Tricks for Free

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Emily Bauer

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

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.

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.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Verrrrryyyy slow... feels like it has alot of filler

This book was very hard for me to finish. I even stopped listening to this book to start and finish another book. This story did not have much action... it goes on and on about the main character missing her family and how much it sucks to have to hide. The author explains EVERYTHING in painful detail... feels like to drag the story along. This story could have been done in 2 hours if not less.

I was anxious to hear more of “Melody’s” story... now I dont care to ever hear her story Again...

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

An excellent addition to the Incryptid series.

I will be honest I want more. I wish October daye wasn't a thing and Incryptid was up to Book 15 and that Seanan McGuire was teaming up with Jim Butcher to write side books about his female characters in his world.. like a whole series on Elaine.

At their core, her main characters are people I have absolutely nothing in common with. Professional dancing, Roller Derby, Marrying an attractive woman from Australia... the wonderful world of cryptozoology! that's it I'm an absolutely huge fan. I knock one star off overall for a lack of mice.

I especially like that this is not a Fellowship of St George orientated story. The lack of new Incryptid folks and animals worked because it wasn't necessary for the story that was being told, though it would have been awesome if there were a lot of Chupacabras - because that's just a weird awesome thing.

good stuff five stars all around except for the four stars.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I love Antimony...

It is no secret that I love the incryptid series, and I've followed the Price family going all the way back to Jonathan and Frances' stories set in the 1925-1945 era (these short stories can be found on Seanan McGuire's website for free). The published books cover the family members (extant) who are living "somewhere" outside of Portland Oregon... 
This is the 7th book and the sequel to Magic for Nothing... This book is about the youngest family member, Antimony Price (and she's my favorite among the children). I definitely recommend reading this book, but only after having first read Magic for Nothing!
At the end of book 6, Antimony had to make some desperate decisions to save herself and her family from the Covenant... Tricks for Free starts with Antimony, alone and trying to get a job, at an amusement park... She gets lucky when someone she once called a friend, vouched for her. Her luck seems to hold when Fern, one of the rollerderby girls from her Portland team, The Slasher Chicks, invites her to be one of her roommates. She accepts the offer and discovers that her other roommate is a cryptid too, a Plinys Gorgon.
Antimony Price hasn't worked at the amusement park very long when things go pear shaped and there is a series of unfortunate accidents... one accident, is sad... two accidents, are coincidence... three accidents, are suspicious... Has Antimony run outa luck? Get the book to find out...
The audio edition was narrated by Emily Bauer, and she did a great job of it!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

SJW author ruins own story

I am all for inclusiveness but the constant intersectionality is unrealistic and breaks you out of the story. Having characters feel one way or another around political topics is normal. However having scenes and statements in a story for a ideological purpose is not good. Many times, the author's need to virtue signal meant that entire scenes or statements were present that did not expand a character or setting but just make a political point.

Not the best plot of the series. My favorite of the siblings has had the worst plot lines IMO.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

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.

No Action and No Tension

Very bad, listened for 2 hours and nothing has happened. Just twenty-something women talking like 14 year old girls. Thus far, "girl" talk, no mystery, no tension, no ideas and the author keeps repeating pieces of information, as if readers too dim to remember points. This book is okay for young teen readers.