THAT AIN’T WITCHCRAFT – Seanan McGuire

Well, yes. If it’s written by Seanan McGuire (or her pseudonym Mira Grant), I’m going to read it, and most likely, I’m going to like it.

Antimony (Annie) Price is part of the eccentric cryptozoologist Price family who work to protect the creatures of the magical world as they live secretly among humans. She’s always had family to support her, but now she is running for her life (litrally) and calling upon acquaintances and associates whom she has met through her travels. She manages to pull together a small squad: a jink, a fūri, a ghost, and a sylph, and she holes up in a small community in rural Maine.

The Covenant of Saint George is a world-wide organization set to hunt and kill those creatures which the Price family are trying to protect, and so the threat of their finding Antimony s always present. But Antimony has a bigger problem – the Crossroads wants to claim its fee from the bargain it struck. The Crossroads wants Annie to kill James Smith because she owes the Crossroads a favor.

I really enjoy this InCryptid series. The world that McGuire has imagined and created is immense and reasonable and filled with so many wonderful, unique characters. According to a note from McGuire in the book, this is the last Antimony Price novel, but there will be more InCryptid books (in fact, as I write this, I believe I have the next one on my Kindle).

I believe that Seanan McGuire is one of the finest urban fantasy writers currently publishing. She knows how to build a story with plenty of action and intrigue, with plot points unfolding as you read. Her characters are really fun to read and even her minor characters pop off the page as real. Even though we’re in a magical world it feels as though we’re peeking in on a real event.

If you are new to the series, you really should go back and read the books from the start to get a better understanding of the characters and the world. Plus, once you read this, you’ll want to go back and read them all anyway, so you might as well start from there.

There is a short story at the end of the book, “The Measure of a Monster,” which is really quite excellent.

Looking for a good book? That Ain’t Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire is the 8th book in the InCryptid series, and is a heck of a fun read.