A Spoiler Free Review
I honestly spent a good portion of Pocket Apocalypse being very, very annoyed in the direction of Riley Tanner and the members of the Thirty-Six Society who agreed with him. I have never been a fan of people who ignore the advice of experts in their midst or those men who think they actually have a say in who their daughters end up marrying. Pocket Apocalypse had both of these things and it bugged the ever-living-hell out of me.
It was quite interesting to see Lycanthropy actually treated as a disease, although clearly not as fatal as Alex and the Prices thought. I'm also interested in the concept of rhino lycanthropes... it's not often at all that herbivores end up as a lycanthropy strain in any universe.
I'm not sure how to feel about Shelby's family. They're much more dedicated to security than the Prices (as evidenced by Dominic not getting the third degree in the short story "My Last Name" (available on Seanan McGuire's website)). Not sure I agree with how crazy they are about it, though. Also the fact that Riley kept calling Alex "Covenant Boy" the entire time... I very much dislike how hostile Riley is toward Alex. I get it, he's the dude fucking your daughter and you don't approve. Get over it. He's here to help, as he keeps saying. Ugh.
The Thirty-Six Society was semi-interesting, as secret cyrptozoologist societies go. They really seemed more like doomsday preppers than cryptozoologists. I guess that kind of makes sense, given Australia and all. I dunno, they were largely just kind of around as camouflage for the werewolves and additions to the Alex bashing.
Basil is my new favorite Cryptid. He's pretty awesome and I hope he gets all the Tim Tams he wants. Seems like he deserves them.
I got a little teary eyed reading the final battle. Like, good tears or the happy variety. Something about the entire family teaming up in that last moment with help from Dr. Jalali... it just made me happy.
So anyway, I very much enjoyed Pocket Apocalypse as a whole... once I got past the Alex bashing. It was fairly entertaining and the antagonist didn't come out of nowhere this time, so that was nice.
Favorite Lines
"Hello," she said. "Have you heard the good word of Wadjet, Protector of Egypt and great snake of the Milky Way?" - Dr. Helen Jalali
"I think you'll find that when you're looking for a patron goddess to consume your eternal soul and save you from the fires of your current religion's afterlife, Wadjet is absolutely the best choice available." - Dr. Helen Jalali
"No one's kidnapping a priest," scolded Charlotte [Tanner]. "It's rude to abduct the clergy."
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