I really liked this book. Book one was a great buildup to this book. I love this version of zombies I think it’s a very interesting variation of a very common genre. I love the cover as well and it goes well with the cover from the first book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin - Mira for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must say that I really love Rachel Vincent’s writing and story telling abilities. The Fury was an incredibly good read. I enjoyed the switching back and forth between the present and past. I enjoyed the way both stories converged onto each other. I enjoyed the character and relationship development.

I must say that the ending had me reeling - it was so completely unexpected. WOW! I cried like a baby... I was shocked and did not expect things to end the way they did. Be prepared to shed some tears.

Overall the story had some gnarly violent scenes which I caution everyone about. There were days when reading at night was not an option because I knew it was going to get violent. So if blood and gore is not your thing, be warned.

I would recommend this book to high school and older with caution of the violence.

Enjoy and Happy Reading.

This review has been posted on Amazon.com, GoodReads.com, and Twitter.

The series that started with a roar goes out with a weak, acquiescent whimper.

** Trigger warning for violence, including rape and forced abortion, pregnancy, and birth. This review contains clearly marked spoilers. **

“I cry foul. Humankind doesn’t deserve a sword and shield. Or even a plastic spork. Not after everything they’ve done to us. You should be fighting for us.”

If MENAGERIE – the first book in this trilogy – was a 2020 Democratic Presidential hopeful, it would be Bernie Sanders. FURY, on the other hand? More of a Joe Biden. Pete Buttigieg, at best.

Look. I absolutely loved, cherished, and adored MENAGERIE. Reading it was a rapturous moment for me, and for reasons that something like 97% of my fellow readers just won’t get. While the plight of the cryptids in this parallel universe created by Rachel Vincent has several obvious and unmistakable corollaries in our world – the treatment of Muslims in post-9/11 America, the demonization of brown immigrants, especially (but not exclusively!) under a Drumpf presidency – at the time I argued that the most obvious one was also the most apt: simply put, “MENAGERIE reads like a thinly veiled animal rights revenge fantasy.” Was that Vincent’s intention? Probably not, especially given how the later books played out. Like Oreos, MENAGERIE was accidentally vegan. But that doesn’t make it any less delicious.

My main gripe with its follow-up, SPECTACLE, wasn’t that Vincent walked back the animal-friendly undertones, but rather that she failed to tread any new ground. By swapping the site of Delilah’s enslavement and oppression from Metzger’s Menagerie (a struggling traveling circus) to the Savage Spectacle (a place where cryptids are rented out for basically anything, from canned hunts to rape), it seemed like she meant to up the stakes:

“Establishments like the Savage Spectacle were whispered about in hushed, fearful tones from behind the bars of Metzger’s Menagerie. They were the boogie men that Metzger used to keep his captives in line: act up, and you’ll end up at a place even worse than here. But is it? Really?

“While rape in the form of sexual trafficking is rampant at the Spectacle, rape also occurred at Metzger’s: he forced ‘exhibits’ to breed so that he could sell their offspring. Instead of forced abortion, as at Spectacle, Metzger’s had forced pregnancy and birth. Captives were not intentionally murdered at the carnival, but they were neglected and sometimes shipped off to places where they would be killed, such as research institutions or game preserves.

“Is it really possible to rank oppressions?

“I feel like SPECTACLE is Vincent’s attempt to up the ante, to create a world more shocking and appalling than even Metzger’s. And I don’t think that’s possible, because again: how do you compare atrocities? It’s all terrible and horrifying and makes anyone with an ounce of humanity not want to live on this planet anymore.”

FURY, on the other hand, represents a serious (and seriously disappointing) deviation from the much more radical and subversive MENAGERIE. Also, very little happens. Something like 75% of the book involves the main characters hiding out in a remote cabin, or sitting in their cars drinking slushees for the free incognito wifi. I ship you not.

FURY picks up nine months after Delilah & Co.’s escape from the Savage Spectacle. After they disabled Vandekamp’s ability-inhibiting shock collars and high-tailed it out of there, the government bombed the facility. The unlucky cryptids and abusive guards trapped inside were written off as collateral damage. On the upside, they have no idea how many cryptids survived – and escaped. They do suspect that Delilah and Gallagher are out there, BUT they remain blissfully unaware of Delilah’s pregnancy. Which is pushing ten months and might end with her demise at the chubby little hands of a fear dearg baby.

Delilah, Gallagher, Lenore, Zyanya, Claudio, Genni, Rommily, and Eryx are all hiding out in an off-grid cabin in the deep woods outside of DC. Lenore sirens people into giving them cash monies to survive, and she and Delilah – the most human-looking of the group – go into town once a week to check the news feeds. They mean to be searching for the missing members of their group – Lenore’s husband, Rommily’s sisters, Zyanya’s brother and children – but it’s hard to get anything done when you’re a notorious fugitive.

And then a spate of mass murders whips everyone into a frenzy. Teachers kill students, nurses kill patients, police kill civilians, soldiers kill everything that moves. Some begin to fear that this is the beginning of a second reaping. Cryptids are scapegoated all over again. Though it seems that things can’t get worse for nonhumans, the bottom drops even lower: checkpoints are set up, with orders to shoot loose cryptids on sight.

And then things really go off the rails when Delilah wakes up one morning covered in blood and grime. It seems she killed someone in her sleep; but with two bada**es taking up space in her body – the furiae and her fetus – it’s anyone’s guess who the murderer is…or why the victims’ faces all look eerily similar in death. One thing we do know: she can’t stop won’t stop.

All this plays out against the backdrop of the first Reaping in 1986, as told from the POV of fourteen-year-old Rebecca Essig, one of the few kids who was lucky enough to survive the mass slaughter by virtue of having other plans that night. She was at a slumber party, only to skip out early and find two of her three younger siblings dead, and her parents covered in blood. Eventually, the government would take her six-year-old sister Erica – really a changeling, or surrogate – into custody, never to be seen again. Rebecca’s story centers on her search for the real Erica, and converges with Delilah’s in unexpected (and often confusing) ways.

*** So here is where the book goes terribly wrong (and where the SPOILERS start). ***

It turns out that, of the hundreds of thousands of surrogates that the government rounded up in 1986, five or six thousand survived. They have been kept in a Guantanamo-like facility, under the control of Vandekamp’s collars, presumably for research and interrogation. However, when Delilah and her friends disabled the collars, they disabled the whole lot of them, allowing the surrogates to escape.

Now in their mid-thirties, the surrogates aim to kickstart a second Reaping, this time by turning authority figures against the very people they should be protecting and serving. Hence: teachers vs. students, nurses vs. patients, cops and soldiers vs. civilians. I think – hope! – you can see where I’m going with this.

This plot like leads to some pretty cringe-worthy exchanges between the MCs. To wit:

“’Authority figures.’ My voice hardly carried any sound. ‘Instead of parents. The surrogates could be using authority figures this time. Anyone we’re supposed to be able to trust to protect us.’

“’And now—maybe—they’ve found a new way to get to us,’ Lenore said. ‘To make us suspicious of the people we should trust the most.’”

and:

“They’ll keep feasting on our pain and chaos for as long as possible. They’ll keep turning teacher against student, nurse against patient, soldier against civilian. Stealing trust and security from us. Making us fear the very people who should protect us.”

Soldiers and cops, really? “People we should trust the most”? You can tell that a white person wrote this, the privilege is blinding. And in a story that’s ostensibly about the othering and oppression of marginalized communities, to boot. Like, I’m a middle-class white lady and even I get nervous around people with guns who can use them with near impunity. Crazy, that.

Put another way: anyone who’s paying even the slightest bit attention is already suspicious of militarized authority figures like soldiers and the police.

The ending, though? OMG, the ending. I can’t even with this appeasing centrist bs.
Because Delilah is tangentially responsible for the escape of the surrogates, the furiae has taken it upon herself to send out a sort of homing signal, luring all the escapees to Delilah’s doorstep. Once they meet, the furiae assumes control of Delilah’s body and straight-up slays them; there is no self-inflicted poetic justice here. (Hence the sleep-killing.) But killing them one at a time is a slow process, so Delilah hatches a plan to get thousands of them in one place and induce mass slaughter – with a human audience, so that they can see that we’re all on the same team. Gross, vomit, no want.

“’I cry foul. Humankind doesn’t deserve a sword and shield. Or even a plastic spork. Not after everything they’ve done to us. You should be fighting for us.’

“’Lenore, I’m not choosing humankind over cryptids. This isn’t us versus them. The surrogates are the enemy. And the only way humankind will ever understand that is if we show them that the rest of us are all on the same side.’”

Uh, but you’re not. And this won’t work. Let me tell you why.

In the wake of 9/11, many Muslims denounced the actions of the hijackers; 6,024 self-identified American Muslims fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, fourteen of whom were killed overseas. Yet none of this has stopped countless right-wing politicians and commentators from condemning, vilifying, and marginalizing all 1.8 billion Muslims in the world because of the actions of a few. (Meanwhile, domestic terrorism largely remains the purview of white men, and yet you rarely hear calls for white men everywhere to disavow John Timothy Earnest or James Alex Fields Jr., lest they be guilty by association.)

Immigrants have a lower incarceration rate than natural-born citizens, yet the facts don’t stop 45 from saying things like “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” Heck, some immigrants even put their bodies on the line by serving in the military, only to be deported once they return home. “Same team” my bum.

I could go on but this is depressing.

Bigotry is born of fear, sure; and this fear is often misplaced. But this assumes that people are open to education and growth, and often it’s just the opposite (deplorables in the house!). Bigotry is stubborn and entrenched, y’all. Sometimes people are just horrible. Also consider that oppression is profitable. We’re not afraid of most nonhuman animals, yet we continue to exploit them; and, in this AU, cryptids are a big busine$$. Circuses and carnivals, research facilities, controlled hunts, unpaid labor, rape and forced birth, exotic meats, the military-industrial complex. Political capital and mobilizing the base. Humans have so very much to gain by keeping this system of dehumanization and oppression going.

Delilah’s sacrifice, the denouement of this story, is more tragic than noble. MENAGERIE had me hoping for total animal liberation: nothing more, nothing less. What we got was some half-a**ed, “hearts and minds,” if we cut off a limb for them, maybe they will deign to acknowledge the basic humanity in us, bs.

As far as I’m concerned, her story begins and ends with MENAGERIE. SPECTACLE is just kind of meh, while FURY is legit a slap in the face to everyone who rooted for Delilah and her adopted family of cryptids (and, by extension, the marginalized populations they represent in our own world).

Additional quibbles:

Gallagher’s only method of communication seems to be growling.

I do not like that he and Delilah hooked up; it feels like a really gross and icky taboo violation, and besides, can’t men and women ever “just” be friends (or champion and cause, as it were)?

Finally, Eryx. Oh, poor sweet Eryx. You and Rommily deserved so much better. We all did.

/rant

A wonderful end to an exciting trilogy, Fury was everything that I wanted it to be and more. Though the ending was bittersweet, this was the way that the story had to come to a close.

I greatly enjoyed the back-story that this novel provided to before Delilah and finally answered any questions that a reader might have had about the history of the characters. Many might be disappointed by the final chapters, but I enjoyed how the furiae was able to be the hero. I

have already purchased my own physical copy of this book and look forward to anything more in this universe that the author might come out with.

I don't remember how many books by Rachel Vincent I have read. I loved almost every book which I have read by Rachel Vincent and the Fury isn't surprise for me, or that I loved it. So many thanks for the publisher and NetGalley who gives to me a copy when I promised an honest review.

The book left me speechless, and it was so wonderful, not surprise to me that I loved it. The biggest reason were the characters and there was so much things which happened. Well maybe because I love YA/NA fantasy and some kind of romance also, this book and whole trilogy is so perfect to me. I can't say much because I don't give any spoilers but if you like urban fantasy with interesting characters and creatures, you will like this book. Or maybe this is only my thought because other series by Rachel Vincent are good also. I hope that this series will be one of those which will translate because years ago I started to read this author only because her books were translated in Finnish. So even thought I read this book in English, I think this is series which can be interesting for Finns. Or it is my opions.

How do you review a book and trilogy that on one hand kept you hooked from the very first page of book 1 until the last page of final book, yet leaves you feeling completely bereft in the end? The writing, story, and characters were all phenomenal, but I have more than a little bit of leanings towards bitterness with the way everything turned out in the end. I won't spoil things, but was the ending more realistic than many series that get wrapped up in a neat little bow in the end? Yes, perhaps. But I'll admit, I like my neat bows, and tidy endings as I read for an escape from reality. Fury's ending, while fitting for the series when I attempt to take an emotional step back, left me too raw to even grudgingly admit it could have been the right one. And perhaps that in itself is a win for the book. A book that doesn't emotionally grip you cannot never be fantastic, and this one, well lets just say it chewed me up and spat me out.

Getting past that ending and back to the rest of the actual book, FURY was told in alternating timelines, which I really enjoyed. The past timeline gave a better insight into the reaping, but also held very relevant to current events and situations. I really enjoyed the twists and turns these dual timelines revealed the further the book went along. Prior to this glimpse into the the time of the reaping it was easy to see humanity as evil based upon their treatment of the Cryptids. And yet with the new perspective and insight it became more gray. I'm not defending humanity in this book, but after seeing through someone's eyes "firsthand" it changed my perspective a bit. I don't condone the behavior, but a part of me understands that fear. Which again, that's a major compliment to Rachel's writing in her ability to make this reader feel so many different and complicated emotions.

Reservations on the ending aside, Rachel Vincent has written one heck of a profoundly thought provoking trilogy. I'm very glad I read this series and I highly recommend this read!

Fury was a heartbreaking, but perfect way to end the Menagerie series. Although this world was pretty intense, I loved being back with the characters that I have come to love. During Fury, the characters weren't held captive, but they were isolated non-the-less; flying under the radar and trying to figure out a way to make their predicament better.

I enjoyed how this instalment was delivered, between the past and the present, so we could better understand the reaping and realise how it connected to the current situation. As the story unfolded, I clicked about a few things and I was excited to see how it all came together.

I loved seeing Delilah and Gallagher together as they prepared for the arrival of their baby. They spent a lot of time together and I could see that their bond was becoming deeper. Gallagher was still fiercely protective of Delilah and would protect her from anything, even herself. It was good to see them fighting for their fellow cryptids, freeing those that had been captured, but not without casualties.

This really was a thrilling ending to the series, as I watched all the characters struggle. They wanted a safe world to be in, and danger was coming to them. There were a lot of events that put more focus on the cryptids, and as the gang put the pieces together they figured out what needed to be done. I was so emotionally invested in this story that I shed a few tears, and my heart broke a few times. It was a powerful and satisfying end to the series, and the epilogue gave me hope! I applaud you, Rachel Vincent, for another spectacular series!

Everything comes to a head in the final book of the Menagerie trilogy. Delilah and crew are on the run, hiding out in a world that is increasingly dangerous for cryptids and trying to manage the impending birth of Delilah and Gallagher's child. The escape from the Spectacle had had far reaching consequences and the events that began more than 30 years ago with the reaping are finally becoming clear.

I have mixed feelings about the ending of this series - as I am sure many readers will too. For everyone who got to know Deliliah over the course of the series, you know she is not one to stand for injustice, and although her sacrifice is very in keeping with who she is, it was still a brutal plot twist. But then what are you to expect from a world that says if you are not human you belong in a cage. I think this entire series would be a wonderful venue to examine some social justice themes for anyone looking to write about it. maybe if we are lucky, there will be a follow-up story at some point about a little girl who remembers what her family has sacrificed to make the world a better place.

In the third book in the menagerie series we see past and present collide in a really clever way. This book alternates between the present day where Delilah is heavily pregnant and about to give birth. She's in hiding with the small group of friends and allies that escaped from the Spectacle with her and they're trying to figure out how to reunite with the others who either escaped or were recaptured and moved to different locations. We are also introduced to a new character, Rebecca Essig, who is one of the few children who survived the reaping in 1986. We see how she survived and what happened to her and her family in the aftermath of the tragedy and that really brought home how horrific it was for people who witnessed the reaping. At first it isn't clear why this new point of view was introduced but Rachel Vincent very cleverly ties both storylines together in a way that makes total sense by the end of the book.

I loved the first two books in this trilogy so I was sad it was coming to an end but I've loved all of Rachel Vincent's books so far so I wasn't actually nervous going into this one. That's why it's painful to say now that I was so disappointed I was with this ending. It just felt to me like the story is unfinished, a character makes the ultimate sacrifice (which was utterly heartbreaking and I STILL can't believe it really happened!) to try and bring peace between the humans and the cryptids but I didn't for a single second believe that what happened would have made a big enough difference. There was just two much fear, hatred and resentment between the two groups for a single event, no matter how powerful, to have such a huge, worldwide impact. The fact I didn't believe things were resolved meant that the sacrifice made felt meaningless which made me even more sad about it.

I did enjoy getting to know the new character Rebecca and of the two storylines hers was by far the most satisfactory but I wanted that same satisfaction for the characters I've grown to love over the previous two books. I ended up so horribly disappointed in the way things turned out for so many of Delilah's friends, and so many of their stories were left unfinished, that this series feels open-ended. I guess I'm just going to have to imagine my own ending but this is the first time one of Rachel Vincent's series has left me wanting more in a bad way and that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

1986: Rebecca Essig leaves a slumber party early but comes home to a massacre—committed by her own parents. Only one of her siblings has survived. But as the tragic event unfolds, she begins to realize that other than a small army of six-year-olds, she is among very few survivors of a nationwide slaughter. Present day: Pregnant and on the run with a small band of compatriots, Delilah Marlow is determined to bring her baby into the world safely and secretly. But she isn’t used to sitting back while others suffer, and she’s desperate to reunite Zyanya, the cheetah shifter, with her brother and children. To find a way for Lenore the siren to see her husband. To find Rommily’s missing Oracle sisters. To unify this adopted family of fellow cryptids she came to love and rely on in captivity.
I didn’t realize when I requested this book that it was the third part in a trilogy. However, it was still a good book. I don’t mind parallel stories as long as they are well written, and this one was. The story was definitely a page-turner. I am going to have to go back and find the other two and read. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I was not aware it was the third book in the series and i tought it was hard for me to catch up, so i did finish readinf it and i enjoyed it, a can just think it would have been sooooo much better if i read the first two. Very good read, espacially if you started at the beginning of the serie

Darkly beautiful, and as brutal as its forebears, I did not enjoy Fury as much. The pacing felt somewhat off and the focus on the surrogates rather than the cryptids left me feeling somewhat cheated. I feel I would have rather seen those mothers united with their children rather than spent my time reading up news on the surrogates and the brutalities they had caused. The supporting cast felt more like window dressing rather than important characters. At about 84% through I was starting to think there was no way this book was going to be the conclusion and there must be a fourth, but it did wrap itself up fairly quickly and succinctly. Overall, I prefer the earlier installments but I still really enjoyed this series and hope there will be some spinoff novels as I would like to see what happens to Delilah's fellow cryptids.

A captivating conclusion that gave me all the feels.
I'm not usually a fan of POV swaps but the transitions were seamless. The writing felt effortless and the story was so moving I had a difficult time ever putting the book down. The character development behind Delilah and Rebecca was absolute magic. Rachel Vincent put us on an absolute roller coaster ride with these two. I laughed. I cried. I haven't been so emotionally moved by a book in ages. Vincent far exceeded any expectations I could have had. Fans of YA fantasy won't be able to get enough of Fury!

I wasn't aware that I had started reading the 3rd and final book in a trilogy, but it hooked me in, although I had trouble keeping up with the characters since I hadn't been reading it from the beginning. It was very dark, but very written too. I have mixed feelings about the ending, although it seems to fit with the theme of the book.

On the year of it's release, Menagerie was one of my most favourite reads of the year. It was complex, unique, and despite it having a single protagonist I loved each and every character, they became a found family to Delilah and i loved them for it. Spectacle was different, although I still enjoyed it immensely I did miss the dark atmosphere of the Menagerie, but it was still a much loved book. Unfortunately for me, Fury didn't come anywhere close to the first two books, and ended up being a disappointing conclusion to the series overall, and honestly, i'm not sure why. The book gave us answers we had been waiting for, it gave us those puzzle pieces, but I just wasn't as invested as I was before. For me, the book lacked the intensity, the tension of the first two books and as a result it just didn't pull me in. I am a huge, huge Rachel Vincent fan and I love her writing, but this book wasn't a satisfying conclusion for me, sorry!

Fury is book 3 in the Menagerie series. This is the final book in the series and I was eager to see how it all wrapped up. If you're not familiar with the series or aren't caught up with the 2 previous books know that I enjoyed it but did have a few issues with some things in this installment. The series overall was a great read for me and I'd recommend it. That being said stop reading here if you're not caught up.

So this being the last book in the series we now have Delilah Marlow, our leading lady and the group that escaped with her hiding out. Everyone is looking for her and the search seems to be getting tighter and tighter as the days progress. Delilah is quite noticeable with her being pregnant so everyone is on edge with how things are going to play out. The goal is to rescue 2 of their missing members that got captured while not getting caught themselves. This book is a bit different from the prior two, we're changing time lines every now and then to show what happened in 1986 during The Reaping. It ties into their current day situation in a way I didn't expect. We also got some details on our leading lady that always had me curious.

Fury is a nice wrap up to a series I enjoyed. I had a few issues while reading but nothing I couldn't get past. There is no holds barred this time around since a few characters wind up dead. The ending wasn't my favorite to say the least but I can see why it ended that way but it made me a bit grumbly. I'm glad there was an epilogue since that had me happy. All in all, this series is dark but such a good read.

I have really enjoyed the Menagerie series. It's a unique dark fantasy combined with a bit of mythology and horror, that was refreshing, though sometimes sad and hard to read. You definitely need to read the series in order, as its a continuing story arc, that progresses with each installment. It seems that Fury is the final installment, I'm sad to say.

Note: This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

In this final story, Delilah, Gallagher, and the other Cryptids have survived Metzger's Menagerie, the cruel carnival. They have defeated and escaped Vandekamp, the private collector. Now they are all on the run, hiding where they can, rescuing other cryptids when possible, and doing so with little resources and while pregnant and infirm. This installment didn't have quite the number of action sequences that I got used to in the earlier books, but it was interesting all the same. I continued to enjoy reading the interactions between the Cryptids, who have become a ragtag family at this point. I also really enjoy seeing the relationship between Delilah and Gallagher evolve into something new and special as the pregnancy progresses. But I have been rooting for them since Gallagher first made his oath to Delilah in Menagerie.

I thought the conflict in this story was an interesting choice, and not one I would have guessed after reading the earlier books. But I like the unexpected, so I did enjoy this aspect of the story. I don't want to say much here and give it away, but I think others may be surprised at the angle the author took as well.

Now, it took me a few days to gather my thoughts and write this review, because I was a bit stunned by the ending. And it's really killing me to not be able to talk about it! I want to call my friends and make them read the series just so I can get a little shouty about CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT???? Alas, I will have to wait and hold my tongue. I will say that it took guts to go in that direction, and leave it at that.

If you are a fan of dark fantasy, you are sure to love this series as much as I did. Rachel Vincent is an excellent writer.

I bought MENAGERIE on a whim about a year ago mostly because of the beautiful cover. But the twisted circus-carnivalesque plotline really drew me in. I feel like there are a lot of carnival-type books floating around lately, but they are all mostly upbeat and don't dive too deeply into the dark side of the industry. This series filled that void perfectly and FURY was the perfect send off.

4.5 / 5

I have been highly anticipating the third and final installment of Rachel Vincent's Menagerie series. The first book enticed me, the second absorbed me, but the third left me wanting something...different. Don't get me wrong, Fury isn't bad. It does a fine job expanding the menagerie world and building tension, but it missed the mark for me in a big way. This felt similar to reading the final book in the Divergent series. That's not necessarily a good thing.

Overall I enjoyed the series, I loved the characters and world Rachel Vincent built, but I just wish it had come to a very different conclusion.

Wow. Just… wow! This series has had me in knots since I first picked up Menagerie all those months back. Every time I thought it couldn’t get worse for the characters, the author upped the ante. Every time I felt like they’d endured all that they could, they persevered only to have to overcome another obstacle. And every time I thought they’d sacrificed enough, they were asked to sacrifice more.

Throughout the trilogy Delilah went from being your normal human being, to being detained and given to a traveling managerie where she lived in a cage, to being sold into a private collection where the highest bidder gets to be entertained by a cryptid however they choose, to being the bringer of death. There’s a lot more that Delilah goes through but I don’t want to give away spoilers to anyone who hasn’t read this series yet. Just know, that Delilah has been through a lot and has sacrificed so much throughout these books. She deserved so much, but got so little in return.

In this installment, the team is trying to rescue some of their crew from a laboratory that captured them during their escape of the private collection, Spectacle. During that time-frame they notice some eerie similarities between what happened years ago during the surrogate attack (cryptids that posed as human children but simultaneously all “whispered” to their human parents to kill the other children in the household one night) and what is currently happening now. Teachers are poisoning students, bus drivers are crashing their buses, cops opening fire at shopping malls. Something doesn’t feel right and something points to the fact that the surrogates are somehow back and wrecking havoc.

One thing that I really liked about this story is that we got two timelines in the story. We got the present time with Delilah, and the Rebecca’s timeline from 30 years ago when the surrogates first attacked, also known as the Reaping. Rebecca survived that horrific night only because she was at a sleepover. A sleepover that she left early and decided to go home rather than spend the night, only to find the bodies of her older brother and sister, slaughtered in their bedroom. Thinking her parents were the murderers, she escapes the house with her 6yr old sister, only to later find out that the 6 yr old is not her sister, but rather a surrogate. Her sister was swapped out after birth with a surrogate baby who’s goal was to kill humans at a certain time. So, we witness both as Rebecca lives through that horrific event, as well as her trying to figure out what happened to her real baby sister and whether or not she’s even still alive. Getting to read these two timelines and see why the humans are so terrified of cryptids and understanding why Delilah’s world is the way that it is, just brought this whole story together. Lots of questions were answered, and the understanding of what happened during the reaping really added more dimension to the story as a whole.

I really wish I could go into so much about this story. Between Delilah’s character depth, to the story’s progression, to the overall story arc. There’s just so much that happens throughout this series that when it all came to an end, my jaw was on the ground and I had tears in my eyes. All I can say is that Rachel Vincent really knows how to write a story. If you’re looking for a dark fantasy filled with complex characters and a rich story line, then you seriously need to pick up this trilogy!