TW/CW: Violence, death, fantasy violence, discussion of grief and loss

RATING: 4/5

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book NetGalley and DAW and am voluntarily writing an honest review.

Aftermarket Afterlife is the 13th book in Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series, which follows a family of cryptozoologists and the creatures they fight and protect.

This book is a solid entry in that series, following the Prices’ long time ghost!babysitter Mary Dunleavy.

Compared to the other books in the series, this book is pretty dark. There are some shocking moments that I definitely didn’t see coming, and some losses that really hit hard. Because Mary is a ghost, there’s a lot of talk of death and the book deals a great deal with grief and loss. Like all the rest of McGuire’s books, though, this book is very well written and keeps the reader enthralled. This is a great addition to the series and I definitely recommend it to fans of urban fiction! ( )

The InCryptid series has twice been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series, and Aftermarket Afterlife proves why this is still one of the best and most popular series running.
Mary Dunlavy has been the Price family babysitter for generations. She doesn't have trouble keeping up with her charges even though they are scattered across the country (and sometimes across dimensions) because, well, she's a ghost. Just as the Price family is all back together, including Alice and her decades-lost husband, the Covenant of St. George launches an all out attack on the Prices and the cryptid community in North America.

The Price family and allies are outmanned and very much in danger. It's going to take a lot of skill and some clever thinking to survive this. Mary Dunlavy is facing a question she's never had to ponder before: What happens to a babysitting ghost if all the people she's supposed to protect are gone?

Each book in the InCryptid series tells a complete story and is told from one viewpoint character. I've jumped around a bit in the series so I was familiar with all the characters and a lot of the history, but most people will want to read the series in order. This world is filled with many fascinating cryptid races and familiarity with them builds throughout the series as well.

Mary Dunlavy is an interesting viewpoint character, both in relation to her powers and duties as a babysitting ghost and in her history with the Crossroads. Her ability to move to her charges in different parts of the country allow for direct interaction with many individual family members that is not always possible in some of the other novels. Her knowledge and abilities are a huge asset even considering her limitations compared to some of the other family members.

Seanan McGuire is such a skilled writer that her style pulls you deeply and effortlessly into this world. Her characters are varied but relatable, particularly in their passion and determination. Ruminations on life and death, particularly from a ghost, offer a unique perspective.

There is plenty of thrilling action and the pace moves along briskly. With the escalation of war with the Covenant, there is less levity in this story than some of the others along with some truly devastating heartbreak. The book tells a complete story, but there are still loose ends and consequences to be dealt with in the future.

I do enjoy spending any time I can with the Aeslin mice, which belong on the Mount Rushmore of greatest literary creatures ever invented.

Another great entry in an outstanding series.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. ( )

Every time I read a new book in the Incryptid series I think, "this is the best one yet!" But Aftermarket Afterlife really IS the best one yet. This series is fast, fun, and funny; it follows a family dedicated to studying and preserving Cryptids - magical and mythical creatures that live around us but hidden, trying to survive in our modern world. Complicating that is the Covenant of St. George, an organization dedicated to their extermination.

Aftermarket Afterlife is the 13th book in the series, and is told from the POV of Mary Dunlavy, the ghost who's been the babysitter for the Price family for 80 years. It's a time of upheaval for the family, as members are reunited for the first time in decades, at the same time as the Covenant makes a huge offensive strike. Mary's only purpose for 80 years has been to protect the children of her adopted family and keep them all safe, and now she's being truly tested. What's a ghost to do?

Rating: 5/5 ⭐
Heartbreaks: All of them ( )

Series Info/Source: This is the 13th book in the InCryptid series. I got an eGalley for this for review through NetGalley.

Thoughts: I was really hoping for another book from Alice's POV but this time around we get to hear from Mary. In general this was slow and I was pretty disappointed. In this installment of the InCryptid series things are coming to a head between the Price family and the Covenant. This book is told from Mary (the ghost babysitter's) POV.

My main issue with this book is that it spends way too much time with Mary jumping between characters and trying to assuage their feelings, moods, etc. A lot of book is just dealing with all of the interpersonal relationships in the extended Price family. The actual plot involving the Covenant makes very little progress.

All of the members of the Price family are in here and it is hard to remember who is who because of the sheer plethora of characters. Yes, there is a family tree located at the beginning of the book. No, I couldn't remember all the minutia of who was involved with who and what they had done in previous books. This made what happened with Jane fairly low impact to me as a reader, even though it had a huge impact on her family.

If weird supernatural/paranormal soap opera is your thing this is a good book for that. I personally got into this series because I enjoyed the action, humor, and fun cryptozoology. I think the best part of the book was that we do get to learn more about the dragon under New York City, but that was a fairly small part of the story. There is a short story after the main book ends that spends more time with the dragons.

IMHO both this series and the October Daye series need to be wrapped up soon. They are both starting to feel tired and aimless. I would prefer to end things on a high note my favorite two series rather than end up stopping reading them because the story quality has been gradually going downhill.

The writing throughout is still well done and easy to read. The story just feels very fractured and the overall story around the Covenant vs the Price family is moving at a glacial pace.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall I was disappointed in this Incryptid book. Seeing Mary's POV was interesting but she is pulled in too many directions at once and it made the story feel chaotic and fractured. This installment is very soap opera like, Mary basically provides mental and physical support to the whole Price family at this point. It's also hard to follow who all the characters are and what their relationship to each other is (yes, we get the family tree at the beginning of the book but that's not enough). Very little progress is made with the over-arching story about the Covenant. I will read the next book in the series and withhold judgment for now. However, both this and the October Daye series feel very tired to me; it's time to wrap them up and move on to something new. ( )

I found this very hard to put down, because I’ve followed this family for so long. It doesn’t work at all if you aren’t a devoted fan, but it has a lot to offer for those who are invested. Lots of unexpected developments and a strange sort of cliffhanger. Heartrending, typical, full of all the good characters hanging on for the ride.

Advanced Readers Copy provided by edelweiss ( )