Josh Hedgepeth's Reviews > Tidal Creatures

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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.