19:100 That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire

Incryptid book 8, told by Antimony Price.  Annie and her friends have been on the run for what feels like ages now, ever since she had to make a deal with the crossroads to save her life and Sam's. She traded her magic to them as a promissory note and in return, she will have to do something for them when they ask.  With a little luck, Cylia (resident jink and luck manipulator) has secured them a lovely little place to call home for a while in a small town in Maine.  Unfortunately, that is also where the luck runs out as it's a major spot for people to make deals with the crossroads and their power is strong there.  They have no problem finding Annie and letting her know that it's time for her to pay up by killing James Smith, a local wizard, who wants revenge on the crossroads after his best friend disappeared.  He is close to finding out their secrets and maybe even a way to destroy them and they will not let them pass unchallenged.  To make matters more fun, Leonard Cunningham, aka "Likely Next Leader of the Covenant", has shown up to try and *ahem* persuade Annie to come home with him.

There is a whole lot going on in this book with all these things happening at once and it was an amazing roller coaster ride and while the ending was great, it definitely makes me impatient for the next one to see where this is going.  I have a feeling we will be changing narrator but I'm not sure where things will be going from here.

This also included the new short story "Measure of a Monster" about a kidnapping of several gorgon children from a community that Alex and Shelby are near.  Of course, they are asked to come look into and there is no way they can turn this case away.  Nice little story that seems to be setting up some future stuff and it was really nice to see Sarah a little bit and how she's doing.

Page count: 435p/4,925p ytd/316,130p lifetime

18:100 Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire

When we last saw Antimony, she was on the run from the Covenant who had discovered her identity during her last mission.  She has even sent her Aeslin mice home so if something does happen to her, there will be no record of it in the family archives. So where do you go when you need to hide from such an organization? Florida to LowryLand of course.  Not quite as big as Disney World but almost which is actually better.  But then accidents start happening around her. First a fryer explodes severely injuring another cast member and Annie ends up using her new fire talent to draw some of the fire away. This brings her to the attention of the Cabal that actually runs LowryLand.  They issue an invitation to train her and without her family's resources to turn to, Annie takes the opportunity even knowing that there will be a price to pay.

Now Sam has ended up on her doorstep, she is rooming with a Sylph and a Gorgon, and now they have a Jinx in their group as well.  They need to figure out what is going on at the park and put a stop to it, hopefully without bringing the Covenant down on all their heads.

I continue to really enjoy this series and I think Annie really came into her own with this book and I continue to adore Sam.


Page count: 420p/3,011p ytd/295,032p lifetime

42:120 Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire

The 6th book in the Incryptid series.  Now that Verity has told the Covenant that there are still Prices in North America and all but declared war on them, the family is scrambling trying to figure out how to handle the crisis they know is coming. This means not only pooling all available resources but figuring out how to gain the intel they will need to try and plan. Unfortunately all their allies are the Incryptids they are trying to protect and their family genealogy is well known to the Covenant and they all tend to favor each other, except for the youngest Price child, Antimony. She has the look of a farther back ancestor, one known to the Covenant but not so clearly marked as being easily identifiable as a Price. As her family's only hope of finding out the Covenant's plans, she reluctantly agrees to go undercover and become a recruit for the enemy. As luck would have it, she doesn't even complete her training period before they send her into the field, a traveling carnival in North America as matter of fact, which if she can survive the assignment will make it that much easier to get home alive and intact. But when it comes out that the carnival needs protecting,things get a lot more complicated.

I really enjoyed the story and starting to know Antimony but I feel like her voice is the weakest of the Price kids so far so I'm really hoping that changes in the future. Right now it seemed like she spent too much time being the whining youngest child who was trying to figure out where she fit into everything but that left her with little of herself to show through. Hearing about her through Verity, it seemed like she would be maybe not better or above that but definitely more of her own person than this tale gave us. I do look forward to more books from her point of view though.


Page count: 352p/9,129p ytd/283,532p lifetime