Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid, #2)

by Seanan McGuire

The second book in New York Times-bestselling Seanan McGuire's witty urban fantasy InCryptid series about a family of cryptozoologists who act as a buffer between humans and the magical creatures living in secret around us.

"The only thing more fun than an October Daye book is an InCryptid book." —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Sookie Stackhouse series

Normal, adjective: Conforming to the standard or common type. See also "ordinary."

Abnormal, adjective: Deviating from the common type, such as playing monster-human on the rooftops of Manhattan. See also "Verity Price."

The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and to protect humanity from them. Verity Price is just trying to do her job, keeping the native cryptid population of Manhattan from getting into trouble, and doing a little ballroom dancing on the side.

Enter Dominic De Luca, an operative for the Covenant of St. George, and Verity's on-again, off-again boyfriend. When he tells her that the Covenant is sending a full team to assess how ready the city is for a purge, Verity finds herself between a rock and a hard place. Stay, and risk her almost-certain death, or flee, and leave the cryptids of New York with nothing between them and the Covenant.

With allies and enemies on every side, and no safe way to turn, it's going to take some quickstepping for Verity to waltz out of this one. There's just one question on everyone's mind: Is this the last dance for Verity Price? 

• ISBN10: 1101635452
• ISBN13: 9781101635452
• Publish Date: 1 March 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Daw Books
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 368
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Midnight Blue-Light Special is the second novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and man do I wish I had found/read this series sooner! It's such a delight, a fun romp through the world of mythical creatures and beings.

Verity Price is a cryptozoologist, which means she studies and protects the monsters we like to imagine aren't real. She's also a dancer, and one of the most confident people around. She moved to New York to try and find a balance between work and dancing, and instead, she found something else entirely.

Of course, she's not going to get much time to relax, or think about her decisions. For the Covenant of St. George is coming to town. The Covenant being the big, bad, and xenophobic version of Verity's family.

“I’m a cryptozoologist. It’s my job to protect the monsters of the world. But when those monsters become too dangerous to be allowed to roam free, I’m also a hunter. I don’t enjoy that side of my work. That doesn’t mean I get to stop doing it.”

Once again, Seanan McGuire has managed to entertain and delight me with her writing. Midnight Blue-Light Special is such an entertaining read, picking up almost exactly where the last novel left off.

There are a lot of positive things I could say about Midnight Blue-Light Special, and the InCryptid series as a whole. Verity is a fascinating leading lady, and her perspective is full of entertaining thoughts.

The world is amazing, or more accurately, the cryptids are. I'm a girl that knows a decent amount about mythical creatures (being mildly obsessed with fae lore and the like), but Seanan McGuire puts me to shame. On the bright side, it means that I adore these books all the more thanks to the surprises within.

“HAIL THE VISITATION OF THE GOD OF QUESTIONABLE MOTIVATIONS!”

Obviously, the Aeslin mice are another huge bonus, they're hilarious and adorable, all at once. It just goes to show that you can have a badass heroine and a lot of fun at the same time, and I love every second of it.

Onto the main plot, Midnight Blue-Light Special is a quick and intense read, despite the humor laced throughout. There's no denying how dangerous (and horrific) the Covenant is, and thus there are a few heavier (and scary) scenes to be found. But that just adds to the realism in this case, as there's no way Verity's job can be all fun and games.

I hate myself for taking so long to pick up this series. On the bright side, my delay is allowing me to binge all nine books within a week, so there's that! Next up is Half-Off Ragnarok, where we're going to get a different perspective: Alex Price.

Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[kimbacaffeinate]

I am participating in the Backlist Challenge, and the InCryptid series is my current binge. I am a huge fan of McGuire's writings as Mira Grant and absolutely love this zany creature-infested world. McGuire has a knack for vividly describing the world and creatures she creates. While I recognize some of the creatures like dragons, Medus, the Boogeyman and more, her descriptions shed a whole new light on them. Then there are the creatures I've never met.

Dave's Fish and Strips, a nightclub for discerning gentlemen has been transformed into The Freakshow now that Jackson's cousin has taken over the business. Think Cirque du Soleil where cyprids and humans interact side by side. The place is freaky and works well as the central place in the storyline. Verity works there although now she is part of the opening act. Here she can interact with cryptids and eek out enough funds to support her rent and dancing.

Midnight Blue-Light Special was darker than the first book and delivered an intense storyline as Dominic informs Verity that the Covenant is coming to New York. Fearful for the cryptid population and her own neck she and others go into hiding as they make plans to protect the cryptids. But can Dominic be trusted? Will he turn Verity in? The tale that unfolded kept me listening into the wee hours and had humans and creatures working side by side.

While the main pov is Verity herself, we do get a few chapters from Sarah our Cuckoo. It was interesting and shared things about Sarah we did not know. Secondary characters are fantastic from the mice to Istas, goth Wahila, who both freaked me out and made me giggle. We meet more Price cousins and a Heeley which was downright frightening. Will Manhatten survive? You'll have to listen to find out, and trust me this is a fun, suspenseful tale you won't want to miss.

Midnight Blue-Light Special surprised me in that this wraps up Verity's story, even the romance albeit an open ending. The next book has us joining Alex Price, Verity's brother. I was pleased with this storyline from beginning to end and McGuire has me reaching for the next audiobook. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[Heather]

This is book two with Verity. Now the Covenant is coming. Dominic has to decide where his loyalities lie and Verity has to decide if she can trust anything he is saying to her.
This book does a good job of picking up where the last one left off without feeling like a filler book that you see so often with second novels in a series.
This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[MurderByDeath]

A fun, entertaining read that I found myself lost in and didn't want to put down. All the characters in this motley crew were likeable (except the female dragons, and we don't see them much); I think Islas might be my favourite; she had some of the best lines in the book. The writer used humour to soften what could have been some dark scenes - something I appreciated as I don't really go for the dark stuff.

The plot was very fast-paced with constant movement; not a lot of time was wasted with unnecessary dialogue, there was always something happening to forward the storyline.

The writer mentions at the end of the book that the next book will focus on another member of the Price family, so I'm not sure I'll pick up the next one or not. I really grew attached to Verity, Sarah, Dominic and the Freakshow crew. I'll definitely check it out when it's released though.