Midnight Blue-Light Special

InCryptid, Book 2

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Emily Bauer

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Cryptid, noun:

1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.

2. That thing that's getting ready to eat your head.

3. See also: "monster."

The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity - and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn't quite work out that way...

But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing - until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city's readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there's no way Verity can take that lying down.

Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity's apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ - assuming there's anyone left standing when all is said and done. It's a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit...and carnage.

©2013 Seanan McGuire (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Better than the first book

The story was much better than the first book, narration was good as well, and I liked this bok way much more than the first one. You get to know the Price family more here and what enemies they have, and Verity shows how strong and smart she is.

If you liked the first one, you will like this one even more.

Another win from Seanan McGuire

Every bit as enjoyable as the first entry in the series. Colorful characters and monsters and constant action.

awesome

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. Lots of unique situations. Re-readable and always well read. Good for YA and adults!

fun story

The story and writing style we're fun. The characters are likeable. Dominic is a bit overbearing at times and needs chill out.

Emily is a very good narrator. Her voice modulation is good and the characters stay separate as they are supposed to. She has a harder time with accents, so that sounds a bit off.

Great story marred by subpar narration

Where does Midnight Blue-Light Special rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The text is engaging, well-paced, and written with a wry sense of humor I find amusing and endearing. Major plot points are predictable (yes, of course those two will end up together, since all literary convention says they must; likewise, they will end up embroiled in misunderstandings and cross-purposes, because that's the trope-in-play) but to an extent that destroys dramatic tension or surprise. The fact that I made it to the second in the series despite the marred narration speaks highly of it; there's sharp competition for my audiobook budget.
The narration, on the other hand, is the reason I'm bothering to write a review.

Did Emily Bauer do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The narrator's "voices" for each character are generally distinct and recognizable; however, many of the accents used are awkward and artificial-sounding, which ultimately detracts from the story.
Internal and external commentary by the main character are not distinguishable from each other, leaving me too often to wonder if Verity actually said that snarky/cruel/too-revealing thing out loud, or merely thought it. In a plot in which so much pivots on how much each side of a war knows about the other, waiting for other characters' replies to resolve my uncertainty doesn't work; did they not respond to that comment divulging secret information because it was merely something Verity thought, or did the other character simply conceal their reaction to avoid alerting her that she's given away something valuable?
Naturally, this confusion is amplified in a story in which some conversations take place telepathically and thus hidden from other characters in the same room. Did Verity say that out loud where Dominic could hear it, too, so that it goes on my list of "things Dominic could use against Verity if he turns against her", or did she say it mentally so only her cousin the telepath could hear and reply?
It only gets worse when the telepathic cousin sends Verity telepathic messages that Verity responds to verbally. These things are very distinct in the text, where italics are used as a clear visual cue to distinguish things said mentally. The use of a stage whisper (for example) in the narration would have the same effect.
While overall I didn't have to expend much mental energy trying to figure out who was talking, I did end up spending a considerable amount trying to sort out who could actually hear the speaker, something that bears more than usual significance in the plot.

Any additional comments?

The narrator needs to spend more time practicing certain words. As someone commented in a review of the first InCryptid book, her pronunciation of "Antimony" and "gorgon" are distracting. However, in this second book in the series, her inability to pronounce certain words would have left me utterly baffled if I hadn't had the Kindle text to refer to.
* "apothecary" became "apocethary" -- distracting but decipherable
* "psionic" became "pie-scenic" -- incomprehensible
* "grimoire" became "grimmery" -- confusing and mildly misleading, since "grammarie" is a word in its own right with a different meaning; however, "gramarye" does eventually lead back to the meaning "grimoire" if one is sufficiently familiar with archaic/genre terms.
These are uncommon enough words that their mispronunciation in a general-literature work might not be too awful, but in a genre and a story in which they refer to central concepts, it seems inexcusable not to have taken the time to learn to pronounce them properly. "He thinks he's pie-scenic" encountered in a Chuck Palahniuk novel would still convey "he's delusional" adequately, but listing "pie-scenic powers" as a thing one might have wards against in a fantasy novel does not help the listener understand how such wards might crucially affect the plot.
The narrator should realize that her own unfamiliarity with these words does not make them made-up words with no need for the reader to identify them; these words have real definitions and are used in certain genres -- including this one -- according to conventions and connotations that make them an informative part of the text. By treating them as made-up words that don't require accurate identification, the narrator is robbing the listener of the real information these words carry.
("Antimony" is still consistently "AAN-tee-MOW-nee" -- a correct US pronunciation -- instead of the British "AN-tih-muh-nee", which seems like a minor difference but really makes the name sound awkward. This one might be understandable as an attempted contrast with "antinomy" (antimony is a chemical element; antinomy is a paradox pronounced "an-TIN-oh-MEE") but the narrator's other bungled words lead me to doubt she put that much thought into choosing this less-melodic pronunciation. It's technically correct, but with all the words she pronounces badly or incorrectly, I wish she'd just extended the mangling another inch to using a proper but British pronunciation here.)
Additionally, words and entire lines of text are left out in the narration every couple of chapters, not as abridgments but as clear mistakes that sometimes gut a sentence of meaning. I suspected this was happening in the first book, but didn't have the text to check against. If I'm going to have to buy the text as well as the narration in order to find out what the author actually wrote, I might as well just buy the Kindle book and skip the audio version altogether.

loved it

Another winner for Seanan McGuire! I love all the amazing characters and their weird world. Full of action laced with humor...I want some Aislin mice! Buying the next one now

Seanan McGuire rocks...

I listen to a lot of urban fantasy, and having done so a lot of story lines grow old.

This series is refreshingly different in many ways. Not everything seems logical but it is not disturbingly so.
This second book after "Discount Armageddon" is even better - it has it all: lots of never heard of fantastical creatures with different abilities, suspense, action, fights, family, feelings and a bit of romance (which wasn't overdone) and of course a lovable heroine.

The story is highly entertaining and I kept listening without my thoughts wandering off.

I couldn't have wished for anything different in the narration. Refreshing and fitting.

Now I am hoping for a third book in the series in the not to far future.

As I think to be able to value reviews for oneself it would be good to know this listener's preferences, so some of my favorite UF authors are:
Kim Harrison (The Hollows)
Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels)
Jennifer Estep (Elemental Assassin)
Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock)
Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles)
Rachel Caine (Weather Warden)
Molly Harper
Charlaine Harris
and so on...

very fun to listen to!

well-written, well told. can't wait to see what happens next! good narration with great "voices". Fun enough for adults, but tame enough I feel comfortable enough recommending to my Jr high kids

Like the story, the narrator needs a dictionary

I love Seanan McGuire's books: Toby Daye is one of my favorite characters ever. I am enjoying this series so far: there's a place in everyone's life for "saw that coming a mile away" brain candy sometimes, and the story is entertaining. But there are flaws in the narration that keep pulling me up short. The first and most obvious is the narrator's frequent mispronunciation of words: gorgon, annals, so many others - I am constantly losing the flow of the story to an awkward pronunciation. The other thing that keeps throwing me off is not being able to tell if the main character is speaking out loud, narrating her thoughts, or having a telepathic conversation with another character. A different voice for these three states would have been helpful, though she's good at differentiating the actual other different characters. I'm definitely going to finish the series, but won't be as immersed in it as I'd love to be.

InCryptids Prevail!

Not disappointed. Several story lines were tied up and the ending concluded with a sense of closure while still leaving an avenue for continuation if the author so desires. What I like the best about this story is how the InCryptids bonded together to defend their city thus showing that strength can come in numbers.

Would I recommend this series. Yes I would and if there is a third book, I would listen to it also. I think this is a good alternative to the Molly Harper books. While not as snarky and funny, they allow us to transition quite nicely. I for one always have a let down when I finish a series and have to go looking for another to to immerse myself. I needed a transition series after enjoying the Monster Hunters International, Jane Yellowrock, Cat and Bones, and the Circle Trilogy Series. Not to mention all of Molly Hunter's books.