Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

InCryptid, Book 2

Synopsis: Cryptid, noun:
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.

Review: I looked forward to the release of this second volume, as I enjoyed the first one. Of course the series is very different from the October Daye’s one, but it’s also what makes it its strength.

Verity hoped to return to a normal life after facing some great danger in the first volume, but of course this is impossible. Her dream and dance hopes recede more and more to her greatest regret. It was quite sad to see her understand that sometimes you can not have everything in life, and that you have to do a lot of concessions. In two volumes, our heroine has evolved a lot, realizing that she has a lot of people counting on her. And she will understand that soon enough when Dominic tells her that the Covenant of St. George comes to town to check the results of the purge. The arrival of her enemies will completely change everything and Dominic’s indecision towards her and the Covenant’s is increasing her concern. She will have many questions about him, constantly doubting about his involvement and the traps that he could establish if he would turn against her. This is a difficult situation to be in and it’s true that it was heartbreaking to see her like that. Everyone told her to run away, and go with Sarah, but Verity can not abandon her friends and relatives and she is ready to fight for them. All the characters of the first novel are also present throughout the story, helping or accompanying our heroine. We will also have the chance to meet some new ones, like the uncle of our dancer who will do anything to help. I also loved the appearance of her grandmother. Having heard so much about the characters of her family, it is true that we are looking forward to discovering them in real. To this point I am also sure that we will know more in the next novel.

We can see a pretty amazing game. In addition to the presence of some people from the Covenant, we will discover Verity’s cousin, a Healy who is seeking revenge, especially as she discovers that the person she hates most in the world is in the same town as her. Verity must prevent her to understand that her family has not disappeared but it seems more difficult than expected … Sarah will be very important in this book. She has a lot of composure and courage while she is in no way a fighter. I was really pleasantly surprised to see that she was willing to do to save her family. We also have some chapters about her POV, which will allow us to better understand her. It was a very good opportunity. Of course I will not forget the talking mice, which are still here and always great. We can only love them and want some of them at home. Although I admit that in the long, this should be pretty tiring. But these creatures are amazing and adorable, and having them again throughout the history was a real pleasure.

The novel is full of action and there is no downtime. It was very interesting to follow the plot and the story given the turn of events. We wait to see what Dominic will choose to do and which side he will take although we doubt that this decision will not be easy for him. The book presents a well-conducted plot, character that we appreciate and others we hate, of course with creatures of all kinds, everything that makes a book, a good UF volume!

4-5 

mellianefini

 

24 thoughts on “Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire

  1. I’m curious now, especially because you say it’s different from her October Daye series. I read the first book Rosemary and Rue and liked it, but I’m feeling in the mood for UF that’s a little more unconventional. I might give this series of hers a try.

Répondre à Joy // Joyousreads Annuler la réponse

Votre adresse e-mail ne sera pas publiée. Les champs obligatoires sont indiqués avec *