Taste the Books: Review Morsels #41 Seanan McGuire: "InCryptid" Series #5-8

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm NOT taking a break from writing long reviews - no such luck LOL (though for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/I don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis). But while I'm making up my mind about a new book I've read, I might as well give you the short version 😉. Just be warned - this feature will be VERY random!

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire

(InCryptid #5)

★★★★★

Cryptozoologyst Verity Price gets a last chance at fame in the dance show she almost won a few years ago. Still torn between the dancing and the family business (a.k.a. saving and/or containing cryptids), she takes on the invitation, only to stumble upon a snake cult who's preying on her competitors. Will her ex-Covenant husband and her dimension-hopping grandmother (plus a few new allies) manage to help her avoid a massacre? and will she be able to keep her wits - or better, her legs - about her while they try?

***

Hard fact: I LOATHE reality TV with a passion (though I would call Dance or Die, the production Verity's starring in, a talent show rather than a reality one...but then again, I hate talent shows too). Also fact: having such a competition at the core of this InCryptid installment was SO. MUCH. (BLOODY). FUN. There's something to be said for the way Seanan McGuire uses tropes to her advantage - even those the reader isn't fond of. Also, Verity's passion for dancing (albeit doomed) leaps off the pages, and the whole cast of her fellow contestants (or those that get exposure) and of the reality show personalities makes an impression...for better or worse. Dominic shines in this installment, too, especially by way of supporting Verity's decision to see her dancing dream through its very end (note: for once, the usual sex scene between the current protagonist and their significant other is replaced by a dancing scene!). Plus, we finally meet dimension-hopping grandma Alice (or, we meet the adult version of her, since the first young-Alice short stories predate this book), a.k.a. the woman who never grows old (thanks to the aforementioned dimension-hopping) and always keeps a grenade in her pants.
Chaos Choreography is the right blend of fun and drama, entrails and sequins, human and cryptids (Malena is awesome, and I hope this isn't the last we see of her), with the dancing competition giving it an extra edge. The ending is as over-the-top as they come, and I shamelessly dig it. It's such a fitting curtain to Verity's dancing career, and opens a new era for the series that I'm excited to explore.

Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 3.5 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But this series has been around for years now, and it doesn't sound like McGuire's going to stop writing it anytime soon, so I decided to only write mini reviews for its installments, or it would be too hard for me to catch up. I'll write mini reviews for the new ones as well, out of consistency.

Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire

(InCryptid #6)

★★★★

After her older sister Verity declared war to the Covenant of St. George on live TV, cryptozoologist and roller-derby player Antimony Price must infiltrate the cryptid-slaying organization to see what they have in store for her family. But the Covenant send her on a spy mission of their own at a traveling carnival, where Antimony's balancing act will demand a lot more from her than her circus skills.

***

Never a dull moment in this series - and I'm not just talking about the action. I mean, every one of the Price siblings has got their own hobby or specialisation, which alone would generate enough variety; but it turns out that Antimony can also make the switch from roller-derby player (see her short stories) to circus performer and still be awesome.
I'm not super-on-board with the infiltration plot (also because the whole Price family's plan hinges on sending their youngest member into the lion's den and hoping for the best, but expecting the worst) and with the love-interest twist (not a twist in itself - more like a trope - but it sure has an interesting angle to say the least...still a trope-y one, but not one that we've seen played this way before). Also, things like Antimony's conferring with the mice under the Covenant's very nose require some serious suspension of disbelief. This been said, as usual, McGuire manages to get away with tropes (even those the reader doesn't love) and inconsistencies by making her characters tridimensional and dropping them into a well-crafted, entertaining world/scenario. Not to mention, sometimes she SEEMS to be leaning into a cliché, only to dodge it at the last minute. Finally, even in the weakest installments of this series, the cryptids more than make up for the less convincing bits of the story...especially the mice - whose relationship with Antimony is a bit different from the one they have with her siblings. They even get names here!
So, all in all, another satisfying chapter in the Price saga - but brace yourself for the almost-cliffhanger...

Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 3.5 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But this series has been around for years now, and it doesn't sound like McGuire's going to stop writing it anytime soon, so I decided to only write mini reviews for its installments, or it would be too hard for me to catch up. I'll write mini reviews for the new ones as well, out of consistency.

 Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire

(InCryptid #7)

★★★★

On the run from the Covenant and hiding behind an old alias to protect her family (and the fūri boyfriend she had to leave behind), cryptozoologist Antimony Price seeks refuge (and a job) at an amusement park, where she reunites with some old friends and stumbles upon a new set of dangers. Because the fire that sleeps in her fingers won't let her lay low, especially since she can't seem to control her magic - and that alone can start a chain reaction of bad/forced choices...

***

Rated 4.5 really.

This new chapter in Antimony Price's adventures has a number of things going for it: an unexpected explanation for the mystery (or, well, mysteries) at its core; a kick-ass found family of humans and cryptids (also, yay for girls of all species having each other's back! bar Robin the bully of course 🙄); cool magical illusions; and an intriguing connection with the afterlife/crossroads mythology as depicted in the Ghost Roads series by the same author. It doesn't hurt that the story is set in a fictional Disney-competitor amusement park that feels realer than real (but also much deadlier than it has a right to be), and that a few familiar faces make a maybe convenient, but ultimately justified comeback. One might argue that the bulk of the action is concentrated at the end (not to mention, a bit over-the-top), and that Annie makes an amateur mistake at some point, and that the villains are both obvious and barely there...and, oh, that the Aeslin mice are out of the picture (though Mindy and Mork are the protagonists in an attached, engaging prequel novella). But you can't ask for much more than an entertaining story with a few twists, (mostly) tridimensional characters, and the (cross)road paved for further exciting adventures...

Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 3.5 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But this series has been around for years now, and it doesn't sound like McGuire's going to stop writing it anytime soon, so I decided to only write mini reviews for its installments, or it would be too hard for me to catch up. I'll write mini reviews for the new ones as well, out of consistency.

That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire

(InCryptid #8)

★★★★★

Though still on the run, cryptozoologist Antimony Price and her friends seem to have found respite from the Covenant, except now the crossroads are pinning her down to the bargain she was forced to make with them...and who said the Covenant was out of the picture? Caught between a rock and a hard place, not to mention powerless, Annie will need to hang onto all her friends and even a couple of unexpected allies - but mostly her stubborn streak - if she wants a chance to destroy the crossroads once and for all.

***

Picking up where the previous book ended, TAW tremendously ups the ante...but at the same time it plunges us into the domestic life of an adorable found family (1 human + 3 cryptids of different species), which even gains one more (human) member. Some domestic life of course, between a recent enemy relentlessly pursuing Annie and an ancient cosmic horror trying to break her for good, but still - you work with what you've got 😉. Keeping the reiterations to a minimum for once and the previous book's recap less conspicuous, McGuire gives us the best of two worlds: character development and action, friendship/romance and horror, smarts and magic (or lack thereof, but when has it ever stopped the youngest Price sibling? see also: smarts, but add a good dose of stubbornness to it), and even...time travel?!? sort of?!? Of course, I'm partly biased towards this story because it features two of my favourite ghosts and it crosses into one of my favourite series' territory (Ghost Roads, also by McGuire)...and when I say "crosses", I'm being literal (what with the crossroads being the big baddie). But TAW would stand on its own regardless, and it's both epic and strangely cozy, and all-around creative.
(The book also contains an excellent novella that brings us up-to-date with Annie's brother Alex and the Columbus' Gorgon community, not to mention the siblings' adopted cousin Sarah, preparing us for her brief tenure as main character in the next two installments...).

Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 3.5 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But this series has been around for years now, and it doesn't sound like McGuire's going to stop writing it anytime soon, so I decided to only write mini reviews for its installments, or it would be too hard for me to catch up. I'll write mini reviews for the new ones as well, out of consistency.

So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?