Half-Off Ragnarok

InCryptid, Book 3

De: Seanan McGuire

Narrado por: Ray Porter, Emily Bauer

What do gorgons, basilisks, and frogs with feathers all have in common? They're all considered mythological by modern science, and some people are working very hard to keep them that way. Alexander Price is a member of a cryptozoological lineage that spans generations, and it's his job to act as a buffer between the human and cryptid worlds - not an easy task when you're dealing with women who have snakes in place of hair, little girls who may actually be cobras, and brilliant, beautiful Australian zookeepers. And then there's the matter of the murders...

Alex thought he was choosing the easier career when he decided to specialize in non-urban cryptids, leaving the cities to his little sister, Verity. It turns out that he had no idea what he was getting himself into. It's a family affair, and everyone - from his reanimated grandfather to his slightly broken telepathic cousin - is going to get involved before things get any better.

Half-Off Ragnarok is the third installment of the highly praised InCryptid series.

©2014 Seanan McGuire (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

A good series takes a great turn

I was so enthralled by the first two books in this series, I picked this one up without looking at any reviews or any synopsis. Thus I was surprised to discover the series had moved on to focus on a different member of the Price family. I had the devoted fan's moment of doubt about this, but this quickly passed as the same interesting action, unfolding characters, and brilliant humor came at me from a fresh voice and perspective. I won't belabor the merits of the story itself--it's a great example of the genre with a great reader. The shift to a new main character still a part of the central family gives me great hopes for a long, exciting, and highly diverse series.

New protagonist

New narrator Ray Porter (bobbiverse) Got o love a Price Boy. All the Family skills and science geek

Narrator grew on me

I usually have a hard time with male narrators but I have to say this one did grow on me. I did, however, really dislike his voices for the female characters. Another thing that bothered me was Verity's cameo. Why couldn't she have voiced Dominic instead of HIM giving Dominic that weird accent 🙄 All in all I did enjoy the tale of another Price sibling and other family members and Cryptids.

A big change from the past two books

Same series. Different narrator. The focus is on different characters. This is more of a murder mystery, compared to the adventures of the first two novels. This was quite disconcerting at first. I somewhat warmed up to it eventually, but I still missed the style of the first two books. Especially as the voice actor pronounced a number of words oddly (especially "Tailypo") and didn't do the best job on female voices.

Now that I think about it, the name of the series makes no sense. The names of the individual books make no sense. Regardless, I still really enjoy the series. I look forward to future books, but I hope the focus goes back to Verity and away from Alex.

You may have noticed Emily Bauer is credited as one of the voice actors on this book. That's true, but just for a line or two. 99% of this is still narrated by the male voice actor.

McGuire is brilliant as ever

After two very entertaining InCryptid books with Verity Price and her Covenant boyfriend Dominic, we now join her older brother Alex in Ohio. I had my doubts about McGuire’s decision to leave Verity and change narrators in the third book, but Alex proved to be a very entertaining, albeit completely different protagonist.

Alex joined his grandparents in Ohio to help his cousin Sarah and oversee the breeding of two basilisks (that sounds much dirtier than it actually is), but he certainly got more than he bargained for. For one, his chaotic life and his many, many secrets prevent him from being a good boyfriend to the Australian beauty he’s currently dating. Then dead, partially petrified bodies start showing up around Alex and his basilisks, as well as his relationship with Shelby simply have to take a back seat.

As usual, someone is targeting the Healy-Price family and this time, Alex is right in the middle of things. With the help of his grandparents, his cuckoo cousin and his girlfriend, he uses his calm, scientific approach to solve a very odd, frightening case. The fact that said scientific approach sometimes includes autopsies on his grandmother’s kitchen table is just a minor detail that barely even registers with the Price-Healy family.

The lines between Seanan McGuire and Mira Grant are starting to blur, and it’s a very good things. There are some common denominators that are easily recognizable regardless of the name she writes under. She likes short, effective quotes at the beginning of each chapter, she always does an insane amount of research, she tends to rely on science as much as she can, and her worldbuilding is nothing short of extraordinary. A pen name doesn’t mean a personality transplant, which is great for the brilliant and funny McGuire/Grant.

Ray Porter was an excellent choice for narrator and I felt that his voice reflected Alex’s calm, geeky personality perfectly. He had minor issues with female voices, but Seanan’s dry, quirky sense of humor wasn’t lost in his narration, which I appreciated more than I can say. If anything, it was made even stronger.

We’ll be joining Alex once more in the next installment titled Pocket Apocalypse. I am determined to go with the audio format once again, especially if they decide to keep Ray Porter on as narrator.