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kathydavie's review
4.0
A novella, 5.2, in the InCryptid urban fantasy series and revolving around the rogue Price family. The focus is on Antimony Price who lives in Portland.
If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the InCryptid books on my website.
My Take
There’s a good bit of back history to start, along with Annie’s going on about how her various chosen activities have advanced her battle skills. There’s also an inside look at how difficult it’s been for the Prices to hide their existence. Antimony, Alex, and Verity have all been stunted by this need in their pursuit of their interests.
McGuire also provides more information about the Aeslin mice. I do wonder why the Aeslin mice don’t recognize Antimony as a Priestess.
McGuire uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Annie’s perspective, and I gotta say Annie does make some good points about how unlikely it was that someone from the Covenant would note those cheekbones or how likely it was for someone to recognize Verity in any of those many competitions.
Oh, meow, Annie does go on at length on why she hates her sister, Verity. Having to take her along on her first mission does give McGuire the opportunity to exploit that antagonism, lol. Oh, sisters . . .
I’m almost as frustrated as Annie that Sarah and Artie don’t recognize their own feelings for each other.
Lolol, the four take some Aeslin mice with them, and when they get in the car Sarah turns on a classic rock station — and “the collected mice cheered again and some of them began to boogie”.
Annie continues with that reveal from Calculated Risks, 10, about why the Prices are resistant to cuckoo (and incubus) influences.
It’s a novella of sibling anger, evolving romance, and the honesty and honor of Price family values when it comes to cryptids.
A good read.
The Story
There’s a cryptid drowning men on the West Coast, and Annie is desperate to head up a mission to keep cryptid existence a secret and prevent more murders. True, she is young . . . and she is so angry that Aunt Jane is forcing her to take Verity.
It’s only on the promise that Verity won’t try to take over that Annie finally agrees.
The Characters
The nerdy Antimony “Annie” is the youngest in the Kevin and Evelyn Price family. Verity, a.k.a. Valerie Pryor, is the oldest daughter, a competitive dancer with whom Annie has an acrimonious relationship. Alex is their brother, a cryptozoologist.
Artie Harrington, half-human, half-Lilu (incubus) and all empath, prefers life in the basement to being out in the world. Elsie, a succubus and telepathic, is gay. Jane Price Harrington is their human mother; Thomas, a Lilu, their father. Grandma is the dimension-trotting Alice Price hunting for her missing husband, Thomas. Aunt Mary Dunlavy was a crossroads ghost before Alice was born and her babysitter after.
The Aeslin mice have an eidetic memory and believe the Price-Healys are their gods. Somehow they manage to speak in Capital Letters.
The easily distracted Sarah Zellaby is a telepathic ambush predator, a cuckoo, one of two in the world with a moral center — who can’t recognize faces, and their cousin.
The Emerald City Comic Con is . . .
. . . taking place in Seattle.
The Covenant of St George is . . .
. . . a bigoted, hate-filled organization out to kill anyone they deem not human. The Prices rebelled several generations ago and ran for America.
Mrs Shindell had been Annie’s biology teacher. Cryptid indicates something that is unknown to science. Danny is a Bigfoot.
The Cover and Title
The title is all about Annie “Singing the Comic-Con Blues”, a nerd convention she desperately wants to attend but would rather not have Verity along.
If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the InCryptid books on my website.
My Take
There’s a good bit of back history to start, along with Annie’s going on about how her various chosen activities have advanced her battle skills. There’s also an inside look at how difficult it’s been for the Prices to hide their existence. Antimony, Alex, and Verity have all been stunted by this need in their pursuit of their interests.
McGuire also provides more information about the Aeslin mice. I do wonder why the Aeslin mice don’t recognize Antimony as a Priestess.
McGuire uses first person protagonist point-of-view from Annie’s perspective, and I gotta say Annie does make some good points about how unlikely it was that someone from the Covenant would note those cheekbones or how likely it was for someone to recognize Verity in any of those many competitions.
Oh, meow, Annie does go on at length on why she hates her sister, Verity. Having to take her along on her first mission does give McGuire the opportunity to exploit that antagonism, lol. Oh, sisters . . .
I’m almost as frustrated as Annie that Sarah and Artie don’t recognize their own feelings for each other.
Lolol, the four take some Aeslin mice with them, and when they get in the car Sarah turns on a classic rock station — and “the collected mice cheered again and some of them began to boogie”.
Annie continues with that reveal from Calculated Risks, 10, about why the Prices are resistant to cuckoo (and incubus) influences.
It’s a novella of sibling anger, evolving romance, and the honesty and honor of Price family values when it comes to cryptids.
A good read.
The Story
There’s a cryptid drowning men on the West Coast, and Annie is desperate to head up a mission to keep cryptid existence a secret and prevent more murders. True, she is young . . . and she is so angry that Aunt Jane is forcing her to take Verity.
It’s only on the promise that Verity won’t try to take over that Annie finally agrees.
The Characters
The nerdy Antimony “Annie” is the youngest in the Kevin and Evelyn Price family. Verity, a.k.a. Valerie Pryor, is the oldest daughter, a competitive dancer with whom Annie has an acrimonious relationship. Alex is their brother, a cryptozoologist.
Artie Harrington, half-human, half-Lilu (incubus) and all empath, prefers life in the basement to being out in the world. Elsie, a succubus and telepathic, is gay. Jane Price Harrington is their human mother; Thomas, a Lilu, their father. Grandma is the dimension-trotting Alice Price hunting for her missing husband, Thomas. Aunt Mary Dunlavy was a crossroads ghost before Alice was born and her babysitter after.
The Aeslin mice have an eidetic memory and believe the Price-Healys are their gods. Somehow they manage to speak in Capital Letters.
The easily distracted Sarah Zellaby is a telepathic ambush predator, a cuckoo, one of two in the world with a moral center — who can’t recognize faces, and their cousin.
The Emerald City Comic Con is . . .
. . . taking place in Seattle.
The Covenant of St George is . . .
. . . a bigoted, hate-filled organization out to kill anyone they deem not human. The Prices rebelled several generations ago and ran for America.
Mrs Shindell had been Annie’s biology teacher. Cryptid indicates something that is unknown to science. Danny is a Bigfoot.
The Cover and Title
The title is all about Annie “Singing the Comic-Con Blues”, a nerd convention she desperately wants to attend but would rather not have Verity along.
hollygraph's review
2.0
I did not see the point of this story except to show how insufferable Annie is.
setauuta's review
4.0
It's really interesting to see Verity through Antimony's eyes, especially in a setting like Comic-Con. I would have loved for the story to go a little longer so I could see how things resolved, but it was still a solid bit of storytelling.
quirkycatsfatstacks's review against another edition
4.0
Singing The Comic-Con Blues is included at the end of Calculated Risks, the most recent InCryptid novel by Seanan McGuire. As you might guess from the title, this is a fun and light story, especially in comparison to everything that Sarah just went through.
This short features (as you can probably guess) Annie, Sarah, and Artie, and is set nine years before the events that take place in another dimension. It makes an excellent contrast, and really gets us back into the fun and quirky parts of the Price life. It also makes me want to go and read the rest of the short stories, in hopes of getting more moments like these.
Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
This short features (as you can probably guess) Annie, Sarah, and Artie, and is set nine years before the events that take place in another dimension. It makes an excellent contrast, and really gets us back into the fun and quirky parts of the Price life. It also makes me want to go and read the rest of the short stories, in hopes of getting more moments like these.
Check out more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
detailsandtales's review against another edition
3.0
This story was included as a bonus novella at the end of Calculated Risks, and tells a story that's referred to in passing in the novel but not important to the novel. I enjoyed spending time with the characters in this story. I felt, however, that the story didn't live up to its initial promise. Based on the title of the story and the opening paragraphs, I went into the story thinking it would mostly be about addressing a cryptid problem at a comic-con. Instead, it was mostly about navigating family issues in order to get to the con in the first place, which meant my enjoyment was tempered by the fact that I kept waiting for the "real" story to start.
booksthatburn's review against another edition
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
This was a little about Comic-Con and a lot about Antimony's relationship with Verity. It was nice to see them together for more than a brief scene, even if most of it was tense with Antimony reacting to the idea of Verity as much as the actual person.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death
TW for Harry Potter mention.
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