Review: Imaginary Numbers (Incryptid #9) by Seanan Mcguire

Imaginary Numbers (Incryptid #9) by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publication Date: February 25, 2020


Sarah's book! IT'S SARAH'S BOOK!

That's literally what I shouted (yes---out loud, like a lunatic) when a random package from Penguin Random House showed up on my doorstep, containing an ARC and a paper telling me I'd won one of those contests that I always enter but never, ever win, but somehow managed to win this time, and can you think of a more perfect day than that? Of course you can't. Don't lie.

(But I lied, gentle reader, because it turned out this isn't Sarah's book. Not entirely. This is Artie's book as much as Sarah's---well, at least on a 60/40ish or 65/35 split, though I'd have to crunch the page count to be sure. A fun surprise, and a welcome one; I really like Artie, and it was a lot of fun to see inside his head.)

Sarah Zellaby leaves Ohio for the Price family compound outside of Portland, mostly healed from her ordeal but very much aware she (and everyone else) is using the word 'mostly'. A dangerous encounter in the airport leads to far greater dangers descending on the House of Price, as Sarah reunites with her family, has to deal with her very complicated relationship with Artie, and is forced to face her fellow cuckoos and her own cuckoo biology.

It's difficult to say too much about the plot without being too spoilery. Suffice to say: the mice return (though I could have done with more mice! I know they're the seasoning and not the sauce---it's just that after their disappearance in the last book, I was expecting a bit more mice here than we actually get), the cuckoos descend, and by the end, nothing will ever be the same. And I mean that in the most literal way possible.

Are the cuckoos evil?

Yes.

And no.

And yes, oh god yes.

And no.

What they are, above all things, is invasive. I thought the earlier books gave us a good understanding of what that meant, but . . . prepare to learn some new stuff, children. It's gonna be a wild ride.

And that ending . . . oof. That is a big ending in and of itself, to say nothing of the potential . . . implications . . . for a certain longstanding background plot. I shall say no more than that.

Included at the end is a short story called Follow the Lady, which I'd actually recommend you read before the main book, if that makes any sense. It follows Antimony and her crew as, heading home, their car breaks down in a certain small Michigan town where they encounter a very familiar face. Much of the story is more or less a recap of the previous Antimony arc, so if you need a refresher this is actually a pretty great way to get yourself caught up.

Overall: definitely pick this up, and prepare to start whining about how the next one is a year away.