Monday 8 November 2010

Book Review: Stray by Rachel Vincent

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*



Stray Pictures, Images and Photos



Stray is a fantastic start to the Shifters series & I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the books. Faythe is one of only 8 unmarried female werecats in America which makes her a very important member of her Pride. Her family are very keen to see her settled & married so she can start producing the next generation of werecats but this is the last thing Faythe wants to do. She is very independent and determined to have a life of her own outside the Pride. For the last 5 years she has been at college but when she is attacked by a stray this gives her over-protective family the perfect excuse to bring her home.


Faythe is a brilliant character - she is smart & tough but she has plenty of flaws too. She can come across as selfish but it is easy to understand the motivation behind her actions. The fact that she isn't perfect makes her easier to relate to and made her feel more real to me. Back at home Faythe discovers she isn't the only one who has been attacked - 2 of her fellow tabbies are missing and she is determined to find out what has happened to them. Her family are equally determined to keep her safe and she is practically under house arrest, under 24 hour supervision from her brothers and her ex-boyfriend Marc. I absolutely loved Marc - he is madly in love with Faythe and wants her back. He has an incredible jealous streak but apart from that is he is pretty much my ideal man!


Feeling stifled by her family & Marc, Faythe tries to find room to breathe but ends up putting herself in danger. It is going to take all her strength and cunning if she is going to save herself and her fellow tabbies. Once the main action started I couldn't put this book down although there were times when I was almost frightened to read what was going to happen next - it was like watching a horror film where you can only watch by peeking over the top of a cushion! I think I went through every emotion possible when reading this - a sure sign of a good book. I'll definitely be going back for more of this series.


I LOVE Faythes brothers. They are all so protective of her and all have different and awesome personalites. My favourite is Jace...he isnt Faythes brother but he does live with the family working for her father the alpha. You get to meet him really abrupty in Stray what with him not being to keep his hands off Faythe.


The plot moves at a good pace, and flows really nicely. There is a lot of action and certain twists I really didn't see coming. I love Faythe's attitude because she also shows her ability to learn and grow, something you see much more clearly in the following books. The writing here is good and solid. There are some really great one-liners that help keep the book from being too dark, but the dark stuff isn't shied away from. A really solid debut and I hope only gets better once I get the second :)

1 comments:

Claire (Cem) said...

Great review. Soo glad you loved this as much as I did!! I started hunting for book 2 before I hit the halfway point of this I think, and was disappointed to discover it wasn't out yet. At least you don't have to wait for any releases in this series!!

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