You know a story is good when you want to know more about the main character beyond the confines of the book. The characters are well developed and the plot moves along at a pretty good clip.



There were points in the book where tense and voice seemed awkward. And while the author used the character's heightened sense of smell quite effectively, he muted other characteristics (instinct, the use of the tail for balance, etc.). While I never forgot that Volle was a fox, I did need to be reminded what some of the other character's species were.



I did like the injection of the religious artifacts, the feel of the time period and the flow of the plot. So much so that I look forward to reading the second book, Pendant of Fortune.

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This is the second anthropomorphic book I read by the same author, but they are very different. Waterways was almost a young adult novel, and reading about the problem of a young otter who was shunned by his home when he discovers he is gay was in a way more 'strange' than reading the adventures of a young fox spy in a medieval fantasy setting. Probably since in a fantasy setting it's less strange to read about animals who behave like humans and also it is more difficult to identify yourself when the setting is so different from your real world.

Anyway I remember that, when I approached this author, people warned me that Volle was somewhat a more difficult reading since it was a lot more erotic than Waterways. Here the main character, the spy fox Volle, is a young fox with a penchant for wolves and big cats, rigorously all males. And he has no problem to pick up any possible lover he finds around, and he has no problem to play the role of the top or the bottom, depending on the occasion... well after all he is a spy and a spy should be always ready for the action, shouldn't he?

Volle is just out of the spy school in a fictional kingdom; his prince, a cougar (one of Volle's crush) sends him in disguise in another kingdom: Volle has to play the role of the lost son of one of the court nobleman, and so he has the chance to live at court. Between a ball and a meeting, Volle has to handle a possible male fox noble lover, a wanna-to-be female fox fiancee, the unwanted attention of two male noblemen (a squirrel and a rat) who attempt to his 'virtue', the affair with a sweet male wolf prostitute and the true love with a very young male cougar... and I'm sure that I lost here and there some other lovers... Yes, Volle is not the emblem of purity...

But I should say that I found this more funny than other. Actually I believe that, for who has some restraints in reading an anthropomorphic book, Waterways would me more problematic than Volle; in Waterways there is the romance, and the involving of feelings, in Volle there is only a brief hint, the romance between Volle and his cougar. So for me, I have no problem to read all the sexual adventures of Volle, since there is little romance in them, and so less chance to be emotionally involved. True, I felt a bit for Richy, the male wolf prostitute, and it's true that I cheer for him to be the chosen by Volle, but I also felt that romance was not the main reason of this book.

All in all, taking in account that I'm not a big fan of fantasy, the story flows very well (it's more than 320 pages, but you don't feel them), the setting is pretty detailed and interesting, and the target to make Volle nice to the reader is reached. Again, I would like a bit more of romance (hint to the author...), but I'm a very big romantic, so, of course, it's my opinion.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0971267081/?tag=elimyrevandra-20