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kate2440's review against another edition
3.0
When I read the synopsis on Netgalley I thought it sounded interesting so I wanted to give it a try. I am glad I did give it a try as in the end I found it a likable read although not as interesting as I first thought.
The cover I am not too sure about as too me it does look a bit cheesy but I do kind of like it because of the colours that have been used. I also like the fact that the cover matches what the story is about which I love when a cover can portray a storyline with just a few images. The title's font is good because of the extension of some of the letters makes the title stand out.
This is my first book that I have read of Nina Berry and I believe it is also her debut novel which I think is a promising start to her career. I love the way she describes everything in such detail as I was able to actually picture what was going on in the story.
Although I did enjoy the story by the end it did take me awhile to actually get there as at the beginning there was far too much going on which usually I like but in this case it was too much as I got so confused to what was happening. It also took me awhile to get into and because of that I found myself putting off continuing to read it which is why I felt like I was reading it for ages. Once I got halfway through I found that it settled down and even though there was still a bit going on it wasn't too much making it a more enjoyable read.
As for the characters it again took me awhile to warm to them but like the actual story I found by the time I finished the book I cared about them and what happened to them. Desdemona was a likable enough character but I didn't really get much about her but I guess she didn't get herself either so maybe I was feeling what she was feeling. Caleb I kind of liked from the start but there was times that I wasn't sure whether he was going to turn. I didn't get the instant attraction between these two characters but again by the end I loved their interaction and some of the things that what said to one another had me smiling.
Overall this book took me awhile to get into but once I did I found it a cute read and I am looking forward to continuing on with the series.
The cover I am not too sure about as too me it does look a bit cheesy but I do kind of like it because of the colours that have been used. I also like the fact that the cover matches what the story is about which I love when a cover can portray a storyline with just a few images. The title's font is good because of the extension of some of the letters makes the title stand out.
This is my first book that I have read of Nina Berry and I believe it is also her debut novel which I think is a promising start to her career. I love the way she describes everything in such detail as I was able to actually picture what was going on in the story.
Although I did enjoy the story by the end it did take me awhile to actually get there as at the beginning there was far too much going on which usually I like but in this case it was too much as I got so confused to what was happening. It also took me awhile to get into and because of that I found myself putting off continuing to read it which is why I felt like I was reading it for ages. Once I got halfway through I found that it settled down and even though there was still a bit going on it wasn't too much making it a more enjoyable read.
As for the characters it again took me awhile to warm to them but like the actual story I found by the time I finished the book I cared about them and what happened to them. Desdemona was a likable enough character but I didn't really get much about her but I guess she didn't get herself either so maybe I was feeling what she was feeling. Caleb I kind of liked from the start but there was times that I wasn't sure whether he was going to turn. I didn't get the instant attraction between these two characters but again by the end I loved their interaction and some of the things that what said to one another had me smiling.
Overall this book took me awhile to get into but once I did I found it a cute read and I am looking forward to continuing on with the series.
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Loved reading this book again, the world was so good and so were these characters and I need to reread more now!
*First Read August 24th, 2012*
Great book, unique, and really good, and can't wait to read the next book, because this one was really, really good! Can't wait to find out more about this world and where Dez came from, and those details, that'd be really, really good!
*First Read August 24th, 2012*
Great book, unique, and really good, and can't wait to read the next book, because this one was really, really good! Can't wait to find out more about this world and where Dez came from, and those details, that'd be really, really good!
julesgou's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting shape shifter book.
Dez is different. She has no idea what she is. All she knows is that one day, she turns into a tiger and when she wakes up, she's in a cage. Not to mention that she wakes up beside the cage of a hot guy. Gives a new meaning to the girl next door.
The world that Berry has created is much different from most supernatural worlds. All the shape shifters hate each other and they refuse to work together/care about any other one. The is the Tribunal that hunts down all of them and kills them because the otherkin are demons. In other ones, it is all about the wolves and the cats where in this one you have rats, birds and bears as well (not to mention that all the other ones are extinct).
I liked Dez as a character. She is thrown into this whole new world and manages to keep her head. An accomplishment if I do say so myself. Her relationship with Caleb reminds me very much of two people who are meant for each other. They both have issues; Dez and her haunting brace and Caleb and his lies. They work them out together. They also aren't really afraid of significant other coming in and stealing one or the other. It is almost as if they trust each other, even if they aren't officially together.
A unique tale about a girl and her feline side. A nice break from all the dystopia, world is going to end books that I've read. Definitely check out this book if you enjoy shifter novels.
Dez is different. She has no idea what she is. All she knows is that one day, she turns into a tiger and when she wakes up, she's in a cage. Not to mention that she wakes up beside the cage of a hot guy. Gives a new meaning to the girl next door.
The world that Berry has created is much different from most supernatural worlds. All the shape shifters hate each other and they refuse to work together/care about any other one. The is the Tribunal that hunts down all of them and kills them because the otherkin are demons. In other ones, it is all about the wolves and the cats where in this one you have rats, birds and bears as well (not to mention that all the other ones are extinct).
I liked Dez as a character. She is thrown into this whole new world and manages to keep her head. An accomplishment if I do say so myself. Her relationship with Caleb reminds me very much of two people who are meant for each other. They both have issues; Dez and her haunting brace and Caleb and his lies. They work them out together. They also aren't really afraid of significant other coming in and stealing one or the other. It is almost as if they trust each other, even if they aren't officially together.
A unique tale about a girl and her feline side. A nice break from all the dystopia, world is going to end books that I've read. Definitely check out this book if you enjoy shifter novels.
eloiseinparis's review
1.0
A girl adopted from the former U.S.S.R., and raised by a single mother discover’s that she is not a normal teenager but actually a member of an ancient race of cat shifter’s. She falls for a boy she know’s she can’t really trust, because he’s an enemy. She is attacked by a group of human’s whose organization is also ancient and hell bound on destroying her. After returning home and endangering her Mother, she decides is best if she goes of to a compound/school for her kind where she can learn about her true self and try and unite her people against the evil group trying to drive them into extinction.
No I am not describing The Nine Lives of Chloe King, I am actually writing about Otherkin and the one life of Desdemona Grey. I have no problem with writer’s being influenced by the style and/or stories of other’s, but this is ridiculous. One could have argued that maybe the writer never hear of the Liz Braswell book that was originally published eight years prior in 2004, but the fact that there was a TV show on ABC family that was widely advertised before its premiere kills that argument for me. The writing is not that great. And stupid things like, the shifter’s are predator’s and victims of genocide that have never fathomed fighting back (even thought they are being out right hunted and murdered) until some random teenager says hey, we should stop just letting them kill us was a stretch.
The differences are there, but barely. Chloe is from the Ukraine, Dez is from Russia. Chloe can only partial shift, Dez is a full on tiger. The ancient enemy of Chloe was broke off from a Egyptian Religion, the ancient enemy of Dez broke off from Catholicism. I could go on. If you read the Chloe King books or were a fan of the TV show and wished the story could continue, read this book. Otherwise skip it.
No I am not describing The Nine Lives of Chloe King, I am actually writing about Otherkin and the one life of Desdemona Grey. I have no problem with writer’s being influenced by the style and/or stories of other’s, but this is ridiculous. One could have argued that maybe the writer never hear of the Liz Braswell book that was originally published eight years prior in 2004, but the fact that there was a TV show on ABC family that was widely advertised before its premiere kills that argument for me. The writing is not that great. And stupid things like, the shifter’s are predator’s and victims of genocide that have never fathomed fighting back (even thought they are being out right hunted and murdered) until some random teenager says hey, we should stop just letting them kill us was a stretch.
The differences are there, but barely. Chloe is from the Ukraine, Dez is from Russia. Chloe can only partial shift, Dez is a full on tiger. The ancient enemy of Chloe was broke off from a Egyptian Religion, the ancient enemy of Dez broke off from Catholicism. I could go on. If you read the Chloe King books or were a fan of the TV show and wished the story could continue, read this book. Otherwise skip it.
adkwriter15's review
5.0
Actual rating 4.5. This review originally appeared HERE on My Life is a Notebook.
I’m going to be perfectly honest: I did not go into this book with high expectations. The first book I ever requested from NetGalley was a shifter book so bad I couldn’t finish it. I haven’t read anything about shifters regularly since … the Animorphs when I was about 12. BUT, this story has an awesome cover with a tiger on the front so how COULDN’T I request it?
And I’m so happy I did.
Just the first chapter is literally explosive. You instantly get a feel for Dez, how she feels about herself AND get a bunch of action–action that, by the way, rarely ever stops for a good while. The perimeters of the novel are pretty quickly established, but you aren’t hit over the head with exposition which is fantastic. In fact, the amount of info-learning but not info-dumping was excellent throughout the novel, even though the mythology was very unique and slightly confusing in places. I understood the gist of it and was never bogged down in trying to understand, which is a big plus for me, Ms. Short Attention Span.
However, about a fourth of the way book, the plotline twisted in such a way that I deflated and moaned like I was a hot air balloon stabbed through the heart. Caleb tells Dez that there is a place they can be safe, and guess where it is?
A school. A shifter school. A freaking school.
Schools feel like such a cliché these days that I CANNOT stand them when they happened. This is also how that first shifter novel I read really rolled over and died. I had to stop reading because I was so worried this book was also going to dip into horribleness.
But it DIDN’T.
I kept reading and almost couldn’t believe it. Berry managed to make it readable, the characters not too much of clichés and really make it feel REAL. The tension and then camaraderie between the classmates came right out of the pages. It really set up the ending well, and–most importantly–it was READABLE. I can be nasty when a book drops into clichés I hate, so I fully expected to start hating everything. But instead, i loved it. I was shocked!
The end brought back that rolling action I loved in the beginning. The cooperation between all the shifters and the descriptions were absolutely fantastic. The end of the end seemed to almost be anticlimactic and flat after all that action, though it did make sense. The pacing of the book, for the most part, however, was fast, which I love. There were never many points where I felt I could put the book down.
But about that docked star: A little bit of it is the ending, but not a lot of it. Most of it came from Dez and Caleb’s relationship. I hate insta-love. I will forever and always dock stars for insta-love. The only reason it wasn’t a full star was because Dez and Caleb weren’t–shockingly and fantastically–the center point of the novel. It was more about action and information than their romance. However, when you’ve only known each other for less than a month and have kissed only once, there is no way multiple conversations about seeing Dez naked don’t come off as creepy. Caleb’s kind of buzzed-all-the-time attitude didn’t help matters. Given that I loved Dez as a character, I kept screaming ABORT, ABANDON SHIP! But of course she didn’t. They’ve found eternal insta-love.
All in all, however, this book turned into a favorite for me. I loved the descriptions, the history, and the pacing. The action was fantastic, and I was ridiculously impressed at how Berry wrote in a school setting that I didn’t hate the guts of and in fact really enjoyed. For once, there was romance for the main character that wasn’t the driving force of the story, so I even forgave the insta-love a little bit. If you love shifter books, GET THIS NOW. Even if you don’t love shifter books and are looking for something new–like I was–I RECOMMEND IT. July 31st, folks, preorder now!
I’m going to be perfectly honest: I did not go into this book with high expectations. The first book I ever requested from NetGalley was a shifter book so bad I couldn’t finish it. I haven’t read anything about shifters regularly since … the Animorphs when I was about 12. BUT, this story has an awesome cover with a tiger on the front so how COULDN’T I request it?
And I’m so happy I did.
Just the first chapter is literally explosive. You instantly get a feel for Dez, how she feels about herself AND get a bunch of action–action that, by the way, rarely ever stops for a good while. The perimeters of the novel are pretty quickly established, but you aren’t hit over the head with exposition which is fantastic. In fact, the amount of info-learning but not info-dumping was excellent throughout the novel, even though the mythology was very unique and slightly confusing in places. I understood the gist of it and was never bogged down in trying to understand, which is a big plus for me, Ms. Short Attention Span.
However, about a fourth of the way book, the plotline twisted in such a way that I deflated and moaned like I was a hot air balloon stabbed through the heart. Caleb tells Dez that there is a place they can be safe, and guess where it is?
A school. A shifter school. A freaking school.
Schools feel like such a cliché these days that I CANNOT stand them when they happened. This is also how that first shifter novel I read really rolled over and died. I had to stop reading because I was so worried this book was also going to dip into horribleness.
But it DIDN’T.
I kept reading and almost couldn’t believe it. Berry managed to make it readable, the characters not too much of clichés and really make it feel REAL. The tension and then camaraderie between the classmates came right out of the pages. It really set up the ending well, and–most importantly–it was READABLE. I can be nasty when a book drops into clichés I hate, so I fully expected to start hating everything. But instead, i loved it. I was shocked!
The end brought back that rolling action I loved in the beginning. The cooperation between all the shifters and the descriptions were absolutely fantastic. The end of the end seemed to almost be anticlimactic and flat after all that action, though it did make sense. The pacing of the book, for the most part, however, was fast, which I love. There were never many points where I felt I could put the book down.
But about that docked star: A little bit of it is the ending, but not a lot of it. Most of it came from Dez and Caleb’s relationship. I hate insta-love. I will forever and always dock stars for insta-love. The only reason it wasn’t a full star was because Dez and Caleb weren’t–shockingly and fantastically–the center point of the novel. It was more about action and information than their romance. However, when you’ve only known each other for less than a month and have kissed only once, there is no way multiple conversations about seeing Dez naked don’t come off as creepy. Caleb’s kind of buzzed-all-the-time attitude didn’t help matters. Given that I loved Dez as a character, I kept screaming ABORT, ABANDON SHIP! But of course she didn’t. They’ve found eternal insta-love.
All in all, however, this book turned into a favorite for me. I loved the descriptions, the history, and the pacing. The action was fantastic, and I was ridiculously impressed at how Berry wrote in a school setting that I didn’t hate the guts of and in fact really enjoyed. For once, there was romance for the main character that wasn’t the driving force of the story, so I even forgave the insta-love a little bit. If you love shifter books, GET THIS NOW. Even if you don’t love shifter books and are looking for something new–like I was–I RECOMMEND IT. July 31st, folks, preorder now!
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