That Ain't Witchcraft

2.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews

Summary
Antimony Price made a deal with the crossroads to keep herself and her lover alive, at the cost of her magic. Now, she has a chance to deal with the crossroads again - but this time on her own terms.

Review
I've now sampled three of Seanan McGuire's main series: October Daye, Wayward Children, and now InCryptid, and I think it's fair to say her writing isn't for me. That's not to say she's not a good writer; the prose is smooth and the characters relatively engaging. However, both the October Daye book and this one appear to be sticking pretty closely to a formula, and I lean toward saying it's the same formula, just in a different setting.

October Daye and Antimony Price share quite a few characteristics – strong, independent, sardonic, tough, and beloved by all, despite to all appearances being something of a pain. Both are fairly self-centered and entitled. Both have a good sense of humor. They both limit their independence in odd ways – Antimony is fiercely independent and capable, but likes that her boyfriend's threatens to rip people's heads off if they hurt her; October had something a bit similar. I didn't find that appealing.

While the plot of That Ain't Witchcraft moves forward fairly smoothly at the start, it turns into a hopeless muddle once it approaches the central conflict – how to deal with crossroads deals. While the concept is good, I couldn't make heads or tails of the heroes' plan. It was apparently structured entirely for authorial convenience, and simply didn't make any sense; for one thing, much of the detail was simply left out, and we were left with, “The heroes will prevail, because.” Spoiler – they do.

In the end, the book left me with little trace of its passage. I read it, it passed some time, I likely won't think of it again. The concepts were good, but the approach too formulaic to be interesting, the plotting too sketchy to be credible. I believe I have one more McGuire book on my shelf, but I don't see coming to it any time soon.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I didn't know these woods. I'd never been to Maine before, and [didn't have any of the family bestiaries to prepare me for what I might find. There are cryptids everywhere in the world, which only makes sense, when you consider “cryptid” means “science doesn‘t know about it yet.” New species are discovered every year, brought into the scientific fold and lifted out of cryptozoological obscurity. These days the word mostly gets used to mean the big stuff some people say is real and other people say is a big hoax, like Bigfeet, unicorns, and the occasional giant snake.

(Always assume the giant snakes are real. The alternative is finding yourself being slowly digested in the belly of something you didn't want to admit existed, and while I'm as fond of healthy skepticism as the next girl, I'm a lot more fond of continuing to have my original skin. As in, the one I was born with, not the one the snake has left me with after a little recreational swallowing me whole.)

Discount Armageddon

Magic for Nothing

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Another fantastic addition to a fun series. I'm so happy we've had three books of Annie – it has been a great journey. I think of the three siblings, Annie is my favorite.
Honestly, these books have a great mix of fantasy while still feeling like real life and there continue to be more and more supernatural creatures which is astounding. This is a world that is easy to get swept up in.

I'm not a total fan of how things concluded in this one- it got a bit complicated, but on the whole I think it worked out well. I do like how we now have potential how other main characters in the future.
I was hoping there would be more Fern, it felt like her character hot pushed to the side in this book, since there wasn't much for her to do. I did like how positive Sam and Annie's relationship is. It is hard because we don't have a chance to see Annie support Sam, but there is love, respect, and patience which hints that no matter what they will be there for each other.

The novella was sweet and I'm we got to see more of Sarah. I have missed interactions with her. I hope she gets a bigger role in future books.

Really looking forward to more additions to this series.