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...
A lifetime of training isn't enough to prepare Verity for what's ahead- especially not for Dominic De Luca, the Covenant's newest operative. When a Price girls meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed.
~~
It's nice to be surprised by a book every once and a while ;). Apparently I let my stalking tendencies take a break because when I went into Barnes and Noble on Tuesday for the latest new releases, guess what *wasn't* on my list? A new Seanan McGuire.
Discount Armageddon is the start of a new urban fantasy series and I've got say that it's not bad - not bad at all. I had a bit of a slow start, mostly because I don't think I was prepared for the change in tone between this and her Toby Daye books, but Verity really starts to grow on you. She's a smartass who knows what she's talking about and isn't willing to let people rest on ignorance or disavow what's right in front of them.
The mystery here was top notch as usual - McGuire never seems to let me assume anything and right when I think I know whodunnit I'm confronted with brand new information that changes everything. The monsters, or cryptids, are very unique and well thought out; I never felt like they were an afterthought or something just thrown in. Instead they were characters in and of themselves, with skill sets that could either help or harm Verity.
Combine an intricate plot with great characters and a willingness to kick ass and you've got a good beginning to what I think will be a great series.
Overall Feeling - B
Series - 1) Discount Armageddon
