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Black As Blood (2000)

by Seanan McGuire(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 5

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review 1: I love everything Seanan McGuire writes - she's an ultra-dependable urban fantasy authors, always putting out great books. She's also super nice to her fans, posting lots of free short stories on her web site, like this one. This story takes place in the InCriptid universe and it's about the love affair between Ryan (a tanuki) and Istas (a waheela). Ryan and Istas are engaged and go to meet his family, all the way across the country. His mom does not take it well.
review 2: First, the Good: I love that Istas is narrating some of her own stories in the Incryptid universe. It reveals so much more about the cryptid world because it's being told from a cryptid, but even more importantly, it shows the reader (at least me) that the Prices are only slightly less na... morerrow minded than the Covenant of St. George. I love that. The Prices will always be humans first, ex monster hunters second, and cryptid allies third to the people they are trying to help and Istas reveals this without even speaking of the Prices once in this installment. Also, I love how Istas and Ryan's relationship also works to define the sense that the Price's really are outsiders looking in. Verity often groups cryptids together, despite being related to some. She will always be human and she will always be lacking that basic shared experience that the non-human members of her inner circle share, and she is aware of that fact. Because of this, Verity often thinks in ways that are best illustrated as us and them, human and cryptid, and often over-simplifies the relationships between cryptid species based off of this. But this story shows that the cryptids are not as united as Verity presents through her own perspective, and are in fact riddled with just as many prejudices as humans suffer from. I enjoyed seeing how radically different experiencing a world from someone else's perspective affected my own ideas and feelings regarding the universe. Now, Grey Zone/ The Bad: I hated Ryan's family. Chiyako, his mother, and his brother were pure poison to me. And out of fairness to Ms. Mcguire, I totally understood where they were coming from (which puts this more in the good, but...) since their species is endangered and who needs a man-eating/ violence loving waheela jeopardizing the rebuilding process? I get that. But that doesn't stop my feelings about them. Ryan's father and sister, Christine, were wimps. But again, I got why they weren't getting involved (you don't run to someone's rescue in that kind of scenario). But you know who I don't get got involved? Ryan, which is really where this grade is coming from. Ryan as a person is great, I like him and enjoyed his interactions with Verity, but you know what I don't like? Ryan and Istas, as a couple. I thought it was pretty awesome in Midnight Blue-Light Special, but now? I don't like it. If you are serious enough about anybody as to bring them over to meet the family, and you are aware that your family is, y'know, threatening nuclear war over the idea, then you at least go in prepared to stand up for that person. Ryan didn't, and it drove me insane. This is compounded by two things: my understanding that Ryan is close to his family, and my increasing belief that Ryan is kind of a jerk to Istas. He's not abusive emotionally or verbally, but he has these... corrections. He is constantly trying to mold Istas into the person he wants her to be, and he always delivers these jibes (that's how I experienced them at least) through a veil of terms of endearment ("honey") and careful phrasing. Overall, he didn't work for me and if he and Istas are staying together, I want him proving why he deserves her. less

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