The Price family has been studying monsters for generations,
protecting them from the real world and vice versa. Then
along comes Verity Price who would rather ballroom dance
than follow in her family's footsteps. Yet she does, and now
she's in Manhattan and her quasi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca,
who is a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St.
George, tells her that his agency is coming to New York for
a possible purge on all of the cryptids. Now she must jump
in and do her best to keep the balance, all while trying to
discern whom she can and cannot trust. No one said it was
going to be easy.
There's so much fun packed into this series that I can't
begin to give it justice. There's a cuckoo, an oceanid, a
basilisk breeder, a bogeyman, a waheela, a therianthrope, a
gorgon and a dragon. That's not to mention the most awesome
and adorable group of mice you'll ever see who love to chant
hilarious phrases.
Seanan McGuire crafts some of the most
interesting characters I have ever read. Their origins are
so vastly imagined and just the idea of writing about so
many cryptids intrigues me. Worried about keeping up with so
many creatures? No worries. Ms. McGuire provides a "Price
Family Field Guide" at the end of the novel to help you keep
track of their identities (along with their binomial names
for us biology nerds). There's also a drawn out Price Family
Tree and, yep, an awesome playlist that includes Oingo
Boingo (thus sealing my love and devotion for Seanan).
Another thing I adore? The main characters name -- Verity.
She is great beyond her name, though, and being a
cryptozoologist, and a ballroom dancer, natch, her life is a
complex and convoluted journey, which makes for a wonderful,
rich character.
MIDNIGHT BLUE-LIGHT SPECIAL is hands-down another favorite
of mine. Add it to your
collection and see for yourself why I could rave about it
all day long.
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.
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