As if that's not enough, Toby also meets her Fetch, the magical harbinger of death who is supposed to gather up her soul when she dies, and if the Fetch is already there, it means death is just around the corner. Can Toby rescue the missing children before she meets her fate? Will she be swept off of her feet by the handsome, charismatic, and sometimes infuriating King of the Cats? Will she lose yet another classic Volkswagen along the way? I could answer all of these questions for you, but then you wouldn't want to read the book, and I'd feel like a bad reviewer.

Some series make it easy for you to pick up any book anywhere in the series and jump right in. This is not one of them. Although I've read the first two books, it was months ago and I've read a couple dozen other books in the meantime. As I read An Artificial Night, I kept saying "Wait, who was that?" as Toby off-handedly mentions characters she encountered in the first two books. Eventually I managed to place everyone, but I would have been totally lost if I started the series here. So if you're interested in an enjoyable urban fantasy series with a half-faerie protagonist, start at the beginning with Rosemary and Rue.

Over all, I'm enjoying this series. The books are fast-paced and bear a strong resemblance to the Dresden Files (which were a significant part of the couple dozen books I read between A Local Habitation and An Artificial Night) without feeling derivative. Toby is a very likable protagonist, not too powerful, not always right, but clever enough to take on foes far stronger than she is and still come out on top. She has a strong moral sense, a loyalty to her friends and liege lord, and a strong sarcastic streak. In short, she's almost everything I like in a hero.

A lot of this story takes place within the realm of Faerie, but there are still significant chunks in San Francisco, enough for it to count as urban fantasy. Perhaps this is one reason why urban fantasy is so popular - the author doesn't need to spend much time on setting. Just give us a few establishing landmarks, and we'll fill the rest in with our knowledge of the city (from either living there, visiting, or seeing it in pop culture). Even an imaginary town can easily be fleshed out in the mind, if we know the part of the country and the age of the town. With setting out of the way, there's more room for magic, mayhem, mystery and romance... wait, that doesn't start with M! I was on a roll!

The next book is due to come out in the Spring, and I'm already looking forward to it. I hope that McGuire can keep up the two book a year pace and maintain the quality that I've come to expect, because I look forward to reading this series as long as she's writing it.