My Month in Reading, August 2019

Seanan McGuire’s Incryptid series dominated my audiobook listening in the month of August. Every time I finished one book in the series, I bought the next! I also read more Karen Russell, a few comics, and a disappointing young adult novel about witchy babysitters.

Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell

Although I didn’t love every single story in this collection, enough of them knocked it out of the park that I loved it as a whole. I’d already read the title story when it was published in the New Yorker, but it was fantastic the first time around, so I didn’t mind listening again. It’s probably my favorite story of the bunch, but most of the stories in this collection are equally fantastic, so it’s hard to rate one over the others.

One interesting thing to note about this collection is that I could really tell how Russell’s writing style has changed since St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. The stories in her first collection were oftentimes elliptical and unresolved, whereas these newer stories generally have complete arcs. I like both types of her stories, although I do tend to prefer stories that resolve. It’s rare that I enjoy elliptical storytelling in any medium.

LOVED IT

Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire

I decided to listen to this on a whim. At the time, I was in the middle of several audiobooks that were good but weren’t quite catching my fancy, so I thought it might be time for a bit of good old-fashioned modern fantasy from one of the best. I read and enjoyed the first two books in this series all the way back in 2013, but never got around to reading more until now. This book was actually a great reintroduction to the series because it switches viewpoint characters to Alex Price, the older brother of Verity Price, who is the protagonist from the first two books. I blew through this book over the course of a week, and then I immediately bought book four and started listening. I may just keep plowing my way through the rest of the series.

REALLY LIKED IT

When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll

I would buy full sized poster prints of pages from this book. Emily Carroll’s art is both minimalist and drop-dead gorgeous in eye-popping black, white and red. This slim volume is a dark fairy tale about a dangerous countess and the village woman who comes to her castle to stop her reign of terror. The story is mysterious, sensual, and ultimately elliptical, but I loved the overall effect. I need to finally get around to reading Through the Woods, which I’ve owned for a few years now.

LOVED IT

Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

This is the second InCryptid book featuring cryptozoologist Alex Price and his Australian girlfriend Shelby Tanner. This installment is sort of like Meet The Parents in Australia with the added danger of werewolves. When Shelby convinces Alex to come to Australia with her to help stop a local werewolf infestation, Alex learns that her family is not going to be easily sold on her American boyfriend. He also encounters a truly terrifying adversary in the pack of roving werewolves, simply because the nature of their disease means that their bites are infectious and any mammal can be infected, but the only treatment is highly toxic and very dangerous. The mystery in the previous volume was definitely engaging, but it didn’t have quite the same visceral edge as the threat of being ravaged by a werewolf and turned into a mindless killing machine. As soon as I finished this volume, I bought the next!

REALLY LIKED IT

The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams (Full Review)

This book took me forever to finish, and my enjoyment diminished more and more as I got closer to the end. Does not live up to the potential of its very cool cover design.

DISLIKED IT

Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire

I’m on a roll at this point! The InCryptid books are the only thing I want to listen to during my walks, and I’m going to use up a year’s worth of Audible credits way too soon.

Chaos Choreography switches perspectives back to Verity Price, the focus of the first two books in the series. This is kind of a nice trick, because each protagonist gives the series its own flavor. You can have the shared world of cryptozoologists, but if there isn’t a story to tell about one of the Price kids, McGuire can switch to another.

This installment is particularly absurd and focuses on Verity’s time as a contestant on an all-stars version of a reality show dance competition. When eliminated contestants start getting vivisected and covered with strange runes, Verity has to try to stop the villains without losing her competitive edge. Needless to say, complications ensue.

Mere minutes after finishing this book, I bought book six. The series to date (as of this writing) totals eight published books with one more scheduled for next year. At least I still have enough credits left to catch up.

REALLY LIKED IT