Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

This book moved me in several ways. I got very mad, and very sad. It’s just that good!

I love Seanan McGuire’s body of work. (Note: I review a bunch of her books so I am copying part of some of my other reviews here to save time.). She has quickly become my favorite living writer and I feel very lucky that she is so prolific. I was first introduced to her work when her book Parasite, written as Mira Grant, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved it and quickly devoured the Newsflesh series before I realized that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire were the same person.

I started reading her works under her own name, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, which is amazing, but I picked it because I was intimidated by her long running October Daye series. When Incryptid was nominated for the Best Series Hugo in 2018, I dove into that and I loved it! It is probably my second favorite series by McGuire (Velveteen Vs. holds a special place in my heart).

I was overjoyed when DAW and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of the latest Incryptid book, Aftermarket Afterlife, in exchange for an honest review. Finally the fight with the Covenant, long promised since the ending of Chaos Choreography when Verity outed the family on national TV, was here! This has been building for so long, and I was happy to get an earthbound narrative after several reality-hopping adventures in previous books.

The problem with long-promised fights is that they come with casualties. I’m not going to spoil things but this is where the mad and the sad will come from. There are some characters for whom I repeatedly thought “how will they go on?” at different points in the book.

We also have a new narrator this time around - Mary the ghost babysitter has a star turn! With her ghostly traveling abilities, Mary is a logical choice for this role in a globetrotting story, and, thanks to being a Patreon supporter, I have already had a chance to read alot of Mary’s backstory, which made this novel even richer.

This is a wonderful, wonderful book. A culmination of much that has come before, it lays several avenues open for the future. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW for the prerelease copy. Below is my honest review.

I can't. There aren't words. I am struggling to write this review. Was the book good? Of course it was. It was five stars. It's Seanan-freaking-McGuire, so of course it was good. It was great. But...

It was also devastating. I wasn't prepared for this, even a little bit. I know Seanan can be brutal, but wow. WOW.

I don't want to spoil anything, so let me give you the quick rundown: All of the series leading up to this point has been about moving pieces into place. And those pieces? They're moved. And now, there is war. And neither the Covenant nor the Price-Healy clan are going to pull their punches.

Prepare yourself before reading this.

Also, this is one of those books that you REALLY need the context of the rest of the series going in, so do yourself the HUGE favor of reading all the fantastic books leading up to this one (including the three Ghost Road novels too, please and thank you). You won't regret it... though you might regret the trauma this book is likely to cause. *breaks down weeping*

HIGHLY recommended.

Longtime reader of this author and her incryptid books are my favorite. This book follows the unlife/existence of Mary Dunlavy, the family babysitter of the price family and well at this point very extended family. It's great to finally learn more about her existence, her death and what the afterlife is like. That said this book is also about the burgeoning war between the Covenant and the Price-Healy family. After years of being rediscovered and targeted finally the Covenant is coming at them and all they love full force. I will not lie to you this book has some serious feels in it. It is hard to read at times but that is one of the things that makes Seanan McGuire such a great author, she doesn't pull punches and she draws you in and makes you feel everything her characters are feeling, worry about their worries and everything that goes with that. This is a well written and beautiful book that takes us into a character who has been on the sidelines for most of the others. Excellent read.