Told from the perspective of the family babysitter, caretaker ghost Mary Dunlavy, newly freed from bondage to the evil crossroads entity. Mary is sent to New England to deal with a Covenant field team targeting ghosts, trapping them in spirit jars and driving them mad with iron, salt, and rosemary, turning them into balls of rage. Things get awkward. (And somewhat gory at the end.) Probably not the best place to start the series.

With a bonus novella about Verity coping with widowhood and late pregnancy. (Badly.)

I just loved reading these stories! I love this series and I love Seanan McGuire's writing, and this latest installment to the series, after everything that happened in the previous volume, I had just to read it, and it was just that good! I really enjoyed following Mary as the protagonist, as a ghost, she has a very different mindset and skillset from the various Prices that we've followed in the previous books.

Mary has been through a lot, she was a Crossroad's ghost, and then she was a babysitter ghost. But she had existed in this gray area, where the rules weren't really defined. But after the events of the previous book, yeah, she has to figure out what her limits where, what she was capable of.

One thing that I loved about this book, is that we spend a lot of time with Arthur and Elsie, both of whom are having a tough time, between his personality cobbled together from the ones that loved him, and the loss of their mother. It's complicated, and I'm glad that we got time to just sit with it, because there aren't any easy solutions.

Mourner's Waltz hurt, it's another story of Verity and her grief, which is still a gaping wound for her, with her daughter safely away, but being heavily pregnant, and dealing with some goings on in the apartment building that she manages. It's a story of grief, and continuing to live life after a loss.

Loved reading these, and I can't wait for more from this series, and by Seanan McGuire!

I thought this was another great installment in the incryptid series. I was also excited for Elsie to have a bigger role in this adventure than in previous ones, she’s a character I always want to know more about.

Seanan McGuire always does a great story and I’ve been engaged from the first book in the InCryptid series, it had that element that I wanted from the previous books. It was great getting back to this world and the characters were just as good as I was looking for. It always works well in this genre and was glad I got to read this, I can’t wait for more.

If you read enough of Seanan McGuire's work (especially the long running series) you'll start to recognize patterns in the pacing. Aftermarket Afterlife was an event book, pushing the main plot forward and containing the resolution of some of the ongoing threads (or at least a resolution. In true Price family fashion there's always more drama to come). Installment Immortality is an aftermath book, where the family has to deal with the consequences of the Covenant attacks that killed two family members, as well as their own retaliatory attack on the Covenant headquarters. Our narrator this time is still Mary, back from six months in the ether and not quite sure where she fits in this new afterlife order. Of course this is right about when she gets a new mission from the Anima Mundi.

The Covenant isn't happy about the attack on their headquarters, and although they don't know exactly how it happened they do know that there was a ghost involved. As a response there is a Covenant team rounding up ghosts on the east coast, trapping them in jars, and turning them into weapons. It's Mary's job to stop this, by whatever means she can. Mary's first step is to find living allies who can help out, and after running down the list of available family members she ends up with Elsie (currently angry and lashing out at the entire world) and Arthur (who is also angry, still figuring himself out, and quite possibly losing what's left of his mind). The following road trip and quest solves a few problems while bringing others more into focus. I'm nervous to find out how things are going to end up with Arthur/Artie, since it isn't looking great at the moment.

It's nice to see Mary figure herself out a bit more, and good to spend some time with Elsie and Arthur/Artie, who are the family kids we've seen the least of so far. There are a few cameos from other family members, but overall they don't appear. I feel like after this book we're probably done hearing from Mary for awhile, and I imagine that next time we'll probably be back with Sarah, Elsie, or Arthur (though Seanan could always surprise me).

The story at the end of the book takes us back to Verity in New York as she continues to deal with losing Dominic. It was nice to check in with her and see her start moving a little ways back towards functionality. Maybe she'll be the first Price to end up dealing with the loss of a spouse in a healthy manner (we can always hope!).