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A review by sherpawhale
Otherkin by Nina Berry
3.0
I'd actually give this book 3.5 stars. And being somewhat savvy of reviews myself, I'm normally wary of anything with less than a 4-star review (if it's out of 5). But bear with me.
This book gets right to the heart of the action within a page or 2. It doesn't waste time - it gets right to the heart of the action. Which is both this book's boon and curse.
Nina Berry has a talent for writing and she clearly took the time to craft and make sure everything flows. The problem is that everything flows too fast, because this book easily could have used another 200 pages.
That's rare for me to say. These days, in the post-HP and Twilight phases, everybody jumped on the "Bigger is better" Train, be it authors, editors, publishers, or readers.
The 'verse that Berry has created here is vast and epic. There are tribes of shapeshifters that hate each other, a Tribunal that seems to be a spin-off from the Catholic church, a burning romance, and a paranormal school for shifters.
Everything needed more time spent to make it meaningful. The shifters' world is so different from ours that we can't just be told and not shown. The Tribunal felt more like stock villains than something like... Umbridge, for example, something evil that got into your bones. I didn't really feel anything for Caleb, even though it wasn't really the Insta-Love that YA authors seem to be so in love with themselves these days. And then the school, they all were there for just a couple of weeks, but we only got a couple of specific scenes that were shown and then suddenly everybody's all "Twin powers activate! To the Batmobile!"
And yet, despite the rush, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed seeing Dez respond to being healed, and having powers, and overcoming hostilities. In fact, I LOVED seeing Dez experiment with being a tiger. And speaking of tigers and shapeshifting, those are 2 of the things I love the most.
So, I really do recommend this book, and I will be reading the sequel (purchasing it, not just borrowing it from the library). I just hope that Nina Berry takes more time with the sequel, and really shows the passage of time. Let's her characters have their powers grow organically, not just in a few weeks.
Because I absolutely think she has something with this series, and I'll be watching and reading.
This book gets right to the heart of the action within a page or 2. It doesn't waste time - it gets right to the heart of the action. Which is both this book's boon and curse.
Nina Berry has a talent for writing and she clearly took the time to craft and make sure everything flows. The problem is that everything flows too fast, because this book easily could have used another 200 pages.
That's rare for me to say. These days, in the post-HP and Twilight phases, everybody jumped on the "Bigger is better" Train, be it authors, editors, publishers, or readers.
The 'verse that Berry has created here is vast and epic. There are tribes of shapeshifters that hate each other, a Tribunal that seems to be a spin-off from the Catholic church, a burning romance, and a paranormal school for shifters.
Everything needed more time spent to make it meaningful. The shifters' world is so different from ours that we can't just be told and not shown. The Tribunal felt more like stock villains than something like... Umbridge, for example, something evil that got into your bones. I didn't really feel anything for Caleb, even though it wasn't really the Insta-Love that YA authors seem to be so in love with themselves these days. And then the school, they all were there for just a couple of weeks, but we only got a couple of specific scenes that were shown and then suddenly everybody's all "Twin powers activate! To the Batmobile!"
And yet, despite the rush, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed seeing Dez respond to being healed, and having powers, and overcoming hostilities. In fact, I LOVED seeing Dez experiment with being a tiger. And speaking of tigers and shapeshifting, those are 2 of the things I love the most.
So, I really do recommend this book, and I will be reading the sequel (purchasing it, not just borrowing it from the library). I just hope that Nina Berry takes more time with the sequel, and really shows the passage of time. Let's her characters have their powers grow organically, not just in a few weeks.
Because I absolutely think she has something with this series, and I'll be watching and reading.