Seanan McGuire: INCRYPTID SERIES

Author:  Seanan McGuire
Series:  incryptid
Plot Type:  UF
Ratings:  V5; S4; H4
Publisher and Titles:  DAW
        Discount Armageddon (3/2012)
        Midnight Blue-Light Special (3/2013)
        Half-Off Ragnarok (3/2014)

     This post was revised and updated on 4/3/13 to include a review of the second book in the series, Midnight Blue-Light Special. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and a review of book 1:

           BOOK 2:  Midnight Blue-Light Special           

     As the story opens, Verity gets some extremely bad news from her Covenant boyfriend, Dominic DeLuca: The Covenant is sending a team of agents to determine if New York City is ready to be purged of all cryptids. This news is terrible on several levels. First and foremost, will Dominic side with the Covenant or with Verity? Also extremely critical: How will Verity warn the Manhattan cryptid population in time, and how can she possibly protect them on her own? The answers to these questions make up the majority of the plot, but we also get a fascinating story line involving Verity's adopted cousin, Sarah, who is a cuckoo. We learned a bit about cuckoos in book 1, but in this book we learn much, much more. Sarah plays an intrinsic role in this story, even narrating four of the chapters in her own voice.

     Once again, Verity shows off her talents as an over-the-top urban fantasy heroine: stashing weapons in every imaginable place on her body; fighting off bad guys—both cryptid and human; leaping from building to building as she races across the city; negotiating constantly with various hostile cryptids; and still managing to keep her romance with Dominic alive and hot. Verity is obviously a pure fantasy character, but she's so courageous and likable and engaging that it doesn't really matter that she's too good to be true. You just keep turning the pages—compelled to read on to the end of this terrific book.

     This story is a rollicking adventure from beginning to end as Verity takes on the Covenant thugs (including a distant cousin) and tries to keep Manhattan safe for her cryptid friends, some of whom have trouble accepting human help, particularly from a member of the Price family. McGuire excels in character development, and her story line about Sarah is powerful—full of pathos and heartbreak to be sure, but also showing the strength and unequivocal love of the Price family for all its members, whether they be related by blood, adoption, or friendship.

     The final steps in the development of the Verity-Dominic relationship are fascinating as we watch Verity being torn between trusting Dominic and fearing that he will betray her to the Covenant. As the story plays out, Verity must make some serious decisions about her life. Here, she has a rare moment of grave introspection: "As a professional dancer, I was on the cusp of failing. At the same time, The Covenant of St. George was in my city, I'd been forced to go into hiding to avoid having them find me, and I had no game plan for getting rid of them. As a cryptozoologist, I wasn't doing much better. All I could really swear to doing correctly was being a member of my family: too pigheaded to know when I was beat, and too contrary to admit when it was time to run away....No matter what, I was a Price girl. And if there's one thing no Price girl has ever voluntarily done, it's back down from a fight." (p. 153) By the end of the book, Verity has resolved all of her issues: her ballroom dancing career, her cryptozoologist career, and her romantic relationship.

     This is a great follow-up to book 1, and it could be read as a stand-alone because McGuire provides quite a bit of world-building information in the early chapters. My recommendation, though, is to start at the beginning of the series to get the full effect of the character development. The third book will turn away from Verity and focus on her brother, Alexander.

           WORLD-BUILDING           

     This terrific new series follows a human heroine—Verity ("Very") Price—through her busy life as she works as a cocktail waitress; competes in ballroom dancing contests; and protects, defends, and polices the supernatural world of Manhattan. Supernaturals in this world are called cryptids, defined in the introduction as "any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proved scientifically." The cryptids range in size and shape from tiny mice to a gigantic dragon, with all sorts of wild and weird creatures in between. The mortal world is, for the most part, unaware of the cryptid community, but many cryptids hide in plain sight amongst humans by maintaining humanoid forms. Click HERE to go to a Field Guide to Cryptids on McGuire's website for drawings and interesting facts about the various species.

    Verity has been trained in defensive arts since she was a child, and she is also a talented cryptozoologist—specializing in the anatomy, physiology, and sociology of cryptids. Many years ago, Verity's grandparents, Alexander and Enid Healy, belonged to the Covenant of St. George, an organization that hunts down and kills all cryptids. The Covenant believes that any creature that wasn't present on Noah's Ark is an unnatural monster that must be destroyed. When Alexander and Enid questioned the morality of killing innocent cryptids who had done no harm, they were punished. Eventually, they fled to America, where they settled in Oregon to raise their family. To this day, the Covenant is still trying to track down Verity's family and punish them for their "sins against humanity." 

    When Verity is dancing, she hides her identity behind a pseudonym and a wig so that there is no chance that the Covenant will find her. Under her "Valerie Pryor" identity, Verity is somewhat famous. She took second place on the Dance or Die TV reality show and has won a number of local dance contests. Dancing means everything to Verity, but she knows in her heart that she must eventually give it up to concentrate solely on her cryptozoology career. She can't get too famous, or she'll risk exposure to the Covenant's wrath. 

     McGuire has written a number of short stories that feature the previous generations of the Healy and Price families. Click HERE to go to a page on McGuire's website with information on accessing these stories:

     Jonathan Healy and Francis Brown, circa 1928:

          "The Flower of Arizona"  in Westward Weird (2/2012)

         "One Hell of a Ride" (free download in various formats)

         "No Place Like Home" (free download in various formats)

         "Married in Green" (free download in various formats)

       Antimony Price (circa 2013)

         "Bad Dream Girl" (in Glitter and Mayhem, 8/2013)

     Click HERE to read my review of McGuire's great OCTOBER DAYE series.

           BOOK 1:  Discount Armageddon       

     As the series opens, Verity  has talked her family into allowing her to come to New York City to develop her ballroom dancing career and to supervise cryptid life in the City. Here, Verity explains her connection with the cryptids: "Most of my nondance hours were devoted to serving, studying, and supporting the cryptid community. Sometimes the only way to serve them was to keep them from drawing too much attention to themselves, and, in the case of the nonintelligent predatory species, that could activate the second part of my job description. Not "cryptozoologist": monster hunter. I'd try relocation first, and if that didn't work....I'd avoid more final solutions for as long as I could. That was the best that I could offer." (p. 42) 

BOGEYMEN

   To earn a living, Verity works as a waitress in a sleazy bar called Dave's Fish and Strips, which is owned by an equally sleazy bogeyman named Dave. Verity is physically fit and fond of the outdoors, so she maneuvers around the city by climbing walls and fire escape ladders and running and jumping from roof to roof in a technique called free running (similar to parkour). One night while running across a rooftop, she is caught by a snare set by a Covenant hunter, the first Covenant member she has ever met. He is Dominic DeLuca, and the two of them begin snarling at each other as soon as they meet.

    When Verity learns that cryptid females are disappearing off the streets, she thinks that Dominic has killed them. Dominic, in turn, believes that the females have fled the city because Verity has warned them of his presence. They soon learn the the truth lies elsewhere. The story follows the couple as their investigation takes them deep into the sewers where they are attacked by strange lizard men. The situation gets even stranger when rumors begin to circulate that a dragon is sleeping under the city. Dragons have supposedly been extinct for hundreds of years, so Very and Dominic decide to work together to get proof of the dragon's existence. As they spend more time together, their physical attraction gets stronger and stronger—and you know where that story thread winds up!

    This is a fresh and inventive series with interesting characters and a well-paced, compelling story line. McGuire is a wonderful story teller, as you know if you've read her OCTOBER DAYE series. Verity is an intelligent modern woman and an extremely competent fighter. She's one of those UF heroines who can handle almost any type of weapon with dexterity, and she's well armed at all times (e.g., guns at her waist, knives on her thighs, bow and arrows in the hallway, ax on the dresser). McGuire does a great job portraying the emotional pressures caused by the duality of Verity's life—her deeply protective feelings about the cryptids and her whole-hearted love for dancing—all the while knowing that she can't continue to have both. She's determined to prove to her family that she can live a successful independent life, but she's also torn between duty and personal fulfillment.

    Dominic matches Verity's weaponry skills and gives as good as he gets in their frequent debates (aka arguments) about whether to kill the cryptids or protect them. The supporting characters are very well developed, particularly Sarah, Verity's adopted cousin, who also lives in Manhattan. Sarah is a cryptid—a cuckoo. Here is Verity's definition of a cuckoo: "They are the perfect ambush predator, capable of blending into crowds...without leaving so much a a ripple to track them by. They look human on the outside and their particular brand of telepathic camouflage means that even when you cut one open, if it's still breathing, you're still going to see what the cuckoo wants you to see, rather than whatever's really there." (p. 130)

AESLIN MICE

    The funniest of the cryptids are the Aeslin mice who share Verity's apartment. They look and act like the cartoon mice in Disney's Cinderella, and their lives are spent celebrating one festival after another, mostly commemorating mundane events from the past years of Verity's life. The mice are supposed to be living in a refurbished Barbie condo in Verity's closet, but they're usually roaming around her apartment, crying, "Hail! Hail! to the Priestess!" They're talking about Verity, who is the most reluctant "priestess" you've ever met. This series is starting out strong, and I'm really looking forward to the second book.