“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Endangered, adjective: Threatened with extinction or immediate harm.
Australia, noun: A good place to become endangered.

Alexander Price has survived gorgons, basilisks, and his own family—no small feat, considering that his family includes two telepaths, a reanimated corpse, and a colony of talking, pantheistic mice. Still, he’s starting to feel like he’s got the hang of things…at least until his girlfriend, Shelby Tanner, shows up asking pointed questions about werewolves and the state of his passport. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to Australia, a continent filled with new challenges, new dangers, and yes, rival cryptozoologists who don’t like their “visiting expert” very much.

Australia is a cryptozoologist’s dream, filled with unique species and unique challenges. Unfortunately, it’s also filled with Shelby’s family, who aren’t delighted by the length of her stay in America. And then there are the werewolves to consider: infected killing machines who would like nothing more than to claim the continent as their own. The continent which currently includes Alex.

Survival is hard enough when you’re on familiar ground. Alex Price is very far from home, but there’s one thing he knows for sure: he’s not going down without a fight.

My Thoughts:

In case it’s not crystal clear by now, I’m a big fan of Seanan McGuire’s writing, which I’ve been devouring at a pretty alarming rate. And there’s no stopping me now, now that I’ve read 4 InCryptid books and have just 3 to go!

Pocket Apocalypse is another excellent adventure. This time around, Alex is not only in danger from all the scary, venomous, lethal creatures he encounters, but also from Shelby’s family, who are super hostile and very heavily armed.

Pocket Apocalypse takes a darker turn than the previous book, as the threats are both more serious and more personal. I wonder if this will be a pattern in this series — one lighter escapade followed by the same characters in a much darker and more life-threatening situation. It’s been true so far, in any case, since #2 was just as dire as #4.

Alex has turned out to be a great lead character, and I love his relationship with Shelby, and how unpredictable (and totally bad-ass) she is. And yes, this book includes the mice, because you can’t have a story about the Price family without their rodent religious devotees.

I’m not as emotionally invested in the InCryptid books as I was with the October Daye series, but I’m enjoying the heck out of them, and can’t wait to dive into #5.

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The details:

Title: Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid series, book #4)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW
Publication date: March 3, 2015
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Purchased

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“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

When Alex Price agreed to go to Ohio to oversee a basilisk breeding program and assist in the recovery of his psychic cousin, he didn’t expect people to start dropping dead. But bodies are cropping up at the zoo where he works, and his girlfriend—Shelby Tanner, an Australian zoologist with a fondness for big cats—is starting to get suspicious.

Worse yet, the bodies have all been turned partially to stone…

The third book in the InCryptid series takes us to a new location and a new member of the family, as Alex tries to balance life, work, and the strong desire not to become a piece of garden statuary. Old friends and new are on the scene, and danger lurks around every corner.

Of course, so do the talking mice.

My Thoughts:

The 3rd book in the InCryptid series shifts the focus to a different member of the Price family, Verity’s older brother Alexander. After reading the first two books, it’s a bit jarring to relocate from New York to Ohio, and switch gears from Verity’s high adrenaline dashes across Manhattan rooftops to Alex’s more scholarly pursuits at the zoo. Still, it’s not long before trouble finds Alex — an occupational hazard of being part of the Price family of cryptozoologists.

I wouldn’t be a cryptozoologist if I didn’t like a bit of excitement every now and again. I just didn’t expect the excitement to be quite so flammable, that’s all.

Despite my initial reluctance to leave Verity behind (for now), I was quickly sucked into Alex’s world, particularly once his relationship with Shelby takes off and he discovers that they have much more in common (oh, like advanced weaponry skills and a deep knowledge of impossible creatures) than they initially realized.

She didn’t carry a hunting rifle on a regular basis, but aside from that, she was everything I’d ever wanted in a woman…

This series continues to be fun and mostly light in tone, despite the dead bodies and sad family situations that crop up. The InCryptid books are much sillier and goofier than the October Daye series, which may be why I’m less emotionally invested in these. Still, it’s all entertaining and enjoyable, and I plan to continue onward.

And hey, more talking mice!

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The details:

Title: Half-Off Ragnarok (InCryptid series, book #3)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW
Publication date: March 4, 2014
Length: 356 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Library

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“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

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 Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity–and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she’d rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn’t quite work out that way…

But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city’s readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there’s no way Verity can take that lying down.

Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity’s apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ–assuming there’s anyone left standing when all is said and done. It’s a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit…and carnage.

My Thoughts:

Book #2 in the InCryptid series lives up to the mayhem and shenanigans (and yes, carnage) of the first book, but with a touch more dire peril and mortal danger thrown in. Verity’s world in New York is threatened by the arrival of Covenant agents, who would love nothing more than to (in no particular order) kill each and every cryptid they encounter, capture and torture Verity until she tells them all her secrets, and then track down her family and slaughter every last one of them until the entire family line is obliterated. Nice people, the Covenant.

Verity, however, is not defenseless, and between her killer dance moves, her collection of throwing knives, and the weird and wonderful allies she’s made, she’s not going to make things easy for her enemies.

Midnight Blue-Light Special is full of the crazy cryptids, high-octane action, and ridiculously funny dialogue of the first book, but the stakes seem much higher, and the scenes of Verity and certain others in serious awful danger and pain lend a heavier tone to parts of this book. As always, I adore Seanan McGuire’s writing.

They say nobody’s perfect, but there’s having a few flaws, and then there’s selling your employees as human sacrifices. That sort of thing is just uncool.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the reappearance of my favorite bunch of sidekicks, the highly religiously and strangely devout colony of talking mice who live with Verity:

“Cool. Thanks.” I straighted, picking up my backpack in the process. “I’ll be back later. Don’t burn down the apartment.”

The small audience of previously unnoticed mice that had come to watch with rapt attention as I spoke to the acolyte suddently cheered. Loudly. “HAIL THE COMMITMENT TO NOT IGNITE THE DOMICILE!”

“Uh, yeah,” I agreed. “No fire.”

“HAIL THE ABSENCE OF FIRE!”

Holing up and laying low might be the smart thing to do, but doing the smart thing has never been a Price family tradition. We’re more interested in running straight into the jaws of danger and daring it to bite down.

I’m really getting a kick out of this series, and so despite my deciding to swear off series for a few months and read more stand-alones, my resolution is weak and I know I’ll cave. Book #3 shifts the focus from Verity to other Price family members, which doesn’t sound all that appealing to me right now, but I’m sure it’ll be just as awesome as the first two books. Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m hooked. No point pretending I’m not going to read the next five books as fast as I can!

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The details:

Title: Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid series, book #2)
Author: Seanan McGuire
Publisher: DAW
Publication date: March 5, 2013
Length: 338 pages
Genre: Urban fantasy
Source: Purchased

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