Saturday 24 July 2010

Stray Review




Summary:

I look like an all-American grad student. But I'm a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a stray attacked.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back...for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever and whoever -- I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays -- 'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them...

Faythe Sanders is not your average graduate student; she can shape-shift into a giant black cat.

After a stray attacks her on campus and another tabby cat goes missing, Faythe is forced to return home for her own protection. There she must fight to assert her independence in a world where a women's role is giving birth to ensure the survival of the species. Faythe must fight to prove she is worth more than her uterus, and as the danger moves closer and closer to home, prove to herself that she can save her won life.

I'm a big fan of urban fantasy and shapeshifter romances so when a friend recommended this book, I was quick to rush out and get it.

It's told in the fist person narrative which gives the book a personal feel to it. But the fist person narrative is no good if the character telling the story isn't very likeable.

There were times when I found Faythe Saunders to be selfish, controlling and inconsiderate. Faythe is supposed to be 23 years old and yet she acts like a child for most of the book.

It would have been great if Faythe admitted to her faults, developed and improved towards the end of the book. But she didn't.

Quite a few of the rest of the characters were somewhat two dimensional. After a while they seemed to sort of blend together and I would be stuck trying to figure out who was who. It's not that there were too many characters but no development; no description of their appearance, characteristics...nothing.

To keep from rambling on about how much I didn't like this book, here's what I did like.

The fist chapter of the book delved straight into a little bit of action. It did get a little slow after that but the last third of the book was great. There was action, romance, torture...you name it.

There were also a few little surprises that were completely unexpected and are well worth mentioning in this review. Surprises are always a good thing right?

Even though I didn't particularly enjoy this book completely, I am going to give the rest of the series (Shifters) a chance. I do have a few unanswered questions to figure out and you never know...maybe Faythe Sanders will improve over the next few books.

Rating: 5/10                                                            
                                         
Visit the author here

Publisher: Mira Books

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1 comment:

Steph said...

I just put Stray on my wish list. It's funny, i never heard of it untill reciently and now I am seeing it everywhere