Tricks for Free (InCryptid, #7)

by Seanan McGuire

The seventh book in the funny and fast-paced InCryptid urban fantasy series returns to the mishaps of the Price family, eccentric cryptozoologists who safeguard the world of magical creatures living in secret among humans.

Includes an all-new Aeslin mice novella and a map of Lowryland!

Penance, noun:
1. Punishment for past actions.
2. An attempt to pay for what can't be bought.
3. See also "exile."

Antimony Price is on the run. With the Covenant on her tail and her family still in danger, she needs to get far, far away from anyone who might recognize her--including her own mice. For the first time in a long time, a Price is flying without a safety net. Where do you go when you need to disappear into a crowd without worrying about attracting attention? An amusement park, of course.

Some people would call Lowryland the amusement park. It's one of the largest in Florida, the keystone of the Lowry entertainment empire...but for Annie, it's a place to hide. She's just trying to keep her head down long enough to come up with a plan that will get her home without getting anyone killed. No small order when she's rooming with gorgons and sylphs, trying to placate frustrated ghosts, and rushing to get to work on time.

Then the accidents begin. The discovery of a dead man brings Annie to the attention of the secret cabal of magic users running Lowryland from behind the scenes. They want the fire that sleeps in her fingers. They want her on their side. They want to help her--although their help, like everything else, comes with a price.

No plan. Minimal backup. No way out. Annie's about to get a crash course in the reality behind the pretty facade. If she's lucky, she'll survive the experience.

• ISBN10: 0756410401
• ISBN13: 9780756410407
• Publish Date: 6 March 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: DAW Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780756410407

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Tricks for Free is the seventh novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and at this point, I'm completely obsessed with the series. This novel continues to follow Annie Price, the youngest of three siblings, and currently on the run.

Antimony Price is a lot of things, and for a moment there, she was an undercover agent. Times two. She managed to save a whole carnival from the Covenant, but at a cost. Now she's on the run, trying to avoid bringing the Covenant and all its wraith directly to her family.

So naturally, she ends up in Lowryland. An amusement park should be the perfect place to mess up any tracking abilities the Covenant has. Likewise, we all know that her time there is going to be far from incident free. She's a Price, after all.

It all started with one accident. Followed in short order by a surprise revelation, and even more accidents and chaos. Now Annie must be the one to step up, for whether she wanted it or not, she has been pulled into what is going wrong at Lowryland.

“There’s a place for everything, and everything has its place. It just so happens that this knife belongs in your spleen.”

Tricks for Free is a wonder fueled piece of chaos, one set in an amusement park of all places. While that may sound odd, it's actually the perfect setting for this adventure. There is so much humor woven into this narrative, thanks to the hints and references strewn about. It made for quite an entertaining read.

Antimony Price is a character that needs time to grow on you, but once she does, it's basically impossible to avoid rooting for her. She's such a strong and stubborn character, and clearly she has a talent for finding trouble.

This is the first novel that doesn't feature chants from the Aeslin mice (there's a reason for that), and I was surprised by how sad that made me feel. Still, it is interesting to see what a Price can get up to, when they're completely (well, not quite) on their own.

“Change is good. Change keeps us growing, and growing keeps us living. But don’t ever change so much that you forget who you used to be.”

It feels like with each passing novel there's a stronger connection between the InCryptid series and Ghost Roads. Aunt Rose has certainly become a bigger thing, as have the references to all things ghostly. Personally, I adore it. So if you read Sparrow Hill Road, loved it, and are desperate to read more about the lovely Rose and all her adventures, definitely consider picking up this series. You won't regret it, I promise!

“Ain’t no party like a pity party, because a pity party only ends when you bury the bastards who made you feel sorry for yourself.”

I adore that this novel took the time to explore a bit more of Annie's magic, and everything else that makes her a bit of an oddity, even in her own admittedly very odd family. I know that the next novel (That Ain't Witchcraft) will be following Annie Price as well, and I'm seriously looking forward to what happens next.

The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
The Recitation of the Most Holy and Harrowing Pilgrimage of Mindy and Also Mork is a short story included at the end of Tricks for Free, though ironically it's actually set mostly before this book has begun.

It's set sometime between Magic for Nothing, and Tricks for Free, and follows two series of events. The first one should be fairly obvious: the adventure two Aeslin mice (Mindy and Mork) must go on in order to find their way home.

The other follows the one and only Sam, a carnie brat who is determined to find Annie, even if that means dealing with her dead aunt. Yes, you read that right. If you're up to date in the series, that sadly will make a lot of sense.

Both perspectives are a lot of fun to read, and the inclusion of this short did help, as the Aeslin mice are otherwise not present in Tricks for Free (I know! My poor heart). I also really enjoyed Sam's perspective. Then again, I adore his character, so that really shouldn't be that much of a surprise, huh?

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

[kimbacaffeinate]

Not wanting the Covenant to follow her and find her family,  Annie (Antimony) works her way to Florida where she secures a job at Lowryland Amusement Park. Lowryland is one of the largest amusement parks and second only to Disneyland. Luck seems to fall her way as she lands a job that provides housing. She finds herself rooming with a gorgon and sylph. While she misses a certain monkey and would dearly love to be home with her family things are going well. That is until her roommate stumbles over a dead body and her powers become harder to control.

The tale that unfolds was fun with twists, mysteries, and magic.  We soon discover a secret cabal of magic users who run Lowryland from behind the scenes. They attempt to recruit Annie and offer to teach her how to control her powers but at what price? Annie's ghostly Aunt, her roommates, and a surprise visitor made things interests and they soon find themselves in danger.

McGuire takes us behind the scenes with details about Lowryland and daily operations. I imagine a lot of theme parks have similar setups and found it interesting. Unusual cryptids, danger and the constant threat of discovery made Tricks for Free a pageturner. I loved learning more about Annie's roommates and the costs of using magic.

Annie has to make some tough decisions, and while her personality often betrays her youthfulness and family ranking, she does have spunk and a pure heart. The pacing of the story had a great ebb and flow providing suspenseful moments and character growth. 

Emily Bauer continues to narrate the series. I felt she captured Annie from her youthfulness to sheer determination. Bauer does a lovely job with pacing, tone, and build up as the story progressed. She provided unique voices for each character and enhanced the story.

This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[llamareads]

If you’ve asked me to recommend a book to you before, you have probably had to live through me squeeing and fangirling over Seanan McGuire before. So, I was initially acquainted with her when Rosemary and Rue, the first October Daye book, came out, uh, a very long time ago, and while I’ve kept up with that series religiously (at this point, my husband knows that I will be utterly useless the Tuesday in September the books annually come out on), I’m not as up to date on her others. And I’ll admit – when I first read Discount Armageddon a very long time ago, I was disappointed because I was expecting another October Daye-style series. But, Ms. McGuire is an enormously talented writer, and the InCryptid series is more of a tongue-in-cheek send-up of urban fantasy while at the same time being the one of the best entries in that genre. So, yeah, all that to say is that this is the seventh in the InCryptid series, and it absolutely can’t be read as a standalone. If you’re interested in urban fantasy starring a ballroom dancer and a bunch of highly religious mice, do yourself a favor and go start at the beginning. Mild spoilers ahead for the first six books, though I’m trying to keep it general, and, uh, lots of happy squeeing.

When I realized this would be another Annie book, and that it would be set at a “Florida theme park,” I honestly thought I was going to die of anticipation. I’m a bit of a Disney freak, and I know Ms. McGuire is as well, and seeing her take on Disney World was perhaps my favorite thing about this book. I was initially unsure of Annie, partly because she’s still quite young and figuring out who she is when she gets her first book, while the other main characters already know who they are and are just trying to navigate the world they find themselves in. In this book, though, she’s learning to control her magic and is much more sure of herself and less the whiny bratty little sister.

As always, Ms. McGuire has written an amazingly strong, well-paced plot, full of unbelievable creativity. I did think some of the twists were predictable, and I was mildly annoyed at how oblivious Annie seemed to the mayhem going on around her, but it feels more like nitpicking, honestly, when the book is this good. While I missed the Aeslin mice (“HAIL!”), there were plenty of other secondary characters, including a gorgon, that made it easier. I haven’t read the Ghost Road novels (seriously Ms. McGuire, do you not sleep???), so I have the feeling I was missing things there. While I feel like there was a lot of character development for Annie, there’s pretty much nothing in the book that advances the greater Prices vs Covenant storyline. This isn’t necessarily a critique – more a warning for anyone going into this looking for more Covenant-ness, so they won’t be disappointed.

In some ways, Ms. McGuire’s novels are like following a new baking recipe. It takes a bit of time and work to get into them, and sometimes it feels like there’s a lot of disparate elements being thrown together, but, with patience, you’re always rewarded with something absolutely delicious at the end. Highly recommended!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.