Discount Armageddon is the first book in the new InCryptid series. It stars Verity Price, the middle child of a family of cryptozoologists, in a world where cryptids are actually a real thing. The Price family dedicates themselves to helping benign cryptids fit into society, re-homing dangerous ones, and if necessary, killing any that decide that humans are tasty, tasty snacks. Verity's good at what she does, and she also sees the importance in it, but the thing is, it's not all she wants to do with her life - she dreams of making a living as a professional ballroom dancer.

As a dancer myself (albeit of a completely different style), I really enjoyed reading about Verity's struggle to balance the expectations of her family and the demands of single-handedly watching over the cryptid community of New York City while also trying to find time to practice, go to classes, and register for dance competitions. Oh, and then there's the issue of needing to conceal her true identity, lest the Covenant of St. George (who takes more of a "kill them all, let God sort them out" approach to cryptids) discover that the traitorous Price family is still alive and well.

Things are complicated when a young, attractive man from the Covenant shows up in New York City and cryptids start disappearing. Is Dominic De Luca behind it, or will he and Verity have to set aside their differences to solve a mystery that is bigger than either of them? And will Verity still have time to enter the New York State Argentine Tango Open? Keep turning the pages to find out!

The world of the InCryptid series is, well, fun. Maybe not fun to live in (what with the possibility of getting attacked by a hungry ghoul after a night of clubbing), but certainly fun to read about. Whereas in the October Daye series, McGuire has limited herself to traditional faerie types (and stuck pretty close to how they were described in faerie lore), in the InCryptid series she not only includes all sorts of creatures we're familiar with (harpies, gorgons, lycanthropes), but also some that she makes up for the fun of it. The reader never knows what Verity will run into next!

Discount Armageddon is not without its flaws, however. Like all of McGuire's books, it's written from a very close, personal, first-person POV, a running narration of the character's life. I'm noticing a trend for these narrators to spend the first few chapters in an almost constant info-dump to explain the "rules" of each series' world, and it actually gets a little grating. It reached a point where I wanted less explanation, to learn things a little more organically. But once this initial exposition gets out of the way, the story starts to move at a good pace, and the narration feels more comfortable. Readers just need to have a bit of patience.

Over all, I still like the October Daye series best out of all of McGuire's work. Toby's attitude resonates the best with me, and I am such a faerie geek. But the InCryptid series promises to be great as well, and I can't wait for the second volume to come out.

So anyway, as I just said, this is the last Parasol Protectorate book. I have mixed feelings about this, as does apparently everyone who reads this series. It's a great series, and a fun series, and I don't want to see it end. On the other hand, it is nice to see something come to a satisfying ending after a reasonable number of books, without drawing it out until the readers and the author are just sick of it.

For me, one of the draws of this series is how the characters change and grow. The main character Alexia started out single, got married, spent an entire novel separated from her beloved husband due to a huge misunderstanding, and eventually had a baby (who is now a precocious toddler in Timeless). Her relationship with the cross-dressing inventor Madame Lefoux has become strained. Her best friend Ivy also got married and had children. Carriger did not force the status quo on her characters - they were shaped by the events of the books, rather than staying in static roles.

Change is good, but in a way I think it also led to the need to wrap the books up after five neat volumes. Alexia and Lord Maccon are parents now - it's much harder for them to gallivant around. And honestly, I don't really enjoy books with child characters, I found their daughter Prudence a little too twee and would not really have enjoyed it if future volumes had focused more on watching her grow. This is of course my own hang-up and other readers may feel differently, but I still think that Timeless was a natural place to end the story.

On to the story itself! When Alexia Maccon (nee Tarabotti) gets summoned to Egypt by the oldest vampire queen in the world, she can't really say no. But she's also not foolish enough to take her daughter to visit such a dangerous woman alone, so she brings along her husband the werewolf, and a troupe of actors too. Madame Lefoux comes along for mysterious reasons of her own, but really, when does she ever have clear motivations?

What follows is a rollicking travelogue adventure story, complete with the usual vampires, werewolves, mad science, and Victorian sensibilities. Carriger continues to show a real knack for lovingly poking fun at the conventions of Victorian fiction and steampunk culture, and I adore her for it. Another thing that I love is that Alexia is, to me, very believable as a Victorian heroine. Too often, modern authors try to force modern mindsets onto their protagonists, and it feels unrealistic. Alexia is forward-thinking for her time, but not so forward-thinking that she'd fit in in the 21st century. This strong-minded woman likes to do things for herself, but she's still scandalized by the way her friend runs around in men's trousers, and embarrassed by the possibility that someone might see her unmentionables during a daring climb into a floating airship. She observes the proper courtesies, to the extent that it makes sense to her incredibly practical soulless nature. It's very easy for the modern reader to identify with her, but she is still the product of her upbringing and the era she has grown up in.

Although I don't want to get into spoiler territory, I will say that the climax of Timeless brings about some rather shocking changes, and I don't entirely agree with how some things worked out. However, unlike the disappointed fans of some franchises, I will not be spamming Gail's twitter feed to ask her to write a "better" ending. It may not be the ending I expected, but things still wrap up rather nicely, and set the stage for the future books.

Oh, did I say future books? But didn't I also say the series is ending? Yes, it's true that the Parasol Protectorate has drawn to a close, but Gail is not done with the world she's built! She has two other series in the works - one, set 25 years before this series and geared towards YA readers, and one set 25 years after and presumably meant for the adults who enjoyed this original series. And this, in my mind, is ta great way to do things. Develop a world that you love, but explore new characters and different eras. I do hope that she won't fall into the trap of some authors and just tell the same story arcs with different characters, but given that each Parasol Protectorate has had a slightly different focus, I'm pretty confident that she'll break new ground with her new series.