Long-time fan, grabbed as part of the 2025 Hugo voting packet for best series. Thank you to the publisher! :)

3.5 stars, rounded up. I think I included this when I reviewed the last couple books in the series but it's feeling like there isn't really a distinct "voice" between different main characters, and since the POV shifts every couple of books that makes it more obvious than I think it would otherwise be.

This feels like the start of a wrap up of the series, and be prepared to be punched in the heart.

Seanan McGuire has created a complex structure of interlocking stories. In duets or trilogies, we see the world from a particular viewpoint, and continue to widen the perils and scope of the world. I'm giving Incryptid my first place vote for best series in the 2025 Hugos. No other nominee is expanding and informing the idea of a series as well as she is.

Afterlife Aftermarket is about a teenager who discovers that souls can be traded and reused after people die. When a deal goes wrong, they get stuck in the middle of a strange and dangerous system that controls what happens after death. To fix things, they have to outsmart powerful people and figure out who they really are. The story is full of twists, but the main idea is about making choices and doing what’s right. It’s a good fit for readers who like mystery, action, and unusual worlds.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for sharing this!

Love every Seanan McGuire book I've read and this was no exception. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Mary's story.

The latest installment of the InCryptid series gives us Mary the babysitting ghost's back story of how she came to be with the Price family and the importance of her relationships with the family members. It is a chance to see the family from a new prospective

Seanan McGuire never disappoints, consistently giving an intriguing addition to her various series with each and every entry. I didn't expect any of this, but I greatly enjoyed it.

Thirteen books in, and McGuire's InCryptid series hasn't lost any of its addiction charm or capacity to surprise. This installment marks something of a major turning point as the secret war between the Healy-Prices and the Covenant finally explodes, and no one is safe from the ramifications. While the underlying heart of the series has always been the character relationships--familial, fraternal, and romantic--this pushes them all to the brink. Long-time readers will be on the edge of their seats with the developments featured here.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review an advanced copy of this novel. I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to others.

The PoV character in this one is Mary and we see the craziness of the Price clan through her eyes as they fight off Covenant and deal with the fallout of Alice finally finding her long lost husband, Thomas. The family has taken several hard hits from the Covenant and they are really still trying to recover from it along with everything that happened with Sarah. This is a pivot in the overall arc of stories, and it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Seanan McGuire is a powerhouse in fantasy and this book no different. It's an intricately and creatively uniquely woven novel and I yearn for more.

Once a crossroads ghost, Mary Dunlavy is now the Price family babysitter. She's been their babysitter for four generations and she'll likely do it the rest of her life ... er, the rest of time. But to be a babysitter, there needs to be a family to sit for and with people dying the way they are, Mary has become a transporter of the dead.

The Covenant is striking out at the Cryptids of New York, waging the all out war that's been festering for some time. The Price family has gathered - those that are still alive - and making plans to strike back at the Covenant, and to hit them fast and hard.

The prolific Seanan McGuire has a number of fantastic series' and this is one of my favorites. While each book focuses on an individual, the series has a large cast of characters and many of them (all of them?) make an appearance in this book, despite the former Crossroads Ghost taken the narrative here.

I can't help but wonder if this is the penultimate book in the series as it does feel like it's leading us to something bigger and bad-der, but I hope that's not really the case because I really enjoy this series and want to see it go on and on.

In some ways Mary seems like an odd choice for our focus as she's a bit of an outsider in the Price family, but McGuire shows us that Mary is actually the keystone. Because she's a ghost, she's seen more of the Price family than anyone else through the years, and space and distance have no meaning to her - because she's charged with taking care of the Price's when she is called by one of them, she can pop in immediately to them, from anywhere. This will be helpful in their efforts to stay connected without letting the Covenant know what they're doing. Th Price's may only be Mary's charge, but she'll stand by them and fight in any way she still can.

This was really a thrilling read, with a touch of sadness at familiar characters who don't make it through to the end

Looking for a good book? Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire is an exciting urban fantasy - the 13th book in a series. Don't start here, but DO pick up this series and get here as fast as you can.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I will never not be delighted to read an InCryptid novel and Aftermarket Aftermath was no exception.

Mary Dunlavey is a ghost. Mary Dunlavey is also the Price family babysitter. I loved seeing the Price family through Mary’s eyes, it’s a unique perspective on the family we’ve come to know and love over the years. Sad things happen but they’re not shoehorned in, they do serve the plot, so I was mostly ok with them.

Recommended for teens and up (tweens depending on said tween).

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

An unusual entry in the long running InCryptid series is narrated from the viewpoint of the Price family's dead babysitter Mary. There are a whole lot of characters to keep track of, which can get confusing, and Mary's narration seems to ramble on at times, but overall an interesting and enjoyable read.

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire is the thirteenth book in the InCryptid, and the first focusing on Mary- the family's babysitting ghost. For those that enjoy audiobooks, the audiobook editions of this series are very well done (including this title).

Mary Dunlavy didn't intend to become a professional babysitter. Of course, she didn't intend to die, either, or to become a crossroads ghost. As a babysitting ghost, she's been caring for the Price family for four generations, and she's planning to keep doing the job for the better part of forever. With her first charge finally back from her decades-long cross-dimensional field trip, with a long-lost husband and adopted daughter in tow, it's time for Mary to oversee the world's most chaotic family reunion. And that's before the Covenant of St. George launches a full scale strike against the cryptids of Manhattan, followed quickly by an attack on the Campbell Family Carnival. It's going to take every advantage and every ally they have for the Prices to survive what's coming—and for Mary, to avoid finding out the answer to a question she's never wanted to know: what happens to a babysitting ghost if she loses the people she's promised to protect?

Aftermarket Afterlife offers readers exactly what they want and expect from the continuation of this series. I really enjoyed getting to see the characters and plot points of the last twelve books come together here. We get Mary's history and huge movements in the larger story lines. There is so much going on here- and fair warning for very attached readers- not everything turns out the way you want or are prepared for. This is very much for fans of the series- for whom this is an absolute much read (or listen), but I do not recommend to newcomers to the series because there are just so many threads coming together here that they would be beyond lost.

Obviously not an unbiased review since I represent this title, but NetGalley needs me to leave feedback to keep my ratio up so five stars it is! And pleased to say the series will be continuing strong and moving to Tor for future books.

Seanan McGuire never disappoints and this is another exciting, entertaining and well plotted addition to this series.
Great world building and excellent storytelling as usual.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Seanan McGuire continues her In Cryptid series with Aftermarket Afterlife. Mary is a ghost and a permanent babysitter for the entire Price family and their relatives. The Prices protect the North American cryptids aka dragons, harpies and other supernatural beings, from the attacking Covenant forces. What happens if Mary loses the people she babysits? How can the Prices get the attackers to back off. The cost in lives lost is high and growing. Also Mary has been cheating with her babysitter duties by extending her reach beyond the family and t he spirit of Earth is concerned. Read this great fantasy.

TW/CW: Violence, death, fantasy violence, discussion of grief and loss

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book NetGalley and DAW and am voluntarily writing an honest review.

Aftermarket Afterlife is the 13th book in Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series, which follows a family of cryptozoologists and the creatures they fight and protect.

This book is a solid entry in that series, following the Prices’ long time ghost!babysitter Mary Dunleavy.

Compared to the other books in the series, this book is pretty dark. There are some shocking moments that I definitely didn’t see coming, and some losses that really hit hard. Because Mary is a ghost, there’s a lot of talk of death and the book deals a great deal with grief and loss. Like all the rest of McGuire’s books, though, this book is very well written and keeps the reader enthralled. This is a great addition to the series and I definitely recommend it to fans of urban fiction!

Aftermarket Afterlife is the thirteenth book in the Incryptid series and I'd like to say it was lucky number thirteen but I struggled to finish it. I will say I have read so many of Seanan McGuire's books and short stories (somewhere in the realm of 60ish stories) and usually they are a great read for me. They are normally full of cool creatures and concepts and imagination that I wrap myself up in them and don't come out until I'm to the other side. But Aftermarket Afterlife is a lot darker and gloomier than most of the books of this series and as such I felt weighed down and depressed most of the story and started looking for reasons not to get back to reading. I just wasn't in a good place in my life to enjoy the type of story this turned out to be. I seem to be very alone in my assessment of this story, almost every other review sings this books praises, so take this all with a grain of salt - it could just be me. This cannot be read as a stand-alone, the entire series should be read in order.

Mary Dunlavy has haunted the Price family for generations as a babysitter or caretaker ghost. She died on a crossroads and she made a deal. Mary would broker deals for the crossroads IF she could still be there for any of her family when they needed her and her family would always come first. It had originally just been her father that she meant to be there for but when they placed little toddler Alice in her arms, something happened and she became attached to the Price/Healy families as a babysitter ghost.

Now the crossroads are gone and Mary only has her duties as babysitter to the Price/Healy families. When they call she hears and she can pop into where ever her charge is. It doesn't matter it they are grown up now, they will always be her kids. She is just preparing to help them through a reunion that seems to have a lot of charged emotional baggage associated to it with Alice and her long, lost in another dimension, husband Thomas when everything changes and the Covenant of St. George brings the attack fully to the Americas to flush out the cryptozoologist family that has helped hide or protect the "monsters" living here.

Mary will be instrumental in helping the family as distance really doesn't matter to a ghost. If one of the family calls her she can be there. Sarah too will play a big role since spacetime are currently just playthings to her and she is one of the only members of the family who will be able to travel to where ever she is needed to assist. We will get to see almost every main member of the family who has had a place in the series as they fight off the Covenant and figure out a way to make the cost too high to focus on them.

My issues with this book is it was far more depressing than others I've read from Seanan McGuire. Maybe after the 'events' the racked the Price/Healy families when The Covenant attacked various friends and family members I was supposed to feel rage and just want revenge. But, there are causalities in this book that hit so close to home and some brutal fallout, that the story got lost in the grief I was feeling. There was so much fallout and grief that it was so hard to climb out of to even start to focus on the story and continue. I guess in one way it is great the McGuire made me feel so much for these characters and the mice after twelve other books and numerous short stories, but also bad that I couldn't let any of that feeling go throughout the rest of the story. After feeling like the last book was a kind of happy ending in this one we see how not all of our characters are doing okay and then we lose some of them making it even worse.

Let me state that I have loved almost every book in this series. The writing for Aftermarket Afterlife could have been edited a little better as Mary talks about her bond to her charges and how they will always be her kids so many times. I get it, she is tied to all of the family and sees the family tree branches in her mind. She discussed how some of the family is blood, some marries in and some is adopted in. Mary goes through so many times why Sarah who is adopted in shows up to her as family. Same with other members, it was really repetitive and could have been streamlined a bit better.

Mary is the a lynchpin to the family. She tried to protect them from the crossroads, themselves and the covenant of St. George. Now she will help to join the fight to make coming for her family cost too much to the Covenant and get revenge for what they have done.

Overall I have loved this series and this is one book that just didn't work for me. I still highly recommend the entire series though as it is completely interesting, unique and full of wonderful moments.

For those looking for a long running fantasy series to binge, than you will want to pick up Seanan McGuire's excellent Incryptid series about an extended biological and found family of cryptozoologist that study and protect everything from boogeymen to dragons. The series has followed various members of the extended Price clan which includes a ballroom dancer/parkour enthusiast, a circus performer/fire sorcerer, a wasplike human mimic who can travel through time and dimensions using the power of math, and more quirky and yet endearing characters. 

Thanks to some supernatural blood being mixed into their lineage the family is known for their quirky luck in previous novels. Aftermarket Afterlife is the story of Mary, a ghost who once worked for the Crossroads brokering losing deals with desperate people, but now has made babysitting for the Price family her sole focus. Readers of previous novel will enjoy seeing the Price family from Mary's unique perspective of both perpetual teen and caregiver to the generations. 

This installment is an action packed, climactic one focusing on the battle between the Price family and the Covenant of St. George who believe that all incryptids, even the peaceful ones, should be exterminated. Like previous volumes it includes a short story at the end, that gives another perspective to events taking place in the main novel. This novel had some tough losses that showed even those who can manipulate luck may not always win every fight.