Strange Animals by Jarod K. AndersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine for the pre-release copy of Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson. Below is my honest review.
What a weird and wonderful and wild story! It definitely lives up to the "strange" descriptor. It's reminiscent of Seanan McGuire's Incryptid but much different take.
One thing I really enjoyed about this one is how isolated it felt. The whole book takes place in a small area set in the Catskills, a few mile radius around a specific spot, and includes a campground, a clearing in the woods, a gas station, a horse farm - all within that radius of said specific spot - and the surrounding forest. Anderson did an amazing job at really cutting us off from civilization and delving us straight into the story involving that specific area... while also finding a way to make the cryptid world mysterious and feel like a much much larger thing than the tiny circle of mountainous forest our story is set in.
I also found the creatures to be very inventive and quite entertaining to read about, so I was thrilled there.
I am not sure if this will have a sequel or if it'll just be standalone. I'd be thrilled to read more set in this world, but also felt like this one ended well enough to be standalone if the author chooses that.
Four stars, highly recommended for those who love the strange and exciting and mysterious creature feature.
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