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poisonenvy's review
4.0
3.5.
Good use of space - this was a really solid story told in just 14 pages. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I will admit that I'm a little tired of the love/hate relationship dynamic though (I like it sometimes, but we've already seen it with Dominic and Verity in Discount Armageddon, and I'll be surprised if it's not the same with Alice and Thomas, and it would be nice to have a different relationship dynamic).
But alas. What can you do?
Good use of space - this was a really solid story told in just 14 pages. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I will admit that I'm a little tired of the love/hate relationship dynamic though (I like it sometimes, but we've already seen it with Dominic and Verity in Discount Armageddon, and I'll be surprised if it's not the same with Alice and Thomas, and it would be nice to have a different relationship dynamic).
But alas. What can you do?
bookfessional's review
3.0
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
0.02 - One Hell of a Ride
3.5 stars
Jonathan Healy is traveling to his family home in Michigan via train with a Miss Frances Brown, the former star performer of a circus (former b/c Jonathan's dispatching of a Questing Beast left her without a circus in which to star). On the way, the train tears a hole in "reality's sock," taking them from their own America to an underworld dimension filled with hungry imps that enjoy surprised and hapless travelers as snacks.
Jonathan and Fran battle their way from one end of the train to the other, defending themselves and the few survivors they encounter with silver as they go, their ultimate goal to assist the conductor (should he still live) in achieving the momentum that will return them to their home world.
The conductor is both alive and (somewhat arbitrarily) a gorgon.
It is made clear that the railroad men know of the potential for tearing a hole into a parallel dimension but determined it more cost efficient to pay off survivors than take precautionary measures, such as outfitting the train cars with silver.
Damn the man.
Overall, a decent short, but throwing us into the middle of Jonathan and Fran's acquaintance leaves something to be desired.
0.02 - One Hell of a Ride
3.5 stars
Jonathan Healy is traveling to his family home in Michigan via train with a Miss Frances Brown, the former star performer of a circus (former b/c Jonathan's dispatching of a Questing Beast left her without a circus in which to star). On the way, the train tears a hole in "reality's sock," taking them from their own America to an underworld dimension filled with hungry imps that enjoy surprised and hapless travelers as snacks.
Jonathan and Fran battle their way from one end of the train to the other, defending themselves and the few survivors they encounter with silver as they go, their ultimate goal to assist the conductor (should he still live) in achieving the momentum that will return them to their home world.
The conductor is both alive and (somewhat arbitrarily) a gorgon.
It is made clear that the railroad men know of the potential for tearing a hole into a parallel dimension but determined it more cost efficient to pay off survivors than take precautionary measures, such as outfitting the train cars with silver.
Damn the man.
Overall, a decent short, but throwing us into the middle of Jonathan and Fran's acquaintance leaves something to be desired.
piratenami's review
4.0
A fun preview of McGuire's upcoming InCryptid series. Loved the characters and banter, looking forward to the first book in March. My only real complaint is that there were some formatting errors in the PDF version.
urlphantomhive's review
3.0
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
The InCryptid series contains a lot of free stories that you can download from the author's website. Some short stories, which have been published in anthology are not available, and these I will (most likely) not be reviewing.
So, #0.01 to #0.14 deal with Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown (the great-grandparents of Verity) and their adventures. In this story I felt like I was really missing something, not having read the very first one. However, even on it's own it was an amusing and super fast read. There are a lot more stories to come in this series-in-a-series, and since they're all short, I will probably read them (almost) back to back.
The InCryptid series contains a lot of free stories that you can download from the author's website. Some short stories, which have been published in anthology are not available, and these I will (most likely) not be reviewing.
So, #0.01 to #0.14 deal with Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown (the great-grandparents of Verity) and their adventures. In this story I felt like I was really missing something, not having read the very first one. However, even on it's own it was an amusing and super fast read. There are a lot more stories to come in this series-in-a-series, and since they're all short, I will probably read them (almost) back to back.
nerdywerewolf's review
5.0
"Frances Brown, you are definitely unusual."
"I'm taking that as a compliment"
A cute short story featuring Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown. It takes place directly after they met and features imps and a train ride to hell.
"I'm taking that as a compliment"
A cute short story featuring Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown. It takes place directly after they met and features imps and a train ride to hell.
jennybeastie's review
3.0
How delightful that Seanan Maguire offers these background short stories on her website for free -- it's a really nice way to get introduced to the previous family members that we know of only by repute. Fast paced, satisfying.
booksthatburn's review
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, and Gun violence
Minor: Ableism
lpcoolgirl's review
5.0
Fantastic short read, loved and enjoyed it so much, the idea that trains popped through the tears between realities or realms, and yeah, fascinating story!
nancyotoole's review
3.0
I'm a big fan of Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, so while I impatiently wait for the third book, I decided to check out some of the short fiction. One Hell of a Ride continues the focus on family by going back a couple generations in the Price/Healy family tree. The focus here is on Jonathan Healy who finds himself on a train ride to hell, and has to find a way to survive with the help of the beautiful spitfire Frances Brown. The story, which can be found for free on McGuire's website, is a short fun ride that shows us a glimpse Verity and Alex's ancestors. If I had one complaint it's that the ending is abrupt and anti climatic, but for a free story, it's certainly worth your time. I will be reading more InCryptid shorts in the future.
princess_starr's review
3.0
Problem that I should have really learned by now: don’t read the prequels before reading the main stories proper. Which isn’t to say that this turned me off InCryptid, but going into the prequel without fully understanding the Price family history may improve a reread. (Yeah, I may have to do a mass reread of all the short stories at one point.)
That said, I did like this, despite being unintroduced to the Price family to begin with and having not read the prior story. (Couldn’t find it on McGuire’s website.) I loved the twist on the Hellbound train legends, by diverting this specific train through a hell dimension and dealing with territory imps. I liked Frances and Jonathan’s banter, and they’re both really fun characters. (I kinda can’t wait to see the bigger impact that they have in the larger InCryptid verse with these.) I think that it would have helped to get more background on how Frances ended up with Jonathan in the first place, but this is still a fun, quick little read. (Although you may want to at least read Discount Armageddon first. It helps.)
That said, I did like this, despite being unintroduced to the Price family to begin with and having not read the prior story. (Couldn’t find it on McGuire’s website.) I loved the twist on the Hellbound train legends, by diverting this specific train through a hell dimension and dealing with territory imps. I liked Frances and Jonathan’s banter, and they’re both really fun characters. (I kinda can’t wait to see the bigger impact that they have in the larger InCryptid verse with these.) I think that it would have helped to get more background on how Frances ended up with Jonathan in the first place, but this is still a fun, quick little read. (Although you may want to at least read Discount Armageddon first. It helps.)