The Cryptid Keeper

May 15, 2019
Clivo Wren and the Myth Blasters continue their search for an immortal cryptid following series opener The Cryptid Catcher (2018). When Clivo's father was killed by a rival cryptid hunter, the 13-year-old took up the search, bankrolled by curmudgeonly and mysterious Douglas Chancery. First Russia's Vodyanoy turns out not to be immortal...then Egypt's Salawa. When the Blasters discover that the cryptids Clivo has tested have disappeared, they use the satellite at the SETI-like institute where Clivo's best friend's dad works to find the missing mythological beasts. It appears that someone has gathered them together, but why? Can the Myth Blasters rescue the captive cryptids and find the immortal one before the baddies do? Fisher's concluding volume in her duology is very similar to the first. The bad guy's a bit obvious, though the degree of his badness is a nice surprise. The freedom enjoyed by the young characters (his pals' parents think they are attending a math and science camp held in Clivo's secluded Colorado home, where he lives with salsa-dancing Aunt Pearl) is a bit unbelievable, but their jokes will land for the target audience. Clivo is white, and his friends cover the racial spectrum. Fans of the first will enjoy; readers new to the series should go back to Volume 1 before moving on to this. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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October 18, 2019

Gr 5-7-In this sequel to The Cryptid Catcher, globe-trotting 13-year-old Clivo Wren continues his mission to find living mythological creatures with the help of the Mythbusters team, a group of intellectual boys and girls, all of whom consider themselves "the good guys" compared to the "bad guys" who keep attacking Clivo and the cryptids on his travels. Fisher balances action, travel, intrigue, faux science, and light, trope-based comedy, though the overuse of bro-isms such as "dude" out of the wannabe-manly sidekicks' mouths wears thin, and some of the stereotypes verge on offensive, such as the two clueless cooking-and-cleaning adult female characters and the mysterious tough-guy Egyptian cult members who seem straight out of Indiana Jones. This easy-to-follow adventure doesn't contain a lot of character development but it's got a heavy dose of advice on friendship and being a "good guy." The premise of the series relies upon a twist on evolutionary theory in which the cryptids adapt their unique abilities as long-lived individual organisms. VERDICT The second in a readable adventure series that might appeal to fans of Michael Buckley's "NERDS" series or Ron McGee's "Ryan Quinn" books.-Rhona Campbell, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

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