MIRA, Sep 29 2015, $26.99
Over two decades ago purebred Homo sapiens slaughtered most of the Cryptid hybrids; even parents tortured and murdered their children in the genocidal frenzy. Survivors were enslaved, but a few escaped notice because they were “passing” as “normal”.
In present day Oklahoma, Delilah Morrow always assumed she is 100% human and never gave a first thought about the Cryptid. On her twenty-fifth birthday she enters Metzger’s Menagerie to watch in horror a several-thousand plus mob taunting a werewolf. Claws suddenly appear without warning as her three friends watch in horror and ask what Delilah is. Quickly incarcerated, Delilah is relocated in a menagerie, but unable to make her claws reappear even if that means a worse fate for her. Her handler Gallagher explains to Delilah her importance to her new community while encouraging her to help save her race.
The Menagerie opening act is a tremendous extremely dark urban fantasy due to Rachel Vincent’s awesome world-building erected from genocide, slavery and other human rights violations. Intrepid Delilah’s plight since she no longer passes as human and her newly found reason to live through her ordeal make for a magnificent coming of age and species awareness thriller.