Half-Off Ragnarok

This is the third book in the InCryptid series. Rather than following Verity this book follows her brother Alex. It was a fantastic book and I continue to just absolutely love this series. This book follows Alex (Verity's brother) as he tries to start a basilisk breeding program and study fricken population in the nearby forest. As cover for this research he is working at a zoo. Things go south fast when people start turning up at the zoo turned to stone, Alex is sure it is not his basilisk...so what or who could be doing this? Alex has to find out fast because if he doesn't and news of this leaks out, the Covenant will come and kill every magical creature in sight. Alex is a bit more geeky and bookish than Verity, but he can still totally kick-butt. I enjoyed his character a lot, he is absolutely obsessed with finding out how these InCryptid creatures work and it was fun to read about this. Alex is joined by his “kind of” girlfriend...the very spunky zoologist, Shelby. Shelby specializes in large cat care and was also a lot of fun to read about. She has some pretty big secrets of her own that are unveiled as the book progresses. She was a super fun character that was highly entertaining. Alex’s grandparents are also in the story, they are both very quirky characters that were, again, highly entertaining. I really continue to enjoy the world in this book and all the awesome mythological creatures we meet. I was a bit worried about the main viewpoint switching from Verity to Alex, but I shouldn't have worried. All the new characters we meet are engaging and awesome. The story is mainly a mystery as Alex is trying to figure out who/what is turning people to stone. There are a lot of excellent action scenes and the whole mystery ties back into the main storyline that was started in the first two books of this series. The book is well written and ends at a good spot. There are still some questions left unanswered here, but the main issue is resolved. It sounds like the next couple books will feature Alex and I am excited to see where the story goes. Overall I really loved this book. This whole series is highly recommended to urban fantasy fans. There is lots of magic, action, and mystery throughout with a hint of romance as well. I love the new characters and really enjoy all the mythical beasties. The story is engaging and exciting and very well written. I can’t wait to read Pocket Apocalypse (the 4th book in this series) when it releases in March of 2015.

I love Seanan McGuire. The Toby Daye series is one of my favorites, but I'm finding that I really like this one, too. It's much lighter in tone and the snark factor is pretty high (a big plus for me). The first two books in the series focused on Verity Price, a cryptozoologist who is "undercover" as a professional ballroom dancer. She comes from a long (and notorious) line of "monster" finders in hiding from (and at war with) the Covenant, a secret society of zealots out to exterminate anything THEY consider a evil (i.e. non-human). The Prices feel there is a place for everyone as long as they don't start munching on each other so they work to keep the Covenant from coming into their territories to "clean house". Verity is a truly engaging, rock 'em sock 'em heroine and the intro to the family and the world in the first two books was a ton of fun. This installment (and reportedly the next) focuses on Verity's big brother Alex. He's a crypto, too, but less of an adventurer and more of a scientist than Verity. His "post" is the Columbus OH zoo where he's logging the crypto - amphibian population. While this story starts out a lot more tamely than Verity's tales, it soon ramps up. And while Alex seems more buttoned up than Verity, both he and his partner in crime are lots of fun. Can't wait for a second round with Alex.

I think I would like to spend just a few hours in Seanan McGuire’s head while she’s writing or thinking about her writing projects. She goes from the book series I still can’t shut up about, Newsflesh, to her new Parasite series, to the October Daye series, to Incryptid and still more I haven’t read yet. She lists her writing projects on her blog and I just don’t know how she can keep it all straight! So more than a few hours in her head would be way too exhausting for me-but I feel it would be amazing. McGuire jumps you in with both feet to her InCryptid world, but she gives you a comfortable landing place. She doesn’t infodump, but fills you in all along so you’re comfortable in the world of the Price family. I don’t think you necessarily have to have read books 1 and 2 of this series to follow Half Off Ragnarok, but they are also really fun. The Price family are all pretty much nuts which is why the series is so enjoyable. They take their work and family relationships seriously, but nothing else. Again, the books are just fun, and while there’s action, thus far they haven’t broken my heart like October Daye (that pie still kills me) or the Newsflesh trilogy. This series makes me laugh, but keeps me thinking too. I like that McGuire writes kick ass female protagonists like Verity Price, but her male leads like Alex are great too. I really enjoyed his science nerd outlook and I’m looking forward to his next book. Half Off Ragnarok gives us some of the characters who were in Verity’s world which I really enjoyed, but also introduces some awesome new species as well. And there’s actually a very helpful lexicon included in the books so you can keep track of all the Cryptids. And really, how can you not love a series with talking, worshipful mice? Though that could be my one complaint, they weren’t in this book enough! I want my own colony of Aeslin mice very badly. I wonder how they’d do with a labrador? I’m thankful that Seanan McGuire writes so much of everything because she has a ton of Price family short stories on her blog. I need to sit down and read all of these to get my fix before 2015 and the next InCryptid. Though I admit-I’m already reading Half Off Ragnarok again. 5 stars! Read all her books!

A new angle for McGuire's developing Incryptid series, maybe not as strong as the previous two books but still a hugely satisfying read. The best feature for this series comes from the realization that under the surface differences (here exasperated by the cryptids, creatures that could otherwise be labeled as monsters) we can still find a common ground, common goals, and the rewards of embracing our mutual differences. Unfortunately I could not completely buy the attraction between the two main characters, because it felt less natural (for want of a better word) than in other similar instances in the author's other books. Still I enjoyed the book and will be reading the next ones in the series.

This read better than the other books in the Incryptid series, partly because the background didn't really need to be established as in the earlier books, but also because there was no attempt to introduce quite so many cryptids (or monsters!) and we learnt much more about the ones who did feature - they did develop as characters. I loved Alex's grandparents! It was good to see Sarah's story continued from a different slant.

Erfrischend sarkastisch und mindestens so fesselnd wie Verity's Story. Auf die Fortsetzung mit dem sympathischen Nerd bin ich bereits gespannt.

I really enjoyed reading this book, the sense of tension is teased through twists and turns, hitting you with the unexpected right when it matters. An easy buy if you've read the previous entries in the series.

I love Seanan McGuire's books in general and have really enjoyed this series so far. That said, this book follows Alex instead of Verity, and I find him less compelling. Still looking forward to reading the next in the series.