BUTTERFLY EFFECTS - Seanan McGuire

Sarah is an adopted member of the powerful Price family. The Price family have a long history of giving aid to InCryptids ("An animal or other being whose existence has been suggested but is not scientifically proven.") and adopting many into the family.  The Price family also has a long, Hatfield/McCoy type battle going with "the Covenant" - an anti-InCryptid 'Klan'-like group.

Of course Sarah is a Cryptid, of a species known as "cuckoos" and she is a very powerful telepath. She is also now the Queen of Cuckoos.  But in the process of becoming the queen, Sarah made a lot of enemies, hurt a few people, and generally caused some damage - including erasing/changing/overwriting Artie's identity. As a result, those on her home planet - known as the Johrlac - aren't too happy and they bring her back to stand trial for her crimes. They also grab Artie to be witness against Sarah for what she's done.

But she's a Price family member now and the Price's don't take anything lying down so a small group of Sarah's family and friends head out (extra-dimensionally, don't you know) on a rescue mission. It's a tough mission, especially given that no one knows much about the Johrlac.

Let's be candid here ... this series is a lot like a soap opera. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But what I mean is that there are a LOT of people introduced throughout the series and each story (book) can really only focus on one or two so it takes some almost heroic reading and memory to keep everyone straight. I can't remember when we last had much to do with Sarah, and I don't remember the Johrlac at all. But that's okay, because Seanan McGuire is the sort of author who manages to bring the reader up to speed really quickly, providing everything we need to know to enjoy the current book.

I enjoyed this book the same way I enjoy most Seanan McGuire books.  I greatly enjoy being taken to this world she's so carefully crafted. It feels real, lively, and very, very unique.  For all the danger and excitement here, I also feel 'safe'. I trust that my time will be well spent in the InCryptid world, and it always is. 

We learn a lot here about Sarah's rise to cuckoo Queen and about the Jorhlac. I really appreciated that we see multiple facets to our main character and how the events that saw her rise to power still weigh on her. Of course her friends already knew all of this, which is why they've gone to help her. As Elsie Price-Harrington says in the novella following the book (this series always seems to have a novel and a novella/short story between the covers):

Becoming a queen hadn't been Sarah's choice - no matter how mad at her I was, I couldn't ignore the fact that she'd been victimized by her biology as much as Artie and I had sometimes been abused by our own. She'd become a queen because other cuckoos had gone out of their way to hurt her, and then trying to make that out to be something she needed to be punished for wasn't just cruel, it was utterly ridiculous.

This novella - "We Sing It, Anyway" - is a follow-up to the actions of the novel, by, as mentioned, Elsie. I really appreciate both the wrap-up and the different view point. It's quite a clever literary device. It's also, quite likely a bit of story that will be utilized in a future novel.

Looking for a good book? If you enjoy Urban Fantasy, or even just want to see what it's all about, look no further than Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Butterfly Effects

author: Seanan McGuire

series: InCryptid #15

publisher: Tor Books

ISBN:  9781250375131

paperback, 432 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: APPRENTICESHIPS IN NARRATIVE - Andrew Rowcroft

Image
I am a sucker for anything by or about Kim Stanley Robinson. Since I first read The Gold Coast sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's; I haven't missed any of his books since. So, when I see a book about Robinson, or examining his work, I'm all in. What I don't like, is reading a research paper, a university-style thesis, posing as a book. In classic research paper tradition, we begin with an introduction that tells us what we are going to read. Chapter by chapter, taking up nearly 15% of the book's pages, author Andrew Rowcroft tells us what we're going to read in. In detail. With 114 endnotes. There are six chapters .... well, five chapters and a coda ... dealing with different aspects of Robinson's work. But first ... what does "Apprenticeships in Narrative" even mean? In his introduction, Rowcroft notes: "This book argues that one of the most striking aspects of Robinson’s fiction is his concern with literary apprenticeship." ...
Read more

PILOBOLUS: A STORY OF DANCE AND LIFE - Robert Pranzatelli

Image
I first became acquainted with the work of Pilobolus about 1980 when a theatre professor gave me a VHS tape of their performance on a local PBS station. To say that it was life-changing might be overstating it, but within a years time I had created my own 'mime and dance' company which performed locally for three years. I've managed to see them perform live a few times (including in the early 2000's with my 6 year-old, artistic-minded son at West Point where he asked, loud enough for the entire auditorium to hear, "Are they naked?!") and have enjoyed each concert I've been to. Reading about the group is clearly of interest, but there's always danger in seeing the dirty laundry of artists you admire. Author Robert Pranzatelli has taken a deep dive into the history of the innovative dance group - from the humble beginnings, expansion, international acclaim, internal strife, and individual accomplishments. As a fan, I enjoyed this x-ray view of the group....
Read more

STAR TREK: YEAR FOUR - THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT - graphic novel

Image
I am one of those faithful Star Trek fans who will gladly read stories (stories, novels, graphic novels) featuring the original Star Trek cast/crew.  When you add in an author such as D.C. Fontana, who wrote for the original series, and the excitement level for a book like this is high. The book reads like a classic Trek episode. Here, while the Enterprise is testing a new cloaking device (having stolen such a device from a Romulan ship) Kirk and Spock find themselves boarding the ship from a shuttlecraft  only to discover that they are out of 'phase' with the rest of the ship's crew. Only Lt. Arex is slightly visible to Kirk and Spock (due to some technical, fortuitous accident). It is during this time that the Romulans arrive, with Ambassador Sarek, and an old-fashioned pistol (phaser pistol) fight may ensue in the corridors. I will almost always have fun reading new adventures from my favorite starship crew, and I definitely enjoyed this, but scribe Fontana does some...
Read more