TL;DR: Another fantastic entry in this series, with more cryptids and great reveals.
Source: NetGalley, so many thanks to the publisher!
Plot: The land is going Ancient and Kate is stuck trying to maintain control.
Characters: I love them, and this one especially hones in on one of my favorites in the series.
Setting: You know it, you love it. The campground always delivers.
Fantasy: This is the best kind of creepy, cryptid, myth fueled fantasy.
Summary:
Every year, campground manager Kate sends out a pamphlet titled “How to Survive Your Camping Experience.” In it is a list of rules to help campers have an enjoyable experience and hopefully survive any encounters with the campground’s…other…inhabitants.
With the land turning ancient, it is no longer just the campers who are in danger. Kate is the key and every inhuman entity is out for her blood. All the lesser creatures are making attempts on her life, but Kate isn’t willing to let her land go without a fight. If these creatures are going to hunt her, then she’ll hunt them in turn and eradicate everything from her land that cannot coexist with humanity. With the help of both her inhuman and human allies, it looks like Kate might actually have a chance at controlling the campground. But ancient land attracts ancient things, and the town has a bad history with ancient creatures.
A new entity has come to the campground, bearing an old grudge against one of the inhabitants. Its malevolent designs will put the entire land at risk—unless Kate can stop it.
Thoughts:
If you’ve seen any of my reviews of these books I have to say the quality has just kept up. The stakes at times were higher and the story and park developed in such a fun and interesting way. Kate is dealing with the knowledge that the campground land is becoming Ancient, and with that more creatures are being drawn in. Dangerous creatures, and this year one has appeared that has beef with another resident. Not only is it aiming for the top slot, it’s fighting a war on the campground land.
Kate is still struggling with the idea of being good and not allowing people to die because it’s the easy way. We see her trying with her family, trying more with her employees but her interactions with those outside the campground were minor in this volume. Most of what we saw was her connecting with the the residents of the camp, something I enjoyed. We got new cryptids and info on familiar friends.
I was genuinely heartbroken by the end, I can’t lie. One of my favorite characters was affected, I’m not going to spoil it but I definitely teared up a little. If you’ve been reading these I continue to recommend them. This continues the story in a great way.
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