This book starts 6 weeks after the end of the first book in the series with the semi-intrepid crew teaming up with their former nemesis Bryan Ferretti (we see what you did with the name there.. ). They're tasked with traveling all over North America collecting/saving cryptids. There's an awful lot of snark and sniping between the characters and the dialogue has more than a few awkward moments. I had some issues with some of the plot elements and character motivations as well, but I totally fully admit that I'm about 40 years older than the target audience.
It works well enough as a standalone since the author refers often to previous plot points from the first book.
The illustrations by Juliane Crump are nicely rendered and magic-tome-ish, that is to say, sort of Celtic knotwork with some line drawn frames and portraits of the cryptids.
It's an engaging concept and I personally liked the tome-sidebars with little extra tidbits of info. I fully admit the possibility that I'm a grumpy old grownup, but I just wish the whole didn't seem like cashing in on the cryptid media train (Fantastic Beasts and other HP-esque spinoffs) and that it didn't read -quite- so much like a film storyboard pitch. I'm certain it'll be coming to a theatre or TV in the near future.
Three and a half stars, probably 4+ for fans of fantastic beasts and the subgenre.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment