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InCryptid #13
Aftermarket Afterlife
Seanan McGuire's New York Times -bestselling and Hugo Award-nominated urban fantasy InCryptid series continues with the thirteenth book following the Price family, cryptozoologists who study and protect the creatures living in secret all around us
Mary Dunlavy didn't intend to become a professional babysitter. Of course, she didn't intend to die, either, or to become a crossroads ghost. As a babysitting ghost, she's been caring for the Price family for four generations, and she's planning to keep doing the job for the better part of forever.
With her first charge finally back from her decades-long cross-dimensional field trip, with a long-lost husband and adopted daughter in tow, it's time for Mary to oversee the world's most chaotic family reunion. And that's before the Covenant of St. George launches a full scale strike against the cryptids of Manhattan, followed quickly by an attack on the Campbell Family Carnival.
It's going to take every advantage and every ally they have for the Prices to survive what's coming—and for Mary, to avoid finding out the answer to a question she's never wanted to where does a babysitting ghost go when she runs out of people to take care of?
Mary Dunlavy didn't intend to become a professional babysitter. Of course, she didn't intend to die, either, or to become a crossroads ghost. As a babysitting ghost, she's been caring for the Price family for four generations, and she's planning to keep doing the job for the better part of forever.
With her first charge finally back from her decades-long cross-dimensional field trip, with a long-lost husband and adopted daughter in tow, it's time for Mary to oversee the world's most chaotic family reunion. And that's before the Covenant of St. George launches a full scale strike against the cryptids of Manhattan, followed quickly by an attack on the Campbell Family Carnival.
It's going to take every advantage and every ally they have for the Prices to survive what's coming—and for Mary, to avoid finding out the answer to a question she's never wanted to where does a babysitting ghost go when she runs out of people to take care of?
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 5, 2024
299 people are currently reading
4018 people want to read
About the author
Seanan McGuire
508 books17.1k followersHi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and share my house with two monsters in feline form, Lilly and Alice (Siamese and Maine Coon).
I do not check this inbox. Please don't send me messages through Goodreads; they won't be answered. I don't want to have to delete this account. :(
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March 14, 2024
This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Aftermarket Afterlife is the thirteenth book in the Incryptid series and I'd like to say it was lucky number thirteen but I struggled to finish it. I will say I have read so many of Seanan McGuire's books and short stories (somewhere in the realm of 60ish stories) and usually they are a great read for me. They are normally full of cool creatures and concepts and imagination that I wrap myself up in them and don't come out until I'm to the other side. But Aftermarket Afterlife is a lot darker and gloomier than most of the books of this series and as such I felt weighed down and depressed most of the story and started looking for reasons not to get back to reading. I just wasn't in a good place in my life to enjoy the type of story this turned out to be. I seem to be very alone in my assessment of this story, almost every other review sings this books praises, so take this all with a grain of salt - it could just be me. This cannot be read as a stand-alone, the entire series should be read in order.
Mary Dunlavy has haunted the Price family for generations as a babysitter or caretaker ghost. She died on a crossroads and she made a deal. Mary would broker deals for the crossroads IF she could still be there for any of her family when they needed her and her family would always come first. It had originally just been her father that she meant to be there for but when they placed little toddler Alice in her arms, something happened and she became attached to the Price/Healy families as a babysitter ghost.
Now the crossroads are gone and Mary only has her duties as babysitter to the Price/Healy families. When they call she hears and she can pop into where ever her charge is. It doesn't matter it they are grown up now, they will always be her kids. She is just preparing to help them through a reunion that seems to have a lot of charged emotional baggage associated to it with Alice and her long, lost in another dimension, husband Thomas when everything changes and the Covenant of St. George brings the attack fully to the Americas to flush out the cryptozoologist family that has helped hide or protect the "monsters" living here.
Mary will be instrumental in helping the family as distance really doesn't matter to a ghost. If one of the family calls her she can be there. Sarah too will play a big role since spacetime are currently just playthings to her and she is one of the only members of the family who will be able to travel to where ever she is needed to assist. We will get to see almost every main member of the family who has had a place in the series as they fight off the Covenant and figure out a way to make the cost too high to focus on them.
My issues with this book is it was far more depressing than others I've read from Seanan McGuire. Maybe after the 'events' the racked the Price/Healy families when The Covenant attacked various friends and family members I was supposed to feel rage and just want revenge. But, there are causalities in this book that hit so close to home and some brutal fallout, that the story got lost in the grief I was feeling. There was so much fallout and grief that it was so hard to climb out of to even start to focus on the story and continue. I guess in one way it is great the McGuire made me feel so much for these characters and the mice after twelve other books and numerous short stories, but also bad that I couldn't let any of that feeling go throughout the rest of the story. After feeling like the last book was a kind of happy ending in this one we see how not all of our characters are doing okay and then we lose some of them making it even worse.
Let me state that I have loved almost every book in this series. The writing for Aftermarket Afterlife could have been edited a little better as Mary talks about her bond to her charges and how they will always be her kids so many times. I get it, she is tied to all of the family and sees the family tree branches in her mind. She discussed how some of the family is blood, some marries in and some is adopted in. Mary goes through so many times why Sarah who is adopted in shows up to her as family. Same with other members, it was really repetitive and could have been streamlined a bit better.
Mary is the a lynchpin to the family. She tried to protect them from the crossroads, themselves and the covenant of St. George. Now she will help to join the fight to make coming for her family cost too much to the Covenant and get revenge for what they have done.
Overall I have loved this series and this is one book that just didn't work for me. I still highly recommend the entire series though as it is completely interesting, unique and full of wonderful moments.
Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Aftermarket Afterlife is the thirteenth book in the Incryptid series and I'd like to say it was lucky number thirteen but I struggled to finish it. I will say I have read so many of Seanan McGuire's books and short stories (somewhere in the realm of 60ish stories) and usually they are a great read for me. They are normally full of cool creatures and concepts and imagination that I wrap myself up in them and don't come out until I'm to the other side. But Aftermarket Afterlife is a lot darker and gloomier than most of the books of this series and as such I felt weighed down and depressed most of the story and started looking for reasons not to get back to reading. I just wasn't in a good place in my life to enjoy the type of story this turned out to be. I seem to be very alone in my assessment of this story, almost every other review sings this books praises, so take this all with a grain of salt - it could just be me. This cannot be read as a stand-alone, the entire series should be read in order.
Mary Dunlavy has haunted the Price family for generations as a babysitter or caretaker ghost. She died on a crossroads and she made a deal. Mary would broker deals for the crossroads IF she could still be there for any of her family when they needed her and her family would always come first. It had originally just been her father that she meant to be there for but when they placed little toddler Alice in her arms, something happened and she became attached to the Price/Healy families as a babysitter ghost.
Now the crossroads are gone and Mary only has her duties as babysitter to the Price/Healy families. When they call she hears and she can pop into where ever her charge is. It doesn't matter it they are grown up now, they will always be her kids. She is just preparing to help them through a reunion that seems to have a lot of charged emotional baggage associated to it with Alice and her long, lost in another dimension, husband Thomas when everything changes and the Covenant of St. George brings the attack fully to the Americas to flush out the cryptozoologist family that has helped hide or protect the "monsters" living here.
Mary will be instrumental in helping the family as distance really doesn't matter to a ghost. If one of the family calls her she can be there. Sarah too will play a big role since spacetime are currently just playthings to her and she is one of the only members of the family who will be able to travel to where ever she is needed to assist. We will get to see almost every main member of the family who has had a place in the series as they fight off the Covenant and figure out a way to make the cost too high to focus on them.
My issues with this book is it was far more depressing than others I've read from Seanan McGuire. Maybe after the 'events' the racked the Price/Healy families when The Covenant attacked various friends and family members I was supposed to feel rage and just want revenge. But, there are causalities in this book that hit so close to home and some brutal fallout, that the story got lost in the grief I was feeling. There was so much fallout and grief that it was so hard to climb out of to even start to focus on the story and continue. I guess in one way it is great the McGuire made me feel so much for these characters and the mice after twelve other books and numerous short stories, but also bad that I couldn't let any of that feeling go throughout the rest of the story. After feeling like the last book was a kind of happy ending in this one we see how not all of our characters are doing okay and then we lose some of them making it even worse.
Let me state that I have loved almost every book in this series. The writing for Aftermarket Afterlife could have been edited a little better as Mary talks about her bond to her charges and how they will always be her kids so many times. I get it, she is tied to all of the family and sees the family tree branches in her mind. She discussed how some of the family is blood, some marries in and some is adopted in. Mary goes through so many times why Sarah who is adopted in shows up to her as family. Same with other members, it was really repetitive and could have been streamlined a bit better.
Mary is the a lynchpin to the family. She tried to protect them from the crossroads, themselves and the covenant of St. George. Now she will help to join the fight to make coming for her family cost too much to the Covenant and get revenge for what they have done.
Overall I have loved this series and this is one book that just didn't work for me. I still highly recommend the entire series though as it is completely interesting, unique and full of wonderful moments.
July 25, 2025
Mary and metaphysics
The novels of the Incryptid series are told from the points of view of the members of the Price family in turn. Usually when your turn comes you get two novels, then the series moves on to someone else. We just finished two (Spelunking Through Hell and Backpacking Through Bedlam) about Grandma Alice. In Aftermarket Afterlife we move on to Mary Dunlavy (The Phantom Priestess, as the Aeslin know her). Mary is special in many ways. Most important for the reader is that she has seen more of the family's history than any living person. Notice that I did not say "than any OTHER living person" -- that's because Mary is a ghost. Mary is the Price family babysitter, and has been for the many years of her death. She has responsibility for the children, or any member of the family who needs care, and she will come when they call with comfort and stern but kind discipline.
Mary is a splendid character, whom I have always loved. Mary's position in the Price family means that her novel is uniquely wide-ranging and intimate. They are all Mary's children. She knows and loves them all. Advice to readers: print out the Price/Baker family tree with which the book begins. Then scribble in the missing-because-recent family members: Verity's husband Dominic De Luca and their daughter Olivia, Alex's not-yet-wife Shelby Tanner and their daughter Charlotte, and Angela and Martin Baker's newest adopted child, Isaac. Every person on that family tree (and even some more distant found family such as Uncle Mike) plays a role in this novel.
The plot, unfortunately, is the default Incryptid plot: a conflict with the Covenant of St George, a venerable villain that will be familiar to every reader of the previous novels of the series. But this one is bigger. The Covenant has decided that the time has come to sterilize North America of ungodly abominations and race traitors. And the stakes feel higher this time. One feels that it is not just one family member in danger this time, but the entire family.
Aftermarket Afterlife has one serious problem. Mary explains far too much. At any moment, even in the middle of a fast-moving action scene, Mary will throw in for the reader's benefit two paragraphs (if not pages) of not-really-necessary metaphysical explanations. I don't know what made Seanan McGuire lose faith in her readers' ability to suss things out. McGuire clearly understands the danger of explaining too much. She is a spectacularly good short-story artist, and you don't become that without knowing the importance of economy of expression.
So, in summary, great characters, good plot, flawed story-telling. I enjoyed Aftermarket Afterlife, but it could have been so much better.
DREAMING OF YOU IN FREEFALL
As usual, McGuire follows the novel with a novella, Dreaming of You in Freefall. I can't say much about it without major spoilers for Aftermarket Afterlife. But I can tell you that it's told from Verity's point of view, and is a kind of epilog for her part of the story. It's good, but also suffers somewhat from excess explanation.
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Aftermarket Afterlife. This review expresses my honest opinions.
Blog review.
The novels of the Incryptid series are told from the points of view of the members of the Price family in turn. Usually when your turn comes you get two novels, then the series moves on to someone else. We just finished two (Spelunking Through Hell and Backpacking Through Bedlam) about Grandma Alice. In Aftermarket Afterlife we move on to Mary Dunlavy (The Phantom Priestess, as the Aeslin know her). Mary is special in many ways. Most important for the reader is that she has seen more of the family's history than any living person. Notice that I did not say "than any OTHER living person" -- that's because Mary is a ghost. Mary is the Price family babysitter, and has been for the many years of her death. She has responsibility for the children, or any member of the family who needs care, and she will come when they call with comfort and stern but kind discipline.
Mary is a splendid character, whom I have always loved. Mary's position in the Price family means that her novel is uniquely wide-ranging and intimate. They are all Mary's children. She knows and loves them all. Advice to readers: print out the Price/Baker family tree with which the book begins. Then scribble in the missing-because-recent family members: Verity's husband Dominic De Luca and their daughter Olivia, Alex's not-yet-wife Shelby Tanner and their daughter Charlotte, and Angela and Martin Baker's newest adopted child, Isaac. Every person on that family tree (and even some more distant found family such as Uncle Mike) plays a role in this novel.
The plot, unfortunately, is the default Incryptid plot: a conflict with the Covenant of St George, a venerable villain that will be familiar to every reader of the previous novels of the series. But this one is bigger. The Covenant has decided that the time has come to sterilize North America of ungodly abominations and race traitors. And the stakes feel higher this time. One feels that it is not just one family member in danger this time, but the entire family.
Aftermarket Afterlife has one serious problem. Mary explains far too much. At any moment, even in the middle of a fast-moving action scene, Mary will throw in for the reader's benefit two paragraphs (if not pages) of not-really-necessary metaphysical explanations. I don't know what made Seanan McGuire lose faith in her readers' ability to suss things out. McGuire clearly understands the danger of explaining too much. She is a spectacularly good short-story artist, and you don't become that without knowing the importance of economy of expression.
So, in summary, great characters, good plot, flawed story-telling. I enjoyed Aftermarket Afterlife, but it could have been so much better.
DREAMING OF YOU IN FREEFALL
As usual, McGuire follows the novel with a novella, Dreaming of You in Freefall. I can't say much about it without major spoilers for Aftermarket Afterlife. But I can tell you that it's told from Verity's point of view, and is a kind of epilog for her part of the story. It's good, but also suffers somewhat from excess explanation.
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW for an advance reader copy of Aftermarket Afterlife. This review expresses my honest opinions.
Blog review.
March 7, 2024
Book 8 of the
2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge
This series, which began as good, fluffy fun, has taken a rather serious turn. This volume is narrated by Mary Dunlavey, former crossroads ghost, now full time caretaker/ babysitter for the Price family. The whole Price family has been sort of reunited, since Alice managed to rescue her husband Thomas (see Backpacking Through Bedlam). Honestly, having this many reckless, violent people together in one family compound seems like an extraordinarily bad idea.
However, they have no time for family bonding. The Covenant of St. George, the group that the Prices split from decades ago, have come to North America with two goals: their leader, Leonard Cunningham, wants Antimony Price as his wife (if she can be suitably convinced to abandon her family and her values); and they also want to purge the continent’s cryptid populations, especially the recently rediscovered dragon, William, who is responsible for bringing dragons back from the brink of extinction. They have more operatives and more resources. But the Price family knows how to fight dirty.
Actually, this plan is largely Mary's doing. She devises the plan to make victory too expensive for the Covenant. In doing so, she pushes herself to a dangerous degree. And I have to give Seanan McGuire credit—she doesn't go easy on her fictional family. There are deaths, y'all, and not just peripheral characters. (When I first started the book, I ignored the family tree at the beginning, thinking I knew them all too well to need it. I was soon refreshing my memory as the family reunion got complicated.)
If you've come this far, as I have, with McGuire's family of cryptozoologists, you are fond of them and their antics. I mourn with them for their losses and wonder how things will shake out. Thank goodness that Ms. McGuire can pump out the fiction, as I want to know the upshot. I have to hope there's another book in the offing.
This series, which began as good, fluffy fun, has taken a rather serious turn. This volume is narrated by Mary Dunlavey, former crossroads ghost, now full time caretaker/ babysitter for the Price family. The whole Price family has been sort of reunited, since Alice managed to rescue her husband Thomas (see Backpacking Through Bedlam). Honestly, having this many reckless, violent people together in one family compound seems like an extraordinarily bad idea.
However, they have no time for family bonding. The Covenant of St. George, the group that the Prices split from decades ago, have come to North America with two goals: their leader, Leonard Cunningham, wants Antimony Price as his wife (if she can be suitably convinced to abandon her family and her values); and they also want to purge the continent’s cryptid populations, especially the recently rediscovered dragon, William, who is responsible for bringing dragons back from the brink of extinction. They have more operatives and more resources. But the Price family knows how to fight dirty.
Actually, this plan is largely Mary's doing. She devises the plan to make victory too expensive for the Covenant. In doing so, she pushes herself to a dangerous degree. And I have to give Seanan McGuire credit—she doesn't go easy on her fictional family. There are deaths, y'all, and not just peripheral characters. (When I first started the book, I ignored the family tree at the beginning, thinking I knew them all too well to need it. I was soon refreshing my memory as the family reunion got complicated.)
If you've come this far, as I have, with McGuire's family of cryptozoologists, you are fond of them and their antics. I mourn with them for their losses and wonder how things will shake out. Thank goodness that Ms. McGuire can pump out the fiction, as I want to know the upshot. I have to hope there's another book in the offing.
March 5, 2024
Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for the prerelease copy. Below is my honest review.
I can't. There aren't words. I am struggling to write this review. Was the book good? Of course it was. It was five stars. It's Seanan-freaking-McGuire, so of course it was good. It was great. But...
It was also devastating. I wasn't prepared for this, even a little bit. I know Seanan can be brutal, but wow. WOW.
I don't want to spoil anything, so let me give you the quick rundown: All of the series leading up to this point has been about moving pieces into place. And those pieces? They're moved. And now, there is war. And neither the Covenant nor the Price-Healy clan are going to pull their punches.
Prepare yourself before reading this.
Also, this is one of those books that you REALLY need the context of the rest of the series going in, so do yourself the HUGE favor of reading all the fantastic books leading up to this one (including the three Ghost Road novels too, please and thank you). You won't regret it... though you might regret the trauma this book is likely to cause. *breaks down weeping*
HIGHLY recommended.
I can't. There aren't words. I am struggling to write this review. Was the book good? Of course it was. It was five stars. It's Seanan-freaking-McGuire, so of course it was good. It was great. But...
It was also devastating. I wasn't prepared for this, even a little bit. I know Seanan can be brutal, but wow. WOW.
I don't want to spoil anything, so let me give you the quick rundown: All of the series leading up to this point has been about moving pieces into place. And those pieces? They're moved. And now, there is war. And neither the Covenant nor the Price-Healy clan are going to pull their punches.
Prepare yourself before reading this.
Also, this is one of those books that you REALLY need the context of the rest of the series going in, so do yourself the HUGE favor of reading all the fantastic books leading up to this one (including the three Ghost Road novels too, please and thank you). You won't regret it... though you might regret the trauma this book is likely to cause. *breaks down weeping*
HIGHLY recommended.
March 15, 2024
Well, some major things happen in this book, and I can't think of a lot to say without being spoilery. McGuire's October Daye series has the reputation of being the serious one and this InCryptid series is thought of as the fun and fluffy one... Well, this is the unlucky thirteenth volume and the spirit of GRRM must have been haunting the author's keyboard. It's a very well-written story, with many clever quips and curlicues, as well as some very moving and dramatic elements. There are a few places where the pace is hampered by the need to pause and explain something to people who aren't familiar with the previous dozen volumes. Ironically, humorous acknowledgement is made to that on page 244: "That was... a lot," said Sally. "Someone's going to explain all of this eventually, right? I'm not going to feel like I started reading a series in the middle forever?" That's just one example of the cleverness and wordplay that McGuire provides. The narration in this book shifts to Mary, the babysitter ghost, who's the keystone of the family when you think about it. Almost all of the main characters from the previous books appear, and this one is a pivotal book in the series. I'd recommend the series to fantasy readers, but start at the beginning, Discount Armageddon. I also want to mention the nifty cover painting by Lee Moyer. In the current publishing climate, many, many, way too many books have computer-generated covers of vague shapes and geometric shadows and big fuzzy pastel-shaded words and boring blah-ness, but this is really Fine Art.
April 27, 2024
Me while reading this book:
Me after reading this book and knowing that my desperate hopes for at least one character will not come to pass:
Honestly, I've always turned to these books for some wonderful quirky action, the home life of this patchwork family with all sorts of humans and cryptids and what did I get? Blood and destruction! The ONE time when the only death I wanted to see was on the enemy's side!
*throws arms up*
This new installment is from Mary's perspective. You know, the ghost babysitter. Sadly, that meant quite a few cut scenes and especially one I was NOT OK with.
Things are moving fast. Alice and Thomas have barely come home, haven't even said hello to everyone yet when the Covenant is making their move. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose and friends and acquaintenances are in dire need of help. However, the Covenant wouldn't have stayed alive for so long if they weren't at least bit capable, whether the heir-apparent has a crush on Annie or not!
So there is A LOT of fighting, a little bit of Mary's backstory (there isn't that much to tell), not enough Aeslin mice, and plenty of fear. For someone so well trained for exactly this scenario, the Price family needs far too long to get in gear and depends far too much only too few members of the family. Maybe they've grown complacent?
I was seriously wondering if this was the book with which the author was wanting to end the series or at least create a blank slate (sort of like a reboot). Thankfully, that is not the case. However, I do question her choice of . Equally, I'm not sure I bought the whole .
So yeah, I have VERY mixed feelings about this one. While I loved the action and how fast-paced this once again was, I not only have a book-hangover, but do really not appreciate how some characters were treated here and what this might mean for future events. It's like in comicbooks: . Add to that the fact that .
Hm.
Me after reading this book and knowing that my desperate hopes for at least one character will not come to pass:
Honestly, I've always turned to these books for some wonderful quirky action, the home life of this patchwork family with all sorts of humans and cryptids and what did I get? Blood and destruction! The ONE time when the only death I wanted to see was on the enemy's side!
*throws arms up*
This new installment is from Mary's perspective. You know, the ghost babysitter. Sadly, that meant quite a few cut scenes and especially one I was NOT OK with.
Things are moving fast. Alice and Thomas have barely come home, haven't even said hello to everyone yet when the Covenant is making their move. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose and friends and acquaintenances are in dire need of help. However, the Covenant wouldn't have stayed alive for so long if they weren't at least bit capable, whether the heir-apparent has a crush on Annie or not!
So there is A LOT of fighting, a little bit of Mary's backstory (there isn't that much to tell), not enough Aeslin mice, and plenty of fear. For someone so well trained for exactly this scenario, the Price family needs far too long to get in gear and depends far too much only too few members of the family. Maybe they've grown complacent?
I was seriously wondering if this was the book with which the author was wanting to end the series or at least create a blank slate (sort of like a reboot). Thankfully, that is not the case. However, I do question her choice of . Equally, I'm not sure I bought the whole .
So yeah, I have VERY mixed feelings about this one. While I loved the action and how fast-paced this once again was, I not only have a book-hangover, but do really not appreciate how some characters were treated here and what this might mean for future events. It's like in comicbooks: . Add to that the fact that .
Hm.
March 22, 2025
Mini blurb: Ghost babysitter Mary Dunlavy - a staple of the Price-Healy household since Alice was an infant - finds herself testing the limits of her freedom (and her powers) in the wake of the crossroads' destruction, while the Covenant strikes the family and their allies broadly and hard.
***
First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to DAW for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
I may be biased because I love all things ghosts/afterlife, but regardless, the 13th InCryptid installment is a step above Alice's books in a number of ways. Mary's POV as a hundred y.o. ghost in a 16 y.o. body is fascinating (while completely different from Rose's, the Price's honorary dead aunt, protagonist of the Ghost Roads series); so is the afterlife she inhabits when she isn't sitting for her charges (or helping her now adult former ones); and seeing her interact with the Price family and friends gives us a fresh and more cohesive perspective on them (plus we get her backstory!). Also, Aftermarket Afterlife is once again proof of the long game McGuire has been playing since she started the series: all the events occurring in the previous 12 books finally fall into place in a larger framework, with Mary at their center - no longer bound to the crossroads (which Antimony destroyed), but still technically limited in her assistance to the family during the worst crisis ever...except she always finds new ways to stretch those limits, consequences be damned 😅.
This installment is the first one to feature each and every family member and most of their allies in some capacity (even ever-elusive Drew)...but mind you, after 12 books, and in the wake of the best engineered, most destructive Covenant attack ever, something's got to give. You might think that McGuire was especially unfair towards a certain character, because what befalls them happens offscreen, but there's a rhyme and reason to it. And frankly? I do like how everything, and everyone, can change in this series - even the dead, and even if it comes at a...price 😉. If the latest InCryptid books have let you down somehow, I bet this is the one that will make you fall in love with the series all over again - and it sounds like the Price saga has still a lot to offer...
Please note: contrary to the rest of the series, at the end of this book there isn't a bridge novella that loosely ties in the previous installment with this one, but one that takes place after a certain event in the main story, from Verity's POV. DON'T read it before Aftermarket Afterlife if you want to avoid a huge spoiler.
Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 3.5 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But this series has been around for years now, and I only started reading it in August 2022, so I decided to only write mini (well...probably more like midi) reviews for its installments, or it would have been too hard for me to catch up. Now that I have, I'm writing mini reviews for the new ones as well, out of consistency.
***
First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to DAW for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.
I may be biased because I love all things ghosts/afterlife, but regardless, the 13th InCryptid installment is a step above Alice's books in a number of ways. Mary's POV as a hundred y.o. ghost in a 16 y.o. body is fascinating (while completely different from Rose's, the Price's honorary dead aunt, protagonist of the Ghost Roads series); so is the afterlife she inhabits when she isn't sitting for her charges (or helping her now adult former ones); and seeing her interact with the Price family and friends gives us a fresh and more cohesive perspective on them (plus we get her backstory!). Also, Aftermarket Afterlife is once again proof of the long game McGuire has been playing since she started the series: all the events occurring in the previous 12 books finally fall into place in a larger framework, with Mary at their center - no longer bound to the crossroads (which Antimony destroyed), but still technically limited in her assistance to the family during the worst crisis ever...except she always finds new ways to stretch those limits, consequences be damned 😅.
This installment is the first one to feature each and every family member and most of their allies in some capacity (even ever-elusive Drew)...but mind you, after 12 books, and in the wake of the best engineered, most destructive Covenant attack ever, something's got to give. You might think that McGuire was especially unfair towards a certain character, because what befalls them happens offscreen, but there's a rhyme and reason to it. And frankly? I do like how everything, and everyone, can change in this series - even the dead, and even if it comes at a...price 😉. If the latest InCryptid books have let you down somehow, I bet this is the one that will make you fall in love with the series all over again - and it sounds like the Price saga has still a lot to offer...
Please note: contrary to the rest of the series, at the end of this book there isn't a bridge novella that loosely ties in the previous installment with this one, but one that takes place after a certain event in the main story, from Verity's POV. DON'T read it before Aftermarket Afterlife if you want to avoid a huge spoiler.
Note: as a rule, I review every book that I rate 3.5 stars and above in full, unless it's a novella or an anthology. But this series has been around for years now, and I only started reading it in August 2022, so I decided to only write mini (well...probably more like midi) reviews for its installments, or it would have been too hard for me to catch up. Now that I have, I'm writing mini reviews for the new ones as well, out of consistency.
March 12, 2024
One of my favorites in this series. Great character focus, great exploration of humanity. Weight and drama and emotions and mice.
March 14, 2024
This was another entry in this series. Wow, book 13? I think that I struggled with this book a little because the were not really well known or developed so it felt a little flat. The never-ending struggle with the Covenant seems interesting but never-ending. I did appreciate getting Mary's back story and am curious how this will continue.
I really liked the novella at the end, glad to see Verity's narration again.
I really liked the novella at the end, glad to see Verity's narration again.
March 24, 2024
5 stars
Very sad. Excited for the next book.
Very sad. Excited for the next book.
April 1, 2024
I am already ready for the next book. I love this series and this author. This was another excellent installment. This one was from the point of view of Mary, the babysitting ghost. This novel took place in many different locations and was non stop action. I also loved the novella at the every end. I just want more to read!
January 14, 2025
4.5. I love these characters so much.
July 11, 2025
First read by audiobook on Libby from library, no novella of Verity at the end was included.
"Dreaming of You in Freefall" is a ~50 page novella that is included only in some editions of Aftermarket Afterlife. It was not included with my Libby audio book from the library. I only knew about it from reading reviews from others. I then took the ebook out from Libby and it was in the ebook from the library but I noticed that none of the friends that had reviews from their Netgally ARC had any mention of the novella. I just finished the novella and would rate it a 4-4 1/2 as it was really good but it SHOULD NOT be read before this book if you don't like spoilers as it spoils my first spoiler below. If you don't mind spoilers, go ahead. Since there is no book created (as this has no way to purchase it separately yet), I review it here after reading it on 7/10/2025, several months after reading Aftermarket's train wreck (IMO). The novella would have made that rating maybe have gone to a 3? Verity goes to see the dragons and ends up helping them with a covenant problem. This was really really good and gives hope and for perhaps winning the war. Glad I read it as I didn't know about it, and then wasn't really looking forward to it. Very glad to get it from the Libby ebook.
-------------Main Book review---------------------
Wow, I had to put this down after (Big Spoiler) This is quite a bit in and we are now coming to Artie/Arthur issue and I think that is going to be expanded further in so really interested there. Nope we only get the anger of others. Still, I had to step away and not happy with that twist but will read on soon... I lost my bookmark.
So, hmm... this is like a look into where all our characters are though there are big happenings as they are being attacked on all fronts so now Sarah and Mary, our FMC and the ghost babysitter, are moving back and forth trying to help and save people. There is a major death and this is not the HFN that we are used to in these books along with a romantic element. We don't have that at all. So they figure out what they want to do to fight back and we get a bit more of how Mary is allow/able to travel and be. Then... it ends. It is a taste of the family and a fight that is all over the place and there is death, a major step of Incryptid, So we get questions and understand that it worked out. huh. We also know Mary's thoughts and decision and where she came from.
I wasn't happy with the book but it was OK but not particularly good, so I'm giving it a 2. Really, I was mostly bored.
"Dreaming of You in Freefall" is a ~50 page novella that is included only in some editions of Aftermarket Afterlife. It was not included with my Libby audio book from the library. I only knew about it from reading reviews from others. I then took the ebook out from Libby and it was in the ebook from the library but I noticed that none of the friends that had reviews from their Netgally ARC had any mention of the novella. I just finished the novella and would rate it a 4-4 1/2 as it was really good but it SHOULD NOT be read before this book if you don't like spoilers as it spoils my first spoiler below. If you don't mind spoilers, go ahead. Since there is no book created (as this has no way to purchase it separately yet), I review it here after reading it on 7/10/2025, several months after reading Aftermarket's train wreck (IMO). The novella would have made that rating maybe have gone to a 3? Verity goes to see the dragons and ends up helping them with a covenant problem. This was really really good and gives hope and for perhaps winning the war. Glad I read it as I didn't know about it, and then wasn't really looking forward to it. Very glad to get it from the Libby ebook.
-------------Main Book review---------------------
Wow, I had to put this down after (Big Spoiler) This is quite a bit in and we are now coming to Artie/Arthur issue and I think that is going to be expanded further in so really interested there. Nope we only get the anger of others. Still, I had to step away and not happy with that twist but will read on soon... I lost my bookmark.
So, hmm... this is like a look into where all our characters are though there are big happenings as they are being attacked on all fronts so now Sarah and Mary, our FMC and the ghost babysitter, are moving back and forth trying to help and save people. There is a major death and this is not the HFN that we are used to in these books along with a romantic element. We don't have that at all. So they figure out what they want to do to fight back and we get a bit more of how Mary is allow/able to travel and be. Then... it ends. It is a taste of the family and a fight that is all over the place and there is death, a major step of Incryptid, So we get questions and understand that it worked out. huh. We also know Mary's thoughts and decision and where she came from.
I wasn't happy with the book but it was OK but not particularly good, so I'm giving it a 2. Really, I was mostly bored.
November 4, 2023
ARC provided via NetGalley and Daw Books. All opinions are my own.
If you follow my reviews, you'll already know that this is my favourite Urban Fantasy series of all time. It manages to walk the line between the action packed external journey and the emotional internal journey, between fraught family dynamics and found family warmth. The family itself is the main character but each book in the series is told from a different family member's perspective. It's original, unique and engaging.
This time, the family ghost/ babysitter Mary Dunlavey picks up the thread. What's especially interesting about her perspective is that she has known the entire family over the last 90 years, most of them from birth. She's not an outsider, but her attachment to each member of the family makes her as impartial as its possible to be within the complicated family dynamic. If anyone is qualified to be the family chronicler, it's Mary. All this means that we see characters in a way they don't see themselves. You don't get Antimony's bias against Verity for example, Alex seems less clinical, Sarah's actions and motivations make more sense (and the Sarah/ Artie situation is a complete mess). It makes sense that McGuire would pick Mary as the pov for a full family reunion. Mary knows and loves all of them, is unblinded as to their flaws, and understands the family secrets. Mary knows where the bodies are buried - literally.
There was a point where you could just pick a character in this series and start with their books, but that's not the case with this book. The real value of this volume is only going to be apparent after reading the other books. Don't mistake this just as a family reunion. history however. The Covenant brings the fight to North America and strikes with deadly accuracy. This made the book both exciting and frustrating (for reasons I'll explain). Long term fans have been waiting for a head to head clash between the Price-Healys and the Covenant of St George and it doesn't disappoint although the focus is always on the family, and the danger is wrapped up pretty quickly and fairly uneventfully.
Where my frustration comes in is over two instances. This is a very told story, which is perhaps not surprising because the authors has a lot of plates spinning at this point including the intersection of Rose Marshall's series. Mostly, it didn't bother me because it just felt like getting into a favourite conversation with a beloved friend. But there are instances where things get repeated within the same book. Maybe that'll all get sorted out on publication? It did bring down the pace of an already slower episode in the series. The other instance is hidden by a spoiler tag.
Overall though, this was a great episode in a much loved series. I was actually reading Angel of the Overpass when this ARC came through, which obviously meant I abandoned that book to read this one. The only thing that can make me cheat on a Seanan McGuire book apparently is another Seanan McGuire book. Also shout out to my series favourites - the Aeslin mice. Hail!
Recommend the whole series.
If you follow my reviews, you'll already know that this is my favourite Urban Fantasy series of all time. It manages to walk the line between the action packed external journey and the emotional internal journey, between fraught family dynamics and found family warmth. The family itself is the main character but each book in the series is told from a different family member's perspective. It's original, unique and engaging.
This time, the family ghost/ babysitter Mary Dunlavey picks up the thread. What's especially interesting about her perspective is that she has known the entire family over the last 90 years, most of them from birth. She's not an outsider, but her attachment to each member of the family makes her as impartial as its possible to be within the complicated family dynamic. If anyone is qualified to be the family chronicler, it's Mary. All this means that we see characters in a way they don't see themselves. You don't get Antimony's bias against Verity for example, Alex seems less clinical, Sarah's actions and motivations make more sense (and the Sarah/ Artie situation is a complete mess). It makes sense that McGuire would pick Mary as the pov for a full family reunion. Mary knows and loves all of them, is unblinded as to their flaws, and understands the family secrets. Mary knows where the bodies are buried - literally.
There was a point where you could just pick a character in this series and start with their books, but that's not the case with this book. The real value of this volume is only going to be apparent after reading the other books. Don't mistake this just as a family reunion. history however. The Covenant brings the fight to North America and strikes with deadly accuracy. This made the book both exciting and frustrating (for reasons I'll explain). Long term fans have been waiting for a head to head clash between the Price-Healys and the Covenant of St George and it doesn't disappoint although the focus is always on the family, and the danger is wrapped up pretty quickly and fairly uneventfully.
Where my frustration comes in is over two instances. This is a very told story, which is perhaps not surprising because the authors has a lot of plates spinning at this point including the intersection of Rose Marshall's series. Mostly, it didn't bother me because it just felt like getting into a favourite conversation with a beloved friend. But there are instances where things get repeated within the same book. Maybe that'll all get sorted out on publication? It did bring down the pace of an already slower episode in the series. The other instance is hidden by a spoiler tag.
Overall though, this was a great episode in a much loved series. I was actually reading Angel of the Overpass when this ARC came through, which obviously meant I abandoned that book to read this one. The only thing that can make me cheat on a Seanan McGuire book apparently is another Seanan McGuire book. Also shout out to my series favourites - the Aeslin mice. Hail!
Recommend the whole series.
March 5, 2024
Aftermarket Afterlife takes a bit to find it's stride, but once it does, it's phenomenal.
It's definitely time for Mary to get a POV, and it was great to have that here, especially after how opaque she often was in other stories. She got to be a rock through this story of a time where things were ramping up for the worst case scenarios -- this is a hard read, nearing the end of a long storyline and there are losses in it. The only downside of this is that I kind of wish there were two POVs in this one. Because Mary has her limits, and is called hither and yon constantly,w e miss a lot of scenes I really wanted to see (on the less spoilery side, Sally and James meeting again! I wish I could have seen that. There were others as well, but those are much bigger spoilers).
There is also a lot of exposition early on -- pretty much the whole family is together and we're not just as readers being reminded of who everyone is but getting Mary's personal extended history with them and their abilities and so on. But the plot kicks in earlier than in the previous novel and once it starts, the book becomes nearly impossible to put down. Really an excellent read, and one that doesn't pull its punches.
It's definitely time for Mary to get a POV, and it was great to have that here, especially after how opaque she often was in other stories. She got to be a rock through this story of a time where things were ramping up for the worst case scenarios -- this is a hard read, nearing the end of a long storyline and there are losses in it. The only downside of this is that I kind of wish there were two POVs in this one. Because Mary has her limits, and is called hither and yon constantly,w e miss a lot of scenes I really wanted to see (on the less spoilery side, Sally and James meeting again! I wish I could have seen that. There were others as well, but those are much bigger spoilers).
There is also a lot of exposition early on -- pretty much the whole family is together and we're not just as readers being reminded of who everyone is but getting Mary's personal extended history with them and their abilities and so on. But the plot kicks in earlier than in the previous novel and once it starts, the book becomes nearly impossible to put down. Really an excellent read, and one that doesn't pull its punches.
June 7, 2024
I love Seanan McGuire’s work. LOVE!
And this book so desperately needs an editor, I couldn’t finish it.
There’s far too much explaining. I decided to put the book down when I caught myself cutting out entire paragraphs in my head, explaining it to the author: “if you didn’t start on this explanation, new readers won’t miss anything that adds to this particular plot, and people who have read all the books up to this point won’t have to suffer a tedious, rattled off recap of something that made a good novel.”
I’m noticing something fairly tragic: when an author becomes popular and is on book 13 of a Hugo award nominated series, the editing seems to fall off.
Why? Does no one want to cut one single precious word? Does no one want to potentially offend the author?
It’s a travesty, and I wish someone would be brave enough to speak UP and edit the damned books, no matter how popular someone is.
I love these characters by now, and yet I couldn’t force myself to finish this book.
It was boring. It was tedious. It was dry, and lacking in the sense of wonder and vitality that are so breathtaking in the rest of the books.
Very disappointed.
The author is so worth reading. Just don’t start with this one, I’m sad to say.
And this book so desperately needs an editor, I couldn’t finish it.
There’s far too much explaining. I decided to put the book down when I caught myself cutting out entire paragraphs in my head, explaining it to the author: “if you didn’t start on this explanation, new readers won’t miss anything that adds to this particular plot, and people who have read all the books up to this point won’t have to suffer a tedious, rattled off recap of something that made a good novel.”
I’m noticing something fairly tragic: when an author becomes popular and is on book 13 of a Hugo award nominated series, the editing seems to fall off.
Why? Does no one want to cut one single precious word? Does no one want to potentially offend the author?
It’s a travesty, and I wish someone would be brave enough to speak UP and edit the damned books, no matter how popular someone is.
I love these characters by now, and yet I couldn’t force myself to finish this book.
It was boring. It was tedious. It was dry, and lacking in the sense of wonder and vitality that are so breathtaking in the rest of the books.
Very disappointed.
The author is so worth reading. Just don’t start with this one, I’m sad to say.
January 17, 2025
Well, this was...something.
McGuire is fantastically versatile, so of reading one of her series is knowing more or less what to expect, especially in terms of tone and themes. And this one was... oof. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it felt more like an October Daye book than an Incryptid book, in terms of how many time it made me just feel bad, and the verge of tears. I like the characters in Incryptid - that's part of the deal, and I like that most of the time, nothing terrible happens. Well, I did not see this book coming.
It's good, it's good reading, it's just more feels than expected. caveat emptor.
McGuire is fantastically versatile, so of reading one of her series is knowing more or less what to expect, especially in terms of tone and themes. And this one was... oof. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it felt more like an October Daye book than an Incryptid book, in terms of how many time it made me just feel bad, and the verge of tears. I like the characters in Incryptid - that's part of the deal, and I like that most of the time, nothing terrible happens. Well, I did not see this book coming.
It's good, it's good reading, it's just more feels than expected. caveat emptor.
March 18, 2024
This one just made me sad. I hate giving any author I really like a low star review, but this story just hurt me. I know this isn't a PNR, and I know that the characters aren't guaranteed a HEA, but when I've been given one, it just hurts when things go so terribly wrong. I was so bothered by it that it pretty much poisoned the rest of the book for me. I expect things to go badly in the novellas, and I can accept it. But the full length novels haven't really let me down like this one did. I may be done with the series and that just hurts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 23, 2024
Bawled my eyes out with this one. Seanan broke me not once, but twice. 🥺😭🥺
March 16, 2024
The exposition fairy has a strong presence in this one.
April 29, 2024
This series has a lot of characters and is getting really complicated.
February 21, 2024
I received an ARC through NetGalley - my review is voluntary and honest.
"I changed your diapers when you were a baby and I'm going to change them again when you're too old to remember who I am."
Aftermarket Afterlife raises the stakes to a level that I don't think we've seen in this series before. Most of this book felt like I was being ping-ponged between different family crises, which to be fair is probably how Mary feels. All of these people from Alice downward are Mary's kids, and she'll be damned if she ever lets them forget it.
So, this book was... chaotic. It's also very much the 13th book in a series - usually an Incryptid book focuses on one subset of the family, but this one connected everyone, and there were so many cameos from side characters from all the past plotlines that for once I was actually glad for the recaps that I'm usually annoyed by.
I loved seeing all the Consequences for past plotlines, but there were also downsides to this "preparing for war" book. Namely, I'm not really sure how much higher the stakes can go at this point, how much higher we can take this series before it feels like "we defeated God but then God's more powerful evil brother showed up".
I also loved that this was a Mary book, which meant some neat ghost adventures, starlight and all, and Mary dealing with her afterlife changing a major way after the crossroads disappeared. She has her family, but the Rules have changed, and in fact they are still changing, and she might not like the way they end up.
Still, another downside of all the adoptions and new kids is that, well... the family has grown too large. This book definitely deals with that too. Fucking ouch.
Overall, this was a difficult book to read, and it made me uncertain about my will to continue reading the series. But it still had enough things I loved that I'll probably find myself coming back anyway.
"I changed your diapers when you were a baby and I'm going to change them again when you're too old to remember who I am."
Aftermarket Afterlife raises the stakes to a level that I don't think we've seen in this series before. Most of this book felt like I was being ping-ponged between different family crises, which to be fair is probably how Mary feels. All of these people from Alice downward are Mary's kids, and she'll be damned if she ever lets them forget it.
So, this book was... chaotic. It's also very much the 13th book in a series - usually an Incryptid book focuses on one subset of the family, but this one connected everyone, and there were so many cameos from side characters from all the past plotlines that for once I was actually glad for the recaps that I'm usually annoyed by.
I loved seeing all the Consequences for past plotlines, but there were also downsides to this "preparing for war" book. Namely, I'm not really sure how much higher the stakes can go at this point, how much higher we can take this series before it feels like "we defeated God but then God's more powerful evil brother showed up".
I also loved that this was a Mary book, which meant some neat ghost adventures, starlight and all, and Mary dealing with her afterlife changing a major way after the crossroads disappeared. She has her family, but the Rules have changed, and in fact they are still changing, and she might not like the way they end up.
Still, another downside of all the adoptions and new kids is that, well... the family has grown too large. This book definitely deals with that too. Fucking ouch.
Overall, this was a difficult book to read, and it made me uncertain about my will to continue reading the series. But it still had enough things I loved that I'll probably find myself coming back anyway.
March 28, 2024
A Joyfully Jay review.
3.25 stars
This is the thirteenth book in Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series and it’s probably best to read this series in order. I, however, started here, so my review will be on this book as a standalone, rather than as a continuation of an ongoing series. And, I have to say, it didn’t quite work. In a long running series, you develop fondness for the characters (especially if you’ve been keeping up with them for over a dozen books) and when one of them falls in love, or wins against a big bad — or loses a fight or dies — the emotional beats hit and hit hard. But as someone unfamiliar with these characters, it all just comes across as a well-crafted book with too many characters and a diffuse plot.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
3.25 stars
This is the thirteenth book in Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series and it’s probably best to read this series in order. I, however, started here, so my review will be on this book as a standalone, rather than as a continuation of an ongoing series. And, I have to say, it didn’t quite work. In a long running series, you develop fondness for the characters (especially if you’ve been keeping up with them for over a dozen books) and when one of them falls in love, or wins against a big bad — or loses a fight or dies — the emotional beats hit and hit hard. But as someone unfamiliar with these characters, it all just comes across as a well-crafted book with too many characters and a diffuse plot.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
March 4, 2024
*Source* Publisher
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 4.0
*Thoughts*
Aftermarket Afterlife, by Seanan McGuire, is the 13th installment in the author's InCryptid series. The InCryptid series is set in a world where parallel evolution and dimensional rifts have resulted in humans sharing the planet with multiple species of cryptids capable of passing for human, among many other differences and divergences. 84 years ago, 16-year-old Mary Grace Dunlavy had an unfortunate accident that would send her to becoming a crossroads ghost. A ghost who would speak for the people with the Crossroads bargains with.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
https://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/20...
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Rating* 4.0
*Thoughts*
Aftermarket Afterlife, by Seanan McGuire, is the 13th installment in the author's InCryptid series. The InCryptid series is set in a world where parallel evolution and dimensional rifts have resulted in humans sharing the planet with multiple species of cryptids capable of passing for human, among many other differences and divergences. 84 years ago, 16-year-old Mary Grace Dunlavy had an unfortunate accident that would send her to becoming a crossroads ghost. A ghost who would speak for the people with the Crossroads bargains with.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
https://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/20...
March 20, 2024
I knew this would devastate me and I was right. Broke my heart in the best of ways. I appreciated the way things jumped around as Mary did - it makes complete sense even as I wanted to see between the cracks. This was Mary’s story and she told it her way; like each narrator in this series, I loved her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2024
Told from Mary the Babysitting Ghosts perspective we meet some of the next generation of the Pryce/Heeler family and continue the issue with the Convent of Saint George.
January 10, 2025
So no, I had no idea this was the 13th installment in a series. Nevertheless, I found it utterly enjoyable, and even though I wish I knew more about the Prices before getting started, that’s totally on me. The author does a fantastic job at intertwining so many family members, and I find Mary to be a really interesting piece connecting all of them.
February 18, 2025
I couldn't finish it.
January 3, 2025
The joy of a long running series is the comfort and familiarity of the characters and setting. I love this world, populated by all sorts of different monsters and people trying to do the best they can. It scratches the same itch Buffy did back in the day. Learning more about Mary was delightful, and I'm excited that the next book is also from her perspective. This is one of those series that I just automatically buy the new book each year, and I hope to be able to do so for many years to come.
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