Half-Off Ragnarok

Half-Off Ragnarok (2014) Seanan McGuire

I don’t know what it is about this series. I love the Toby McGuire series. I love the Toby short stories I’ve read. But every book in this series I’ve expected to love as much as I love the Toby series, and I just… don’t.

These aren’t bad books, and there are many things I enjoy about them, but I just feel as if I should like them more somehow.

The last two books were about Verity Price, and ended with Sarah seriously hurting herself to save Verity. This third book finds Alex, Verity’s brother, working in a zoo in Ohio, and living with his grandparents to help them take care of Sarah.

Alex totally gets points for that. He also gets points for being a science geek.

(I)turned to help a little girl win an argument about whether or not boa constrictors swallowed their prey whole. (I, and science, said yes. Her mother, who was tired of dinnertime attempts to swallow broccoli without chewing, said no.)

Never surprise any member of a venomous species with a home visit.

But… beyond that, he’s just… okay. I don’t really get what Shelby sees in him, and I get what he sees (literally) in Shelby initially, but aside from her lack of fear of monsters, and her ability to be self-rescuing, I didn’t really get what Alex saw in her either. Which, I suppose, means they are perfect for each other.

I still really like Sarah, and was glad to see her on the mend, but her personality wasn’t much in evidence in this book (what with her continuing recovery) so we spent most of our time with Alex and Shelby.

That doesn’t mean this book didn’t have strengths. It had lots of them, for one, I could actually heat Shelby’s Australian accent her her dialog. And I love the cryptozoology. And the story did pull me in.

I just felt like it should have been something more.
Rating: 6/10

Published by DAW

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