A review by abrittlebee
Ancient Protector by Katie Reus

4.0

The beginning of this book reminded me a lot of "Dragon Bound" by Thea Harrison in that the tone and humor of the first contact between the main protagonists was very similar. However, as the story progressed, I appreciated that it diverged and became it's own, unique narrative. Star was an interesting character, as she was neither a passive waif, nor a hard-grained badass as is often the case in any novel revolving around shapeshifter romance, especially when power dynamics are so closely examined as a means of world-building. The kind of "alpha" attitude that has become a trope within urban-fantasy and urban-paranormal ("everything I say goes" etc.) was fairly absent in all the "alphas" presented in Ancient Protector (Star, King, and Lachlan), save for the villainous Oscar. As an avid reader and lover of "shifter" stories, I found this a pleasant change and it made me more receptive to the characters as a whole. It also made the romance between Lachlan and Star seem like more of an organic progression peppered with destiny, as opposed to purely "your mine/I'm yours, damned if we know nothing about one another."
My only problem with the novel is that the world seemed a little incomplete. There was constant reference to humanity recovering from a disaster event, but nothing shown in the novel backed up that claim.