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?
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
Reading updates
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Started reading
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23 January, 2018:
Finished reading
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23 January, 2018:
Reviewed