STACY MANTLE

When this book went up for review on R2R I wanted a chance to read it because the book blurb sounded good. I really tried to like this book, but there’s too much that needs improvement.



One thing I do like is the cover, it’s visually intriguing. The blurb on the other hand doesn’t quite go with the story. I started to read the story and it didn’t sound anything like the book blurb at all. When I finished the book, I still think the blurb could be better written to convey more what the book is about.

The main protagonist in this story is Alexandra aka Alex, the first female Shepherd in roughly 2,000 years. This story is told in first person through Alex’s eyes. First person is supposed to give readers a better connection to the character. Sadly, in this case it does not. I couldn’t get much of a sense of Alex’s personality. The only aspects of her character that I got, was that she whined a lot about her life as a Shepherd, that she was very insecure about her abilities as a Shepherd and that she was skilled in fighting. How she could be considered an Alpha for her pack is beyond me, especially not with those characteristics.

There is much telling and little showing in this book. Alex was primarily a voice that ‘told’ the readers what she was doing, what she was thinking, who the other characters in the book were. It was like Alex was reading from a police report, very dry and boring. The only times I felt as if I were part of the action, were during the conversations, but the book was predominately, description of action, thoughts and past events. I think the story would have been better off in third person and if someone had helped the author much more with the telling versus showing aspect. Also there was way too much description and internal dialogue going on. At least half of it could’ve been cut.

I found it odd that no one caught how the author repeated thoughts or explanations, only worded differently paragraphs apart.

One phrase the author over used was ‘truth be told.’ That phrase was used no less than six times throughout the book, definitely overkill. Even one time was too much. The phrase is trite. It’s like the author was trying to impress the readers with her use of what she considers a clever phrase. There are numerous other ways to convey that particular phrase and the author should try and attempt to describe what she wants to say with other words instead of using repetition.

It felt like the story had too many ideas going in it at once. So many different possibilities that none really fleshed out enough to drag me into the story. I think if more of the internal dialogue and description was removed, more action could have been incorporated to create a faster paced and richer story.

I would have liked to find out more about the secondary characters, especially what was going on with Billy the Coyote Shifter. The author hinted that there was some sort of romantic situation going on with Billy for Alex, but it got dropped from the story without any explanation at all. There were quite a few half ideas that dangled off in nowhere man’s land, sort of like the doors leading off into thin air at the Winchester Mystery House.

As much as I liked the basic idea for this story, I think it could have been much better executed. So, despite my interest in the storyline, I can only give this book two stars because it didn’t live up to its promise in too many ways.


… (lisätietoja)

Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: fans of urban fantasy
Trigger Warnings: murder, killing, reported rape, reported sexual slavery

My Thoughts: This is quite an interesting idea and world that the author has created in this book. I quite liked the characters for the most part, although several of them aren't very well developed. This feels like the first book in a series, since the problem is not completely resolved by the end of the book.

The author told me that this was a revised and updated edition. I would have hated to have seen it before, as this still has quite a number of editing errors, mostly having to do with missing or extra quote marks around dialogue, a couple uses of “lie” where it should have been “lay” and several “your/you're” mix-ups, among other things. There were also a few plot things that confused me. Overall, while I liked the book, it was enough to lower the rating.

If you've been looking for something a little different in the Urban Fantasy genre, where the heroine isn't constantly swooning over some guy, and there are a variety of paranormal creatures to explore, then you might like this book. I know I'll be watching for any new books featuring these characters.

Disclosure: I received an e-book copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: It’s taken twelve years to earn the official title of Shepherd but she’s now mostly trained, fairly effective, and the first female in over two centuries to hold the position as protector of animals. All animals...

The Territorial Council isn’t thrilled with her new title of Shepherd, but they don’t have any more control over the appointment than they have over her. All they can really do is wait for her to screw something up—which Alex is determined not to do. Everything changes when a chance encounter with a genetically modified Shifter leaves Alex shaken and initiates a quest to locate its maker.

In a desperate bid to save her pack, Alex must infiltrate the Parallax Corporation—an international organization with their hands in everything from biomedical engineering to publishing. They have now expanded their efforts to include terrorism and are attempting to breed the perfect weapon.

Despite years of training and enough money from her live-in pack of misfits to finance a small country, Alex finds herself woefully unprepared to tackle the new threat. To make matters worse, Alex must work with a mysterious man who’s been trying to kill her since the day they met. Together with her pack, Alex must learn how to stop the biological cloning and find those responsible for the plan before it really does become a global threat.… (lisätietoja)