REVIEW: Strange Animals by Jarod K. Anderson
An ordinary man discovers a hidden world of supernatural creatures—and an unexpected home—in this enchanting contemporary fantasy debut.
Green trips on the curb, falls flat into the street, and sees the city bus speeding toward him. And then . . . blink. He’s back on the curb, miraculously still alive. A five-foot-tall crow watches him from atop a nearby sign, somehow unseen by the rushing crowd of morning commuters.
Desperate for answers and beset by more visions of impossible creatures, Green finds his way to a remote campsite in the Appalachian Mountains, where he meets a centuries-old teacher and begins an apprenticeship unlike anything he could imagine.
Under his new mentor’s grouchy tutelage, Green studies the time-bending rag moth, the glass fawn, and the menacing horned wolf. He begins to see past hidden nature’s terrors and glimpse its beauty, all while befriending fellow misfits—and finding connection and community.
Along the way come clues about the forces that set him on this path—and, most incredibly, a sense of purpose and fulfillment like nothing he’s felt before.
But Green’s new happiness promises to be short-lived, because alongside these marvels lurks a deadly threat to this place he’s already come to love.
Creepy, cozy, and beautiful, Strange Animals is a fantasy about home, belonging, and the fearfully wonderous nature all around us.
Dear Mr. Anderson,
Overall I like this book but … it’s weird a lot of the time, the pace can drag due to descriptions, it’s chock full of “quirky” characters, it ends with unanswered questions, and the MMC, Green, turns into some kind of Chosen One/Savior. At one point, a character says something about “strange creatures” that leads me to believe that the cryptids aren’t the only strange things here. I would also call it a darker fantasy and not a light cozy. This is a “roll with it” book.
There is still stuff about this book that I don’t understand. I’ll just say it bends, and dips, and twists back on itself and readers will probably take different messages from it. There is a lot about nature healing what we’re missing inside, found family/community, and giving of yourself to help what needs helping.
Green is lost at first. After a bizarre experience, he finds himself drawn towards the mountains for reasons he doesn’t understand. Valentina, a curmudgeon teacher who has secrets of her own, awaits him. Dancer, who runs the campground where Green meets Valentina is my favorite and I wish there had been more of her than there is. But what is there is so delightful. We all need a Dancer (yes, like the reindeer) in our lives.
Strange things continue to happen to Green which Valentina tells him means that he is a cryptonaturalist – a person who can see some of the other things that exist on this planet. From the get-go, Green displays talent and sees things that few, if any, others have ever seen. Yes, he’s special. Valentina refuses to hurry his training even though more weird, and dangerous, stuff occurs. Green starts as sort of the lost child roaming in a wilderness he doesn’t understand. He asks a lot of questions – because in his shoes, who wouldn’t? – and slowly drags some answers from his Teacher. Then things heat up and more danger appears leading to the threat of imminent death. Of course, a supreme sacrifice might be called for to fend the danger off but who will make it?
So yes, quirky characters abound who do take part in the plot but did they all need to be quirky? Things happen that often aren’t explained for a long time if at all. I like a lot of the dialogue which is snappy and fun but it is sandwiched between long spells of musing and rumination about nature and our place in it. And things aren’t explained in detail but I already mentioned that. Although there are a lot of original cryptids in it, I wish there were more and they were in the book more. The main focus is Green – and through him, us – unlearning his biases and learning himself. Sadly the final Big Learn takes place off page and the Evil is … I honestly don’t know what happens to it. There’s also an acorn that means a lot until it seemingly doesn’t.
Dancer is wonderful, Valentina is crusty but caring and has seen some things. The Found Family vibe is strong. But I still want more explanations, more cryptids, and less “be the heartbeat of the paradox Earth” stuff. I needed more “solid under my feet” things. In writing this review and seeing more of what didn’t work for me, my grade sadly has dropped to a C+
~Jayne
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
