What do you think?
Rate this book
Cryptid
Cryptozoologist Mike Kellogg studies the creatures of folklore and legend: cryptids. Some are well known—Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster—some are simply local myth. Still others are known animals mistaken for an unknown. The exhibit he and Liz Newcastle are currently involved with for his Chicago museum features melanism. What causes some animals to be born unnaturally black.
Sara Williams, orphaned from an auto accident, schemes to get Mike to adopt her so she can remain close to Emily Peters and Krystal Rogers, her best friends in Chicago, rather than move to southern Illinois and live with relations.
Hundreds of miles away, zoology student Xenia Sweet believes her research photographs show images of a melanistic jaguar roaming the National Forests of Arizona. Wild jaguars, spotted or black, no longer exist in North America. Or do they? Dale Marquez, a park ranger, who aids Xenia, finds the elusive creature may have lived in a remote, bone-littered, den under an abandoned railway boxcar, now headed to a railroad museum near Chicago. Xenia, plagued by a failed romance and past family problems, decides to go to Alton, Illinois, to make peace with her estranged sister, Pamela.
A week later, two lion-sized cats suddenly appear in Chicago’s downtown lakefront on the preview night of the melanism exhibit and an outdoor concert in Millennium Park. Are they Xenia’s jaguars from Arizona? An extinct American lion species? Could one be the fabled spotted Marozi lion from the Aberdare Mountains of Africa? Or are they simply some type of hybrids? In the midst of a thunderstorm, Xenia, with Pamela and Liz who have journeyed to Chicago with her, join Mike, Sara, Emily, Krystal and others, including the Chicago Police, in a race to find, identify, and capture the animals before they can spread havoc on the lakefront.
Sara Williams, orphaned from an auto accident, schemes to get Mike to adopt her so she can remain close to Emily Peters and Krystal Rogers, her best friends in Chicago, rather than move to southern Illinois and live with relations.
Hundreds of miles away, zoology student Xenia Sweet believes her research photographs show images of a melanistic jaguar roaming the National Forests of Arizona. Wild jaguars, spotted or black, no longer exist in North America. Or do they? Dale Marquez, a park ranger, who aids Xenia, finds the elusive creature may have lived in a remote, bone-littered, den under an abandoned railway boxcar, now headed to a railroad museum near Chicago. Xenia, plagued by a failed romance and past family problems, decides to go to Alton, Illinois, to make peace with her estranged sister, Pamela.
A week later, two lion-sized cats suddenly appear in Chicago’s downtown lakefront on the preview night of the melanism exhibit and an outdoor concert in Millennium Park. Are they Xenia’s jaguars from Arizona? An extinct American lion species? Could one be the fabled spotted Marozi lion from the Aberdare Mountains of Africa? Or are they simply some type of hybrids? In the midst of a thunderstorm, Xenia, with Pamela and Liz who have journeyed to Chicago with her, join Mike, Sara, Emily, Krystal and others, including the Chicago Police, in a race to find, identify, and capture the animals before they can spread havoc on the lakefront.
293 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 18, 2018
7 people are currently reading
309 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 23, 2022
View my review on my blog: www.diaryofdifference.com/2018/06/08/...
Cryptid by Michael Kott is the second book of these series. It is a sequel to the Piasa, and you can find my review on that here. I have to admit and say that I didn’t enjoy Cryptid as much as I would like to, and you’ll find out why soon.
About the book:
Cryptid continues to tell the story of Sara, a girl that survives a car accident, when all her family dies. While in the first book she meets Mike, who gets her a job as his assistant in his adventures, in this book we will see Sara still maintaining that position, but a little bit from the background. When a few cats that look like leopards will appear at the museum, people start to get scared, and the police wants to shoot the animals. Then Mike and the team come to the rescue, to try and identify what the cats are, and save them from dying.
Review:
In Cryptid, we will be introduced to a couple new characters, some of which I happened to be very fond of (Hi Xenia!). The good thing for me was, that I could get a bit of a break from all the Sara moments. The thing I didn’t like was the fact that their background was too short and untold, and they kept making decisions based on the past that we didn’t know (I will mention Shannon’s decision here).
My favourite moments of the book, were, of course, those where Sara wasn’t there. Followed by my previous review of the Piasa, I sometimes like the character of Sara. But I also couldn’t agree with her. I couldn’t understand her character, behaviour and decisions. Maybe it is because of my own childhood. I mean, luckily, I haven’t lost any of my family, but I have lived without both parents in those crucial years, raised by grandparents, while having a little sister to look after, and having an aunt similar to Pamela to guide me through my worst. But I was never this arrogant, self-centered and desperate for ME-ME-ME attention like Sara. Whoa, that lady really can push my limits sometimes.
The same goes with everyone around Sara that constantly tries to please her, and make sure she’s not upset.
And what is the reason that all of the characters are losing their shoes somewhere?
Unlike Piasa, in this book the focus is only on one big event, at two main places – the park and the museum. Apart from a few places in the introduction, the whole story keeps us around these places, which I particularly didn’t mind, but some people may or may not find it boring.
I was a bit sad because I really like Mike, and he wasn’t as present with his story as his was in the other book. I expected to see and learn a bit more of him.
Not to be all negative though, there were a few moments that I really enjoyed! I loved to read about the sisterhood of Pamela and Xenia, and the beginning of the book was fantastic. Xenia is also such an incredible character, and I really admired her. I also loved the explanations on the different kinds of cats and their latin names and meanings.
All in all, I am a bit sad to say that this will be a 3 out of 5 stars. Especially because the author, Michael Kott, is a dear friend of mine, and I greatly enjoyed the Piasa. I may have expected a bit too much of this book, that left me disappointed. But I do believe that some of you might greatly enjoy it! If you like Young-Adult fiction, and stories about mystery animals and cryptids, you will definitely enjoy this book!
Thank you Mike, for sending me a copy of the Cryptid, in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest |
Cryptid by Michael Kott is the second book of these series. It is a sequel to the Piasa, and you can find my review on that here. I have to admit and say that I didn’t enjoy Cryptid as much as I would like to, and you’ll find out why soon.
About the book:
Cryptid continues to tell the story of Sara, a girl that survives a car accident, when all her family dies. While in the first book she meets Mike, who gets her a job as his assistant in his adventures, in this book we will see Sara still maintaining that position, but a little bit from the background. When a few cats that look like leopards will appear at the museum, people start to get scared, and the police wants to shoot the animals. Then Mike and the team come to the rescue, to try and identify what the cats are, and save them from dying.
Review:
In Cryptid, we will be introduced to a couple new characters, some of which I happened to be very fond of (Hi Xenia!). The good thing for me was, that I could get a bit of a break from all the Sara moments. The thing I didn’t like was the fact that their background was too short and untold, and they kept making decisions based on the past that we didn’t know (I will mention Shannon’s decision here).
My favourite moments of the book, were, of course, those where Sara wasn’t there. Followed by my previous review of the Piasa, I sometimes like the character of Sara. But I also couldn’t agree with her. I couldn’t understand her character, behaviour and decisions. Maybe it is because of my own childhood. I mean, luckily, I haven’t lost any of my family, but I have lived without both parents in those crucial years, raised by grandparents, while having a little sister to look after, and having an aunt similar to Pamela to guide me through my worst. But I was never this arrogant, self-centered and desperate for ME-ME-ME attention like Sara. Whoa, that lady really can push my limits sometimes.
The same goes with everyone around Sara that constantly tries to please her, and make sure she’s not upset.
And what is the reason that all of the characters are losing their shoes somewhere?
Unlike Piasa, in this book the focus is only on one big event, at two main places – the park and the museum. Apart from a few places in the introduction, the whole story keeps us around these places, which I particularly didn’t mind, but some people may or may not find it boring.
I was a bit sad because I really like Mike, and he wasn’t as present with his story as his was in the other book. I expected to see and learn a bit more of him.
Not to be all negative though, there were a few moments that I really enjoyed! I loved to read about the sisterhood of Pamela and Xenia, and the beginning of the book was fantastic. Xenia is also such an incredible character, and I really admired her. I also loved the explanations on the different kinds of cats and their latin names and meanings.
All in all, I am a bit sad to say that this will be a 3 out of 5 stars. Especially because the author, Michael Kott, is a dear friend of mine, and I greatly enjoyed the Piasa. I may have expected a bit too much of this book, that left me disappointed. But I do believe that some of you might greatly enjoy it! If you like Young-Adult fiction, and stories about mystery animals and cryptids, you will definitely enjoy this book!
Thank you Mike, for sending me a copy of the Cryptid, in exchange for an honest review.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest |
November 7, 2018
Cryptid by Michael Kott is the sequel to the Piasa. It is the continuing story of Sara, a girl that survives a car accident, when all her family dies. This story deals with cats,(leopards) that appear in a museum and a park. It is interesting but you need to read the first book to get the background and better appreciate the story. It was well written.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
I received a copy thru a Goodreads Giveaway.
December 1, 2018
Couldn't put it down. Read it in two days!
Read
February 5, 2019I would like to thank Goodreads, Kindle , Cyber Witch Press and Mr. Gott for this goodread. The story was entertaining but the story could have been buffed up, but it still provided a couple of evenings of entertainment. If you like big cats, light romance and an adventure this may be for you
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews