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Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Menagerie

Menagerie (Menagerie, #1)

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent is a book I've been wanting to read for a while, and I finally got to it. And I'm glad I finally read it! Chock full of paranormal creatures, and featuring an interesting protagonist who loses everything, only to find hope again after a very brutal story, this is a definite keeper. Not without it's problems, but I still enjoyed it very much. I feel like I'm becoming a bit of a Rachel Vincent fan, as well, after trying her work now across several different series. But here we're talking about Menagerie, so let's dive in.

Delilah Marlow hates the traveling carnival, or menagerie, of cryptids that comes through her small Oklahoma town, but she goes anyway after her fiance gets tickets. Something happens at the carnival though and she discovers, to her horror, that she is more than human as well. Captured and imprisoned, she is soon put on display, and stripped of all rights in the process. She is effectively little more than an animal now, in the eyes of the law, and other than a taciturn handler named Gallagher, she has no friends or allies. This is not a spoiler, by the way, since it's in the blurb, although I still hate to give away even this much information. Suffice to say this is about the journey for her, and how she comes to grips with her role in Metzger's menagerie, as well as the relationships she forges with the other prisoners.

The backdrop of all this is a world where cryptids have been outed and stripped of all rights after something called the Reaping happened. There's a fae element here as a number of human children were taken and replaced with fae children, or cryptid children of some variety, and the government responded by revoking cryptid rights and taking all they could find away to laboratories. So you do not want to be outed as a cryptid! Unfortunately that's exactly what happens to Delilah. In her case though they don't know what kind of cryptid she is, so the menagerie keeps her while they try to figure that out.

This kept me turning the pages, and I was expecting a very dark story as I had seen this referenced in numerous reviews. Maybe it's me but I didn't think it was that bad- I mean clearly life wasn't going to be wine and roses for anyone in that situation, but I can see where this might be a tough read for anyone who has suffered abuse or knows someone who has. As you might expect the imprisoned cryptids, including Delilah, are not treated well, so there is that. Delilah is not one to give up though, and I loved her toughness and perseverance. Don't mess with her! And her relationship with Gallagher and certain others gets very interesting, but not in a romantic way. In fact there really is no romance in this one at all.  

There is, however, a ton of cryptids. I mean the sheer variety here is awesome. There are succubi, fae, gryphons, centaurs, even a minotaur. Seriously, a lot of creatures that are pretty rarely seen even in urban fantasy, even though not all of them show up to do a lot. Just seeing them mentioned was a treat. I mean how often do you run into a lamia, or dolphin shifters? So I was here for that. Oh, and djinn as well, including sub- varieties (ifrit and merid- which I only know from roleplaying game books). So that was a big plus for me.

So I highly recommend this for urban fantasy/ paranormal readers, with the caveat that it can be a tough read in the sense of the abuse, although it wasn't nearly as graphic or bad as I had expected. I enjoyed the variety of characters, the cryptids were amazing, and while I thought the villains of the piece could have been a bit more nuanced, this mostly worked for me. And now I'm chomping at the bit to get to the next one!

24 comments:

  1. I had my eye on this one, because I loved the Soul Screamer books so much, but had heard it was a difficult read. You may have me amenable to reading it not. Glad you enjoyed it and all its creatures.

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    1. It actually wasn't too bad, I thought it would be worst from what I'd heard.

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  2. When I started reading your review I actually thought this sounded VERY dark! I'm impressed witht he variety of shifters in this -- I mean dolphin shifters? So cool!

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    1. It's not that bad? I mean I didn't think it was worse than anything else I've read, really- I mean there's abuse but it's not graphic?

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  3. I have this one on my list. the audio just released on scirbd. So gonna hopefully get it soon. glad you loved it. It excites me with all the paranormal in it. woot!

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  4. I got this when it first came out but then never picked it up, I'm thinking maybe that was because of the rough content but it sounds like it is worth it in the end.

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    1. I didn't think the content was THAT bad but if abuse is triggering it might be for some? I was expecting worse though.

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  5. Love these books, glad you finally got around to it.

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  6. I haven't read this but it sounds really interesting.

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  7. Wait! What?! This sounds really good. How have I not heard of it?

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  8. Dolphin shifters? That sounds awesome. I have been wanting to read this one, so thanks for the reminder!!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  9. I'm intrigued by the sheer variety of paranormal creatures here. You're saying names I never heard of before!

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  10. This sounds awesome! I added it to my TBR.

    I like the idea of the huge diversity of cryptids. You don't see that a lot :D And Delilah sounds like a bad-a$$ !!

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  11. I've had this book for what seems like forever and I really need to get to it soon. Though I'm almost bummed that it's not as dark as you expected? Still, sounds good, I hope I can handle all the shifting, but it definitely sounds like it's worth trying!

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  12. I've had my eyes on this for ages too - I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! Great review. :)

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  13. I've heard this one is really character-focused, like you described. Glad to hear you liked it! The variety does sound awesome. I often find that when everyone says a book is dark, I don't find it dark lol, but that's a good point how it could depend on your own experiences and be worse for people who've been through similar things.

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  14. I have yet to hear of this one. It sounds awesome!

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  15. Hmm I also expected this to be a dark story! Strange that it wasn't quite as dark as you'd expected. It does sound really good though so I may have to pick it up! Great review!

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  16. This one does sound like an interesting read. I am not a huge fan of paranormal, but I do love books that have a carnival theme. That cover is definitely eye-catching!

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  17. I'm glad you enjoyed this one. I think the variety of cryptids was one of the great aspects of the book. I also think Delilah is a wonderful character. I remember warning people in my review that it might be a trigger for some but things like that in books don't really bother me so I wouldn't be a good judge of whether it was "really" terrible in that aspect or not. BTW, have you seen the cover for the new one coming out - Fury? It's gorgeous!!!!

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  18. I got this on audio and it was one of my favorite books that year. I'm looking forward to #3 Fury in a few months. Anne - Books of My Heart

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  19. Would you believe the publisher of this book sent it to me, completely out of the blue, some time back? (It might have been a year ago, or perhaps more). When I first got it, and read the blurb, I was like, I don't think I'll EVER read this. I have NO idea why they publisher sent it to me. Perhaps they saw my blog, noticed that I do like UF and PNR, and decided to go for it.

    Having read your excellent review, I am now glad that my initial reaction has been validated. This book is definitely NOT for me. I don't want to read ANY stories of abuse, brutal or otherwise. While I have not been physically or sexually abused myself, I HAVE suffered emotional and verbal abuse. Besides, I'm a VERY sensitive person. I no longer watch the evening (or morning) news because I invariably cry when some tragic story is presented.

    I still have the book sitting on one of my shelves. It'll either go to Goodwill, or perhaps I'll have a blog giveaway with this book as a prize.

    Thanks for your insightful review!! <3 :)

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