50 by 2013, #10

#10, One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire

October "Toby" Daye is settling into her new role as Countess of Goldengreen. She's actually dating again, and she's taken on Quentin as her squire. So, of course, it's time for things to take a turn for the worse.

Someone has kidnapped the sons of the regent of the Undersea Duchy of Saltmist. To prevent a war between land and sea, Toby must find the missing boys and prove the Queen of the Mists was not behind their abduction. Toby's search will take her from the streets of San Francisco to the lands beneath the waves, and her deadline is firm: she must find the boys in three days' time, or all of the Mists will pay the price. But someone is determined to stop her-and whoever it is isn't playing by Oberon's Laws...

I think out of all of this series, One Salt Sea is now my favorite.  I read the rest because they were fun romps and a bit silly, if really well-written, but this one.  Man, yeah, I'm now sold on McGuire (though her new series doesn't hold much interest for me).  And I was very pleased to note that this is one of the first in the Daye series where Toby doesn't spend every other chapter getting stabbed, shot or beaten.

I mean, unpleasant things happen of course but it was a nice change of pace not to have her limping around for most of the book.