Author: Nina Berry
Published: July 31st, 2012 (K Teen)
Rating: 2.5 stars
Synopsis from Goodreads: I thought I knew myself. Then I met Caleb.
Dez is a good girl who does as she’s told and tries not to be noticed.
Then she rescues a boy from a cage, and he tells her secrets about herself.
Now inside her burns a darkness that will transform her.
Everything is about to change -- and neither Caleb, nor the Otherkin, nor those who hunt them are prepared for what Dez will unleash.
Dez is a good girl who does as she’s told and tries not to be noticed.
Then she rescues a boy from a cage, and he tells her secrets about herself.
Now inside her burns a darkness that will transform her.
Everything is about to change -- and neither Caleb, nor the Otherkin, nor those who hunt them are prepared for what Dez will unleash.
When I requested this title on NetGalley I really thought it would be amazing. And that's always a difficult place to start, because the chance it will be disappointing is bigger. And I'm sad to say it did disappoint. I doubted how many stars I would give it for a long time, but I just can't give it more than 2.5 stars. I started with 2, so it ended up being a little better.
The idea behind the story is great. Dez discovers she's not the normal girl she always thought. She's a shapeshifter, an Otherkin, and she belongs to the rare tigers. To get herself and her adopted family safe she travels to a special school where she gets proper training. But the story just didn't live up to this idea. I'm still not sure what it is that set me off. One thing was the writing style, which wasn't very good. It didn't grab me.
Without the cliches in the story it would have been a lot better. Normal girl finds power, discovers she's even more special, loses power in critical moment and finds it back in an even more critical moment. There are so many stories that are alike, that it really needs something special to stand out. And for me that something special missed.
Awww, I'm sorry this didn't go well for you :(
ReplyDeleteThe premise really does sound like a nice, intriguing hook! Cliches are sometimes okay if they're pulled off right, I guess, but too bad it wasn't in this one. Ah well, hope your next read is better, and great review anyhow!