Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire

Reviewed by Ginny!

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Synopsis:

Cryptid, noun: Any creature whose existence has not yet been proven by science. See also “Monster.”

Crytozoologist, noun: Any person who thinks hunting for cryptids is a good idea. See also “idiot.”

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…

Synopsis from Goodreads

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What I drank prior: smoked lemonade. What does that mean? Dont know. But it was tasty.

Spoiler-free Overview: Verity price is a monster hunter in New York. She runs into Dominic DeLuca who is a representative of the Covenant (and ecil monsyer hunting org). Suddenly cryptid women are missing and there are rumors of a dragon.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: ugh. seanan Mcguire us so great! Verity is a blast in a very different way than Toby Daye. The family history thats given on pieces is amazing and I really enjoyed the lore that gets dropped at various times. Even if this plot on its own didnt necessarily draw me in the way that Seanans other books have I can see the universe thats being created. I almost love the sidekicks more than the main characyers. The Aslin mice are adorable (and sound like they he endlessly irritating to live with) and Sarah sounds delightful in that Id love to take advantage of her powers (while also knowing I have a hard time pickpocketing characters in video games because, and, I quote, “What if they have families?”), but the idea sounds like a blast.

Characters: Verity is a ballroom danac8ng monster gunter. Dominic is the stody covenant man. Sarah is Veritys adopted cousin who is secretly a cuckoo and basically could ve a telepathic monster but isnt. Pous there a bunch of intetesting cryptids of a varoety of types. I really enjoyed the various monsters and the way theyre introduced. Seanan has this way of introducing people and in a short period of time you completely understand who they are and absolutely love them.

Plot: Verity is so cool. Aside from that she’s trying to keep dancing while also being a monster hunter (but with ethics) cryptid women start missing. Obviously she assumes this has something to do with the Covenant (but might jot). Basically she has a ton of chemistry with the bad guy which is deloghtful. I enjoyed the way thatVeritys throuvht process works. I thought one of the big twists was pretty obvious but it doesnt change that the rest of the book with the changes in scenery and various details were so great!

Writing Style: ugh. I love Seanan McGuires writing style. No word is wasted. Every time she wrties something theres a purpose to it. The witty bater, the descriptions of ballroom gowns, the way she talks about free running. I so enjoye reading someone who makes me want to read descriptions.

World Building: ao good. First off New York. New York can be easy to write about because, at least in the US, New York is the epitome of the American dream. Its the focus of countless movies, tv shows, and books. And yet, this book focuses on an entirely different group. Her perspective comes from the rooftop and the story follows.

What to pair it with: (Editor’s Note: went to format this and there was no pairing, this one is Sober Ginny’s take) Some sort of peaches and bourbon, no reason, just is.

Rating: 5/5 Shots

– Ginny