Next up in the chilling October Daye series is book number twenty, and by this point, the books that started out as urban fantasy are almost totally set within the Summer Lands or an awful, haunted parody of them. San Francisco may be outside, but A DIVIDED DUTY brings the changeling knight back to the familiar halls of her Faerie liege lord Sylvester.

We start with a happy family scene. October, called Toby, her cat shapeshifter husband Tybalt, and baby Miranda have set up home, accompanied by various young Fae. They don’t particularly want to see the older Fae, because those are powerful and vengeful types who have wrecked everyone’s life more than once. Raysel, Toby’s bound servant for another few months to pay off a debt, is making progress from her shyness and paranoia. But she does actually have reason to fear, and Toby and Tybalt go to ask Sylvester nicely if Raysel can stay as long as she likes.

Cue a kidnapping and disappearance at the hands of Luna Torquill, Raysel’s misguided mother. At this point, Toby starts spilling blood, most of it her own blood, which helps her wield magic. If you would not be comfortable reading a tale of vampires, this is not the book for you. There are stabbings, bitings, spear wounds and more.

I was pleased with the start, but after that, the action was a case of arguing about parents and how badly they had messed up their children, progressing to arguing with those parents. Toby needs to tell us about the different races, part-breeds and pixies she encounters or even thinks about, which takes time, and can come across as padding if she is not going to meet those races. Then the plot seems to be a repeat of an earlier book – go to the Sea Witch and get help to travel to Blind Michael’s haunted lands to look for a missing child. The dark fantasy becomes a plain horror – and I don’t read horror, so I skimmed through a few pages.

Baby Miranda will be a source of fun and cuteness, and no doubt somebody will try to use her as leverage over Toby. Babies are few in the Summer Lands, but Fae can be killed or enchanted to stone or trees, for example, so babies are needed. As yet, the proud parents don’t know what her magic will be, but they are wise enough to leave Miranda at home with a nursemaid. Seanan McGuire probably has some adventure planned for the little bundle of joy. A DIVIDED DUTY is not the place to start this series, but longtime fans will be pleased. There’s a short story added at the end, which mainly consists of a conversation.