Review – Half-Off Ragnarok (InCryptid, Book 3) by Seanan McGuire (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0756408114
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the InCryptid series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the third book in the InCryptid series. Rather than following Verity this book follows her brother Alex. It was a fantastic book and I continue to just absolutely love this series.

This book follows Alex (Verity’s brother) as he tries to start a basilisk breeding program and study fricken population in the nearby forest. As cover for this research he is working at a zoo. Things go south fast when people start turning up at the zoo turned to stone, Alex is sure it is not his basilisk…so what or who could be doing this? Alex has to find out fast because if he doesn’t and news of this leaks out, the Covenant will come and kill every magical creature in sight.

Alex is a bit more geeky and bookish than Verity, but he can still totally kick-butt. I enjoyed his character a lot, he is absolutely obsessed with finding out how these InCryptid creatures work and it was fun to read about this.

Alex is joined by his “kind of” girlfriend…the very spunky zoologist, Shelby. Shelby specializes in large cat care and was also a lot of fun to read about. She has some pretty big secrets of her own that are unveiled as the book progresses. She was a super fun character that was highly entertaining.

Alex’s grandparents are also in the story, they are both very quirky characters that were, again, highly entertaining.

I really continue to enjoy the world in this book and all the awesome mythological creatures we meet. I was a bit worried about the main viewpoint switching from Verity to Alex, but I shouldn’t have worried. All the new characters we meet are engaging and awesome.

The story is mainly a mystery as Alex is trying to figure out who/what is turning people to stone. There are a lot of excellent action scenes and the whole mystery ties back into the main storyline that was started in the first two books of this series.

The book is well written and ends at a good spot. There are still some questions left unanswered here, but the main issue is resolved. It sounds like the next couple books will feature Alex and I am excited to see where the story goes.

Overall I really loved this book. This whole series is highly recommended to urban fantasy fans. There is lots of magic, action, and mystery throughout with a hint of romance as well. I love the new characters and really enjoy all the mythical beasties. The story is engaging and exciting and very well written. I can’t wait to read Pocket Apocalypse (the 4th book in this series) when it releases in March of 2015.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge