Review: Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

Book One of the Menagerie series

Publisher: MIRA (Harlequin)

Publication Date: September 29, 2015

Rating: 3 stars

Source: eARC from NetGalley

***Warning: this is an adult book, and for the eyes of mature readers***

Summary (from Goodreads):

From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent comes a richly imagined, provocative new series set in the dark mythology of the Menagerie… 

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town. 

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed. 

Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale.

What I Liked:

Super long review coming your way, people. No apologies.

If you all were watching my Twitter and Goodreads feeds on Tursday (August 18th), you saw my slight meltdown/very strong reaction to what I had read so far at that point. At only a fourth into the book, I was horrified and disgusted, and very, very disturbed. I was on the verge of putting this one down for good (and I NEVER stop reading a book I start), putting a note on NetGalley explaining my failure to finish, and move on with my life.

Obviously that wasn't the outcome with this book. I went one to read another 50%, and called it a night at 75%. I finished up this book on Wednesday at work. I've decided that I absolutely LOVED the second half of the book, but the first half really marred the book overall. So, three stars! This is my first Rachel Vincent novel (adult or YA), and while I didn't completely love it, I'm glad I stuck it out and muscled through this one.

Delilah is a seemingly normal woman, with a boring boyfriend and great friends and a loving mom. When Delilah, her boyfriend, and two friends go to Metzger's Menagerie, the carnival of beasts, including a Minotaur, sirens, werewolves, etc. While there, she sees one of the handlers goading one a werewolf girl, and Delilah reacts. By sinking her claws into the handler. Claws? What claws? It turns out, Delilah is one of those creatures, though no one knows what kind. She is bought by Metzger's, and she is stripped of all human rights she used to enjoy. But Delilah starts to get to know the other "attractions" of the carnival, and she finds that she wants to help them, despite not being able to help herself. Delilah may be imprisoned, bruised, abused, but she discovers something about herself that she never knew, and will stop at nothing to get her freedom back and win the freedom of all the others.

See my notes below on the first half of the book. It was ROUGH. However, once I got past the things that were disturbing and horrifying - human captivity, forced labor/slavery, sexual harassment, torture, abuse, etc. - I started to get into the story. I feel like a complete psycho for saying "once I got past _______" (i.e. horrible things), but at some point around the 50%, I guess I got desensitized? No, that's not true. At 75%, I was like, okay, things have gotten even more disturbing. But also really intriguing and slightly hopeful!

The tone of this book is incredibly dark and hopeless, emphasis on the "hopeless" part for at least two-thirds of the book, maybe three-fourths. While I absolutely hated seeing Delilah tortured and abused the way she was, I have to say, Vincent did an incredible job of writing this tone and showing the brutality of this particular world. I felt just abut as enraged and panicked and filled with despair as Delilah, which shows how well Vincent dug into the character and the story!

The world-building is incredible, though as I keep saying, it is disturbing. In this world, humans are afraid of surrogates, human-looking monsters. They're afraid of monsters and creatures in general. Delilah has no rights as whatever she is, not even to her clothes. One of the most disturbing scenes was when she had to strip in front of the handlers. Male handlers who were looking in more than one way - not just to see what she is. She is always chained, so any handler can do whatever he wants with her. You see what I'm saying about disturbing? I have to hand it to Vincent though, she really wrote this well. Disturbing, but the world-building is so exquisitely crafted. The carnival has all the mystique and appeal, but behind the scenes, it is a hopeless and cruel place.

Again, the world-building is spot-on. Despite the fact that I struggled with how disturbing things were (see below), I have to say, the world-building was so well done. I couldn't have been so disturbed if the author had toned it down, right?

I really like Delilah, so so much. She finds out she isn't human by sinking claws into his head, and then gets arrested, and then stripped, and then sold, and then has to do humiliating things like strip again, eat disgusting meat, live in a teeny tiny cage, hold her bladder for days. One handler takes every opportunity he can to abuse her in some way, and my heart broke every time. This is why I couldn't keep reading - I hated seeing Delilah suffer, her dignity lost, pride on its way. The thing is, Delilah kept struggling. She kept fighting. She never let them break her, though they hurt her over and over. Delilah is determined, even if she knows no way to escape.

Her main handler is Gallagher, who was there when she was bought for Metzger's. He isn't cruel and abusive, and he goes out of his way to protect her and not to hurt her. Of course Delilah suspects the worst - how could she not? He wants something from her, right? Gallagher is actually a decent person. When you read this book, stay on his side and cheer him on! I lived for the scenes between him and Delilah. There is nothing romantic going on (yet???), no hints, but they seem to know each other without knowing, understand each other on some level. I love Gallagher and I love his role in this novel. He is critical to this story, don't underestimate him!

The tone gets a little more hopeful as we slowly start to know Gallagher and his mind. I can't say too much, but I am happy with the direction of the plot after we finally figure out more and more about Gallagher - and Delilah. The two of them are a great pair, and I felt better about the story, knowing that they were on the same side.

The ending is excellent! I am pleased with the ending, even if it ended a bit twisted. Maybe I really am a psychopath. In any case, the ending could have been much worse, so I appreciate that reprieve. I don't think my heart could have taken any more!

What I Did Not Like:

Clearly I liked a lot of things about this book. But it took me a looooong time to appreciate those things. The world-building? I HATED it initially. This book is disturbing on so many levels. I hated seeing Delilah go from average human to less than dirt. Suddenly, it doesn't matter if she's naked, or cold, or scared, or has a human appearance, or can speak. What matters is that she is a cryptid (creature), and once they figure out what she is, they can start breeding her (oh, yes). This part almost made me sick - but not to worry, this isn't a part of the story for Delilah. This is introduced with another character. 

There were so many disturbing scenes in this book. I wanted to shred Clyde (a handler) for abusing Delilah. She is always chained, and of course, it's really easy to do things to a person who is chained. Everyone treats Delilah like filth (with the exception of the other cryptids), so they think they can do anything with her. This broke my heart, over and over. You see why I was disturbed? One thing you don't need to worry about is rape, in terms of Delilah. Not ruling it out for other characters.

There are mentions of forced breeding and rape, FYI. Also violence. Hence my adult warning at the beginning of the book. It's mostly because of the violence in this book.

Still, like I previously said, Vincent did a great job with making this book so incredibly disturbing. But... it hurt. One of the secondary characters, Genni, is the absolute worst off. But if Vincent had made this book lighter on all the torture and abuse and captivity treatment and whatnot, it wouldn't have been as powerful a novel.

One thing that I didn't understand was the newspaper articles and snippets, at the beginning of each perspective/chapter (by the way, there are many perspectives, all in third person, except's Delilah's, in first person). I don't know what they contribute to the story. They're about the scare with cryptids and surrogates that occurred years ago, but they don't seem to add to the plot. Perhaps foreshadowing? Or world-building? I'm not sure. I started to skip them after a while. 

So, once you "get used to" the disturbing stuff, you'll enjoy the story. The faster you can stomach it (and Vincent has it going for more than half the book), the easier the book gets to read. It was NOT an easy read, by any means. *clutches tatters of heart*

Would I Recommend It:

You know, despite my rating, it does seem like I enjoyed the book, right? I hope I can convince someone to read this one, and not dissuade (although, if you can't handle the disturbing stuff I mentioned above, definitely SKIP this book). I want you all to know my issues with this book, and while they marred the rating and enjoyment for me, I'm glad I picked up this novel. Vincent fans will probably like this one (how would I know, I've never read any of her other novels!), but anyone who doesn't mind dark, sinister, and disturbing fantasy set in a modern-day world will be intrigued and captured by this novel. ADULT BOOK, OKAY?!

Rating:

3.5 stars -> rounded down to 3 stars. Definitely on the positive end of 3 stars. But I can't give this novel 4 stars, knowing just how much I struggled with it for about half the book, even a little more than that. It is my first Vincent novel and hopefully the sequel will be my next one. Although I am totally scared of the sequel... if it's anything as disturbing as this book, I might need therapy!

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