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Calculated Risks

(InCryptid #10)

Seanan McGuire (Goodreads Author)

4.30 · Rating details · 1,199 ratings · 158 reviews

The tenth 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.

Just when Sarah Zellaby, adopted Price cousin and telepathic ambush predator, thought that things couldn’t get worse, she’s had to go and prove herself wrong. After ...more

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Published February 23rd 2021 by DAW

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Feb 20, 2021 Robin (Bridge Four) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: super-sidekicks, chick-i-want-to-hang-out-with, uf-pnr, cool-creatures, 2021-reads

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3.5 hearts

Calculated Risks is the tenth book in the Incryptid series that follows a family of cryptozoologists (study of mythical, not so mythical creatures) on their adventures as they try to avoid the Covenant, a group of people bent on killing the cyrtid population, and help the Cryptid communities in the United States. This ...more

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Feb 25, 2021 Fiona rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: alternative-earth, urban-fantasy

Well, on the plus side, I think I've nailed what hasn't been working for me in the later books of the series - oh, and Greg, who wouldn't love Greg?

Good stuff first; this is still a wonderfully inventive, nerdy series, one where scientists (cryptozoologists count!) save the day by nerding out more often than not, a series littered with cultural references and delightfully weird new cultural references of it's own.

But (and this might be the portion of the review only worth reading if you don't mi Well, on the plus side, I think I've nailed what hasn't been working for me in the later books of the series - oh, and Greg, who wouldn't love Greg?

Good stuff first; this is still a wonderfully inventive, nerdy series, one where scientists (cryptozoologists count!) save the day by nerding out more often than not, a series littered with cultural references and delightfully weird new cultural references of it's own.

But (and this might be the portion of the review only worth reading if you don't mind a bit of expository ranting)...

Calculated Risks did build on a mounting feeling that, despite this being one of my all-time favourite series, it might not be heading in the direction of more of what I loved about it. Verity and Alex both brought different things to their arcs, but the fundamentals were solid; world of fantastic and wonderous new people in all their cryptid glory - shenanigans of various sorts ensue. Antimony was never my favourite character to begin with, but when I wasn't enjoying Sarah's books as much either, I realised what was actually going on. The direction has changed, and not in a minor way. Antimony's arc is human conflict with cryptid flavour. Sarah's arc has headed in the same direction.

To start, almost the first half of the book is recap, followed by interpersonal conflict due to the events at the end of the last book (view spoiler). A lot of that conflict is resolved by the characters explaining to each other things the readers already know.

Next, they leave a bunch of mostly regular non-cryptids alone, facing a danger that people with deadly flying mounts are too nervous to even be in sight of. There's maybe a murmur of slightly feeling like they shouldn't before it's hand-waved off. The whole point - for me, at least - is that the Price family protects those who cannot protect themselves, and some of the people they leave behind are children.

Then there's how Artie's storyline goes, which, I genuinely cannot get into because then you'll really see what a rant is. (view spoiler)

All in all, it's a mark of the strength of this series as a whole that this was still almost compulsively readable despite the issues I was having with it. There's plenty of reviewers who had nothing but good things to say, too - I'm not afraid to own that this is one of those times where this is mostly a personal review, rather than a judgement call about the objective quality of the book. But if you were in it for the same things I was - it might be time to do a Verity/Alex reread. ...more

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Feb 08, 2021 Steven rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy-paranormal, netgalley-or-publisher, read-in-2021

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love pretty much everything Seanan McGuire writes. Seriously, she's one of my favorite authors and she's highly prolific at releasing content. She writes at least one installment in each of her three main series (Incryptid, October Date, Wayward Children) every year, along with short stories and novellas every month, comic books, and usually at least one other novel a year. So there's the ca ...more

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Feb 08, 2021 Bradley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-shelf, sci-fi, fantasy, urban-fantasy

I'm a bit funny when it comes to publication quirks. I will willy-nilly make adjustments in my head to combine certain titles and split up others and call it a day no matter what the official publishers might say.

So in this case, I'm ignoring the whole book #9, #10 publication orders and calling this ONE SINGLE BOOK. No cliffhanger, just a complete story.

So what does this mean for the enjoyment of both, either? Nada. I love the whole thing. Period.

In fact, I've been chortling with glee with a bu ...more

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Dec 21, 2020 J.A. Ironside rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs, endlessly-rereadable, fantasy, favorites, most-anticipated-books-of-2021, paranormal-supernatural, sci-fi, humour, favourite-authors

ARC provided by Netgalley/ Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

It's no secret that I'm a huge Seanan McGuire fan. I've pretty much read her entire back catalogue at this point (including everything she's written as Mira Grant). The InCryptid series took longer for me to warm up to than the October Daye series, which grabbed me from the get-go, but I have to admit that it's kind of overtaken Toby in my esteem by a gnat's whisker.

The concept is brilliant: a family of monster-hunters turned C ARC provided by Netgalley/ Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

It's no secret that I'm a huge Seanan McGuire fan. I've pretty much read her entire back catalogue at this point (including everything she's written as Mira Grant). The InCryptid series took longer for me to warm up to than the October Daye series, which grabbed me from the get-go, but I have to admit that it's kind of overtaken Toby in my esteem by a gnat's whisker.

The concept is brilliant: a family of monster-hunters turned Crytozoological conservationists tries to preserve the balance between the supernatural and the mundane, whilst avoiding the attentions of their arch enemies, the Covenant of St George. What this means is that there is no set main characters
for the entire series - at some point everyone gets a book or two. Personally, I love the structure of this series. You get to see characters from their own perspective and multiple other perspectives in later books. It also makes each little character arc self contained so while it's more rewarding to read the series in order, you could conceivably read a couple of Verity's books, or a couple of Antimony's without having to go through the entire series to get there.

Imaginary Numbers - the first InCryptid story featuring Sarah Zellaby, a human form telepathic 'cuckoo' or wasp like creature - ended on a gut wrenching cliff hanger. Calculated Risks picks up exactly where that book left off and is largely concerned with solving the huge problem now facing Sarah, Artie, Antimony, Mark and James. I don't want to give spoilers but I was genuinely feeling choked up at a couple of points and there was a heart stopping moment towards the end. Also, look out for Greg - 'You dropped something' Heh, classic.

I'm already invested in the Price- Healy family as a whole so of course I loved this book. I love this huge sprawling family which is made of blood ties and friend ties, psychic ties and non-human ties. It is the ultimate found family series and everyone gets their own adventures. Also shout out to Rose Marshall who has been dead since 1952 but is still a favourite aunt (check out the Ghost Road books if you haven't already). This was exactly what I wanted in a new instalment in this series. I hope more episodes are forthcoming. I'm not nearly done yet.

...more

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Jul 10, 2020 Tahra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Can't wait! I don't usually go for cliffhangers, but the last book ended on the perfect note. Sara's story is one of the best from this series. ...more

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Mar 13, 2021 ☕️Kimberly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I was so excited to get back to Sarah’s story after the cliffhanger ending of Imaginary Numbers. Emily Bauer narrates the series except for Pocket Apocalypse, which features Alexander Price’s point of view. Emily does a fantastic job of giving voice to these characters and setting the tone. Listening is pure joy.

Sarah Zellaby, adopted cousin of the Price family and resident Cuckoo, was kidnapped by her birth family, and underwent a transformation called an instar, all so the cuckoo’s could trave ...more

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Feb 22, 2021 Kira rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: amnesia, dragged-on-endlessly, forced-myself-to-finish-it, netgalley, magic, urban-fantasy

2.5 stars

In this series, the books are always hit or miss, and this one missed the mark. Imaginary Numbers was interesting, and this picks up right where it left off. Everyone was thrown into a new dimension. To keep everyone alive, Sarah had to destroy memories of those around her. Now Antimony and Artie don't know who Sarah is, and they think she's the enemy.

Much of the book felt aimless. Ultimately the goal was to get everyone back to their dimension safely. Before they could work on that iss ...more

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Dec 16, 2020 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, arc, netgalley, series, lgbtq, urban-fantasy, contemporary

This is the tenth book in the InCryptid series. Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire starts directly after the events in Imaginary Numbers, thankfully! Because OMG, what a cliffhanger!

In an attempt to not destroy Earth while using a living math equation, Sarah transported herself, Antimony, James, Artie, and Mark, their only ally among the Johrlac, along with a chunk of university and students to another planet. A big enough problem since she doesn't know how to get them all back home. Even worse ...more

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Feb 18, 2021 Liz (Quirky Cat) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-reads

I received a copy of Calculated Risks in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Calculated Risks is the tenth and most recent novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series. Sarah's story continues here, in an otherworldly experience that only a Cuckoo could make a reality. This novel makes me so grateful for getting caught up on the series, for it really has been such a blast.

Sarah Zellaby is a Cuckoo by birth, and a Price by adoption. When she was forced to choose between the two, she forged her ...more

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Mar 01, 2021 Wanda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, new-books, urban-fantasy, female-authors, read-in-2021, 2021-reading-list

One of the things that I appreciate about Seanan McGuire is her obvious interest in science. In this book, the main character, Sarah, is an imaginary species known as a cuckoo or Jorhlac. Evolved into a humanoid form from a large, parasitic wasp species, it makes perfect sense that her developmental stages would be known as instars, like other arthropods, and that a queen would be the leader in colonizing a new hive location, just like bees and ants. I had to dredge way back in my memory of inve ...more

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Jan 19, 2021 Lauren rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Electronic ARC provided by NetGalley.

"Calculated Risks" is the second InCryptid novel featuring Sarah Zellaby as the narrator, and it picks up directly after the rather terrifying cliffhanger in "Imaginary Numbers." The story follows Sarah, Artie, Antimony, James, and Mark as they figure out what has happened to them and what to do next. Since this is a Sarah book there is a lot of talk about math. There is also a lot of discussion of consent, since Sarah is a member of a telepathic species who Electronic ARC provided by NetGalley.

"Calculated Risks" is the second InCryptid novel featuring Sarah Zellaby as the narrator, and it picks up directly after the rather terrifying cliffhanger in "Imaginary Numbers." The story follows Sarah, Artie, Antimony, James, and Mark as they figure out what has happened to them and what to do next. Since this is a Sarah book there is a lot of talk about math. There is also a lot of discussion of consent, since Sarah is a member of a telepathic species who find it almost too easy to interfere with the minds of those around them. In this case, the interference has led to Sarah unintentionally erasing herself from the minds of Annie and Artie, two of her favorite people in the universe. Now she's stuck in another dimension with family members who no longer trust her, and feral cuckoos who could be hiding anywhere.

While the InCryptid series started off feeling sort of close to reality (Verity's first outing was in New York, so, a bit familiar at least. Even with the dragons.), the series has now reached time travel, other dimensions with alien life, and super powered telepaths. The great thing about a Seanan McGuire series is that she plans her series so carefully and paces them so well that you barely even notice how far over the edge you've gone until you look back at the very beginning of the story.

I loved Sarah as a narrator. She's having a tough time in this book, for a number of reasons, and it's great seeing her forced to actually confront her limits and figure out where she draws the lines on her powers. Her relationship with Artie is particularly heart wrenching here, though I do trust Seanan to not put her characters through emotional hell without payoff. It'll be interesting to see where Sarah goes after this, and how she deals with her new powers back in Portland. I've heard that in the next book we're finally getting Alice's perspective, and I seriously can't wait to see what kind of insanity she gets up to.

(Just as a side note, one of the before chapter quotes said something about how "the difference between sacrifice and slaughter is consent", and that is so true and something that I feel like so many people do not get.) ...more

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Feb 24, 2021 Darcy rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2021, e-book, uf

I really like this series, the mice being favorites of mine, but this book was tough for me to get through. Not sure why, I like what Sarah is going through, but maybe it was being in a different dimension and no one knew Sarah, she had to prove to them she was family, the mice being the tipping point when they started to recite their stories. The other world was odd and despite finding allies to help them, you also were sure about them. I was glad when Sarah came through at the end with the mat ...more

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Jan 23, 2021 Lauren rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Y'all. I made a mistake.

I've been really good at going to bed recently. I'd hit the sack between ten and eleven o'clock, maybe closer to midnight if I'm going a bit late. But for this book? I started reading and didn't get off the couch until I was done, somewhere after two am.

As a quick note, Calculated Risks is not a good place to start this series. The best place to start would be at the beginning with Discount Armageddon, or perhaps with one of the many short stories on Seanan's website. Cal ...more

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Jan 01, 2021 Cressa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

Of the entire incryptid series this was my least favorite. There were long stretches of talk where nothing was happening but the characters having a conversation. Also Sarah's constant whining about wanting a bra drove me nuts. I have never met a woman who couldnt wait to get that thing off. My favorite part about the book was Greg. ...more

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Feb 23, 2021 Brigette rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Read for PopSugar Reading Challenge 2021 - Prompt 23 - Something broken on the cover

This is the 2nd book from Sarah's POV, and it picks up where the last book left off - Sarah and cousins (and a bunch more cuckoos) are trapped in another dimension and must figure out how to get back. I have to say, I really did expect the 'missing link' to have been a Price relative.

I really like this series and I enjoy seeing events from the various narrators. This is a good continuation of the series (but wou ...more

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Feb 23, 2021 Shubhra Joshi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Every time I read Seanan McGuire ( October date Indexing and InCryptid) I keep thinking there is no way she can top this .. but she does and does it very well.
This book made be cry multiple times in the best way. You know you have connected to the characters when you feel their pain their frustration their loneliness and their regrets.
Sarah’s pain in losing all she gained in the last book her family her resourcefulness made me like her character even more
When i started reading the series Sara ...more

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Jan 13, 2021 Meadhbh Dhommnail rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I may be a little biased when it comes to reviewing Seanan McGuire. I’m a little bit of a fangirl. Getting approved to review this ARC sent me into spasms of joy, my brain doing mental snoopy dances all over the place. I have loved everything she’s ever written, and I have followed the Incryptid series from the start. Calculated Risks is on par with everything else I’ve ever read of hers, and possibly one of the best of the series.

But like I say, I may be a little biased, it’s a book by one of m I may be a little biased when it comes to reviewing Seanan McGuire. I’m a little bit of a fangirl. Getting approved to review this ARC sent me into spasms of joy, my brain doing mental snoopy dances all over the place. I have loved everything she’s ever written, and I have followed the Incryptid series from the start. Calculated Risks is on par with everything else I’ve ever read of hers, and possibly one of the best of the series.

But like I say, I may be a little biased, it’s a book by one of my favorite authors, and it features both of my two favorite characters from the Incryptid series. I remember being extremely excited when I got Book #9 of the series, Imaginary Numbers, because finally, here was a book that featured Sarah Zellaby, one of my favorite recurring side characters in the series, as the main protagonist. But then Imaginary Numbers ended with a heartbreaking cliffhanger that left me reeling. Was my beloved Sarah going to be okay?

Well, she’s not entirely okay. In Calculated Risks, She finds herself stuck in an unfamiliar dimension and, in the process of trying to protect her friends from the potentially world-breaking math she was being forced to do at the end of the last book, she has managed to remove herself from their minds entirely. This is doubly a problem since most of those people have been trained from birth to recognize her species as a threat. So, the people she loves most in the world, including the boy she’s loved all her life, have forgotten her and think she’s a monster. And that’s just the beginning.

The remainder of the Johrlar that kidnapped her for their earth-ending dimension hopping mathematical equation at the end of Imaginary Numbers are still around and have also had their minds wiped, completely, so that they have become psychic zombies roaming the transported Iowa University college campus, and they really want to eat your brains. They are joined by spiders the size of houses. In the midst of all that, Sarah must engage in diplomatic relations with the people indigenous to the new dimension, make friends with some of the local wildlife, and is the only one who can do the math to get them home, as well as the transported campus and all of the innocent students that have been transported with it.

The story is both stranger-in-a-strange-land adventure and horror story (especially if you’re afraid of spiders like I am). It’s a love story, even if one half of the couple has forgotten the other half. But mostly, it’s a story about family and how we define it, about how sometimes found family is the most important family there is. And it is wonderful, from page one to page 488. I highly recommend it, though if you’re new to the series I would suggest reading at least Imaginary Numbers first to be able to understand where the story begins.

While I’ve enjoyed all of the Incryptid series, and they are typically fairly short and easy reads good for comfort reading, it is impossible in a ten book series not to have favorites. I loved all of the books, but I was never particularly fond of the first protagonist in the series, Verity, as she is all a sort of big sister entitlement that kind of wore on me after a while. Alex is probably the most like me of the actual Price siblings, while Annie is the sort of girl I was always prone to getting crushes on. Sarah, though, was always sort of there in the background, an amazing friend who was quiet and shy and sweet but hard as steel when the time came for her to save the day (and save the day she did, over and over, no matter what it cost her).

I have loved getting to know her better in these last two books and can’t wait to see what is coming next. It is, apparently, a book about Alice, the hell-dimension-hopping grandmother of the Price clan. As she has been oft-referenced in the series, but only actually shown up in one book, I can’t wait to get to know her.

Fortunately, with the Incryptid series, a little picking and choosing is absolutely possible. They are chronologically sequels to each other, but the plots within are fairly self-contained by character. It is possible to just pick a favorite character and only read the Incryptid books with that character as protagonist and not feel like you missed that much of the story. Of course, the problem there is that the world built is so good you end up wanting to know the whole thing.

They are all excellent, so if you’re looking for a good set of popcorn reads, go buy all ten.

(Review originally published at Coffee Under Covers) ...more

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Feb 20, 2021 Tracy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'm a pretty dedicated Wayward Children reader, but this DRC dropped in my lap , so I read it! :) I had a bit of trouble, but as we got to know everyone, AGAIN, apparently, it was easier. I kind of love the math concept! Extremely interesting, also the Wrinkle in Time reference was priceless. A lot more humor and internal thinking than I get with Wayward. Will probably have to read more ;) ...more

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Jan 01, 2021 MAB LongBeach rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: multiverse, fantasy, portal-fantasy, contemporary-fantasy, reviewed

Picking up where Imaginary Numbers left off, with Sarah, Antimony, Artie, James, and their cuckoo ally Mark stranded in another universe with a college campus, a few random students, and an unknown number of other cuckoos. Now they need to find a way to get themselves and everyone else back--except for the cuckoos, if possible. This won't be easy. Especially since Sarah deleted her cousins' memories of her to make room for the equation that got them there.

A fun entry in the series, but probably ...more

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Jan 28, 2021 Anthony rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, seanan-mcguire

Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series has always been about family: the ones we’re born into, the ones we build around ourselves, the ones we willingly leave behind. The series’ rotating narrators (mostly the Price siblings, Verity, Alex, and Antimony) spend copious amounts of time ruminating on the joys and tribulations of family life – the expectations, love and support as well as the fights, favoritism, and claustrophobia – when they aren’t hip-deep in battle protecting local Cryptid populations Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series has always been about family: the ones we’re born into, the ones we build around ourselves, the ones we willingly leave behind. The series’ rotating narrators (mostly the Price siblings, Verity, Alex, and Antimony) spend copious amounts of time ruminating on the joys and tribulations of family life – the expectations, love and support as well as the fights, favoritism, and claustrophobia – when they aren’t hip-deep in battle protecting local Cryptid populations from the Covenant of St. George and other threats (and sometimes even when they are hip-deep in battle with the Covenant and other threats). But I don’t think anyone in the cast has been quite as well placed to talk about losing family as Sarah Zellaby, the narrator of the previous book, Imaginary Numbers, as well as this present installment, Calculated Risks, which releases on February 23rd.

WARNING: Because this is a review of the TENTH book in a series, there will be mild spoilers for previous books. If you haven’t read them yet and don’t want to be spoiled this is your chance to click away from this review.

Sure, other members of the Price clan have been separated from the family. Antimony spent the better part of the three books preceding Imaginary Numbers infiltrating and then on the run from the Covenant (the organization that not only wants to wipe out all Cryptids but also the entire Price-Healey clan), which necessitated staying out of touch to protect her family. Grandma Alice is absent more than she’s present, hopping between dimensions in search of her missing husband. But even when completely out of touch, Antimony and Alice know they still have a family that loves them and misses them. In Calculated Risks, Sarah must deal with beloved cousins who have forgotten her very existence as well as the real possibility that they may never remember who she is nor welcome her back into the fold.

As a supporting character in previous books, Sarah has always fought an internal war between what her genetics tell her to be (a homicidal predatory wasp in human shape) and who her adopted family has taught her to be (a caring and cautious telepath with an endearing love for ketchup and math). Sarah’s race, the Jorhlac (referred to by the Prices as “cuckoos” because of their predilection for leaving their young in the care of unsuspecting humans, with usually disastrous results), are ruthless telepaths who use their powers to control humans and rewrite their memories. Sarah’s adoptive mother and father raised her not to use her telepathy that way, raised her to be mindful of others’ privacy and never take advantage unless it meant saving someone’s life. The nature versus nurture question is writ large across Sarah’s life and in previous books nurture has won out – although barely, in the case of the cliffhanger at the end of Imaginary Numbers that leads directly into the start of Calculated Risks. The questions Sarah has always had about who and what she is mirror what so many of my friends who were adopted have felt (although I’m pretty sure none of them have turned out to be alien wasps in human form). And as Sarah’s powers have grown, so has her struggle. Even though most of that struggle has been seen through the eyes of her cousins, she has still become one of my favorite characters (and in this series, that’s saying a lot). So when Seanan announced that Sarah would finally be the narrator of a book or two, I was both excited and concerned. The narrators of these books always get put through the emotional and physical wringer, and Sarah has already been through so much (for instance, using her powers to rewrite some bad-guys’ memories of the Price clan, a task which shattered Sarah’s mind and left her a shell of herself for a long time – but which also led to her current predicament). Imaginary Numbers pushed her even further, almost shattering her again – and yet, Calculated Risks manages to top even that, by stripping her of her most valuable support system.

Sarah has always depended on her cousins to support her and understand her personality quirks (see the ketchup thing). To have that support torn away so completely and possibly irrevocably – to suddenly be the target of their suspicions, anger, and fear because of what they know of the race she was borne of – is the most devastating emotional abuse the character could suffer. There were moments, especially early in the book, that were downright painful to read and brought tears to my eyes – a testament to how much McGuire has gotten me to love Sarah, but also to just how damned good the author is at writing emotional conflict and internalized pain.

McGuire also show us Sarah’s strength. As much as she’s hurting, she knows she still has to help her cousins, and the unfortunate other humans and cryptids transported with them, to not only survive this new dimension they’ve entered but also to get home. And because her love for those who have forgotten her is more boundless than her greatly expanded powers, she’s willing to die for them if that’s what it takes. Her efforts to get her family to trust her again, even if they don’t remember her, show just how strong and in control of herself Sarah is. Yeah, she could force them to accept her – but she’d never forgive herself if she did.

I realize this review so far makes the book sound like an absolute tear-fest from page one to the end. I promise it is not. This is an InCryptid book. There’s a ton of action as the characters explore, and are threatened by, the new dimension they’re in, and the danger doesn’t just come from the Cuckoos mentioned in the cover copy. The fight scenes are fast and cinematic, the new threats creative and complex. There’s the usual amount of pop culture snark in the dialogue from the usual suspects (mostly Antimony and Sarah this time out), and there are the Required Adorable Scenes featuring the Aeslin mice (I have no doubt the Aeslin would indeed capitalize those words if they were speaking this sentence). There are a number of intriguing character and world-building developments to tee up future books; I’m hesitant to spoil any of them here but I uttered “oh, that should be important” several times.

Of course, I will also not spoil the ending, but I don’t think anyone will be disappointed in it.

There’s also a bonus novella, “Singing the Comic-Con Blues,” which is a flashback to happier days for the characters. The story is a road-caper for Antimony, Sarah, Artie, and Verity that really shows how well and fully these characters love each other (even when they don’t like each other very much in the moment), as well as how Sarah being adopted and not even human was never an issue for anyone in the family. After all the heaviness of the family aspects of the main novel, the novella is a pleasant grace note.

Oh, and DAW, if you’re reading this: since the next book in the series is narrated by Alice, don’t you think it’s about time to bring all of Seanan’s Alice-and-Thomas short stories together in a nice paperback edition? A collection of the Fran-and-Johnnie stories wouldn’t hurt either. I’m quite sure they’d sell well.
This review was written based on an electronic ARC received via NetGalley.
...more

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Apr 03, 2021 Adjectiveplusnoun rated it liked it · review of another edition

If you enjoy this review, please consider visiting my blog for more

I enjoyed Calculated Risks, but more for the things it brings to the InCryptid series, and the entertaining world, than for the book in its own right. I don’t connect with Sarah or enjoy her as a protagonist as much as I do the Price siblings.

One of my favourite parts of the InCryptid series is the sibling dynamics and the way that effects the Price siblings and the way they relate to the world and their work. That aspect of the ...more

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Mar 11, 2021 Margaret Fisk rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

The book has a prologue of when Sarah first met Artie, a cute scene, but also one that grounds us in Sarah’s loss. The first chapter starts right where Imaginary Numbers ends, as though a year hadn’t fallen between the two releases. Imaginary Numbers and Calculated Risks form a duet, or perhaps more accurately, a two-part episode in the style of television shows. There are reminders of what happened before, but where the InCryptid series can be read as Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

The book has a prologue of when Sarah first met Artie, a cute scene, but also one that grounds us in Sarah’s loss. The first chapter starts right where Imaginary Numbers ends, as though a year hadn’t fallen between the two releases. Imaginary Numbers and Calculated Risks form a duet, or perhaps more accurately, a two-part episode in the style of television shows. There are reminders of what happened before, but where the InCryptid series can be read as individual, if related, stories, these two cannot.

Oddly, Calculated Risks can also serve as an introduction to the series as a whole. Sarah realizes in those first moments that the adopted cousins she’d grown up alongside, trained, and even fell in love with, no longer remember her existence. She’s gone from family and more to irredeemable cryptid that should be killed on the spot, cutting the emotional ground from beneath her feet.

She spends the first three chapters tied to a chair, desperate to make her case without manipulating them further. Explaining their memory loss is all her fault doesn’t help them trust her, but it does offer the opportunity to remind readers what happened in the first book. Sarah didn’t mean to change their memories. Instinct drove her to save them from the pain of realizing the equation had killed her…only it didn’t.

The book is not lacking in action. They encounter the various species native to this dimension, along with more troubles Sarah brought with the campus. The indigenous sapiens are similar to Earth hominids, while other species bear some commonalities and significant differences. Also, natural forces in this dimension, including those governing magic, are not the same as on Earth. There’s a lot to explore. However, like the previous book, this is more of a personal story, but remains in Sarah’s perspective throughout.

Sarah learns more about her species, including how many assumptions the Price family has been basing their actions on, but it’s not cryptozoology like how Alex details a discovery. This is her life, even more so with all family members in the new dimension having no memory of her. Worse, their recent connection with Mark, another cuckoo, is unaffected. They remember Mark survived puberty without losing his feelings for the human family that raised him. He’s safe and comfortable while she’s the enemy.

Nor did Sarah’s protective instincts spare Artie or their brand-new status as a couple.

She’s not used to being isolated. The Prices are forever finding new people in need of family, always growing. But in her case, it shrank with Sarah on the other side. This is the heart of the story. Her trying to convince them she’s their beloved cousin while taking responsibility for the fact that they can’t remember her…or having consented to her using them for the equation.

Without specifics, I’ll say the relationships form the foundation of this book. Not only those destroyed and built in these pages, but also those that came before. The biggest plot thread is how Sarah functions with her family, and the love of her life, having forgotten she exists while they still depend on her, as a cuckoo stranger, to get them home.

Imaginary Numbers ended in a cliffhanger, but this one has a satisfactory conclusion. There are still consequences to be dealt with, but the big questions, the urgent questions, are all resolved one way or another. Still, this book opens the possibility for many more stories, whether novels or novellas, meaning the series still has room to grow. One such novella appears in the back of this book, even.

P.S. I received this Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in hopes of an honest review. ...more

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Feb 27, 2021 sardit rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, urban-fantasy

Disappointing, really. It still had a lot of what I like about the Incryptid series - McGuire has always had good prose, and if there's anything I'm weak for in fiction it's wacky biology, but there were several things that really sunk it for me.

(view spoiler) Disappointing, really. It still had a lot of what I like about the Incryptid series - McGuire has always had good prose, and if there's anything I'm weak for in fiction it's wacky biology, but there were several things that really sunk it for me.

(view spoiler)[The choice to wipe Sarah from the minds of her loved ones that were there rapidly became less a fun source of angst and more grindingly unpleasant. Partially I think Antimony was a poor choice here, as fond as I generally am of her - I think either of her siblings would handle the situation of a relative they don't remember that the mice attest to with a little more grace, so that there was less kicking of the sad telepath who's just mindwiped herself from her boyfriend. But also, I think it was ultimately a bad choice to do that because we've never really gotten much of a chance to know Artie, and having the reader's first prolonged exposure to him be after he's forgotten Sarah - look, I realize I've been told they're desperately in love since the first book of the series. But being told is not the same thing as seeing it, and I think I needed some actual in person interaction that wasn't in the middle of a disaster for the tragedy of it all to land appropriately.

And the resolution of it was cheap, convenient, and utterly shittastic. Oh goody, let's brain wipe him entirely and have Sarah rebuild him from the ground up, because that's not ridiculously contrived and also impossible to rebuild him exactly the way he was with the information presented to us. Even having mice who have observed every second of his day since he was born, I just didn't buy it was possible to rebuild him intact the way he was previously to getting his memories removed the first time, which made Sarah's pure relief at getting her Artie back - well, creepy. Really creepy.

The other big thing I absolutely hated was that they just abandoned the survivors to some unknown danger without any attempt to save them. It felt like it was a decision made because the author wanted the team to go to the cool bug riders' hometown and get the plot information so they could go home without fussing with the survivors, not because it was a choice they would have generally made.

Speaking of the cool bug riders' hometown, I found the Johrlac from Johrlac both kind of contrived and the weakest way to do that plot? Yeah, I've been guessing for a while that cuckoos are sociopaths because they were the ones exiled from their homeworld, and the developments in that regard were interesting, but damn, give me some live Johrlac waiting to battle the rogue queen for those revelations, not blandly gone/dead ones that conveniently left behind their dimensional hopping math so they can return home.

There was plenty that was fun, I suppose. If Sarah hadn't been (understandably) absorbed in her heartbreak, I think I would have enjoyed finding and dealing with the survivors more, and if I hadn't been completely distracted by the wait they just totally abandoned all the survivors to an unknown danger, I would have enjoyed the alien town. I liked Greg (but I was also convinced by the arguments it would be unethical to take him so...one more disappointment in that regard. I mean yes, devoted giant spiders you can ride are cool, but I feel like trying to find one a home on earth that keeps him safely concealed is going to run into problems for the spider). (hide spoiler)]

Usually I consider McGuire pretty good at the sleight of hand that keeps the reader from noticing the author's contrivances to keep the plot moving. In this book, that sleight of hand failed badly, and failed in ways that ultimately led to me trying to decide whether I should dislike the characters or the author for the choices made. ...more

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Mar 09, 2021 Sharon Tyler rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Calculated Risks is the tenth book in the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire. It is the second book in Sarah's point of view. I highly recommend reading this series in order (not just because I love it, but because it will help with the nuances of character personality and motivation). If you do not want to start from the very beginning, at least start with the beginning of Sarah's story arch.

Just when Sarah Zellaby, adopted Price cousin and telepathic ambush predator, thought that things could Calculated Risks is the tenth book in the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire. It is the second book in Sarah's point of view. I highly recommend reading this series in order (not just because I love it, but because it will help with the nuances of character personality and motivation). If you do not want to start from the very beginning, at least start with the beginning of Sarah's story arch.

Just when Sarah Zellaby, adopted Price cousin and telepathic ambush predator, thought that things couldn't get worse, she's had to go and prove herself wrong. After being kidnapped and manipulated by her birth family, she has undergone a transformation called an instar, reaching back to her Apocritic origins to metamorphize. While externally the same, she is internally much more powerful, and much more difficult to control. Even by herself. After years of denial, the fact that she will always be a cuckoo has become impossible to deny. Now stranded in another dimension with a handful of allies who seem to have no idea who she is--including her cousin Annie and her maybe-boyfriend Artie, both of whom have forgotten their relationship--and a bunch of cuckoos with good reason to want her dead, Sarah must figure out not only how to contend with her situation, but with the new realities of her future. What is she now? Who is she now? Is that person someone she can live with? And when all is said and done, will she be able to get the people she loves, whether or not they've forgotten her, safely home?

Calculated Risks is a continuation of a great story on so many levels. Sarah has fought so hard to come back to herself- only to get kidnapped and bring about dimensional travel and mayhem. Trying to figure out how it all happened, and how to fix it, she has to deal with the mental gaps the whole thing has caused in her family and the innocent bystanders that have gotten caught up in the whole thing. I think that as usual, the depth of character and world building here is fantastic, even the secondary and even less important characters have complexity to them, and feel real even if readers do not get all the details about them. I felt for the college kids trapped on campus, the strangers they meet, and the depth of history and emotion forgotten by Sarah's core support system. Fans of the author and series will need to read this, anyone foolish enough to start here will be utterly lost and confused (but hopefully inspired to go back and start at the beginning). My only disappointment is the same that I feel at the end of each of these books- that this part of the story is over and I have to wait for the next installment.

Calculated Risks is exactly what I needed from this series, it left me satisfied but craving more. ...more

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Feb 23, 2021 Chrissy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, vwf-7500-books-in-2021

This is the tenth InCryptid novel and the second following Sarah Zellaby as the main character. After the cliffhanger ending of the previous book, I was so impatient to get my hands on this one and it did not disappoint. It was different from the rest of the series because it was set in a different dimension, and I enjoyed seeing the characters in survivalist mode in such an unusual-even-for-them situation. After we already learned a lot about the cuckoos in Sarah’s first book, now I feel like w This is the tenth InCryptid novel and the second following Sarah Zellaby as the main character. After the cliffhanger ending of the previous book, I was so impatient to get my hands on this one and it did not disappoint. It was different from the rest of the series because it was set in a different dimension, and I enjoyed seeing the characters in survivalist mode in such an unusual-even-for-them situation. After we already learned a lot about the cuckoos in Sarah’s first book, now I feel like we’ve uncovered basically all their secrets and I liked what we learned and how it put some of the things the Prices always thought they knew into question.

Unlike Imaginary Numbers, this one is entirely Sarah’s POV. I would’ve loved to also get some Artie POV once more, but then again, Artie’s head would not have been a fun place to be at this point in time. Poor guy really isn’t coping well with what’s going on here. Due to the big oopsie Sarah did at the end of Imaginary Numbers parts of the character interactions in this one were pretty heartbreaking, but even when the characters – especially Artie – acted in ways that really hurt to read about, I could understand where they were coming from. Annie again plays a fairly large role in this story, which I loved because she’s still my favorite Price so far.

Unlike the previous installments in the series, which built on what came before, but still were mostly self-contained stories, Sarah’s two books are more two halves of one story, rather than two separate stories. But if you’ve been holding off on Imaginary Numbers because you don’t like cliffhangers, there’s nothing to stop you anymore now. Calculated Risks finishes the plot arc that Imaginary Numbers started and leaves you ready to move on to the next narrator.

If I have any complaints at all, it's that the ending felt a bit abrupt and I would've liked a few pages of an epilogue.

The bonus novella in the back about Annie, Artie, Sarah and Verity hunting a siren at a comic convention was a light bit of fun after the novel really put its readers through the emotional wringer.

The acknowledgments confirm that the next InCryptid book will be Spelunking Through Hell, following Alice Price-Healy as the main character. I’ve been waiting to get to Alice’s story for a long time, so I’m very excited about that. I’ve loved her since the first time she appeared on the page. ...more

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Feb 27, 2021 Berni Phillips rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Don't read this book first, if you're new to this series! It takes place following the cliff-hanger ending of Imaginary Numbers.

This book focuses on Sarah Zellaby, the cuckoo adopted by the Price family. Cuckoos are not human. They look human but are descended from telepathic wasps in another dimension. They're apex predators who are obsessed with math. Being adopted by the Prices means that while Sarah has the love for math and the telepathy common to most of her species, she is not a predator Don't read this book first, if you're new to this series! It takes place following the cliff-hanger ending of Imaginary Numbers.

This book focuses on Sarah Zellaby, the cuckoo adopted by the Price family. Cuckoos are not human. They look human but are descended from telepathic wasps in another dimension. They're apex predators who are obsessed with math. Being adopted by the Prices means that while Sarah has the love for math and the telepathy common to most of her species, she is not a predator at heart. She doesn't invade people's minds without good cause.

The start of the book finds her confronted by her cousins, Antimony and Artie (who is also the love of her life), as she wakes to find herself tied to a chair wearing nothing but a nightgown. It seems that in Imaginary Numbers, others of her species kidnapped her and turned her into a Queen cuckoo with the power to destroy the earth as she mathematically managed to bring the cuckoos from earth to yet another dimension. With the help of her family and friends, Sarah managed not to destroy the earth, but they did find themselves in another dimension, and Sarah had deleted herself from their memories, thinking that would be kinder to them as she fully expected to die.

So she lives and is being threatened by those whom she is closest to. Not a great situation to be in.

Fans of McGuire will really enjoy this. Sarah managed to uproot an entire college campus, students included, and transport it to this other dimension. The cuckoos there have turned into zombies - Sarah needed more brain/processing power to not destroy the earth so she took it from her captor cuckoos. Their bodies survived, but their brains did not. So Sarah and company have to roam the campus and locate all the pockets of hiding students while evading killer cuckoos. And aliens. And giant killer spiders.

Oh yeah - if you get squicked out by spiders, you might want to avoid this.

I loved the new novella at the back as well: in this prequel to Calculated Risks, Antimony, Verity, Sarah, and Art head up to Emerald City Comic Con to hunt a siren who preys on con attendees. It just sang to my geeky little heart. I wished there had been more written about their time at the con aside from doing the job, but it was still a lot of fun for us fans. ...more

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Mar 23, 2021 Nilchance rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I mostly enjoyed this book, but man, Artie. I was never particularly invested in him as a character before this point, but his romance with Sarah was genuinely sweet up until this book. The trouble is that apparently, if you take Sarah out of his memories, Artie is kind of a dick who genuinely seems to loathe cuckoos and gives Sarah no end of crap for being a member of her species. When ANTIMONY is more willing to give somebody the benefit of the doubt than you are, you're officially being too p I mostly enjoyed this book, but man, Artie. I was never particularly invested in him as a character before this point, but his romance with Sarah was genuinely sweet up until this book. The trouble is that apparently, if you take Sarah out of his memories, Artie is kind of a dick who genuinely seems to loathe cuckoos and gives Sarah no end of crap for being a member of her species. When ANTIMONY is more willing to give somebody the benefit of the doubt than you are, you're officially being too paranoid. Ultimately he and Sarah have a conversation where it seems like Artie had a change of heart off-screen, but the fact that he's been such a prick the entire book isn't really addressed and his sacrifice play at the very end doesn't necessarily redeem him.

And then. AND THEN. I have no doubt that Seanan will address the whole issue with further nuance in the next book, as that's kind of her thing, but as it stands the ending glosses over the huge ethical implications of wtf Sarah just did to Artie. She spent the whole book angsting about how altering his memory or replacing the memories she'd taken was crossing a serious ethical line and that by changing his past, she effectively killed the man she loved; she worried that if she wasn't very careful, what she wanted from him would influence his behavior and overwrite his free will. Yet when Artie was mindwiped by the math, she rebuilt him from the memories and perceptions of herself, the Mice, and the whole Price family, and then proceeded to act like she got back the person she started with instead of someone who she created? He looks like Artie, he may ACT like Artie, but the real Artie is gone and neither of them can ever know how much of the furniture was rearranged in his brain. Memory is not an objective thing, esp when it's the memory of someone we love and who we just thought we lost forever. Any thoughts or memories Artie had that weren't shared with others are gone now, and they're not coming back. Maybe that's a realization that'll come when the adrenaline fades and Sarah has some time to think, but at the moment, the ending of this duology is rushed and kind of existentially horrifying to me.

However: I love the worldbuilding weirdness and the other characters, esp Mark and James and Greg the giant emotional support spider, enough to forgive a LOT from this book, so it gets four stars. ...more

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Apr 02, 2021 Andrea Rittschof rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Brilliant and Emotional

Seanan McGuire managed the impossible. The previous novel, “Imaginary Numbers”, ends in a cliffhanger and I don’t mind because it is just that good a book. And with every novel in the Incryptid series, she gets better and better. In “Calculated Risks”, she catapults her readers right into the middle of the action. The characters are in a strange dimension, with no way home that they know of and none of Sarah’s family even knows who she is. Despite that less than advantageo Brilliant and Emotional

Seanan McGuire managed the impossible. The previous novel, “Imaginary Numbers”, ends in a cliffhanger and I don’t mind because it is just that good a book. And with every novel in the Incryptid series, she gets better and better. In “Calculated Risks”, she catapults her readers right into the middle of the action. The characters are in a strange dimension, with no way home that they know of and none of Sarah’s family even knows who she is. Despite that less than advantageous beginning, with the odds stacked against a satisfying ending, Seanan McGuire creates a plot that kept me on my toes, reading into the wee hours of the morning, and desperately captivated with the fate of the Price family, especially Sarah and Artie.
Beat for beat, while I have loved all of Seanan’s books, this one in particular, kept me enraptured. I think because the characters are in such a difficult situation, one in which it is difficult to envision an escape, it makes the stakes so high and creates a story that keeps readers guessing until the end if there will be a satisfying ending.
The plight of Sarah, her grief over the loss of her family, that they’ve forgotten her, also creates a story that is deeply emotional. Everyone faces loss of some kind over their lives and Sarah’s loss creates a bond between the character and the reader. Seanan brilliantly taps into that theme of family and loss with this novel.
The solutions that Sarah discovers and the friends that she makes along the way, creates a novel that is complex, layered with emotion and a joy to read. And while it helps to have read the previous novel, “Imaginary Numbers”, especially given the beginning of the book, Seanan McGuire also does an excellent job of summarizing the events of the previous book. She always does so with great skill, providing the information in bits and pieces by the characters so that readers are not lost if they just picked up the book for some reason.
Emotional and brilliant, I highly recommend, “Calculated Risks”. It’s good if you have read the previous books in the series so if you haven’t begun, The Incryptid series are quick and fun reads. And it is worth reading the rest for the brilliant and satisfying ending to “Calculated Risks.” ...more

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Mar 08, 2021 Sandy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: src-spring-2021-read, read-in-2021, sci-fi-fantasy, netgalley

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Full disclosure - I have read and enjoyed everything I can get my hands on by Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant, so I was predisposed to enjoy this! And enjoy it I did!

While I think a reader would enjoy any of the Incryptid books more if they read the series in order, I think this book in particular requires that you have read the previous book in the series, Imaginary Numbers.

This series has switched focus character ...more

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Girls, Guns and G...: Calculated Risks - Feb/March NRBotM	11	23	Mar 25, 2021 11:59PM
잇플릭스/ it-flix.com /한유나포토툰/토렌트추천/짬툰포토툰/포토툰한유나/포토툰19/19금포토툰/무료포토툰/포토툰모델/한국성인토렌트/성인토렌트순위/토렌트순위/무료토렌트/성인토렌트/중국성인토렌트/토렌트사이트/성인포토툰	1	1	Mar 15, 2021 02:57AM
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About Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire

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Hi! I'm Seanan McGuire, author of the Toby Daye series (Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation, An Artificial Night, Late Eclipses), as well as a lot of other things. I'm also Mira Grant (www.miragrant.com), author of Feed and Deadline.

Born and raised in Northern California, I fear weather and am remarkably laid-back about rattlesnakes. I watch too many horror movies, read too many comic books, and ...more