For some reason, Seanan McGuire‘s new book releases seem to bring me out of my hidey-hole and I want to write about it. Or rather, I want to write about it and I actually get around to writing about it! (Since I always want to write about something.)
Just earlier last week I heard about her new InCryptid book coming out, Midnight Blue-Light Special, which was released last week (March 5). I picked it up then, and got around to reading it the day after I did.
I couldn’t put the book down. Through the night, with aching and bleary eyes, I read through to the end. It was that good.
1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.
2. That thing that’s getting ready to eat your head.
3. See also: “monster.”
The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity–and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she’d rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn’t quite work out that way…
But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city’s readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there’s no way Verity can take that lying down.
Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity’s apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ–assuming there’s anyone left standing when all is said and done. It’s a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit…and carnage.
Since my previous review on Discount Armageddon, the first book in the InCryptid series, I’ve read the first three books of McGuire’s October Daye novels. Or rather I’ve read some, and I’ve listened to some. So, armed with a bit more knowledge about her writing, I can say that so far, her InCryptid novels are still her best, for me.
Midnight Blue-Light Special is action-packed, and felt even more dangerous and exciting than Discount Armageddon. You’d think that fighting humans instead of “monsters” would be easier, but apparently not. The pacing is quick, and the humor is snappy–but it isn’t without it’s heart-wrenching moments. Of course, as life usually is, no sooner have you had a breather that something else is happening, and happening fast.
The characters are developed even more in Midnight Blue-Light Special, and if you loved Sarah, Istas and Ryan in particular, this book will deliver, in spades. Each of them have delightful, authentic scenes that made reading this book very enjoyable apart from the excitement of the actual storyline. I’m also admittedly a sucker for men like Dominic De Luca, all agonizing decisions and the overwhelming drive to do what is right.
And I have to say this–one of the most enjoyable scenes for me in the book comes right in the first chapter. Verity and Sarah head to a cryptid hospital. Their adversary?
It could have been your average attractive older Filipino woman, assuming you liked your attractive older women with wings, claws, fangs, and–oh, right–nothing below the navel. Where her lower body should have been was only a thin, pulsing layer of skin, providing me with a nauseatingly clear view of her internal organs.
That’s right, folks. A manananggal in New York. I was grinning madly when I read it, and laughed like nobody’s business at the way it was dispatched. Which I will leave you to find out. ;)
Because you should. You should get a copy of this book to find out (well, that, among other more substantial things). It’s a fast, exciting trip, with perfect pacing and humor. Pick up Midnight Blue-Light Special and you won’t regret it (you might want to get Discount Armageddon first).