Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

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? 

Reviewed by Quirky Cat on

4 of 5 stars

Share

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

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 12 February, 2021: Finished reading
  • 12 February, 2021: Reviewed