Transformation is a running theme in McGuire's books, and An Artificial Night is a transformative book in the series. Unlike the previous two books, there's no mystery to be solved. There's also a lot less urban and a lot more fantasy to be found here. Except for one adrenaline-pumping chase scene through San Francisco, all the significant action takes place in faerie lands, places you would never mistake for a human city.
More important, this is the book in which we leave behind Toby, the reluctant private investigator and damaged person, and truly meet October Daye, knight of Shadowed Hills and hero. Here in full display is the moral determination, the unshakable loyalty to family and friends (that has in turn inspired the love and loyalty given her, which is key to the book both plotwise and thematically), and the near-pathological stubbornness that together form the core of Toby's character. Instead of being pushed into action, Toby chooses to oppose Blind Michael, leader of the Wild Hunt and a massively powerful Firstborn of the fae. Michael has stolen the children of friends, something Toby finds intolerable, so she takes on a seemingly suicidal quest to retrieve them.
Naturally, since this is a Seanan McGuire story, Toby goes through all sorts of hell in her efforts to free the children, and not everyone gets a happy ending. But the resolution of the primary conflict is believable and effective, and the progress made in both Toby's relationships and her awareness of and belief in herself makes for a satisfying read.
There were some elements I didn't like. I hope there's more information coming in future volumes on why May appeared when she did. There's a riff on Tybalt's feline nature that felt forced and manipulative. I would have liked to see more done with the concept of rhyming magic. I wish Toby spent less time unconscious. And I really, really wish that Toby was quicker on the uptake sometimes. (The initial advice she got from Lily wasn't particularly obscure. I got it immediately, and I shouldn't be that far ahead.)
Still, An Artificial Night is the most exciting and most emotionally satisfying of the October Daye books to date. I give it 4.5 out of five stars.
