Discount Armageddon
by Seanan McGuire
Pub DAW

I’m already a fan of McGuire’s Toby Day books. Seanan has a feel for character and
adventure that makes the series pacey and entertaining as well as emotionally
involving. All this means I picked up Discount Armageddon with a great deal of
anticipation and expectation. It did not disappoint.

Verity Price is a cryptozoologist, she and her whole family investigate, protect, assist and if absolutely necessary kill the many things that go bump in the night. They have done for generations. Although not all of them are inclined to going bump, or the night for that matter. Verity is a little unusual in her family in her passion for dance which splits her attention between the family business and her own plans for her future.

When cryptids start going missing in her city Verity needs to find out why and put a
stop to it. To further complicate matters the Covenant seem to be in town and the Price family are pretty much target number one the Covenant, they don’t do well with defection.

Discount Armageddon is top notch urban fantasy treated with a sense of humour
and lightness that manages to enhance rather than undermine the sense of
adventure and investigation. Verity is fun, smart and manages to stand out among
UF heroines demonstrating once again why Seanan McGuire is one of my favourite
writers in this genre.

The key characters are all entertaining and I have a particular soft spot for Verity’s cousin Sarah, you’ll see why when you read it and I am utterly in love with the concept of a species who smell sweet and make amazing gingerbread, I would totally kidnap a few.

Aeslin mice are possibly the cutest and most frivolous creatures ever included in a book. Every girl should have a clan of mice to worship her and celebrate everything she does. I am imagining the celebration of ‘new pretty shoes of joy’ being shared with a troop of mice over cake and cheese. It makes me happy.

An unusual treatment of some well trodden tropes, lots of really original ideas and an explosive start to a new urban fantasy series I am really excited about.