Reviews

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

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incandescentreads's review against another edition

2.0

Rating : 2 ⭐
All throughout this book, I kept feeling like too much of it was written to appease the critics. There was an attempt made to resolve some plotlines from previous books, but it didn't feel satisfying because there just wasn't enough time to explore them fully. I'll admit, I was critical of the lack of resolution between Sarah and Arthur in "Calculated Risks", and I felt the same when "Backpacking Through Bedlam" ended before the family could reunite. The author attempted to remedy all of this at once but it felt like too much for this one book to handle. Add to that the constant repetition and justification of every single move the main character made, and I got the impression that this was written way too defensively. It's like the author preemptively had to overexplain the logic behind every choice to shut up the critics. Once I started noticing it, it was impossible to ignore and it really got on my nerves. Aside from that, I thought the plot was fine and I liked getting a book from Mary's point of view. The character deaths were sad, but clearly the central characters of the series were not in actual danger of dying, because it would probably derail the plot of the series too much. I don't really know where this series will go from here.

lauralauralaura's review

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4.0

Exactly what I want and expect from this series. It feels like McGuire is coming to the end of this story sometime in the next 3-10 books. It does feel like they are getting darker as we go; I think this is the first book in the series where we lost a character that we knew. I am so curious how it all pans out. And mostly I just want more of the Aeslin mice.

siu_rose's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I enjoyed seeing so many characters coming together in one book. and it was interesting to get to know Mary and her powers and so on. I feel like some of her thoughts and attitudes got a little repetitive though. And taking the story as a whole, it felt a little slow; things that I expected to wrap up so that something else could happen didn’t wrap up until closer towards the end if at all.

This book was darker than past books in the series; I actually found the treatment of grief well done and thoughtful. I am NOT happy about a character death and sure, in part it’s because of the character, but as I have reflected on it, I also think it felt unnecessary and not all that useful to the plot besides showing hey! this situation is serious! people can die!

Content Warnings

eachuisce72's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

lumberjill314's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

okevamae's review against another edition

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5.0

In this installment of the InCryptid series, a whole lot of things come to a head all at once. And it’s not pretty. If you’ve been waiting for a shoe to drop on an inevitable plot development or a fraught conversation, you’ll probably find it here. The family takes some staggering losses and has to make some hard, morally dubious choices in order to survive.

Mary was the perfect POV for this story, and really, logistically, the only one that makes sense. It was also nice to finally get some more background on her story, and what exactly she is now that the crossroads are gone. Mary’s love for the family is palpable – they are literally the reason she exists.

The novella at the end... I can’t say whose POV it is and what it’s about without giving too much away, so I’ll just say that it takes place during Aftermarket Afterlife, and that you might need tissues.

Five stars! And very much wondering whose narration the next book is going to be.

Representation: LGBTQ+ characters, POC characters, disability rep

CW: mention of eating disorder, death and mourning, children in danger, mention of child death

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.