Spectacle by Rachel Vincent is the second book in the Menagerie series. We pick up right after book one–Metzger’s Menagerie has been taken over by the cryptids it once held captive and they are putting on quite a convincing show in the hopes of escaping persecution and injustice. But the jig is soon up and Delilah and her fellow cryptids are once again sold into slavery and this time the slavery is more than just cages.
The Savage Spectacle is home to the rich and the depraved, where even the most perverse fantasies are brought to life. Delilah, her friends and her protector, Gallagher, are separated, each expected… forced to perform. For technologically sophisticated collars round the neck of every captive and these collars can turn even their own bodies against them.
What can Delilah and her Fury do when caught in a new cage and surrounded by injustice around every corner? Will Gallagher keep his promise to protect Delilah at all costs? And what price would Delilah be willing to pay for freedom?
I enjoyed this one much more than the first one. The Savage Spectacle was just that, savage and brutal and brought another layer of the injustice the series is obviously portraying that the characters are fighting against.
I like the fight in this book. Our cryptids don’t give up and even though they may despair at times, the fight never leaves them. They got a taste of freedom and refuse to let it go. This is a book about survival and surviving the worst life has to throw at you.
God I just love Gallagher. I feel like he’s meant to be this emotionless, honor bound warrior but this book shows that there is definitely more to him than meets the eye. I’d stick it out for the third book just to see what shadows… and heart come out of his closet. He’s also brutal and devoted and I sort of love that. I can’t help it, dark and twisty is my fictional type.
With it’s many ups, there also comes a few downs. This book doesn’t shy away from the awful. The cryptids are sold into a house of horrors where literally every savage wish is granted. We don’t see any of the gory details but brutality, degradation, sexual abuse and slavery and both physical and mental torture is behind the curtain. The cryptids are violated in every way possible and just because we don’t see the details doesn’t mean that it isn’t awful. I said it before and I’ll say it again, thank god this one is adult fic because I’d have a real problem with the content if it were YA.
We also lose some characters that we became familiar with in Menagerie. Yes, our favorites are still there but we don’t really learn anything more about them in this book than we did in book one. The only characters who evolve and whose relationship evolves is Delilah’s and Gallagher’s.
Finally, this book felt very similar to it’s predecessor, except it takes place on a campus instead of in a traveling circus. The only things that really make it different, plot-wise, is the expanding relationship between Gallagher and Delilah, the more overt brutality and the fact that the ending isn’t all peaches and cream.
I originally gave this one 4 stars but on further reflection I’m leaning more toward 3.5. The audio for this one might have help contribute to pulling me in as much as it did but when I really sat down to think about it later, I could see some of the flaws.
That’s all for now!
-M-
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