Tricks for Free

InCryptid, Book 7

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Emily Bauer

The seventh book in the funny and fast-paced InCryptid urban fantasy series returns to the mishaps of the Price family, eccentric cryptozoologists who safeguard the world of magical creatures living in secret among humans.

Penance, noun:
1. Punishment for past actions.
2. An attempt to pay for what can't be bought.
3. See also "exile."

Antimony Price is on the run. With the Covenant on her tail and her family still in danger, she needs to get far, far away from anyone who might recognize her - including her own mice. For the first time in a long time, a Price is flying without a safety net. Where do you go when you need to disappear into a crowd without worrying about attracting attention? An amusement park, of course.

Some people would call Lowryland the amusement park. It's one of the largest in Florida, the keystone of the Lowry entertainment empire...but for Annie, it's a place to hide. She's just trying to keep her head down long enough to come up with a plan that will get her home without getting anyone killed. No small order when she's rooming with gorgons and sylphs, trying to placate frustrated ghosts, and rushing to get to work on time.

Then the accidents begin. The discovery of a dead man brings Annie to the attention of the secret cabal of magic users running Lowryland from behind the scenes. They want the fire that sleeps in her fingers. They want her on their side. They want to help her - although their help, like everything else, comes with a price.

No plan. Minimal backup. No way out. Annie's about to get a crash course in the reality behind the pretty facade. If she's lucky, she'll survive the experience.

©2018 Seanan McGuire (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Good series

Another enjoyable entry in the series, this one again focusing on Antimony Price. But, sadly, the mice do not make any appearance whatsever. Derby girls, on the other hand, do.

Annie grew up!

Wasn't a big fan of Antimony in earlier works- just a little too realistic as a teenager (whiny, resentful, etc) but she's much more likable in this book. The crew she puts together is fun, and it's a great romp through an amusement park.

One warning: the audio version does not have the Aeslin Mice novella that the ebook version has, so if you want it too you'll have to buy the ebook. I added a question to the authors blog asking if audio buyers can get it another way, so check there to see if Ms McGuire answers.

Really enjoying this series

The narrator is well matched with the material. Enjoy the world and characters. Will continue to purchase. Like that plot moves right along and does not get bogged down in too much romance or exposition.

Great series!

I am always amazed at the creativity and scope of Seanan's work! This series is fascinating and there's always something new. This series is one of my favs and I've pretty much read them all (even under M.K. Grant). Lots of unique situations. Re-readable and always well read. Good for YA and adults!

Great piece of fast fiction.

Lighthearted and easy to listen to. It’s a great book to just enjoy while working out or gardening.

Great entry in the series /light hearted amusement

This is the second in the Annie books of this series. You really should have read Money for nothing first. That being said I really liked the behind the scenes look at an amusement park. I always wondered what it would be like to work at Disneyland. I wish someone would build Lowery land now so I could go. Can’t wait to see what Annie gets up to next.

Average at best

I have to be honest I am not the biggest fan of McGuire. The last book I read of her’s was InCryptids 4 which I really didn’t like and since I’ve had more misses than hits with this author I didn’t think I’d ever listen to her again. I really wish I would have stuck with that. However when this book and the previous in the series came up for sale for $5 a little while ago I couldn’t resist. The previous book was pretty good and so I felt no qualms picking up this one as well.

So the good things first. The story stays consistent while bringing in new elements, like wizards, magic, and luck. All of the characters are fully flesh out and believable; even if not all of them are likable. There was enough of a twist for me to enjoy and the last 3 hours of the book were pretty good and stand up as some of the best writing I’ve read this year. Also there was a lot of information about amusement parks which was interesting and informative, it was nice to see the curtain pulled back ever so much. It is also nice to have a continuation of the previous story and ties things up in a nice knot.

Now the bad, which unfortunately is a lot of the book, given my score that shouldn’t be a surprise. First is my pet peeve, I do not need speeches about social justice, I do not want nor need long diatribes about how people are people and should be treated that way; mean have you checked what one of the major themes of the ENTIRE GENRE of fantasy is about? This book also not only stands on but jumps and stomps upon two more of my pet peeves. Antimony is just plain whinny, I get that Antimony is lonely, bereft of her family, friends and support for the first time in her life. However, you don’t have to literally tell me that she is lonely and sad every 10-15 minutes in the first 1/3 of the book. Next is how often we are told, not shown, but told how the character’s feel. I don’t want to be told how happy they are or how sad or angry, I want to be shown the feelings so I can connect with the character’s feeling. Next is how often information is repeated. I don’t need to hear how long it takes to get to the park from employee parking, nor about the tunnels or so much more a dozen times. I actually can remember something for the length of a single book, or at least the things that are important to the story. Lastly, the first 2/3 is slow as tar leaving the last 1/3 of the book feel rushed and a bit trite.

In the end this book wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. It was a let down especially given the last book so my recommendation is; if you’ve read the series up to this point and like it; go ahead and get this book. If you have followed the series and just want to keep up with it just borrow it or get it from the library. Other than these reasons, this book and series just isn’t good enough to buy.

loved it

this was honestly one of my favorites from this series. It was fun while still showing that everyone makes mistakes, it just depends on how you react to them that matters.

I love love love this series

Seanan McGuire, unsurprisingly, writes another fantastic book. Antimony Price is rapidly becoming my favorite Price child, and she makes ... interesting ... choices with her life. But her choices are her own, and I'm curious to see where they lead. Doubtless, into more trouble and adventure.

The reader is about as I expected from previous books in the series. She's ok? She's very nasal. Her pronunciations of words she's clearly never encountered before is consistently not great, and it's distracting.

Good Story with Great Narration

This is the second Incryptid book from Antimony’s point of view. Although I didn’t find it quite as enjoyable as its precursor (Magic For Nothing), it’s still leagues ahead of 95% of recent urban fantasy (IMO). New characters are introduced, and we get to know a minor character from Antimony’s past (in Portland) much better. The interactions among the characters are fun—I especially hope that we see Fern and Celia again after the “Antimony books.” Both characters are well fleshed-out and interesting—their contributions were some of the high points in the book for me.

The story’s plot is interesting, and Ms. McGuire’s world-building skills are well-used in her explanation of what might be termed “the thermodynamics of luck.” Lowryland, the theme park in which the story is set, is tremendously well done; it feels real and is clearly distinct from The Other Florida Theme Park. Just as with her description of the carnival in Magic For Nothing, Ms, McGuire makes this fictional place seem very, very real.

Despite its many redeeming qualities, I didn’t find myself quite as immersed in Tricks for Free as I did in Magic For Nothing. For one thing, the villains seemed pretty two-dimensional after the layered and multi-faceted members of the Covenant who we met in Magic For Nothing. Granted, the bar was set fairly high with the crew from Penton Hall, but I wish that there had been less cackling snottiness from the bad hats in this one.

It also bothered me that Antimony charged forward to confront the bad guys in this story with minimal preparation or planning. Repeatedly.
What might be considered reckless courage in a solo actor is dangerous bravado in a leader. Antimony acknowledges the difference in her internal monologues, but she doesn’t seem to grow from this awareness.

I wish that Ms. McGuire had expanded upon the fact that Antimony’s lack of leadership training was a flaw in the Price educational regimen. When combined with her take-charge temperament, it was a nearly fatal flaw for the people working with her. I would have liked to see a scene in which Antimony and her friends discussed the difficulty of making the transition from being a solo agent to being a leader, and how hard it is to prepare for that role shift. I think that Megan (forgive me if I misspell her name) might have shared her experience with going from being a med student and Intern—mostly responsible for herself—to being a Resident, which usually carries some responsibility for managing others.

Finally, there were a few too many “I can’t believe she did that” moments in this book. All characters make mistakes—they have to or they’re not believable. But there’s mistakes and then there’s mistakes. I can’t go into details without providing spoilers, but one or two were (for me) real eye-rollers. (None were in the league of Alex’s wife, Shelby, but still.)

As always, Emily Bauer’s narration takes a good story and makes it magic. Without turning them into caricatures, she gives each of the voices distinctive touches that make it easy to *feel* their different personalities. Her characterizations are neither too flat and monotonous nor too over-the-top. She hits the “just right” spot for all the Incryptid books with a consistency and fluency that is extremely rare among narrators. As always, her ability to voice male characters in a way that makes them recognizably male, without a jarring intrusion into the narrative flow, is brilliant.

Thanks to both Ms. McGuire and Ms. Bauer for many enjoyable hours.