Metzger's Menagerie is no longer run by the vicious humans enslaving the cryptids. Instead, Delilah and the other cryptids are now running their own traveling carnival, hiding right in front of human eyes. They are determined to find and save other cryptids still held in captivity but unfortunately their freedom doesn't last long. Now, Delilah is once again a prisoner, this time at the hands of William Vandekamp, the owner of Savage Spectacle. Can Delilah and her friends survive in a world where the only limits of brutality are what money can buy?

SPECTACLE is the second book in Rachel Vincent's Menagerie series and is best appreciated if you've read the first book, MENAGERIE. The relationships between the various characters has already been established, making the emotional impact of SPECTACLE much stronger if you're already familiar with the characters. Rachel Vincent does a marvelous job at showing us the injustice and hatred that abounds in this violent and frightening world, and it hits us all the harder for knowing just how much the characters have already survived.

And speaking of characters. I love Delilah's loyalty to her friends, even at her own peril. Delilah's desire to look out for the underdog helps us better understand why the furiae resides within her. The furiae's justice is quick and brutal, but the violence is never gratuitous.

And oh what a disturbingly dark, and haunting world Rachel Vincent has crafted! SPECTACLE is definitely not for the fainthearted. However, it is the characters who are the heart and soul of SPECTACLE. The world they live in is harsh and brutal but it is the strength, love, and loyalty we see emerging out of the darkness that makes SPECTACLE so significant. I can't wait to see what unfolds in the third book of the Menagerie series!

Book Summary

In this riveting sequel to New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent's acclaimed novel Menagerie, Delilah Marlow will discover that there is no crueler cage than the confines of the human mind…

When their coup of Metzger's Menagerie is discovered, Delilah and her fellow cryptids find their newly won freedom brutally stripped away as they are sold into The Savage Spectacle, a private collection of "exotic wildlife." Specializing in ruthless cryptid cage matches, safari-style creature hunts and living party favors, the Spectacle's owner, Willem Vandekamp, caters to the forbidden fetishes of the wealthy and powerful. At the Spectacle, any wish can be granted—for the right price.

But Vandekamp's closely guarded client list isn't the only secret being kept at the Spectacle. Beneath the beauty and brutality of life in the collection lie much darker truths, and no one is more determined than Delilah to strip the masks from the human monsters and drag all dark things into the light.