Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

InCryptid, Book 4

Synopsis: 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.

Review: It’s always a pleasure to immerse myself in the Seanan McGuire novels, whatever the series. It’s been a moment that I had this fourth book but I had forgotten to get into the story. Indeed, by receiving the fifth book featuring Verity (finally !!!! I was so waiting for this one), I realized that I had jumped a novel. But as I love Verity, I did read this novel fast enough to finally find her again! Well I say that but I also had a great time there too, this is also a big advantage and one of the reasons I read them all quickly each time.

Alexander is a character that I like to follow even though of course I have a preference for the young woman and this time, our hero has to face many problems. Indeed, his girlfriend Shelby asks him for help and so to accompany her to Australia to deal with the werewolves who are increasing in number and causing many casualties. Being very afraid of these creatures is one thing, but to face Shelby’s family which is regarded as the “enemy” is quite worse! I admit that the meeting between the two is the most interesting and vibrant! It was fascinating to meet another family, to see their decisions, to understand how they ruled their small group and how they interacted with external beings. I understand the surprise and the envy that Alex has over everything. It’s hard for him to act especially as he is afraid of the opinion of the parents of the young woman and yet he does his best. Shelby also helps as she can. It was touching to see that sometimes she took his side despite the reproaches of her family, as well as the threats.

And then there are the werewolves … I admit that I was curious to see the person responsible for these acts, and I was quite surprised when I learned the truth because I was not expecting this character but it was well found. This virus is quite different from what would be expected, particularly in the details and I always find very interesting to see the ideas of the authors on this. It will not be a simple story and many characters are going to call into question their beliefs. We also discover other species and it was again a pleasure! I did not say about that but do not worry, you will also find the talking mouses that we love. It’s always so nice to see them interact although not everything is rosy for them.

As I said at the beginning of the story, I had once again a great time and I can now get into the next book and finally find Verity! It was a very good story and a pleasure to learn more about Shelby that we see so often in the novels. A good find!

4

mellianefini

29 thoughts on “Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire

  1. I really liked Alex and Shelby in both books (especially Alex, he was so darn likeable) and Seanan can pretty much do no wrong, but I can’t wait to go back to Verity.

  2. So glad getting book 5 reminded you about book 4! I have a couple long-standing series I love where I’ve completely forgotten to read an installment and don’t remember until the newest one comes out. Makes going back and binge reading all the more fun though:)

  3. I just read the first book recently and liked it, I need to get on with the rest. The premise of this one sounds good and i like that they visit Australia- something a little different. 🙂

Répondre à Melliane Annuler la réponse

Votre adresse e-mail ne sera pas publiée. Les champs obligatoires sont indiqués avec *