Magic For Nothing (InCryptid, #6)

by Seanan McGuire

The sixth 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

Improbable, adjective:
                1. Not very likely to happen; not probable.
                2. Probably not a very good idea anyway.
                3. See also “bad plan.”

As the youngest of the three Price children, Antimony is used to people not expecting much from her. She’s been happy playing roller derby and hanging out with her cousins, leaving the globe-trotting to her older siblings while she stays at home and tries to decide what she wants to do with her life. She always knew that one day, things would have to change. She didn’t think they’d change so fast.

Annie’s expectations keep getting shattered. She didn’t expect Verity to declare war on the Covenant of St. George on live television. She didn’t expect the Covenant to take her sister’s threat seriously. And she definitely didn’t expect to be packed off to London to infiltrate the Covenant from the inside…but as the only Price in her generation without a strong resemblance to the rest of the family, she’s the perfect choice to play spy. They need to know what’s coming. Their lives may depend on it.

But Annie has some secrets of her own, like the fact that she’s started setting things on fire when she touches them, and has no idea how to control it. Now she’s headed halfway around the world, into the den of the enemy, where blowing her cover could get her killed. She’s pretty sure things can’t get much worse.

Antimony Price is about to learn just how wrong it’s possible for one cryptozoologist to be.

• ISBN10: 0756410398
• ISBN13: 9780756410391
• Publish Date: 7 March 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: DAW Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780756410391

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

Magic for Nothing is the sixth novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, an amazing series that I wish I had picked up so much sooner! This time around, we're switching to another member of the Price family: Antimony, aka Annie, Price.

Annie is the youngest of three in one of the quirkiest families around. While she frequently feels overshadowed by her elder siblings, Annie has found a few loves all on her own. Her love of roller derby, and her love of traps, for example.

Well, once again she's feeling that sting, as she's going to be the sibling cleaning up after Verity's...well her mistake. Verity declared war on the Covenant of St. George, and only Annie has the looks to pass off an undercover operation.

So instead of continuing to find her own path in life, instead Annie is going to get sent to the most dangerous place on the planet for a Price to be. Right at home with all of the xenophobic zealots that want to eliminate her family and everything that isn't considered to be human. Just great.

“I WAS DONE. No. That wasn’t quite right. I was a hundred miles past done, cresting into the Fjords of Nope, heading for Fuck-That-Ville.”

Magic for Nothing is the first novel from Annie's perspective, and there's a bit of a shock that comes with that. And a lot of excitement too – she's just as talented as her siblings when it comes to getting into insane situations and somehow surviving them.

Out of all the Price children, Annie seems to be the standout sibling. Her personality is loud, and she's totally not afraid to speak her mind. Even when that involves talking down about her family. That was a bit of a surprise to read, since we've seen so much of Verity and Alex by this point.

Still, I loved the change in both perspective and scenery. Annie's world brings us closer to the carnival style, as her background leans heavily in that direction. It made for another fun adventure, though this time there's a lot more at stake.

“The history of the human race has been one long quest to find new, novel things, and then kill, eat, or enslave them. There’s a reason the aliens haven’t made an appearance yet, is what I’m saying.”

So in this book we have Annie and all her sass, check. An infiltration of the Covenant of St. George, check. InCryptids galore, check. A secondary undercover mission, which brings her to a carnival, check. Aeslin mice, check. Oh! And a potential romantic subplot! Apparently, that is a surprise for everyone, Annie included. So, in short, this book has everything, and will be perfect for fans of Seanan McGuire, and especially fans of the series.

“When your back’s to the wall, just remember: you’re allowed to take those bastards with you.”

Actually, saying Annie has sass is a bit of an understatement. This girl is perfectly capable of taking on the world, and she'll tell the world what she thinks of it at the same time. It took a while to get used to that sharper personality, but once I did, I really enjoyed her story. Luckily for me, the next two novels (Tricks for Free and That Ain't Witchcraft) are also focused on Annie! Time to dive on in.

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

[kimbacaffeinate]

After the mind-blowing ending of Chaos Chronography, Antimony, the youngest Price sister, who incidentally looks nothing like her siblings, is tasked with traveling to London to infiltrate the Covenant! Can she convince them of her cover story? Can she and one lone Aslin mouse discover what the Covenant knows about the Price family and if they are planning an all-out war? Eeep!

McGuire hooked me from the beginning as narrator Emily Bauer took on new voices and new creatures. Antimony (Annie) is twenty-two and a roller-derby loving young woman who is still living at home. She hasn't quite decided what she wants to do in life but throughout Magic for Nothing, we witness her come into her own, through growth and sacrifice.

Being inside the Covenant of St. George was just as creepy as I hoped. From their thorough investigation and testing of Annie, we learn quite a lot. She has one lone Aslin mouse with her. Wait until you see what this young mouse uncovers, aside from a full inventory of their cheese.

Thanks to Annie's unusual skill set with knife throwing and trapeze work the Covenant sends Annie back to America to infiltrate and spy on a traveling circus. Here things get interesting and deadly. As always, McGuire delivers an intense suspense thread while fleshing out new characters and showcases different types of cryptids. Explosions, death-defying tricks and Covenant operatives await you.

The books typically have a romantic thread and Annie develops feelings for one of the performers. Holy Weirdness peeps! Now ya'll know her extended family is filled with cryptids, ghosts, talking mice and more, but most of the Price family are married to HUMANS. I am not saying more but the movie Jumanji came to mind as I listened. LOL This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer