It is not often that I find a book, that the entire time I am reading it I just sit and go “this is a strange book.”  And yet, with Cryptofauna by Patrick Canning is a book I never stopped having that thought.

The book itself starts out interestingly enough, with our main character, Jim, getting ready to kill himself.  While suicide and death in books is nothing new to me, I did love the reason that was given as to why Jim was ready to end everything, and it was because there was Cilantro in his food.  This might seem asinine or crazy, but as someone who suffers with depression, it isn’t normally the big things that push me over the edge and make me wanna just give up.  It is the tiniest of things that pile on top of each other and end up feeling like an overwhelming mountain.  Patrick really nailed this when he was writing!

My favorite character of this entire book is Oz.  He has such great timing and is vivid and memorable.  This entire book gave me The Phantom Tollbooth vibes, where adventure is going to find you when you need it the most, and it made me want to continue reading the book.  However, I must stress once again, this is an incredibly strange book!

Something this book does that I am still not sure how I feel about, is the odd little commercial breaks that were added in between chapters or major sections of the books.  Cryptofauna is like this strange little game where Jim and various others are competing in a competition, and I enjoyed having little announcers to kind of tell me where things stands, because I will be honest I still don’t understand what the rules of Cryptofauna are.

Overall – This is a strange book that gave me Phantom Tollbooth and The Truman Show vibes mixed together.  It isn’t necessarily a good book, and it isn’t necessarily a bad book.  It is just a strange book that I am still not entirely sure how I feel about.

Plot – 5/10

Characters – 5/10

Originality –  5/10

General Joy of Reading – 5/10

Overall Score – 20/40

Cryptofauna – Patrick Canning

Cost* – eBook is $2.99. This book is included on kindle unlimited.

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published