Review: Backpacking Through Bedlam

Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and DAW publishing for gifting me an early copy of this book. My honest review follows.

Everybody... Incryptid is awesome. Are you reading it? You should be if you aren't. If you are, high five to you!

This one picks up where Spelunking through Hell left off, so at the VERY LEAST, you should have read that one before starting this one.

Backpacking through Bedlam starts by tying up some loose ends from Spelunking, then diving back into the "our dimension"/"rest of the family" storyline. Verity's behavior, coupled with Annie's, has sparked a war with the Covenant. Who better to help with that than Alice and the gang?

I don't want to spoil too much or give away a lot of the story, but I really enjoyed the new dynamic between Alice and everyone, now that her lifelong quest is completed and things are supposed to be getting back to "normal." I can't wait to see more of the family reunions, especially James and Sally, now that they've both been adopted by the Prices - the short novella at the end of the book hinted at this upcoming storyline.

And if having another awesome Incryptid novel wasn't enough, we get a novella at the end that has two POVs in it. James is one... and the other? AN AESLIN MOUSE. They are one of the best creations in all of Urban Fantasy, and I loved this POV.

Highly recommended series. It's one of my absolute favorites. Not the best place to start, but if you haven't read the rest and choose to pick this one up, I hope that it drives you to go back and read the rest of them.

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