Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Release Date: March 6, 2012
Publisher: DAW
Source: Amazon
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city
Discount Armageddon is the first installment in author Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series. This first novel features Verity Price, a cryptozoologist who has been trying to make it as a professional dancer. This is why Verity is in Manhattan. But, a girl also has to pay the bills which is why she also works as a waitress at Dave's Fish & Strips. Verity's family has a history that goes way back to the Covenant of St. George. Verity's family tries to keep safe those Cryptid's who are basically harmless.
But, if they step out of line, she doesn't hesitate to put them down. In this world, there are 900 races of Cryptid's, of which some 80 are capable of passing as humans. Verity and family are cryptozoologists who study and research monsters. Verity has tried to keep a decent relationship with those monsters, but sometimes she gets caught up in things that are way over her head. Which leads Verity to meeting her families nemesis in the form of Dominic De Luca who just happens to snare Verity in one of his traps while hunting Cryptid's. Dominic's Covenant doesn't believe in coddling the monsters. They want to flush them out, and exterminate all of them off the face of the earth.
Good thing that Verity has trained all her life for this moment to come. Good thing that Verity has some help in the form of her "cousin" Sarah Zellaby who is one of the more dangerous Cryptid's in existence. Dominic reminds me of a person who has been totally and absolutely brainwashed not unlike those who are swept away by religious cults. Dominic's whole world gets shredded to pieces after meeting Verity who, along with her family, was presumed to be dead. After Dominic and Verity put their issues behind them, and agree to work together, there is plenty of sizzle and we see a different side to Dominic than the ruthless killer.
This is a world that has Aeslin Mice, (speaking mice who celebrate various monumental moments in the Price/Healy family). We can also add a dragon, dragon princess, waheela's, bogeymen, bear shifters, gorgons, ghouls and plenty of other monsters who call Manhattan home. One of the conflicts is with Verity herself. Will she be able to be a professional dancer she's worked hard to become, or will she have to hang up her ballet slippers, and stick to being a cryptozoologist. I have already read book # 2, and will most likely skip over books #3 & #4 to get back to Verity, and then Magic for Nothing which is Antimony Price's book. After reading this first novel, I am all in to get caught up as soon as possible. I love this world. I love Verity, Sarah, and her parents who are tertiary characters at best, but are just a phone call away if trouble gets too close.
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