Monday, October 29, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Menagerie by Rachel Vincent



Menagerie is the first in an urban fantasy trilogy by Rachel Vincent, with the last in the trilogy coming out later this month.  It's another such series featuring mythological creatures/beings living among humanity - in this case openly with the world well aware of them.  However, it's also a kind of a dystopian novel, as an apocalyptic event has resulted in this alternate United States declaring that these creatures (categorized here as "Cryptids") have no rights and simply exist as property to be held in captivity, and deals with the situation created by forcing sentient beings into captivity in private menageries....or worse.

The result is a novel featuring a group of such beings, led by our heroine - a newcomer to this lack of rights - trying to resist this treatment in the titular menagerie.  Given the setup, its not as dark a book as you might expect (although it seems like it could be going there at some points, it never quite does), but its a nicely paced novel with an effective main character, and while it didn't blow me away, I will be trying out the sequel to see where this plot is going.


----------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
In 1986, an event known as The Reaping occurred, resulting in the deaths of over 1.1 million children in the United States.  In terror, the Human population of the United States begins to blame Cryptids - creatures, whether sentient or not, science can't explain and that appear to be right out of myth - for the deaths, and the United States Congress strips Cryptids of their rights, making them nothing more than property in the eyes of the law, forced to live in captivity....or worse.

25 Year Old Delilah Marlow quit her study of Crypto-Biology when it became apparent that the only use for the field was to treat Cryptids suffering in Captivity or being used for R&D, but agrees to go along with her boyfriend to a famous carnival, containing a menagerie of Cryptids to show off.  But something goes horribly wrong, and before Delilah knows it, she finds herself seen as a Cryptid, and sold off to the Menagerie, where its proprietor wants her broken for exhibition.

But while Delilah didn't know she wasn't an ordinary human, she always knew this treatment is wrong, and refuses to submit to her unjust captivity.  And as she sees the horrors around her, she begins to realize that what she truly might be is the type of creature needed to right the wrongs around her and to allow the beings of the menagerie to finally fight back.....
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Menagerie is structured rather interestingly....each chapter is titled with the name of the character from whose perspective the story is being told, although only Delilah's chapters are written in first person.  Meanwhile, interspersed upon the 45 chapters, roughly about every 2-3 chapters, is a quote from a news report or other dialogue about the events of the Reaping.  How well this works is kind of hit or miss - the Reaping quotes do not have any bearing on the events of this novel other than to provide atmosphere for the setting I guess, and by the time we get a third of the way through the novel, it's not like we need them.  I suspect The Reaping will be a bigger deal in future books in the trilogy, but its mere background here, so the quotes don't really work.

The rest of the chapters are more effective, giving a good overview of who the characters are in the Menagerie and how they cope with the situation, whether that is the Minotaur Eryx, broken Oracle Rommily, or mysterious handler Gallagher (to name the three most common POVs besides Delilah's). And then there's Delilah, our protagonist.  This is a hard book to read at times in the middle half, and thats with the book not getting too brutal in how Delilah is treated by a group of humans who wish to break her will and are not afraid to use physical force to do it*.  Still, Delilah's persistence and her sense of justice make her an easy heroine to root for, and while she's understandably naive to the realities of the situation she's in as she tries to right it, she's quick to adapt and doesn't wallow in her naivete, which is a nice touch.

*Despite what could very easily be the result of this type of plot, no Rape actually occurs on page in this book, although at least one other Cryptid was taken advantage of off-page in the past, and that comes into play in the story we see.   

The book's plot moves at a good pace, never lingering too long on the brutality thankfully, but the ending sequence almost comes together way too easily - you would expect there to be a big climactic showdown at the end, but that never occurs here.  It still works mind you (although one part of the ending just feels like an unnecessary "shoot the dog" moment) and I will read the sequel, but it's notable nonetheless.
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