Discount Armageddon is the first novel in the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire. It features Verity Price.
Synopsis[]
Cryptid, noun:
1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.
2. That thing that's getting ready to eat your head.
3. See also: "monster."
The Covenant of St. George was founded to uphold one simple ideal: anything that was not present on the Ark—anything they deemed "unnatural"—needed to be destroyed. Monsters. Creatures of myth and legend. All of them would be wiped from the Earth in the name of Man's dominion. Unfortunately for them, not all the monsters agreed with this plan...and neither did all the human beings.
After their rather abrupt departure from the Covenant, Alexander and Enid Healy found themselves alone in the world, but with a simple mission of their own: to protect the cryptids of the world from those who would harm them without just cause. It was a cause that would eventually claim both their lives, leaving their children, and their childrens' children, to take up the fight. Now in the modern day, their descendants struggle to stay beneath the Covenant's radar, while defending the cryptids from humanity—and humanity from the cryptids.
Plot[]
Prologue: Sixteen years ago, six-year-old Verity's parents try to figure out what to do with their dancing, violent daughter.
Chapter 1: Verity drags Sarah to a downtown Manhattan club to hunt for a murderous, humanoid cryptid. She corners the ghoul in question and warns him to follow the rules of her city.
Chapter 2: The next morning, Verity is woken by the bacchanalia of her colony of Aeslin mice, who are recreating the first time her grandparents hooked up. Groaning, she gets ready for work.
Chapter 3: Verity runs over rooftops Batman-style to get to work: A bogeyman-owned strip club where she is a server. She puts some rude guests with roving hands in their place but is called into the boss's office for it.
Chapter 4: Dave sends Verity home for the night, though not before trying to convince her to accept a promotion to stripper. She free-runs home, only to be caught in a rooftop snare.
Chapter 5: Dominic De Luca arrives to cut her down from the snare. She sees that he has killed an ahool and immediately pegs him as Covenant. She introduces herself as Thomas Price's granddaughter and demands to know why he is in Manhattan. They part on hostile terms.
Chapter 6: Verity calls home to tell her family about the Covenant agent. They strategize and decide that Verity can handle the situation herself, for now. By the next morning, the family gossip network confirms that cryptids have been disappearing all over Manhattan.
Chapter 7: At work, Verity warns her cryptid co-workers that the Covenant is in town. Dave already knows and has been holding onto the information for financial collateral within the cryptid world. Verity recruits Ryan to help her spread the word.
Chapter 8: Weeks pass with more disappearances but no sign of Dominic, at least until their paths cross again on the rooftops. He threatens her with a crossbow and she invites him to talk over coffee. He is appalled at how willing she is to discuss supernatural matters around humans, but Verity demonstrates that humans don't pay attention to evidence of the paranormal. They compare notes and determine something else has causing the local disappearances.
Chapter 9: Verity attends a tango competition, but her regular dance partner is put out of commission and Dominic steps in. Verity fakes an injury to get off the stage. Dominic works past Verity's fury to share he suspects a dragon under the city.
Chapter 10: They argue over the morality of killing dragons, then go hunting the streets together. In the middle of an argument, Verity kisses him to shut him up. Then they go visit a Madhura bakery to probe for information about the disappearances.
Chapter 11: Dominic is furious that Verity took him to a cryptid informant, and she tells him off for being bigoted. She explains why her family left the Covenant, and he explains that he is on his first solo mission for the Covenant and therefore doesn't want to call in backup. Verity takes him to Sarah's hotel, and asks Sarah to search telepathically for the dragon. Sarah finds him underground, along with people trying to wake him up.
Chapter 12: Verity and Dominic venture into the sewers and run into a group of servitors.
Chapter 13: They escape into the daylight and return to Sarah, who provides them with first aid.
Chapter 14: Verity and Dominic part ways, and Verity checks in with her family.
Chapter 15: Verity goes to work during her off-shift time, asking for Candy. She questions the dragon princess about dragons and blows her mind that one might still be alive. Then Verity returns home, where Dominic finds her and they kiss twice more--once per Aeslin ritual, and once as Dominic making a move.
Chapter 16: The two give in to their passions and sleep together in Verity's apartment. Bedroom talk shifts into hunter talk shifts into Verity furious at Dominic's prejudices, and she throws him out after making him bid farewell to the mice. After he leaves, the mice commence celebrating.
Chapter 17: Freaked out that Dominic knows where she lives, Verity camps out at Sarah's hotel. She goes to visit the Madhura only to find Piyusha gone missing, her brothers worried sick. Verity decides to go into the sewers to get her back.
Chapter 18: Verity finds Piyusha dead and covered in ritual symbols. Servitors appear and attack, but Candy arrives and rescues her by calling them off.
Chapter 19: Candy takes Verity to the Manhattan dragon's Nest and introduces her to Betty, the Nest mother. Betty agrees to give Verity the information and tools to deal with the servitors if it means recovering the missing dragon.
Chapter 20: Dominic tracks her down again, this time aided by a worried Sarah. They return to the sewers to retrieve the body, but it's missing.
Chapter 21: Verity, Sarah, and Dominic fill themselves to bursting with anti-servitor gold dust. Verity and Dominic return to the bakery to update Piyusha's brothers, and Dominic offers apologies for the crimes of the Covenant.
Chapter 22: Verity checks in for her regular shift at Dave's. When she learns Carol is a no-show, she sends Ryan to check on her. She realizes that if something is hunting cryptids, Dave's is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Verity persuades him to shut down for the night, for everyone's safety.
Chapter 23: Servitors invade the bar while Verity is changing back into her street clothes. She, Istas, and Candy fight them off, and Candy is separated from other two. Before they can find her, Dave appears and knocks Verity and Istas out.
Chapter 24: Verity awakens tied up in the sewer, Istas beside her, in the custody of the snake cult. They begin a ritual to sacrifice the girls in order to wake up the dragon, and Betty arrives to help them. Sarah, Dominic, and Candy come to the rescue. In the ensuing fight, the dragon awakens.
Chapter 25: The dragon stops the servitors in their tracks, and introductions are made. Candy has killed Betty in retaliation for her betrayal, and now she is the first dragon princess to bond with William. Leaving them alone, Verity and her friends return to Dave's only to find him missing.
Epilogue: Verity and Dominic meet up at the Museum of Natural History, and Dominic implies that he will not tell the Covenant of their recent adventures.
Characters[]
Major[]
- Dave Smith: Bogeyman and owner of the the strip club where Verity waitresses. Dave will do almost anything for a profit.
- Candice: Dragon princess and server at the strip club.
Minor[]
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Mentioned[]
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Field Guide[]
Featured
Mentioned
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Locations[]
- Manhattan, New York City
- Verity's apartment
- Dave's Fish and Strips
- Meatpacking district warehouse
- Davidson-Morrissey Memorial Dance Hall
- Gingerbread Pudding Cafe
- Plaza Athenee Hotel
- The sewers and abandonedsubway lines
- Museum of Natural History
- Portland, Oregon (technically outside of Odell)
- Price family compound (prologue)
Mentioned
- Underworld / Netherworld
- Columbus, Ohio
- Columbus Zoo
Organizations[]
- Ballroom dancing community
- Dance or Die (mentioned)
- New York State Argentine Tango Open competition
- Covenant of St. George
- Snake cult
Objects[]
- Holy Water, mixed with salt and aconite
- Blessed cherrywood hair sticks, tipped with silver; ash-wood stakes
- Anti-incubus charm (likely includes aconite)
In-Universe Literature
- Thomas Price's Field Guide to Pixies, Sprites, and Other Household Pests
Continuity[]
Novels
- Mentions of Alice's spelunking come full circle in Spelunking Through Hell.
- Alex Price is working on a basilisk breeding program at the zoo
Prequel Shorts
- Verity has read Thomas's journals, including details about being reprimanded by the Covenant
- Alexander Healy has a hobby of taxidermy.
- Reference to Fran's death as the first great tragedy of the family
- Snake cults are obsessed with virgin sacrifices, and Uncle Naga has been with the family for a while
- Betty has encountered the Healy family multiple times. She remembers Alice's impatience when Alice thought Thomas was paying too much attention to Betty's ..ahem...attributes.
- Verity's understanding of Jonathan meeting Frances and Thomas's disappearance is...incorrect, to say the least.
- According to Verity, Alexander Healy started hunting cuckoo shortly after they moved to America, prompted by the Salem witch trials. He found a hive in Colorado and sent Jonathan to investigate; Jonathan returned with "a fiancee, a police record, and proof cuckoos existed." (Ch. 11)
Trivia[]
- As a child, one of Verity's babysitters was a bogeyman. (Ch. 4)
- There are over 900 races of known cryptids. Over 80 of them are humanoid. (Ch. 4)
Quotes[]
- Verity: "Do not quote Shakespeare at me. I get quite enough of that from my grandma." (Ch. 5)
- Unknown whether this refers to Angela or Alice, though by personality Angela is more likely.
- Verity: "Here's a tip. Wiping out a sentient species isn't 'extermination.' It's genocide. Get your terminology straight." (Ch. 10)
- Verity: "Assume that when Ms. Manners says 'human,' she really means 'sentient,' and run from there. It translates pretty well to everything but dating, dining, and divorce." (Ch. 21)
Epigraphs[]
Main Article: Epigraphs
Epigraphs include quotes from
- Enid Healy
- Alice Healy
- Evelyn Price (after her marriage)
- Evelyn Baker (before her marriage)
- Frances Brown
Pop Culture[]
- Verity makes a range of film references:
- Classical Hollywood: Alfred Hitchcock, James Bond, Mae West, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Godzilla, Land of the Lost, Willy Wonka
- Well-known nerdy shows, perhaps her siblings' influence: Scooby Doo, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Carmen Sandiego, Incredible Hulk, Batman, Star Wars
- Modern television: Americas Next Top Model, Showtime, Animal Planet, Kill Bill, Cirque de Soleil, and Disney Channel.
- Verity is a fan of sugar and junk food: Girl Scout Thin Mints, Snickers, Goldschlager, Hostess snacks. Starbucks
- She is also up to date on fashion, as befitting her competitive dancing: Prada, Alexander McQueen, Manolo Blahnik, Duane Reade, Brooks Brothers
- Verity's music references are a wide range: Metallica, Tamperer, Aqua, Pink
- Sarah references Babylon 5 and X-Men.