlegame works for two main reasons (I think): 1) a rich and compelling world, and 2) extraordinary characters (particularly Rodger and Dodger). These are the core ingredients that McGuire needs to make these novels successful. When she, like her own alchemical creations, finds the perfect concoction of ingredients, she creates a force unlike anything the universe has ever seen. That is, in book form. Middlegame is one of my all time favorite books, as I know is true for other readers. There is some irony in her attempts to recreate and best the creation that was Rodger and Dodger, like Reed ands all the other alchemists. In Tidal Creatures, we follow McGuire in her quest to regain access to the Impossible City, or amore aptly, the impossible book.
Tidal Creatures starts from a fundamental premise that takes a step in the right direction with a largely new set up for the story. While the previous books focus on figures as they strive to embody some fundamental force of the universe (language, time, the seasons, etc.), we instead find ourselves immersed in a story of already ascended Tidal Creatures. Incarnations of the Moon itself are being targeted, and we don't know why. It sets up an interesting new dynamic in a story that is more murder mystery than it is about some other form of ascension.
The set up alone does a lot to propel Tidal Creatures far above that of Seasonal Fears. Seasonal Fears was predictable. It lacked heart and compelling characters. It was a story that was far more interested in world building than anything else, but what really hurt it was that the world building wasn't even good. Seanan McGuire is probably my favorite living author. I adore pretty much everything she does. However, there is some really clunky story telling in Seasonal Fears, and to a much lesser extent, Tidal Creatures. Seasonal Fears is effectively extended forms of exposition to "inform" our characters, but it really is nothing more than setting up the story for the reader. It rarely feels like natural dialogue. Sometimes, I even question whether someone would really know all this let alone be telling this person all this. This was the foundational issue in Seasonal Fears, at least in my reread. I can look past the boring and uninteresting characters, if I'm immersed in a compelling world. Any immersion in Seasonal Fears was a carry over from Middlegame.
Tidal Creatures fixes this in two major ways.
1) I think the characters are just fundamentally more interesting and better crafted. They generally feel like real people who are competent at what they do. Even when we inevitably find ourselves back with Rodger, Dodger, and Erin the story feels far less forced. Their inclusion is justifiable and far less fan servicey. McGuire does more to address why there is any conflict at all if Rodger and Dodger are as powerful as Middlegame sets them up as. I don't know if their inclusion was necessary, however. It works well enough, but I think there are some interesting approaches that McGuire could have taken here. Imagine if this happened prior to Middlegame or even concurrently--that would be a difficult line to walk, but it could make for an interesting story that explores the consequences of Rodger and Dodgers experience. The time resets are acknowledged here, but only in passing. I'd love to see some form of consequence even if it isn't universe ending stakes. There is still some room to improve here.
There is a real hit or miss nature with the characterization of McGuires alchemical creations, that is to say the literal alchemical creations in the story. I mostly liked them in this story, but they do stretch credulity at times. There is a balance in presenting traits that are heightened by alchemical means while still making them feel real. Mostly, its okay, and I think the story is helped by the larger cast of characters that balance them out.
Lastly, I don't love the characterizations of some of the villains here. There is some nice nuance that's hinted in places. There is almost campy nature to the extreme sociopathic nature of alchemists, but that actually works for me. What did not work for me was how they fit into the mystery of the story. At times, it feels heavy handed, and the story could have done more with the big bad that simultaneously would have improved the mystery.
2) I think the world building is much more effective than in Seasonal Fears. Sure, there is dumping of world building, but even if its this internal dialogue with our characters, that still feels more natural than just having them exposition dump to each other. That said, when the story intersects with Rodger and Dodger, McGuire falls back into bad habits, with clunky (but WORSE, unnecessary) exposition dumping. As if Rodger and Dodger are going to tell their whole life story to every person they meet, and even if they did, they aren't going to always talk in Whedonesque banter like they would with each other. There seems to be this weird idea that just throwing in quippy banter shows that all our characters are best friends and don't you just love that chemistry! it feels lazy. It also feels lazy just to use exposition dumping as a story telling device. If you have characters that need an update, do a scene cut ffs. I won't pretend there aren't times when I'm not annoyed at some of the writing, partly because I know McGuire can do better.
Finally, I want to discuss the ending. I'm beginning to think McGuire has problem with endings. This story ends so abruptly. Things resolve way too fast, including the mystery. I mentioned before, I felt the mystery could have been much more effective if a certain character was handled differently. As it stands, I think it contributes to the rushed feeling of the conclusion. Its like: here's the big mystery, and just like that its over.
Overall, I feel like much more care was put into Tidal Creatures than Seasonal Fears, and it is far better for it. I really enjoyed being back in this world, and I can't wait to reread it. That is in stark contrast to Seasonal Fears where I made it all of 5 minutes before I seriously questioned my life choices. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement.
PS: Thanks to McMillian Audio for the audio ARC. Amber Benson is phenomenal. The way she embodies the alchemist and their darkest creations are utterly delightful. Top tier.
TLDR: a noticeable improvement over Seasonal Fears, but there are still places where things get clunky. I think fans of Middlegame will nevertheless leave this mostly satisfied.
It had been four years since I last read Middlegame when I decided to reread it for this review. My reread of Seasonal Fears was less removed from my first read of it, with its release in 2022. Perhaps my reading experience with Tidal Creatures would have been better if I had let Middlegame remain a more distant memory. Instead, I'm left acutely aware of Tidal Creatures' shortcomings, but in contrast, I can also see its clear improvements over Seasonal Fears.
Middlegame works for two main reasons (I think): 1) a rich and compelling world, and 2) extraordinary characters (particularly Rodger and Dodger). These are the core ingredients that McGuire needs to make these novels successful. When she, like her own alchemical creations, finds the perfect concoction of ingredients, she creates a force unlike anything the universe has ever seen. That is, in book form. Middlegame is one of my all time favorite books, as I know is true for other readers. There is some irony in her attempts to recreate and best the creation that was Rodger and Dodger, like Reed ands all the other alchemists. In Tidal Creatures, we follow McGuire in her quest to regain access to the Impossible City, or amore aptly, the impossible book.
Tidal Creatures starts from a fundamental premise that takes a step in the right direction with a largely new set up for the story. While the previous books focus on figures as they strive to embody some fundamental force of the universe (language, time, the seasons, etc.), we instead find ourselves immersed in a story of already ascended Tidal Creatures. Incarnations of the Moon itself are being targeted, and we don't know why. It sets up an interesting new dynamic in a story that is more murder mystery than it is about some other form of ascension.
The set up alone does a lot to propel Tidal Creatures far above that of Seasonal Fears. Seasonal Fears was predictable. It lacked heart and compelling characters. It was a story that was far more interested in world building than anything else, but what really hurt it was that the world building wasn't even good. Seanan McGuire is probably my favorite living author. I adore pretty much everything she does. However, there is some really clunky story telling in Seasonal Fears, and to a much lesser extent, Tidal Creatures. Seasonal Fears is effectively extended forms of exposition to "inform" our characters, but it really is nothing more than setting up the story for the reader. It rarely feels like natural dialogue. Sometimes, I even question whether someone would really know all this let alone be telling this person all this. This was the foundational issue in Seasonal Fears, at least in my reread. I can look past the boring and uninteresting characters, if I'm immersed in a compelling world. Any immersion in Seasonal Fears was a carry over from Middlegame.
Tidal Creatures fixes this in two major ways.
1) I think the characters are just fundamentally more interesting and better crafted. They generally feel like real people who are competent at what they do. Even when we inevitably find ourselves back with Rodger, Dodger, and Erin the story feels far less forced. Their inclusion is justifiable and far less fan servicey. McGuire does more to address why there is any conflict at all if Rodger and Dodger are as powerful as Middlegame sets them up as. I don't know if their inclusion was necessary, however. It works well enough, but I think there are some interesting approaches that McGuire could have taken here. Imagine if this happened prior to Middlegame or even concurrently--that would be a difficult line to walk, but it could make for an interesting story that explores the consequences of Rodger and Dodgers experience. The time resets are acknowledged here, but only in passing. I'd love to see some form of consequence even if it isn't universe ending stakes. There is still some room to improve here.
There is a real hit or miss nature with the characterization of McGuires alchemical creations, that is to say the literal alchemical creations in the story. I mostly liked them in this story, but they do stretch credulity at times. There is a balance in presenting traits that are heightened by alchemical means while still making them feel real. Mostly, its okay, and I think the story is helped by the larger cast of characters that balance them out.
Lastly, I don't love the characterizations of some of the villains here. There is some nice nuance that's hinted in places. There is almost campy nature to the extreme sociopathic nature of alchemists, but that actually works for me. What did not work for me was how they fit into the mystery of the story. At times, it feels heavy handed, and the story could have done more with the big bad that simultaneously would have improved the mystery.
2) I think the world building is much more effective than in Seasonal Fears. Sure, there is dumping of world building, but even if its this internal dialogue with our characters, that still feels more natural than just having them exposition dump to each other. That said, when the story intersects with Rodger and Dodger, McGuire falls back into bad habits, with clunky (but WORSE, unnecessary) exposition dumping. As if Rodger and Dodger are going to tell their whole life story to every person they meet, and even if they did, they aren't going to always talk in Whedonesque banter like they would with each other. There seems to be this weird idea that just throwing in quippy banter shows that all our characters are best friends and don't you just love that chemistry! it feels lazy. It also feels lazy just to use exposition dumping as a story telling device. If you have characters that need an update, do a scene cut ffs. I won't pretend there aren't times when I'm not annoyed at some of the writing, partly because I know McGuire can do better.
Finally, I want to discuss the ending. I'm beginning to think McGuire has problem with endings. This story ends so abruptly. Things resolve way too fast, including the mystery. I mentioned before, I felt the mystery could have been much more effective if a certain character was handled differently. As it stands, I think it contributes to the rushed feeling of the conclusion. Its like: here's the big mystery, and just like that its over.
Overall, I feel like much more care was put into Tidal Creatures than Seasonal Fears, and it is far better for it. I really enjoyed being back in this world, and I can't wait to reread it. That is in stark contrast to Seasonal Fears where I made it all of 5 minutes before I seriously questioned my life choices. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement.
PS: Thanks to McMillian Audio for the audio ARC. Amber Benson is phenomenal. The way she embodies the alchemist and their darkest creations are utterly delightful. Top tier.
June 20, 2024
After the events of Middlegame and Seasonal Fears, I was eager to dive into Tidal Creatures. We find ourselves at Berkley College where we meet incarnates of the Moon Gods who dwell within a human host and take turns navigating the skies at night over the Impossible City. When one of them ends up dead, it will be up to Moon goddesses, Change’e and Artemis to find answers, but along the way they will find help & friendship.
We also meet Kelpie, who after escaping the lab learns she is not human but a personification of Artemis’s Hind. She stumbles across the son of Isabella, a hechicera who aids here and takes her to one of the coven’s meetings to introduce her to someone else who isn’t quite human. All of this takes them to the home of Rodger and Dodger, the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos.
I loved how McGuire weaved in the gods, the Impossible City, and the alchemist who want to control it all. At its core, we have a murder-mystery. We learn from Diana, yes that Diana, that other moon gods have been murdered. Along the way, we will work to stop the alchemists, battle constructs and enter the city itself.
I found myself swept up in the tale and the stories of moon goddesses, Aske, Change’e, Artemis, and Diana, as well as the moon god Mani. I loved entering the home of Rodger and Dodger, whose home and its ability to adapt impressed me. We witness death, battle, and form friendships, all while McGuire has us pondering the universe.
If you love mythology, you will want to delve into the Alchemical Journeys series. Rich characters and a world filled with danger and possibilities. I encourage you to read the message at the beginning of the book from the author. Yes, dear author, the journey was worth it. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
We also meet Kelpie, who after escaping the lab learns she is not human but a personification of Artemis’s Hind. She stumbles across the son of Isabella, a hechicera who aids here and takes her to one of the coven’s meetings to introduce her to someone else who isn’t quite human. All of this takes them to the home of Rodger and Dodger, the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos.
I loved how McGuire weaved in the gods, the Impossible City, and the alchemist who want to control it all. At its core, we have a murder-mystery. We learn from Diana, yes that Diana, that other moon gods have been murdered. Along the way, we will work to stop the alchemists, battle constructs and enter the city itself.
I found myself swept up in the tale and the stories of moon goddesses, Aske, Change’e, Artemis, and Diana, as well as the moon god Mani. I loved entering the home of Rodger and Dodger, whose home and its ability to adapt impressed me. We witness death, battle, and form friendships, all while McGuire has us pondering the universe.
If you love mythology, you will want to delve into the Alchemical Journeys series. Rich characters and a world filled with danger and possibilities. I encourage you to read the message at the beginning of the book from the author. Yes, dear author, the journey was worth it. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
June 4, 2024
Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the early copy of Tidal Creatures by Seanan McGuire. Below is my honest review.
The latest entry in the Alchemical Journeys follows manifestations of the moon goddesses from all sorts of cultures around the world. They follow the night sky over the Impossible City, shining their light over the City's residents. They also have their own special entryways into the Everything, providing paths to their Windows that let them perform their shining duties. Unfortunately, the alchemists have figured that out and are trying to find a way to use those moon goddesses to get access and claim the Impossible City.
Luckily for the rest of the world, a handful of misfits find their way to each other, including some major deals like, oh, the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos.
I really enjoyed this one. It took a while to build, but once it did, we got to learn a TON about the alchemical world and met some really cool characters. I can't wait for the next one!
Definitely recommended, but please read the first two before picking this one up.
The latest entry in the Alchemical Journeys follows manifestations of the moon goddesses from all sorts of cultures around the world. They follow the night sky over the Impossible City, shining their light over the City's residents. They also have their own special entryways into the Everything, providing paths to their Windows that let them perform their shining duties. Unfortunately, the alchemists have figured that out and are trying to find a way to use those moon goddesses to get access and claim the Impossible City.
Luckily for the rest of the world, a handful of misfits find their way to each other, including some major deals like, oh, the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos.
I really enjoyed this one. It took a while to build, but once it did, we got to learn a TON about the alchemical world and met some really cool characters. I can't wait for the next one!
Definitely recommended, but please read the first two before picking this one up.
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June 30, 2024
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Tidal Creatures is the third book in the Alchemical Journeys series and needs to be read in order to make any sense. Seanan McGuire focuses on the the lore of the moon and all the gods who have incarnated into this world in Tidal Creatures. People are chosen to take on aspects of different moon deities and travel across the sky of the impossible city at the heart of creation. The Alchemists are looking for a way to use them to finally make it to that Impossible City to rule the world.
At its heart, Tidal Creatures is a murder mystery. Jane, the human aspect of Change’e, goes to meet up with one of the other moon gods as he travels back to the from his journey across the sky and pick up the key to the door. However what she finds is the aspect of Mani, another moon god, carrying a dead body. One of the other moon gods was killed on the path to their journey across the sky and no one knows why. Jane will enlist some help from a few other of the more powerful of the aspects of the moon to try and find the killer, and figure out how they got into the secret area in the first place as there is supposed to only by one key.
The second thread of the story follows Kelpi. She thought she was transformed in a horrible lab experiment. But the truth is much different, the alchemists were trying to create familiars of the moon gods in order to find one of the more powerful ones. Kelpi is the incarnation of Artemis's Hinde. She has her own journey to take once she leaves the lab and will run into some people that might be able to assist her as she tries and finds the Goddess she was made for, before the Alchemists find her.
The story is set at Berkley and Jane is avidly trying to avoid a certain professor there as she thinks she will be discovered. Said professor is Roger and as a reader I couldn't wait for him to enter the story since I loved most of the characters from Middlegame. Roger, Dodger and company do finally enter the story and we learn a lot of what they have been up to and why they haven't tried to get to the impossible city yet since they are the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos and the city is theirs to rule.
I enjoyed most of this story. The lore and creativity of the story is fantastic and Seanan McGuire remains one of the most creative writers with her worldbuilding and storylines. Most of her characters are rich, complex and mostly good even though they can be terrible and fierce when needed. That said, I think she has also fallen into something that I've seen a lot of writers do lately with some of the social concerns in the current world and they try to jam pack too many of those in small snips and snipes into one story. There were multiple times and characters the referenced white males in a negative connotation and twice it occurred at times I really didn't think it fit. Also the other "bad" person was a rich white housewife that was bored and just wanted to be special but there was so much emphasis on her 'privilege'. There are ways to put things into stories that do not take your reader out of the story and when they pile up and the author's bias shows it can be distracting.
Overall, if you enjoyed Middlegame, I think this is going to fit into your life quite well and be very entertaining. I will say that the ending felt a little rushed but overall the pacing in the book is really good and kept me very engaged in the characters and the mystery. I loved Kelpi and her overall arc. The Alchemists are mostly a terrible bunch, evil scientists and all that, but they are also amazing at the things they create and their ambition towards their ultimate goal to get to the impossible city. While I did think this was the last book in the series, there is still going to be one more and I'm really excited to see how it all plays out and if we will get some of the characters from Seasonal Fears to contribute to the ending as well. Carry on to the Impossible City!
Narration:
Amber Benson is back again for Tidal Creatures, she did a great job on both of the other books of the series and so I'm happy to see her back to reprise her rolls of the prior characters and create new voices. She has a great flow for the story and I enjoy her cadence. Amber's narration makes sure you can tell all the voices apart and some of them carry almost a singsong effect, but I think that for those characters it is fitting. I enjoyed her performance and believe it adds to my overall enjoyment of the story. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Tidal Creatures is the third book in the Alchemical Journeys series and needs to be read in order to make any sense. Seanan McGuire focuses on the the lore of the moon and all the gods who have incarnated into this world in Tidal Creatures. People are chosen to take on aspects of different moon deities and travel across the sky of the impossible city at the heart of creation. The Alchemists are looking for a way to use them to finally make it to that Impossible City to rule the world.
At its heart, Tidal Creatures is a murder mystery. Jane, the human aspect of Change’e, goes to meet up with one of the other moon gods as he travels back to the from his journey across the sky and pick up the key to the door. However what she finds is the aspect of Mani, another moon god, carrying a dead body. One of the other moon gods was killed on the path to their journey across the sky and no one knows why. Jane will enlist some help from a few other of the more powerful of the aspects of the moon to try and find the killer, and figure out how they got into the secret area in the first place as there is supposed to only by one key.
The second thread of the story follows Kelpi. She thought she was transformed in a horrible lab experiment. But the truth is much different, the alchemists were trying to create familiars of the moon gods in order to find one of the more powerful ones. Kelpi is the incarnation of Artemis's Hinde. She has her own journey to take once she leaves the lab and will run into some people that might be able to assist her as she tries and finds the Goddess she was made for, before the Alchemists find her.
The story is set at Berkley and Jane is avidly trying to avoid a certain professor there as she thinks she will be discovered. Said professor is Roger and as a reader I couldn't wait for him to enter the story since I loved most of the characters from Middlegame. Roger, Dodger and company do finally enter the story and we learn a lot of what they have been up to and why they haven't tried to get to the impossible city yet since they are the living embodiments of the Doctrine of Ethos and the city is theirs to rule.
I enjoyed most of this story. The lore and creativity of the story is fantastic and Seanan McGuire remains one of the most creative writers with her worldbuilding and storylines. Most of her characters are rich, complex and mostly good even though they can be terrible and fierce when needed. That said, I think she has also fallen into something that I've seen a lot of writers do lately with some of the social concerns in the current world and they try to jam pack too many of those in small snips and snipes into one story. There were multiple times and characters the referenced white males in a negative connotation and twice it occurred at times I really didn't think it fit. Also the other "bad" person was a rich white housewife that was bored and just wanted to be special but there was so much emphasis on her 'privilege'. There are ways to put things into stories that do not take your reader out of the story and when they pile up and the author's bias shows it can be distracting.
Overall, if you enjoyed Middlegame, I think this is going to fit into your life quite well and be very entertaining. I will say that the ending felt a little rushed but overall the pacing in the book is really good and kept me very engaged in the characters and the mystery. I loved Kelpi and her overall arc. The Alchemists are mostly a terrible bunch, evil scientists and all that, but they are also amazing at the things they create and their ambition towards their ultimate goal to get to the impossible city. While I did think this was the last book in the series, there is still going to be one more and I'm really excited to see how it all plays out and if we will get some of the characters from Seasonal Fears to contribute to the ending as well. Carry on to the Impossible City!
Narration:
Amber Benson is back again for Tidal Creatures, she did a great job on both of the other books of the series and so I'm happy to see her back to reprise her rolls of the prior characters and create new voices. She has a great flow for the story and I enjoy her cadence. Amber's narration makes sure you can tell all the voices apart and some of them carry almost a singsong effect, but I think that for those characters it is fitting. I enjoyed her performance and believe it adds to my overall enjoyment of the story. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
June 12, 2024
4.5/5 stars
Neither Seasonal Fears nor Tidal Creatures has quite matched my love for Middlegame, but every addition to this unique world McGuire created has been a joy.
Neither Seasonal Fears nor Tidal Creatures has quite matched my love for Middlegame, but every addition to this unique world McGuire created has been a joy.
May 13, 2024
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: Fascinating concept. Rich mythology. Characters who transcend the page.
Cons: Complex. On the other hand, the murder-mystery part isn't hard to figure out, once you have the necessary information.
WARNING! Some gruesome deaths/imagery (people melting included).
Will appeal to: Those who loved Book 1 in the series and were less keen on Book 2. Those who need more Roger and Dodger. Those who enjoy a creative, exciting twist on gods incarnate and the heart of creation.
First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Tor/Forge for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
NEW HEIGHTS
Let's get it out of the way: if you adored Middlegame but felt that Seasonal Fears was a bit of a letdown, you only need to read Tidal Creatures to fall in love with the series all over again. And no, not only because this time Roger and Dodger play a huge part in it (though it does help 😉 😍). For one, the amount of exposition is just right - there's a lot to take in, that's for sure, and some of the concepts are tackled more than once, but you never feel like you're hammered over the head with them when it happens. Every time the god-incarnate situation, the alchemical procedures or the Impossible City (a.k.a. the center of creation) are discussed, the reader is given a new piece of information, or sees a familiar event from a new angle (or from a new character's eyes), so that in the end everything is an essential tassel to the book's mosaic, the same way as the Lunar gods need to come together to become the Moon that shines over the City itself. But this is just one of the reasons why this book restored my faith in the series... [...]
Whole review here.
Pros: Fascinating concept. Rich mythology. Characters who transcend the page.
Cons: Complex. On the other hand, the murder-mystery part isn't hard to figure out, once you have the necessary information.
WARNING! Some gruesome deaths/imagery (people melting included).
Will appeal to: Those who loved Book 1 in the series and were less keen on Book 2. Those who need more Roger and Dodger. Those who enjoy a creative, exciting twist on gods incarnate and the heart of creation.
First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Tor/Forge for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
NEW HEIGHTS
Let's get it out of the way: if you adored Middlegame but felt that Seasonal Fears was a bit of a letdown, you only need to read Tidal Creatures to fall in love with the series all over again. And no, not only because this time Roger and Dodger play a huge part in it (though it does help 😉 😍). For one, the amount of exposition is just right - there's a lot to take in, that's for sure, and some of the concepts are tackled more than once, but you never feel like you're hammered over the head with them when it happens. Every time the god-incarnate situation, the alchemical procedures or the Impossible City (a.k.a. the center of creation) are discussed, the reader is given a new piece of information, or sees a familiar event from a new angle (or from a new character's eyes), so that in the end everything is an essential tassel to the book's mosaic, the same way as the Lunar gods need to come together to become the Moon that shines over the City itself. But this is just one of the reasons why this book restored my faith in the series... [...]
Whole review here.
June 25, 2024
3.5 stars rounded up for Goodreads makes this second best in the series so far (Middlegame was a strong 5 star read for me and Seasonal Fears was a weak 3 stars). Tidal Creatures has a plot that should be compelling- a moon goddess local to the UC Berkeley campus is killed. Her murder is actually one of a series going back years, and due to the nature of how moon gods are incarnated, it has gone unnoticed until now. The main characters are Judy, host to the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e, and Kelpie, a construct who escapes from one of the American Congress of Alchemy's labs.
I didn't particularly enjoy either of them, to be honest. Kelpie is childlike due to her sheltered existence and spends a lot of time whining about the turn her life has taken. Judy is remarkably anxious for a nearly immortal being, and projects that anxiety by trying to control everyone around her. Lots and lots of exposition follows. I appreciated the refresher because this series depends upon a lot of abstract concepts, but having skimmed back through Middlegame and Season Fears in preparation for this, it was obvious that basic concepts were being repeated ad nauseam.
There's a big cameo in this volume
Anyway, the murder isn't that hard to crack and I spotted the killer almost immediately. You'd think after all that build up the confrontation would be memorable but nope, we get the most surface level excuse for committing atrocities. The fact that we don't spend any time with the killer is another obvious tell that hurts the narrative. The reader doesn't really know this character, which makes it hard to care or muster any outrage or shock upon the reveal.
Once again I'm left wondering if Middlegame was just a perfect novel that should have been left to stand alone. It was just so good that it's hard for the sequels to measure up. I did read that two more volumes are planned, which is equal parts reassuring and worrying. Reassuring because I think that is the appropriate number of books to build to a satisfying conclusion. Worrying because after the Doctrine of Ethos, seasonal incarnates, and moon gods, I'm not sure what else is left to explore- it might be time to get a book from the perspective of one of the alchemists.
I didn't particularly enjoy either of them, to be honest. Kelpie is childlike due to her sheltered existence and spends a lot of time whining about the turn her life has taken. Judy is remarkably anxious for a nearly immortal being, and projects that anxiety by trying to control everyone around her. Lots and lots of exposition follows. I appreciated the refresher because this series depends upon a lot of abstract concepts, but having skimmed back through Middlegame and Season Fears in preparation for this, it was obvious that basic concepts were being repeated ad nauseam.
There's a big cameo in this volume
Anyway, the murder isn't that hard to crack and I spotted the killer almost immediately. You'd think after all that build up the confrontation would be memorable but nope, we get the most surface level excuse for committing atrocities. The fact that we don't spend any time with the killer is another obvious tell that hurts the narrative. The reader doesn't really know this character, which makes it hard to care or muster any outrage or shock upon the reveal.
Once again I'm left wondering if Middlegame was just a perfect novel that should have been left to stand alone. It was just so good that it's hard for the sequels to measure up. I did read that two more volumes are planned, which is equal parts reassuring and worrying. Reassuring because I think that is the appropriate number of books to build to a satisfying conclusion. Worrying because after the Doctrine of Ethos, seasonal incarnates, and moon gods, I'm not sure what else is left to explore- it might be time to get a book from the perspective of one of the alchemists.
Want to read
February 21, 2024ARC received!! Thank you so much, Tor!!!
I am slightly obsessed with this series. I'll definitely be rereading the first two books (again) before starting this one. I love it so much!!
I am slightly obsessed with this series. I'll definitely be rereading the first two books (again) before starting this one. I love it so much!!
November 30, 2023
Another triumph in the Alchemical Journeys series! I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this world or the extended cast of characters!
May 19, 2024
3.5. The first 25% of Tidal Creatures is a bit too enamored with being metaphysically clever, but if you can get past that bit, you have a book that combines the alchemical experiments of Middlegame and the manifestations of nature in Seasonal Fears into a fun and creative new entry in the series.
Tidal Creatures starts off following two narratives, one about Kelpie, a human(??) girl who works in alchemy lab and happens to have hooves, a tail, and orange skin; and one about the human manifestations of moon deities as they try to solve the murder of one of their fellow manifestations. I really enjoyed heading back into the world of alchemical constructs and cuckoos; while it took me a little longer to get on board with the moon, by the time the two narratives meet, I was fully hooked and invested in the plot.
While not as strong as Middlegame, I found Tidal Creatures to be much better than Seasonal Fears - I don’t think you need to read Seasonal Fears to read this, but I would highly recommend reading Middlegame first, as the main characters from Middlegame are heavily involved here (and many of the plot points of MG are spoiled as well).
There are a few Seanan writing quirks that will always annoy me a bit (she is very into having her POC characters talk about the problem with white people, and mini-monologues of characters talking about how they know something is bad, and they’re learning, and they’re doing their best), but I’m always impressed by her creativity in creating new worlds.
Tidal Creatures starts off following two narratives, one about Kelpie, a human(??) girl who works in alchemy lab and happens to have hooves, a tail, and orange skin; and one about the human manifestations of moon deities as they try to solve the murder of one of their fellow manifestations. I really enjoyed heading back into the world of alchemical constructs and cuckoos; while it took me a little longer to get on board with the moon, by the time the two narratives meet, I was fully hooked and invested in the plot.
While not as strong as Middlegame, I found Tidal Creatures to be much better than Seasonal Fears - I don’t think you need to read Seasonal Fears to read this, but I would highly recommend reading Middlegame first, as the main characters from Middlegame are heavily involved here (and many of the plot points of MG are spoiled as well).
There are a few Seanan writing quirks that will always annoy me a bit (she is very into having her POC characters talk about the problem with white people, and mini-monologues of characters talking about how they know something is bad, and they’re learning, and they’re doing their best), but I’m always impressed by her creativity in creating new worlds.
June 11, 2024
I would die for Kelpie.
June 7, 2024
I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own. I really enjoyed the narrator and her ability to voice all of the many different characters we encountered in this book.
This is the 3rd book in the series, and I do no recommend reading it as a standalone. While this introduces several new characters and this focuses on the murder mystery they are involved in, there are underlying themes and explanations that you are going to need to understand first. We are reunited with Roger and Dodger in this installment and to really understand who they are and what their purpose is you are going to need to read Middlegame and Seasonal Fears in order.
As mentioned this introduces several new characters, which I found hard to keep track of at times. A few of our new characters are lunar gods, each of whom have 2 personalities inside one body. It took me quite a while to keep track of all of the new lunar deities and how that all worked, but it was a really interesting concept. McGuire always ties the novel to some type of lore, and in this one it was various mythology related to the moon. When one of the dieties is found murdered the other lunar gods/godesses band together to solver her murder and find out what is going on. This leads them down an alchemical rabbit hole of strange occurrences and interactions. We are reunited with Roger and Dodger and The Impossible City as they try to solve the mystery and stop the alchemists from taking over the city.
I feel like this is a series I need to read from beginning to end again to really grasp the entire premise. This particular book had alot going on and I found it confusing at times. I felt the same way about Middlegame. I think if there is another book in the series I would want to reread all the books again to really grasp all of the concepts before diving in again. That being said this book was still enjoyable, and the worldbuilding was great.
This is the 3rd book in the series, and I do no recommend reading it as a standalone. While this introduces several new characters and this focuses on the murder mystery they are involved in, there are underlying themes and explanations that you are going to need to understand first. We are reunited with Roger and Dodger in this installment and to really understand who they are and what their purpose is you are going to need to read Middlegame and Seasonal Fears in order.
As mentioned this introduces several new characters, which I found hard to keep track of at times. A few of our new characters are lunar gods, each of whom have 2 personalities inside one body. It took me quite a while to keep track of all of the new lunar deities and how that all worked, but it was a really interesting concept. McGuire always ties the novel to some type of lore, and in this one it was various mythology related to the moon. When one of the dieties is found murdered the other lunar gods/godesses band together to solver her murder and find out what is going on. This leads them down an alchemical rabbit hole of strange occurrences and interactions. We are reunited with Roger and Dodger and The Impossible City as they try to solve the mystery and stop the alchemists from taking over the city.
I feel like this is a series I need to read from beginning to end again to really grasp the entire premise. This particular book had alot going on and I found it confusing at times. I felt the same way about Middlegame. I think if there is another book in the series I would want to reread all the books again to really grasp all of the concepts before diving in again. That being said this book was still enjoyable, and the worldbuilding was great.
June 10, 2024
Leaps and bounds better than Seasonal Fears but still not McGuire's best. Once again, there's a pacing issue. Exposition should ideally end before the midpoint of the book. The characters we're following are meant to be college-aged but feel younger than that and the reader is once again subjected to endless didactic authorial intrusion to make points about economic inequality, consent, fatness, the dark side of growing up white and privileged and its nuances, and a bunch of other topics that make me feel she's aiming this book at teenagers who she thinks are stupid. McGuire's children books put the characters in situations and let the readers draw their own conclusions without ever talking down to them. I have no idea why she feels it's necessary to spell it out in this series, but it's tiresome.
That aside, the story was entertaining, if a little drawn-out, and bad things happening were not conveniently circumvented like in the last book.
That aside, the story was entertaining, if a little drawn-out, and bad things happening were not conveniently circumvented like in the last book.
June 15, 2024
This story (IMO) rivals Middlegame. It spoke to me in a way a book hasn’t done in a while. I loved it.
Want to read
October 29, 2023i need this in my hands right now. more than i’ve ever needed anything
May 11, 2024
Review originally published 11 May 2024 at Falling Letters.
Reading Tidal Creatures felt like Seanan McGuire answered all the prayers I had after finishing Seasonal Fears. Some background information for those who haven’t read the Alchemical Journeys series (or my reviews of Middlegame and Seasonal Fears ): Middlegameis one of my all-time favourite books, primarily due to the two protagonists Roger and Dodger. I never expected it would become a series. When Seasonal Fears was announced, I understood it to be more of a spiritual sucessor set in the same world of Middlegame. I prepared myself for little mention of Roger and Dodger. I was right to do so. Seasonal Fears expands the alchemical worldbuilding a bit further, but the new protagonists meant nothing to me.
So, I went into Tidal Creatureswith a well-adjusted mindset, preparing for a book more in the vein of Seasonal Fears than Middlegame. But no! (This is where you should dip out of the review if you want absolutely no information about Tidal Creatures' plot and characters.)
Tidal Creatures features new protagonists Judy (who shares her body with an incarnation of the celestial goddess Chang’e) and Kelpie (who begins the story knowing nothing about her past and quickly learns more after she escapes from an alchemist’s lab). Tidal Creatures doesn’t try to recreate the characterization or relationship buidling that were so strongly present in Middlegame and absent (for me) in Seasonal Fears. But at least I found both Judy and Kelpie more interesting characters than Seasonal Fears' Melanie or Harry. Certainly it helps, for my personal preferences, that neither are framed primarily by a romantic relationship. But what truly excited me was the shift back to a focus on Roger and Dodger.
I was definitely screaming crying throwing up when Erin and Smita appeared. (Actually, I was clapping like people do on a sitcom when a famous guest start walks in lmao). I highlighted every single little reference to Roger before he’s actually named or appears himself on page. Tidal Creatures begins focused on Judy and Kelpie, but Roger and Dodger (and Erin!) play a much larger role in her story than they did in Melanie and Harry’s. Once they’re introduced, they remain part of the action. We even get a decent number of pages from Dodger’s POV, and learn a lot more about what’s next for her and Roger, and their relatiosnhip with the Impossible City.
I wondered for a minute if the structure of this series will be a bit like Wayward Children – some books focus more on Roger and Dodger, some books less? I can only continue to pray we get more like this. But, we’ve only got two books left in the series after Tidal Creatures: Inkpot Gods in 2026 and Asphodel in 2028 (source). You should have seen the look on my face when I saw the final book is titled Aphodel. I have some working theories about her, one of which is that she’s not actually dead, but I am currently revising that theory based on a few tidbits of info revealed in this book 👀
464 pages zipped by like nothing. I read this book in under 24 hours. I would read more chunksters if they were written like this! I adore the writing style McGuire uses in this series, which I find quite similar to the style of Wayward Children. It’s just so compelling, it never feels like a good place to pause reading so I just keep going. I don’t listen to audiobooks but I imagine the audio versions of this series would be *chef’s kiss*.
Now, I will be a little more critical and admit that yes, the plot structure feels quite familiar. The conclusion was a bit anti-climatic. But I don’t care much about that – I’m all about the characters with a good serving of worldbuilding with this series.
The Bottom Line: If you loved Middlegame, or especially were a fan of Roger, Dodger, or Erin, then you need to pick up Tidal Creatures. If you didn’t care for Seasonal Fears and were thinking of dropping the series, PLEASE RECONSIDER. If you didn’t love Middlegame but you did love Seasonal Fears… 🤔 then I can’t relate and you’ll have to decided for yourself if you should read Tidal Creatures lol.
Thoughts immediately after finishing (31 Mar 2024:) So so good full RTC. For now suffice to say if you loved MIDDLEGAME but found SEASONAL FEARS a bit disappointing, I think you are in for a treat.
Reading Tidal Creatures felt like Seanan McGuire answered all the prayers I had after finishing Seasonal Fears. Some background information for those who haven’t read the Alchemical Journeys series (or my reviews of Middlegame and Seasonal Fears ): Middlegameis one of my all-time favourite books, primarily due to the two protagonists Roger and Dodger. I never expected it would become a series. When Seasonal Fears was announced, I understood it to be more of a spiritual sucessor set in the same world of Middlegame. I prepared myself for little mention of Roger and Dodger. I was right to do so. Seasonal Fears expands the alchemical worldbuilding a bit further, but the new protagonists meant nothing to me.
So, I went into Tidal Creatureswith a well-adjusted mindset, preparing for a book more in the vein of Seasonal Fears than Middlegame. But no! (This is where you should dip out of the review if you want absolutely no information about Tidal Creatures' plot and characters.)
Tidal Creatures features new protagonists Judy (who shares her body with an incarnation of the celestial goddess Chang’e) and Kelpie (who begins the story knowing nothing about her past and quickly learns more after she escapes from an alchemist’s lab). Tidal Creatures doesn’t try to recreate the characterization or relationship buidling that were so strongly present in Middlegame and absent (for me) in Seasonal Fears. But at least I found both Judy and Kelpie more interesting characters than Seasonal Fears' Melanie or Harry. Certainly it helps, for my personal preferences, that neither are framed primarily by a romantic relationship. But what truly excited me was the shift back to a focus on Roger and Dodger.
I was definitely screaming crying throwing up when Erin and Smita appeared. (Actually, I was clapping like people do on a sitcom when a famous guest start walks in lmao). I highlighted every single little reference to Roger before he’s actually named or appears himself on page. Tidal Creatures begins focused on Judy and Kelpie, but Roger and Dodger (and Erin!) play a much larger role in her story than they did in Melanie and Harry’s. Once they’re introduced, they remain part of the action. We even get a decent number of pages from Dodger’s POV, and learn a lot more about what’s next for her and Roger, and their relatiosnhip with the Impossible City.
I wondered for a minute if the structure of this series will be a bit like Wayward Children – some books focus more on Roger and Dodger, some books less? I can only continue to pray we get more like this. But, we’ve only got two books left in the series after Tidal Creatures: Inkpot Gods in 2026 and Asphodel in 2028 (source). You should have seen the look on my face when I saw the final book is titled Aphodel. I have some working theories about her, one of which is that she’s not actually dead, but I am currently revising that theory based on a few tidbits of info revealed in this book 👀
We’re working through the elements. MIDDLEGAME = Fire SEASONAL FEARS = Earth TIDAL CREATURES = Water INKPOT GODS = Air ASPHODEL = Aether — Seanan McGuire (@seananmcguire.bsky.social) Mar 31, 2024 at 19:45In addition to so much Roger and Dodger Erin, we get so much more worldbuilding! Look, if you’re all about the characters, then yes, they’re great, but for me there is no recreating the relationship from Roger and Dodger. So what I’m looking for with each new installment in this series is A) more of Roger/Dodger/Erin and B) more worldbuilding. Tidal Creatures offers a lot more concrete worldbuilding, including where/how Roger and Dodger fit into it all. Excellent, I was quite pleased by this. Also I think now that maybe I should reread Seasonal Fears to see if I pick up more on the worldbuilding in that volume. I do recall that reading Seasonal Fearss, even if I didn’t love it, helped me better understand a few things in Middlegame, so perhaps Tidal Creatures will do the same for me and Seasonal Fears.
464 pages zipped by like nothing. I read this book in under 24 hours. I would read more chunksters if they were written like this! I adore the writing style McGuire uses in this series, which I find quite similar to the style of Wayward Children. It’s just so compelling, it never feels like a good place to pause reading so I just keep going. I don’t listen to audiobooks but I imagine the audio versions of this series would be *chef’s kiss*.
Now, I will be a little more critical and admit that yes, the plot structure feels quite familiar. The conclusion was a bit anti-climatic. But I don’t care much about that – I’m all about the characters with a good serving of worldbuilding with this series.
The Bottom Line: If you loved Middlegame, or especially were a fan of Roger, Dodger, or Erin, then you need to pick up Tidal Creatures. If you didn’t care for Seasonal Fears and were thinking of dropping the series, PLEASE RECONSIDER. If you didn’t love Middlegame but you did love Seasonal Fears… 🤔 then I can’t relate and you’ll have to decided for yourself if you should read Tidal Creatures lol.
Thoughts immediately after finishing (31 Mar 2024:) So so good full RTC. For now suffice to say if you loved MIDDLEGAME but found SEASONAL FEARS a bit disappointing, I think you are in for a treat.
June 3, 2024
Judy is a linguistics grad student, who just so happens to also be one of many incarnations of the moon goddess Chang’e. All of the moon gods known to humanity have these living avatars out in the world, and the many incarnations take turns shining over the glorious Impossible City at night. But some of these incarnations have been disappearing – a fact Judy/Chang’e doesn’t know until an avatar of the goddess Aske turns up dead, still bleeding moonlight from her divine form. Judy and her fellow incarnations must try to figure out who has been killing pieces of the Moon.
This is a solid entry in the series and, in my opinion, much better than book two. I still feel like I don’t totally understand what’s happening when they get really into the conceptual stuff, or at least I couldn’t explain the ins and outs of it to you, but I get it well enough in the moment to suspend disbelief and keep going with the story. This book was not nearly as confusing to me as the last one. This book also had a lot more from the characters we got to know in the first book, which I really enjoyed. I missed Roger and Dodger.
Representation: POC characters, LGBTQ+ characters
I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a solid entry in the series and, in my opinion, much better than book two. I still feel like I don’t totally understand what’s happening when they get really into the conceptual stuff, or at least I couldn’t explain the ins and outs of it to you, but I get it well enough in the moment to suspend disbelief and keep going with the story. This book was not nearly as confusing to me as the last one. This book also had a lot more from the characters we got to know in the first book, which I really enjoyed. I missed Roger and Dodger.
Representation: POC characters, LGBTQ+ characters
I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
June 21, 2024
I initially gave this four stars, but as I sat on it, the more problems started to bother me. I very much enjoyed reading it, but there are pacing problems. The final confrontation is... kind of a nothing burger? There's a lot of build-up and then nothing and it's over. I think part of the problem is that this is a bridge book, it's mostly designed to introduce the idea of the inbetween to Rodger and Dodger and it does that, but that feels like a B plot instead of the A plot, which is what it becomes.
There's also the fact that because we have a group of new characters who all start at different points and meet each other at different times, we get the same information repeated about three times. By the time we got the third repitition of the same information I was annoyed. Yes, it makes sense for the characters to do this, yes it's all done in character, but it I didn't need to read the information for the third time. It got too redundant. I think I know what McGuire was trying to do with this repetition, but it didn't work for me.
There's also the fact that because we have a group of new characters who all start at different points and meet each other at different times, we get the same information repeated about three times. By the time we got the third repitition of the same information I was annoyed. Yes, it makes sense for the characters to do this, yes it's all done in character, but it I didn't need to read the information for the third time. It got too redundant. I think I know what McGuire was trying to do with this repetition, but it didn't work for me.
June 25, 2024
Since I've had the chance to mull over this story since yesterday evening, my basic conclusion is that it's a better novel than "Seasonal Fears," but it's still a very middle kind of book. One wonders what McGuire is going to do to ramp up this whole exercise and bring it to a satisfying climax. I'm not going to comment on the worth of this story as a "whodunit" murder mystery, but my thought is that with the return of that cabal of over-powered losers known as the American College of Alchemists, it's not hard to imagine that there is going to be a showdown between them, and Rodger and Dodger and their circle of allies. Also, from the start of this series, it's been haunted by the specter of Asphodel Baker, and nothing would surprise me less then for her to walk out of the machinery at some point; place your bets now.
June 2, 2024
This is a series that's strange and conceptual and I honestly just really enjoy it, but feel like it's difficult to recommend to the average reader because of how strange and challenging it can be. 😅
There's a lot more Roger and Dodger & co. in this one, as well as conspiracies and secret societies. In fact, given the murder mystery and campus and various divings into mathematical + linguistic theory again, this entry feels much more akin to a Dark Academia.
Audiobook Notes:
Amber Benson is so skilled at doing the various voices and accents that I sometimes I forgot she was the sole narrator.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for granting me an audio ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
There's a lot more Roger and Dodger & co. in this one, as well as conspiracies and secret societies. In fact, given the murder mystery and campus and various divings into mathematical + linguistic theory again, this entry feels much more akin to a Dark Academia.
Audiobook Notes:
Amber Benson is so skilled at doing the various voices and accents that I sometimes I forgot she was the sole narrator.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for granting me an audio ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
June 27, 2024
I had no idea what to expect going into this, as the summary as is is a bit vague, to say the least. But man, Seanan getting to fuck with her folklore degree by talking about all the interesting and weird goddesses of the moon, and then further getting to make a deer girl, and have them all intersect with Rodger and Dodger, and man, I didn't think it was possible for me to fall this hard and quick for a book, but I did. Pick this up. Ideally, with the other two, and the novella series she wrote in character as Asphodel, as this is absolutely not one you can jump into blindly, but pick it up.
July 11, 2024
teve muita exposição nesse livro, e por mais que eu pessoalmente tenha gostado de ver mais coisas de middlegame nesse livro, trouxe ainda mais exposição, mas entre todas essas explicações tinha seus momentos de genialidade (e o final também foi um pouco broxante)
"Any place where the world of gods intersects with the world of men is likely to be enthralling: that’s how myths are born, after all. Mortals like to feel like they’re walking along the border of a myth."
"Any place where the world of gods intersects with the world of men is likely to be enthralling: that’s how myths are born, after all. Mortals like to feel like they’re walking along the border of a myth."
June 27, 2024
The moment Roger and Dodger entered the spotlight I knew I wasn’t even going to try and be objective. If I were, I’d say it’s miles behind Middlegame because Middlegame is poetry that your soul aches for and Seasonal Fears is van Gogh’s Sunflowers while Tidal Creatures is a melody which grips you but does not burrow inside to permanently alter you
June 13, 2024
After the second book, Seasonal Fears, I went into this with a lot of FEAR that it wouldn't be good... but it was ok! Not great, but ok still feels like a win for this. I do wonder how I would feel about this if I could not compare it to Middlegame but I can't so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is very slow but it does explore the concept of humans that are incarnations of different moon gods/goddesses in an interesting way.
p.s. I don't recommend the audiobook, maybe I would have enjoyed it better physically...
This is very slow but it does explore the concept of humans that are incarnations of different moon gods/goddesses in an interesting way.
p.s. I don't recommend the audiobook, maybe I would have enjoyed it better physically...
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November 27, 2023** THE VERSION OF THIS BOOK THAT I READ WAS AN ARC **
June 10, 2024
Oh man this book mad the second one look like a much less good sequel. Still nothing measures up to the first book!
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