The InCryptid Series in Order

About the InCryptid series

Series Premise

At its core, the premise centers on the Price-Healy family, a multi-generational clan of cryptozoologists dedicated to studying, documenting, and safeguarding cryptids from human discovery and harm. Once affiliated with the ruthless Covenant of St. George—a militant organization bent on eradicating anything nonhuman—the family broke away decades ago to forge their own path as defenders rather than hunters. Now scattered across North America (and occasionally beyond), the Prices and Healys live double lives: blending into human society while running field research, maintaining alliances with various cryptid species, and occasionally dodging Covenant assassins or other threats. The stories explore what it means to protect the vulnerable, question inherited dogma, build trust across species lines, and navigate the messy realities of family loyalty when your relatives include gorgons, tanuki, and dimensional travelers.

Main Characters

• Verity Price — Energetic, quick-witted ballroom dancer and cryptozoologist; fiercely protective of cryptids, she balances competitive dance, bartending gigs, and field work while navigating romance and family expectations.



• Alex Price — Verity's brother, a herpetologist and field researcher; more reserved and academic, deeply committed to ethical cryptozoology and often the voice of reason amid escalating chaos.



• Shelby Tanner — Australian cryptozoologist and Alex's partner; bold, snake-obsessed, and unflappably cheerful, she brings humor and fierce loyalty to the family.



• Antimony "Ant" Price — The youngest sibling; rebellious, roller-derby-loving trickster with a talent for trouble and a complicated relationship with her family's legacy.



• Alice Price-Healy — The formidable matriarch; a brilliant, gun-toting cryptozoologist who has spent decades searching for her lost husband, embodying determination and maternal ferocity.



• Thomas Price (deceased/missing) — Alice's husband; a former Covenant member turned defector whose disappearance drives much of the family's long-term arc.

Setting

The setting spans contemporary North America, with a strong emphasis on hidden-in-plain-sight urban and suburban locales where cryptids thrive unnoticed. Key hubs include New York City (with its underground cryptid communities and snake cults), Portland, Oregon (home to academic cryptozoology and snake cults), the Midwest (with mouse colonies and field research), and various road-trip-friendly spots across the U.S. and Canada. The world feels lived-in and expansive—cryptids run roller derby teams, intern at theme parks, manage apiaries, perform in burlesque shows, or hide in plain sight as humans—creating a vibrant, believable secret society layered over the mundane world.

Tone & Themes

Tonally, the series is fast-paced, irreverent, and surprisingly warm—packed with pop-culture references, deadpan banter, musical theater nods (especially ballroom dance), and moments of genuine tenderness amid the chaos. McGuire balances high-stakes action, clever worldbuilding, and laugh-out-loud humor with thoughtful explorations of prejudice, identity, belonging, found family, redemption, and the ethics of coexistence. Themes include rejecting inherited hatred, the cost of secrecy, the power of empathy across divides, resilience in the face of existential threats, and the idea that "monsters" are often just people (or creatures) trying to live their lives. The tone remains optimistic and defiant, celebrating diversity in all its forms while never shying away from danger or loss.

In the end, the InCryptid series is a joyful, adrenaline-fueled love letter to the misfits, the misunderstood, and the magnificently strange. Seanan McGuire builds a world where protecting the "monsters" means protecting kindness itself, where family isn't just blood but chosen loyalty across scales and dimensions, and where humor and heart triumph over fear every time. It's the kind of series that makes you cheer for gorgons in lab coats, root for mice with religious fervor, and believe that even in a world full of hunters, the weird ones can still dance their way to safety. Dive in, and you'll emerge convinced that the best stories are the ones that remind us: sometimes the thing under the bed just wants to be left alone to live its life.