Backpacking through Bedlam (Incryptid #12)

Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire

Alice and Thomas are back! But how does Happily-Ever-After work when you're a sorcerer and a famously stubborn Price who have been separated by the Crossroads for 50 years and you still need to work together to get 100+ dimensional refugees to a safe place before you can breathe easy? Not to mention the ongoing war with the Covenant back on earth? Things are complicated. Good - great even - but very complicated.

With Alice and Thomas starting to unpack 50 years of baggage amidst more chaos (because we wouldn't want them getting too comfy or anything), we get a good amount of Alice's internal dialogue this book. One of the things I really love about the InCryptid books is how matter-of-fact and real the relationships are. While everyone is dimension-hopping and figuring out how to save people, protect cryptids and keep the Covenant at bay, they are also having very real, human moments. Jealousy, frustration, loyalty, love, worry and joy. I legitimately enjoy when one of the characters quickly talks themselves through a difficult internal feeling, and we get some really great moments like that in Backpacking through Bedlam.

I'm also learning that long series arcs are one of McGuire's real strengths. Both this series and the October Daye series are at points where some BIG stuff is happening and I love the way she's built them up and things are starting to play out. It really is wonderful when you, as a reader, can trust an author to take you on a long journey, and to do it well. This series has great payoff so far, and there are definitely hints of longer threads still in the works that I can't wait to see through.

Last note, the novella at the end is especially lovely if you, like me, are a fan of the Aeslin mice. We get some more behind-the-scenes glimpses into their lives and social structures, and it was just delightful.