The second of Alex's books, and the best of the two by a clear margin.  This one takes place in Australia, and the author nails the setting, while taking the mickey about (northern) Australia's natural population's inherent desire to kill everyone.  Half-off Ragnarok struggled to get this cultural uniqueness right, in my opinion, so it was a relief to see the improvement here.  Shelby still remained elusive as an individual, but her family members more than compensated.

Shelby's family is why I didn't like this book even more; they're over-the-top asses to Alex and it teetered on caricature.

The plot was good; while I wasn't shocked by the turn of events, I didn't see them coming, either.  I love how the author and Alex brought in the wadjets, using this angle to work in the injustice of ‘otherness’, though the Yowie's (who I loved) circumstances turned what was a subtle but effective highlight on that injustice into something more like a sledgehammer.  

The Aeslin mice are here but I did not appreciate the turn of events the author took with them.  Maybe she'd argue it was necessary to the story line, but she'd never convince me.  Luckily it was a relatively short scene.

With every book of McGuire's I've read, I have both enjoyed them and found them problematic.  That I mostly keep coming back (I've skipped a few) for more Price family antics suggests she gets it right more often than she doesn't.

Pocket Apocalypse

by Seanan McGuire
Book 4 of InCryptid

Ah...

I surprisingly found this book more enjoyable than the previous one, and I'm not sure if it's just because I've warmed to Alex and Shelby.  For certain, it had nothing to do with the Australian cryptozoologists, the Thirty-Six Society--I didn't like them at all and felt like they all either needed a reality check or a good whack in their heads as a collective.

Neither Alex's nor Shelby's characters are any more fleshed out than they were in the previous book, but I think what really did it for me was all the lore about lycanthropy in the InCryptid world.  I liked learning about how the lyncanthropy-w virus worked, all the new twists to werewolf transformation that Alex talked about, as well as learned about as new surprises were revealed throughout the book.  What I DIDN'T like was how the Thirty-Sixers had a problem and refused to take the expert advice of someone who knew how to handle werewolves.

And even as Alex proved again and again that he was right about what he was telling them, they still continued to treat him like he was some sort of delusional crazy, disbelieving him and even being overly suspicious despite the fact that his own life had been in danger so many times, trying to save others.  I'm in agreement with Shelby--if I'd have come to Australia with an intent to help and ended up being treated like some sort of crazed criminal, unwelcome and unwanted, I would have gotten on the first plane back out of Australia, and screw the survival of a bunch of jackasses who think they know better.

Outside of all of the above, I DO wish that we could have seen more of the cryptids in Australia.  As the series suggests, Australia is an isolated ecological cesspit for all sorts of fun and new types of living creatures, both cryptid and non-cryptid.  I loved meeting the yowie, and I loved watching the Tanner girls get schooled about how they treat their local sapient cryptids.

Now if only Alex could help school the rest of the Thirty-Sixers about how to cooperate with the rest of the sapient cryptids, maybe life on Australia for the cryptozoologists will be easier.  Of course, on the other hand, I have my misgivings about the fact that an outsider had to teach the Thirty-Sixers this lesson, especially since, by all rights, I'd assumed that at least one person or another would have figured out how NOT to treat the sapient cryptids as monsters.

If a huge organization like the Covenant of St. George was able to produce a few dissenters, I'm surprised that a less restrictive organization such as the Thirty-Six Society hasn't yet.

Anyway, I know the next book goes back to following Verity, but further along the line, I wouldn't mind returning to Australia and visiting with one or another of the Tanner sisters, especially Raina, whom, while I did have issues with at first, ended up warming up to her.

Halloween Bingo 2019

I've been reading these two series side by side, and have been enjoying both of them.

The October Daye books are definitely darker in tone and even though the characters include the King of Cats, various fae, shifters etc, they follow all the tropes you would expect from a typical novel about a private detective. Angst-ridden loner? Check. Gets hit on head by unknown assailant? Check. A socking great clue staring her in the face but she just can't see it? Check and check.

To be honest, Toby isn't the best PI in the business. She misses a hell of a lot of clues and that means there can be an alarmingly high body count before she finally realizes what's going on. But she did spend 14 years living in a fishpond so I suppose I should cut her a little slack.

The InCryptid books about the Price family are much lighter, and I like how McGuire swaps between the Price siblings. Verity is great. Alex sometimes seems out of his depth, and I'm really looking forward to getting to read about Antimony's adventures.

“Growing up in my family meant ambushes on your birthday, crossbows for Christmas, and games of dodge ball where the balls were occasionally rigged to explode. It also meant learning how to work your way out of a wide variety of death traps. Failure to get loose on your own could lead to missing dinner, or worse, being forced to admit that you missed dinner because your baby sister had tied you to the couch. Again.” 

But you can't talk about the InCryptid books without mentioning the Aeslin mice. They are the best thing ever.

http://seananmcguire.com/gallery.php?gallery=13&page=1

Follow the link for more Aeslin Mice

Endangered, adjective:

1. Threatened with extinction or immediate harm.

Australia, noun:

1. The world's smallest continent.

2. Home of some of the most unique and varied animal life known to mainstream science.

3. A good place to become endangered.

I decided to take a break from Uhtred and the battling Vikings, and have returned to the world of Alex Price and the Aeslin mice. Which come to think of it, is probably very similar, just with werewolves rather than angry Danes.

Nope, can't do it.   Burn out on this series.   Gonna catch up with reviews, then some comics, then I'll get back to Hugo reading tomorrow.