Aftermarket Afterlife

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

The reviews get harder to keep spoiler free the further into a series we get. But I'll do my best!

Things I liked: This book is from the perspective of Mary Dunlavy, the ghost babysitter who has helped raise 3 generations of the Price family, and that combined with her ability to bounce between family members who call her, means she is uniquely placed to be a very effective narrator for this book and the events unfolding in it. McGuire continues to handle big emotions and hard conversations between her characters with her signature pragmatism and insight that I find to be so effective. And that's especially important since there are a lot of big feelings in this one.

Things I didn't like as much: Mostly that this was just a heavier book. Things ramp up with the Covenant in a big way, and this read was definitely not as fun or light-hearted as some other Incryptid books have felt. That doesn't mean it's not an excellent book, because I do think it's all very well written. It was just a much more emotional read. The other thing that was a little difficult is that bouncing back and forth between the ENTIRE family the way Mary is able to had me wishing I had reread some of the earlier books first, because I couldn't remember a few characters very well. That said, McGuire does a good job with building quick reminders of who and what her characters are into the narrative, so you always have enough info so as not to be completely lost.

I have always admired McGuire's ability to pull long plot arcs and threads together, and she's absolutely doing that in this book. If you've followed Incryptid this far, this book is what the last few books have been leading to, so buckle up! If you haven't read any Incryptid books, I might recommend starting somewhere earlier in the series first.