Token of Darkness by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Token of Darkness is really just a whatever story. Although listed as a Den of Shadows book, it's pretty well divorced from the rest of the series. There are zero links back to any characters or settings. The only thing it has in common with the rest of the Den of Shadows is the world it inhabits. It doesn't even really feel like a Den of Shadows book, if that makes sense. Like... the feeling I get picking up any of the other books just isn't there with this one.

It was kind of fun getting to see how human sorcerers (those not born with innate magic) dealt with magic and the supernatural in this world. Kind of. It wasn't at all fleshed out. Elementals are apparently a thing. They can be summoned and maybe controlled but... eh. Human telepaths are also a thing... which I think we kind of knew but... again, eh.

Token of Darkness I guess satisfactorily ends, but really feels more like a petering out, which I never enjoy. I'm really not sure what, if anything, is going to end up happening with Cooper and Samantha. It's all up in the air and just... more eh.

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

Well this was fun. I somehow skipped Aftermarket Afterlife and didn't realize until after I'd written my review of Installment Immortality... which means I had some of the bones of Aftermarket Afterlife already in my head as I was reading. I knew about Jane and the Covenant plan and essentially how things worked out, I just didn't have the details. Getting those details was, as usual with McGuire's writing, quite the ride.

Aftermarket Afterlife captures the chaos around reunions, death, and danger among a family that's part biological and part found and very much spread out. Mary's the perfect vehicle for that. I cannot imagine how she managed to do some of that stuff and serve the Crossroads at the same time before Annie put the anima mundi back in charge. Just the insanity of bouncing between family members... whew. I could never.

I definitely cried during part of this book, though it wasn't exactly a part that should probably have had tears involved... I dunno. I'm a sucker for community coming together and honestly, the big family Zoom-call did it. Just at the beginning of the main plot, go figure. Aftermarket Afterlife is truly an ensemble piece that kind of felt like a finale (though obviously I knew it wasn't). I loved getting to see the disparate groups of Price family members just doing their thing, for the most part.

I only have a couple more notes. Leonard Cunningham was giving me big Gaston (Disney's Beauty and the Beast ) vibes. I could definitely hear Annie rolling her eyes at him. The further world-building of the Twilight and ghost-y stuff was kind of fun. Love me some world-building. But yeah. Aftermarket Afterlife was definitely solid and a good read.

Favorite Lines

"Torturing racists is a moral obligation," - Sally Price

 

"Yeah, no. Forgiveness isn't an obligation. It doesn't get to be. You forgive someone when you want to, or when the anger gets too heavy yo carry around anymore. No one gets to tell you it's time. Time may never come." - Rose Marshall

 

"Saying 'sorry' isn't like casting a magic spell. Even if you do it with all the sincerity in the world, it doesn't fix the things you broke. It doesn't undo what you did." - Jane Harrington-Price

 

"No one chooses who their parents are going to be, or what species they're going to be born as. People are just people. It's what they do that matters, not how they're born." - Mary Dunlavy

 

    "What have I told you about throwing knives at everything that startles you?" I asked.

     "That it's antisocial and doesn't make me a very good neighbor," she replied.

     "And what did you just do?"

     "Threw a knife at my babysitter." - Mary Dunlavy & Antimony "Annie" Price

"Dreaming of You in Freefall"

Honestly a very fun novella, despite Verity's grieving. Well... also because of it. The image of a dragon offering a hug and getting covered in snot is funny. Lots of dragon stuff plus Verity being a badass, definitely worth the read.

Installment Immortality by Seanan McGuire

Well... I'm shook. I apparently missed an InCryptid book. It doesn't quite matter, I don't think. I read Installment Immortality thinking it was #13 and there's enough retreading of backstory that it felt like I'd read it... aaaaahhhhhhhhhh. I'm facepalming so hard right now. Just ordered Aftermarket Afterlife. Anyway... here's my review of Installment Immortality. Enjoy.

 

So, although I am definitely more into the Cryptid side of the Incryptid series, I do enjoy the occasional dip into the ghostly side. Mary’s been an interesting character, even moreso now, I think, that the Crossroads are gone. I really like that there are so many different kinds of ghosts, which I’m sure we knew, but I honestly kind of forgot. It’s been a while since the last Incryptid book, so my memory’s a bit… holy. Lol.

I like that we got more of the Harrington-Price branch of the family. Elsie’s quite fun and I liked getting a peek at how Arthur’s doing… not well, apparently, but I feel like that’s more a function of him being stuck around people who knew him as Artie than anything else. Arthur needs to figure out how to get out more and figure out who he is despite his inserted Artie memories, in my opinion. It was also interesting to see how they’re handing the Aeslin mice situation. I’m not sure we’d have gotten much of the mice this book anyway, but I did sort of miss them.

Installment Immortality was fun. I like Mary. I like seeing her interact with different members of the family and the ghost community as well as other Cryptids who have heard of her.

Last thing: The Covenant really just needs to give up the ghost, so to speak. If what Heitor told Mary was true, they shouldn’t be a problem for the Price’s much longer… and good riddance, honestly.

Favorite Lines 

"Sexism can help you narrow the field, when you know how to apply it." - Mary Dunlavy

"She'll figure out where she wants to point it sooner or later, and then a lot of shit is going to be on fire. Metaphorically. Actual fir is Antimony's job." - Aeslin Mouse

"Annie's more than moderately terrifying," I said. "She's probably the culmination of all the traits the Covenant was breeding for when they introduced your grandmother's grandparents." - Mary Dunlavy 

"Hatred of bedbugs is the unifying factor of all sapient life," - Phee

"Original sin isn't real. There's only so much time you have to spend apologizing for the crimes of people you never knew. At the end of the day, you're only really responsible for yourself." - Enid Healy

“Mourner’s Waltz”

This was really cute. I’m glad Verity has friends to help care for her and her children. Malena was a nice surprise. She’s a fun character.

Favorite Lines

"Always take care of the living before you take care of the dead, and if you aren't sure which category someone falls into, always take care of the most people you possibly can." - Verity Price

"We've allowed you to wallow in grieving for this long because you're a gestating mammal, and gestating mammals are irrational. William said so." - Candice

Lost Souls by Kelley Armstrong

So, the main story line of Lost Souls gets and A+ from me. The mystery is a good one, folding in possibly unknown lore with the Fae stuff. I like how it went, I like how it was resolved.

However, I honestly found Gabriel's treading or re-treading of his insecurities involving Olivia really quite tedious. I get that he didn't have a great childhood. I get that he didn't learn how to make friends. I get that Olivia is literally the first relationship of any kind he's had to forge by himself. Fantastic. I wanted him to tell her all of that as a way of explaining the awkwardness that tends to happen between them from his end. I know she knows about Gabriel's horrible childhood at this point, but I'm not sure she knows or even thinks about what that might have truly done to his social skills. Some sort of explanation from him would have done wonders, I think.

I don't particularly enjoy yelling at a book or rolling my eyes over the utter lack of communication going on between characters. Gabriel is a very insular character and it's ridiculously frustrating to "watch," even if the rest of the story is pretty good.

Favorite Line

"He's a matagot. He understands me just fine."

     "He's also a cat. Which means he doesn't care." - Patrick and Grace