A new entry in Seanan McGuire's excellent InCryptid series once again shifts perspective to tell the story from another character, this time it's the adopted family member Sarah. I've always wondered about her background and this book fill in all the details and more, which creates a whole new set of problems for the Price family to deal with. In general, I'm not really a fan of cliffhanger endings and while this one is not a classic cliffhanger, it comes close.

"The ninth book in the 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.

Sarah Zellaby has always been in an interesting position. Adopted into the Price family at a young age, she's never been able to escape the biological reality of her origins: she's a cuckoo, a telepathic ambush predator closer akin to a parasitic wasp than a human being. Friend, cousin, mathematician; it's never been enough to dispel the fear that one day, nature will win out over nurture, and everything will change.

Maybe that time has finally come.

After spending the last several years recuperating in Ohio with her adoptive parents, Sarah is ready to return to the world - and most importantly, to her cousin Artie, with whom she has been head-over-heels in love since childhood. But there are cuckoos everywhere, and when the question of her own survival is weighed against the survival of her family, Sarah's choices all add up to one inescapable conclusion.

This is war. Cuckoo vs. Price, human vs. cryptid...and not all of them are going to walk away."

Have we reached the point where Seanan is outwriting Stephen King 2-to-1 because it feels like we've reached that stage...

Finally Sarah’s story! Sarah has recovered enough to go visit family in Oregon only to learn more about other cuckoos that may put the family in danger. ARC from NetGalley.

Holy cliffhanger Batman! If you HATE cliffhangers like I do, you might want to wait until the next installment is out. None of the previous books in this series left me prepared to deal with a cliffhanger.

With that said, Imaginary Numbers is a story readers of Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series have been waiting for for years. We finally get Sarah and Artie. We get to know two of our favorite side characters in a much more complete and satisfying way.

There is a fantastic scene with the Aeslin mice that made me tear up a little (in a good way!), heartfelt moments of love and, of course, a few great funny moments. The overall story is incredibly satisfying and intense except for that cliffhanger.

We've moved on to another viewpoint character in the InCryptids series, and this time it is Sarah Zellaby, cuckoo with a heart. Well, not an actual heart, her biology doesn't work that way. But a cuckoo with a conscience, as well as a long-standing crush on her not-really-cousin, Artie. Sarah has finally recovered enough from her confrontation with the Covenant of St. George to leave her room and go forth to visit her family out west. It's supposed to be a relatively easy test to see if she can move through the world on her own again. It will not surprise you that things don't turn out to be so easy after all...soon, Sarah and her adoptive family find themselves under siege by Sarah's biological relatives, who want her for reasons that don't bode well for anyone. It's a wonderful chance to spend time with a really fascinating character, but that cliffhanger of an ending...aaaaargh!

I’ve been waiting for Sarah’s story for FOREVER it seems. The only story I’m more interested in is Alice and Thomas’s which I can tell should be coming soon. Still Sarah has been a little bit of a broken mess since she saved Verity over five years ago. Now she has picked up most of the pieces and put herself together. It is time to take the last test, travel on her own to the Price compound in Oregon. If she can do that, she will prove to everyone including herself that she is back.

”Disaster’s not like a rattlesnake: it doesn’t give you any warning before it strikes. It just happens, and you’d better hope to heaven and hell at the same time that you’re not in the path of it’s glory.”

Up until now we haven’t met many Cuckoos. There is Sarah of course and her adoptive mother Angela but the only other Cuckoos were either in short stories or just referenced but never seen. Until now that is. Sarah’s story is neck deep in Cuckoos and we learn a lot about how they ended up on a different dimension, what they want out of this world, child rearing practices and how Sarah plays into all of this. I don’t want to sound speciest but Cuckoo culture is cray-cray.

Artie the half incubus has been peripherally in many of the stories of the InCryptid series, this is finally his book to get some page time and for he and Sarah so sort their stuff out.

***I was broken. I made them keep you away because I was broken, and I was trying to put myself back together without any sort of map or instruction manual, and I knew if you saw me—if you, specifically, saw me—and turned away because I was too broken to care about anymore, I’d give up. I’d stop trying to repair myself. There wouldn’t be any point to it. ***

Artie, finally gets to come up out of the basement and it seems when the Price family decide to fall in love, they go all the way because Artie isn’t going to let a little thing like Cuckoo’s stand between him and the woman he loves.

“I thought I’d seen the worst of what this world had to offer when I saw the Covenant. Then I saw my first cuckoo, and I knew I’d been wrong.”
—Alexander Healy

I loved being back in the Price’s world where they tend to prepare for everything, even the chance that Sarah didn’t come back right and might try to kill them all. Families. But it is a good thing because they are going to need to be prepared for this new crisis and it is going to put a decent strain on the family.

I know that you can only put so many characters in each book but I did miss Verity, I’d like to see her again. The main characters were Sarah and Artie with Antimony, Sam and James in the mix. And the mice, you can’t forget the Aeslin mice.

The story was interesting, strange and not what I expected. We leave the characters in a bit of a bind so there is a slight cliffhanger of sorts but it seems a very interesting direction to take the story. Plus it looks like we might be one step closer to finally getting to Alice’s story dimension jumping and fighting with the crossroads to get Uncle Thomas back.

I do have a slight pet peeve with this book. There was a ton of re-explaining things that we just talked about. I don’t know how many times Artie mentions that Sarah is his best friend, or someone rehashes something that just happened two chapters ago in this book. I don’t need a refresher on that, I was just there. It felt a bit repetitious in places. Still if I bypass that it was a really good story.

Reading these two stories was really fantastic! I just love this series, and it was great to be in Sarah's head, as well as see the conclusion, basically, of Annie's story arc. At least the last 3 book one. Such great reads!

Imaginary Numbers was interesting, because Sarah's a cuckoo, and in the few stories that she, or her adopted mother, weren't the cuckoos being talked about, cuckoos were the enemy. The reason why Alice doesn't have an older sibling. And we learned so, so much about them! Such a fantastic story!

So the quotes at the top of each chapter, they're from family members of the same gender of the family member who is narrating the book. Which is kinda important, because this book is pretty different, and we get Artie's narration for a good chunk of the book. So that was pretty fantastic, since part of the story was their relationship!

Oh, and that ending! That was pretty intense, and who knows what the fallout is going to be! We're given hints in a few word choices in that epilogue, but that's only going to be the tip of the iceberg, I'm certain! Can't wait to find out more!

Follow the Lady, it's set between That Ain't Witchcraft and Imaginary Numbers, and it tells the story of Annie and her group traveling home to Portland from Maine, and meeting up with Grandma Alice. Given the events of That Ain't Witchcraft, well, that's pretty important. And now I'm kinda wondering if the end of Imaginary Numbers is going to play into it as well, given where they are!

Also, it really brought to mind that we have a) not seen how Thomas made that deal with the crossroads that eventually ended up sending him off somewhere. And b) we haven't seen how the 3 Healys died. We're told they were murdered, but we haven't read that story. And while it'd hurt, it's a pretty important part of the family history!

Such fantastic reads, and I cant wait for Calculated Risk!

The Prices are back in this new urban fantasy adventure novel set in the InCryptid universe. This story focuses on Sarah, who is back on her feet after feeling like she'd been broken for most of the five years (which is about the last 6 novels or so). She gets to confess to her adopted cousin, Artie, the reclusive half Incubus, and finally get's to see the rest of her favorite Prices. But of course, in the world of crypto-zoology, there's very little time to rest. When she realizes that the Portland International Airport is the territory of another cuckoo, she thinks she only has to worry about the one cuckoo, but she soon finds out that it is so, very not the case.

I do have to say that I enjoy the Incryptid series for the most part: it does take a lot to get used to reading about a family of people who are not all actually related by blood, and are often forced to do some very terrible things to protect themselves. They are a compelling enough bunch, and their relationship with the cryptid world is often super fun to read. The Price family's interaction with the nest of Aeslin mice (who are the family's records keepers on account of their Eidetic memory) still remains a highlight. They aren't in this novel that much, but when they are, they provide some really sweet moments, like naming Sarah a Priestess (female members of the Healy - Price family tree) after not doing so for so long. They help reinforce the importance of belonging to a family to the Prices.

Sarah's bonds with her family are severely tested in this book, when a whole bunch of cuckoos - a species of evolved wasp want to take Sarah and basically make her go into her her fourth stage of metamorphosis so they can rip apart dimensions. Cuckoos do exactly what their real life bird counterparts do, but with way more destructive power. Because they abandon their kids, and are just sociopathic in nature, the Prices are a perfect foil for this species. I loved seeing the Prices fight so hard to try to save Sarah, even while knowing they may have to kill her in order to save the planet from being destroyed. That juxtaposition drove the novel, even with Artie and Sarah's romantic relationship finally beginning.

If I had any complaints, it is that Sarah, while the focus of the novel, doesn't get to narrate a bulk of the middle part of it. That falls to Artie as he and the rest of the Prices frantically try to say Sarah from her trance-like state and hive of cuckoos that just showed up in Portland out of nowhere. It also end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but it was clear that the first half of the arc was finished, and it was starting the beginning of the second half. Its not that big of a letdown, as it eases into it, but man, it is hard to say if they managed to save the world or not.

InCryptid fans will enjoy this installment. If you are a fan of urban fantasies, and want to get into it, I would recommend reading book 1, Discount Armageddon first. A lot of the story arcs and characters from other books influence this one, even with McGuire dropping a lot of exposition to help out readers in this one. There is a steep learning curve as well, especially with all the different monsters, ghosts and lore McGuire crams into the book. Overall though this is a good series that people can enjoy different parts of.

Most agree that the Mice are the best.

Sarah Zellaby hasn’t left her home alone in five years, not since she’d used her abilities to help Verity and Dominic escape from the Covenant of St. George. Now she’s determined to travel alone to Ohio to visit the rest of her adopted family there, including Artie Harrington. Sarah has been in love with Artie for as long as she can remember but she’s sure the differences between their species are insurmountable. After all, cuckoos are known predators and Sarah’s ability to exist peaceably among other species is an anomaly. However, everything Sarah and the rest of the family (the Prices, Harringtons, and Bakers) think they know about cuckoos is about to change after an encounter with another cuckoo sets Sarah down a dangerous path. Can Artie and the rest of the family help Sarah or will the coming war between cuckoos and humans destroy them all?

I have been waiting for this book ever since Seanan McGuire introduced us to Sarah and her species, the cuckoo (also called Johrlacs) and wow, was it ever worth the wait! I love that we get to delve into such a unique species like the cuckoo as we learn about their biology. If you’d asked me prior to reading IMAGINARY NUMBERS if I’d still like a character after finding out that their biology is more akin to a parasitic wasp than human, my answer would have been a definitive no, but Seanan McGuire works her magic and makes it all work.

One of the other aspects I really like about IMAGINARY NUMBERS is how math plays such a significant factor in the overall story line. I love that Artie and Sarah have bonded over their shared nerdiness and it’s intriguing to see how math is interwoven into the story line. One of the lines about numbers has to be my favorite ever as yes, numbers should just sit there quietly and think about what they’ve done- a line that will make far more sense as readers dive into this fascinating and intellectually stimulating urban fantasy.

IMAGINARY NUMBERS is the ninth book in the InCryptid series and can be read as a standalone. There is past history involving Sarah, but Seanan McGuire fills in the necessary backstory and IMAGINARY NUMBERS stands on its own merits otherwise. Making this transition easier is the fact that the InCryptid series changes points of view throughout the series and IMAGINARY NUMBER is the first book to feature a story line told from the perspectives of Sarah and Artie.

Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite urban fantasy authors and her InCryptid series is part of that reason. IMAGINARY NUMBERS is a stunning installment and one that every urban fantasy reader is sure to relish. I can’t wait to see where Seanan McGuire takes us next as the cliffhanger ending has me anxiously waiting on the next book!

McGuire's latest entry in the Incryptid series will delight new readers and fans of the series. Imaginary Numbers follows Sarah, a cuckoo who was adopted into a family of other cryptids (non-human magical beings). Now, the mother who abandoned her wants Sarah to return and use her abilities to destroy the dimension. While stakes are high, for both Sarah and the world, the humor shines through and keeps the reader curious and engaged. Another great entry in a solid series.

I absolutely loved this book. New readers can actually jump in here and not be lost. I've been waiting for the POV to shift from Antimony and am thrilled with Sarah's book, she a Cuckoo (she can get inside your head and make you be her best friend AND give you all your chocolate. Well, she doesn't want chocolate that's disgusting to her, she likes milkshakes mixed with catsup.)

Be warned the book has a definite ending but there's also a cliffhanger at the end that will make you want to go Annie Wilkes on Seanan until we can get the next book in the series.

Seeing that a book is the ninth in a series would give readers a pause, but the nice thing is this one keeps changing POV characters. Sarah a cousin of the of the previous POV she is not related by DNA but adoption and the only reason it mattes is that she is a cryptid. Her species look alike and use telepathy to control people around them. Sarah was raised being told it was wrong. She does use her powers and early in the series she burned herself out saving her cousin. Five years later, Sarah is finally leaving the house after slowly regaining control of her powers. Almost immediately into her trip to see other family members that she hasn’t seen during her convalesces she bumps into another cuckoo and things quickly go downhill. As a starting point in the series this can work for the new reader since background is given and most of the family members she is visiting haven’t been featured in the books before. The book does end on a cliffhanger and there is a novella at the end that fills in events from the end of the previous book to the start of this one. It also teases about where some plot strings might be going.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

A fabulous addition to Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, Imaginary Numbers is Sarah Zellaby's story. Sarah is flying to Portland, Oregon to spend time with family and see Artie, also to find out if she has recovered from the incident in New York City. When she arrives in Portland she senses another Johrlac or cuckoo, which is not a something she was expecting and which could be dangerous to her and to her family. Sarah leaves the other Johrlac unconscious in the airport restroom, and tries to figure out how to get to her family without the cuckoo following her. There is suspense, humor and great writing to be enjoyed while reading this book. I woudl recommend reading the other books in the series before reading Imaginary Numbers. Highly recommended.

Sarah Zellaby never interested me much as a character, which is why I wasn’t looking forward to this book. Seanan McGuire proved me wrong. Sarah was much more interesting when seeing things from her perspective. Her situation in life is complex being a cuckoo and living with morals.

Sarah has been in a long recovery after severely injuring herself early on in the series. She’s finally well enough to start living a normal life again, so she decides to go visit the Price family. Problems arise before she even makes it to their house. It turns out that Sarah is even more unique than she ever thought, but that may not be a good thing.

Learning more about the cuckoos was fascinating. They’re even more devious than I ever thought. They have plans for Sarah. I liked her. I couldn’t relate to her obsession with math, but other than that she’s cool. Artie and Sarah are a good match for each other. Mark was interesting although not entirely trustworthy. It ended with a cliffhanger although most issues were wrapped up by the end. I am looking forward to the next one.

This is the ninth book in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy InCryptid series. The world-building in the series is always incredible with each book giving readers a deeper knowledge of the cryptids sharing the planet with the humans.

This time, instead of focusing on the Price family’s generations-old battle with the Covenant of St. George, the book focuses on cousin Sarah, a secondary character from earlier books. Sarah’s a cuckoo, a telepathic species of apex predator cryptids from another dimension.

After a five-year recovery, Sarah’s ready to leave her parents’ home in Ohio and visit the Price family compound in Oregon. It’s a test of sorts to see if her mind and telepathic talents are truly recovered.

Of course, things go very wrong, very quickly. And yowza! After a crazy ride of a book, it all ends on a huge cliffhanger!

For fans of the series, Imaginary Numbers is a solid entry. For urban fantasy fans who haven’t read the InCryptid books, definitely give them a shot – fast-paced storytelling, stellar world-building, and snarky characters make it a total thumbs up recommendation.

The ninth book in McGuire's Incryptid series focuses on cousin Sarah Zellaby, who is finally recovered enough to travel from Ohio to the family compound in Oregan on her own. Things go wrong, of course.

Good characterizations, exciting action, and a lot of new information about the very dangerous creatures known as cuckoos, of whom Sarah is one.

Recommended.

Imaginary Numbers is another great entry in the Incryptid series. Focusing on Sarah, a side character from previous books in the series, Imaginary Numbers is in some ways a much narrower story. It doesn't deal with the broad conflict between the Price family and the Covenant of St. George, but is more of a personal journey for Sarah, who is a telepathic cryptid known as a cuckoo, and Artie, her half-incubus best friend. We learn much more about the mysterious cuckoo species, which is exciting, but the story does end on a massive cliffhanger!

My only other remark is it's a bit odd to have another Seanan McGuire book dealing with the power of mathematics so soon after Middlegame - especially with Sarah and Artie's telepathic connection mirroring Roger and Dodger's. However, overall I definitely enjoyed.

This series just keeps on upping the ante! This time around,"cuckoo" Sarah is the MC, with her "cousin"/love interest as the supporting character. With one character who can rewrite people's brains with math magic, and other family members who have their own impressive/unique/deadly skills, this is definitely a harrowing, page-turning sci-fi thriller, with a huge cliffhanger at the end.
As usual, I'm looking forward to the next installment!

I'd stopped reading the InCryptid series after I wasn't a fan of book 4, but I'm so glad I picked this series back up! Sarah and Artie's story is intense (I dont want to say too much) but it has Ms McGuire's witty humor and lots of fantastic creatures that denotes this series' theme. The backstory on the Cuckoos is fascinating, it turns out I love the Price family still, and oh, how I'd missed the Aeslin mice! This has a cliffhanger ending, so I'm definitely going to be on tenterhooks until the next in the series!

As expected, this is another great entry into Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series. Even more then McGuire's other series, this is one where each book builds on the others and makes the series more and more engaging. As we get to know more and more members of the extended Price family the stakes keep rising, both for the character and for those they have vowed to protect.

"Imaginary Numbers" is the first book in the series to have non-human narrators, splitting the story between Sarah and Artie. Sarah is still recovering from the massive psychic injury she suffered way back at the beginning of the series. After five years, she's finally ready to test her control by travelling across the country to visit her family in Oregon, including Artie, who she has been in love with since they were both children. Sarah's homecoming is complicated not only by family issues, but by the fact that there are an unreasonable number of other Cuckoos in the area, and they obviously have plans for Sarah.

This is the book where we finally learn more about Sarah's species--their history, motivations, and development. It's a great addition to the larger Incryptid world, and my only major quibble with the book is that this is the first of the series to end on an actual massive cliffhanger (I understand the cliffhanger, and it is a natural stopping point, but now I will be waiting even more eagerly for the next book).

After the tense ending, we get a bit of a reprieve in the form of the now expected fill in the blanks novella. This one follows Antimony and her entourage as they road trip from Maine back towards the family enclave in Oregon. We get to revisit these wonderful characters that we spent the last three books following (but without the imminent death and destruction this time). The novella also includes an all important conversation with Grandma Alice, which seems likely to tie in to the next part of the series. I can't wait to see what happens next.