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Shadow Thane #1
Black Beast
She walks the line between the hunter and the hunted.
Vampires want her blood.
Witches consider her less-than-human.
Slayers simply want her dead.
As if being in high school wasn't hard enough, Catherine Pierce has to deal with a whole other set of problems that arise from being a shifter that hasn't settled. Because after puberty, shifters are supposed to stop changing--and Catherine, well, hasn't.
Even among her own kind, Catherine is regarded as a freak.
To make matters worse, she'd caught the attention of the witches' Council because they think she's been dabbling in dark magic because of a stupid old book that popped up at her work. And she's been having nightmares about a terrifying man who calls himself the Shadow Thane and plans to end the world in a burst of darkness and dragon fire.
Just in case that wasn't enough, a branch of Slayers are infiltrating Catherine's town, under the guise of a community youth group called Sterling Rep.
Times are changing and that means, for Catherine, it's time to Change.
Vampires want her blood.
Witches consider her less-than-human.
Slayers simply want her dead.
As if being in high school wasn't hard enough, Catherine Pierce has to deal with a whole other set of problems that arise from being a shifter that hasn't settled. Because after puberty, shifters are supposed to stop changing--and Catherine, well, hasn't.
Even among her own kind, Catherine is regarded as a freak.
To make matters worse, she'd caught the attention of the witches' Council because they think she's been dabbling in dark magic because of a stupid old book that popped up at her work. And she's been having nightmares about a terrifying man who calls himself the Shadow Thane and plans to end the world in a burst of darkness and dragon fire.
Just in case that wasn't enough, a branch of Slayers are infiltrating Catherine's town, under the guise of a community youth group called Sterling Rep.
Times are changing and that means, for Catherine, it's time to Change.
159 pages, ebook
First published April 1, 2014
13 people are currently reading
1514 people want to read
About the author
Nenia Campbell
60 books20.8k followersNenia Campbell is a dark romance author who lives in San Francisco, California. When she's not writing, or reading, she can be found roaming the city or curled up with her void cat. She collects romance novels older than she is and loves a villain with flair.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 83 reviews
October 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the character Catherine Pierce. She's snarky, some more snarky, and she's a shape-shifter. I found out at the end of the book that she is also a little bit of something else but I'm keeping that to myself.
Catherine is being tracked down by a witch named Finn because something is weird in the books. All Otherkind are supposed to be in the book, but there is nothing about Catherine. So Finn has his fiance, who is a witch and in one of Catherine's classes at school, keep an eye on her.
Finn tries to catch her himself one night while she was in the form of a red-tailed hawk. She's not supposed to be shifting at will among all of the other things.
Finn also finds a book she shouldn't have on her person. Catherine didn't know this book was something special, she works at a bookstore for craps sake! But he thinks she trying black magic. Men!
There is also another weirdo creeping around asking about the book. Of course Catherine isn't going to give it to him now since she knows something is weird when she almost got caught by Finn!
Then we have Catherine's long time best friend (but they had a falling out) David pairing up in class and they soon become friends again. I thought it was cool because they broke into the school together to save some insects. I mean what's a shape-shifter to do.
It was a little comical moment there when Catherine turned into an ant to get into the school building. Apparently you get the ideas of whatever you change into and all Catherine ant could think about was finding the sweet to take back to the Queen =)
"I lost myself to the ant. It really wanted to bring you a piece of candy it found on the ground."
"On the ground?" He made a face at his sneakers. "Why?"
"I guess it thought you were the queen of the hive or something. I don't know."
Now that's funny.
The book is not really long but I enjoyed it anyway. Catherine is a really fun character and I would like to read more of this series!
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
Catherine is being tracked down by a witch named Finn because something is weird in the books. All Otherkind are supposed to be in the book, but there is nothing about Catherine. So Finn has his fiance, who is a witch and in one of Catherine's classes at school, keep an eye on her.
Finn tries to catch her himself one night while she was in the form of a red-tailed hawk. She's not supposed to be shifting at will among all of the other things.
Finn also finds a book she shouldn't have on her person. Catherine didn't know this book was something special, she works at a bookstore for craps sake! But he thinks she trying black magic. Men!
There is also another weirdo creeping around asking about the book. Of course Catherine isn't going to give it to him now since she knows something is weird when she almost got caught by Finn!
Then we have Catherine's long time best friend (but they had a falling out) David pairing up in class and they soon become friends again. I thought it was cool because they broke into the school together to save some insects. I mean what's a shape-shifter to do.
It was a little comical moment there when Catherine turned into an ant to get into the school building. Apparently you get the ideas of whatever you change into and all Catherine ant could think about was finding the sweet to take back to the Queen =)
"I lost myself to the ant. It really wanted to bring you a piece of candy it found on the ground."
"On the ground?" He made a face at his sneakers. "Why?"
"I guess it thought you were the queen of the hive or something. I don't know."
Now that's funny.
The book is not really long but I enjoyed it anyway. Catherine is a really fun character and I would like to read more of this series!
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
February 6, 2017
Troughout the book, I went between rating it 2 and 3 stars. I was bored and curious, annoyed and interested and very confused about the motivation of the characters.
World building is interesting. There are different factions and our heroine is a shapeshifter. What's different about shifters here, was that they could change into any animal untill their puberty and then their DNA and character decides on what their permanent animal can be. And we are not just talking about your everyday wolf-bear-lion shifter. Raccoons and fleas and owls... This book has a fucking amazing and original outlook of an overused concept in this genre.
Another faction is the witches. They rule the shit around, are cruel and master-y. Basic witch can master an element. From there we go to the ones who can master all four and they are the bad asses of the witchworld.
This was all great. But if I had any idea that the characters were teenagers who reasoned like teenagers I wouldn't have read this book. I do not read YA gracefully and it is not fair to both the readers and the authors for me to rate YA books. But I had already started and was intrigued so I'll yammer away.
The heroine is an angry-at-the-world, know-it-all, annoying little cunt. TEENAGE LOGIC ALERT! That means stop looking for logical actions. Swim in the anger that comes from too much hormones.
I am not actually sure who the hell is main hero. There is this witch guy who is delightfully psychopathic. He may be the villian or one of the legs of a love trio. I am rooting for him being the main love interest because he is a rapey villainous little prick with a cruel streak and fuckloads more interesting than the other shapeshifter boy. Plus forbidden love. And hatefuck... Swoons. I even picked out their song for them!
The thing that settled my rating to 2 stars was that they break into school to release some crickets to save them from their date with the vivisection next day on biology class. Then instead of gathering the said bugs and getting the hell out of there so they can release them without the "adrenaline pump", they open a hard to open window, heroine changes into an owl and swoops as many as she can hold and then flies them away to safety. Then repeats this a couple of times more. Why? And I mean it, WHY?! Did I miss something that would explain this masterplan to me? Am I being a bitch? *that one was rhetorical, no answers please*
Soon after, the book ends with no ending. Like a serial book. And I'm left with no satisfaction, just WTF feelies.
Despite my annoyance at the characters and confusion, I enjoyed the book. The writing was good and I have hope for the later books. Will I read rest of the series? Yes, and I really hope that I get my wish and the perv boy and heroine get their freak on.
World building is interesting. There are different factions and our heroine is a shapeshifter. What's different about shifters here, was that they could change into any animal untill their puberty and then their DNA and character decides on what their permanent animal can be. And we are not just talking about your everyday wolf-bear-lion shifter. Raccoons and fleas and owls... This book has a fucking amazing and original outlook of an overused concept in this genre.
Another faction is the witches. They rule the shit around, are cruel and master-y. Basic witch can master an element. From there we go to the ones who can master all four and they are the bad asses of the witchworld.
This was all great. But if I had any idea that the characters were teenagers who reasoned like teenagers I wouldn't have read this book. I do not read YA gracefully and it is not fair to both the readers and the authors for me to rate YA books. But I had already started and was intrigued so I'll yammer away.
The heroine is an angry-at-the-world, know-it-all, annoying little cunt. TEENAGE LOGIC ALERT! That means stop looking for logical actions. Swim in the anger that comes from too much hormones.
I am not actually sure who the hell is main hero. There is this witch guy who is delightfully psychopathic. He may be the villian or one of the legs of a love trio. I am rooting for him being the main love interest because he is a rapey villainous little prick with a cruel streak and fuckloads more interesting than the other shapeshifter boy. Plus forbidden love. And hatefuck... Swoons. I even picked out their song for them!
The thing that settled my rating to 2 stars was that they break into school to release some crickets to save them from their date with the vivisection next day on biology class. Then instead of gathering the said bugs and getting the hell out of there so they can release them without the "adrenaline pump", they open a hard to open window, heroine changes into an owl and swoops as many as she can hold and then flies them away to safety. Then repeats this a couple of times more. Why? And I mean it, WHY?! Did I miss something that would explain this masterplan to me? Am I being a bitch? *that one was rhetorical, no answers please*
Soon after, the book ends with no ending. Like a serial book. And I'm left with no satisfaction, just WTF feelies.
Despite my annoyance at the characters and confusion, I enjoyed the book. The writing was good and I have hope for the later books. Will I read rest of the series? Yes, and I really hope that I get my wish and the perv boy and heroine get their freak on.
June 3, 2014
Remember how in City of Bones, there are all these supernatural creatures like warlocks, vampires and demon-hunters, a.k.a Shadowhunters which Cassie cannot seem to let go of?
Well, welcome to a darker and more improved version!
Remember that cat. It's important.
Catherine is a Shape-shifter, which means she can turn into any animal or insect she likes. Usually, a Shifter settles on an animal by the time they hit their early teens, but Catherine still hasn't been able to cement her beast. This soon attracts the attention of a member of the Council (think Ministry of Magic from Harry Potter) and he becomes intent on figuring out why. Or destroying/fucking her. Same thing really in a Campbell book.
No, not you, Edward. Gavin would kill your ass.
The mythology in Black Beast is brilliant. There are witches, shape-shifters, vampires...everything is laid out logically and has their brand of strengths and weaknesses.
Catherine has the power to shift into any animal, but that also means she has a multitude of voices in her head all the time. And once you're the animal, you retain its characteristics. Hawks hunt, and prey, well, buries its head in the sand or flees. It made for some amusing moments like when Catherine turned into an ant and kept wanting to bring candy to the queen.
Nenia clearly did research on Wicca. There's technically no black magic. It's all about karma. Witches take power from the Earth and only normally wield one element. They have the power to use all of them, but usually, according to my knowledge, they're particularly skilled at one. Finn, the witch/Councilman, has the power to control all four elements, but he sucks at earth.
There's a fantastic battle scene inside that will be sure to bring up Avatar: the Last Airbender memories.
Every witch has a familiar and their relationship is as intimate as Eragon's with Saphira. If it dies, it's like losing a part of yourself and you descend into madness.
Graymalkin, Finn's familiar, reminded me of another furry friend, Grim from The Iron King (told you that cat was important). With less sass though.
Supernatural creatures from other countries are mentioned too!
I'm not entirely sure about the part of auspicious animal spirits, because for every story about a hard-working wife that turns out to be a crane spirit or whatnot, there's an equally heinous one about them sucking the life out of their husbands. But the 'tempting fate' thing for sure. Us Chinese are a suspicious bunch. Rich people spend thousands on buying a burial site that correlates with the wind, or sun, or butter-side-down toast.
One tiny thing that affected my enjoyment of the title was my copy was all in italics and that made for awkward reading. But that has to do with formatting and not Nenia's fault.
All in all, a marvelous beginning to an interesting series. If you want a more mature version of City of Bones, read this.
Well, welcome to a darker and more improved version!
Remember that cat. It's important.
Catherine is a Shape-shifter, which means she can turn into any animal or insect she likes. Usually, a Shifter settles on an animal by the time they hit their early teens, but Catherine still hasn't been able to cement her beast. This soon attracts the attention of a member of the Council (think Ministry of Magic from Harry Potter) and he becomes intent on figuring out why. Or destroying/fucking her. Same thing really in a Campbell book.
No, not you, Edward. Gavin would kill your ass.
The mythology in Black Beast is brilliant. There are witches, shape-shifters, vampires...everything is laid out logically and has their brand of strengths and weaknesses.
Catherine has the power to shift into any animal, but that also means she has a multitude of voices in her head all the time. And once you're the animal, you retain its characteristics. Hawks hunt, and prey, well, buries its head in the sand or flees. It made for some amusing moments like when Catherine turned into an ant and kept wanting to bring candy to the queen.
Nenia clearly did research on Wicca. There's technically no black magic. It's all about karma. Witches take power from the Earth and only normally wield one element. They have the power to use all of them, but usually, according to my knowledge, they're particularly skilled at one. Finn, the witch/Councilman, has the power to control all four elements, but he sucks at earth.
There's a fantastic battle scene inside that will be sure to bring up Avatar: the Last Airbender memories.
Every witch has a familiar and their relationship is as intimate as Eragon's with Saphira. If it dies, it's like losing a part of yourself and you descend into madness.
Graymalkin, Finn's familiar, reminded me of another furry friend, Grim from The Iron King (told you that cat was important). With less sass though.
Supernatural creatures from other countries are mentioned too!
"Until recently, China was one of the safer countries for shape-shifters to live in; animal spirits were considered auspicious, so if a shape-shifter was seen in animal form, it was a sign of good luck. And because meddling with the affairs of the gods was seen as tempting fate, the people of the republic did not ask questions."
I'm not entirely sure about the part of auspicious animal spirits, because for every story about a hard-working wife that turns out to be a crane spirit or whatnot, there's an equally heinous one about them sucking the life out of their husbands. But the 'tempting fate' thing for sure. Us Chinese are a suspicious bunch. Rich people spend thousands on buying a burial site that correlates with the wind, or sun, or butter-side-down toast.
One tiny thing that affected my enjoyment of the title was my copy was all in italics and that made for awkward reading. But that has to do with formatting and not Nenia's fault.
All in all, a marvelous beginning to an interesting series. If you want a more mature version of City of Bones, read this.
March 30, 2017
Read a book written by someone younger than 30.
2 stars.
Sigh. God I wanted to eat this book up. I didn't.
I am friends with Nenia Campbell. I love her to death. And my friendship with her has no impact on this review. Obviously. Because if it did I wouldn't be saying what I'm about to say.
I just didn't like this one. Maybe urban fantasy is not really my gig. Maybe I'm jaded. Maybe it was something else altogether. I don't know. The premise was really interesting and I really really enjoyed what Nenia did with the world building, interjecting bits of myth into this fantasy world and providing new takes on paranormal creatures. I even love shifters. Other than mermaids, shifters are my favorite paranormal character. So why didn't I like this more?
It was boring. And nothing happened. It was hard for me to keep reading. When I have to force myself to keep reading another chapter and in effect not get up, stretch my legs, bake cookies, watch dumb Christmas movies, or spend copious amounts of time on this site (all of which I did a lot of while reading this) something is wrong. I just did not get invested in this story or the characters. Catherine grew on me and I came to at least appreciate her character even if I didn't like her character. Some supporting cast (Sharon, Chase, Lucas) were just complete background noise, but some (David, Finn, Karen) I really wanted more of, and there were glimpses of dynamic characterization there but not enough to really form my opinion. I am still hoping that Book 2 will expand on their characters more because I have decided after reading some more reviews that I will give the second book in this series a shot, despite my not enjoying this one.
There were quite a few tropes that I hate way too much in abundance here. First and foremost, the info-dumping. I hate this tactic and unfortunately it came in high supply here. Almost every single chapter had an info dump. And to make it worse, the info dump took the place of an actual plot. I think back to other books I've read and how each employed the tools needed for plot: establishment of conflict, rising action, climax, denouement. This book really lacked these tools and the result was kind of messy for me. Almost as if this book was used to set up the other two, which I really really hope is the case because there is potential for an amazing story tucked in here. It's just the execution that fell flat. There really wasn't much of a central theme or conflict here and there were just too many vying for attention and as a result, things were not explained or followed through. Again, hoping that will be remedied in subsequent books. The best way I know how to explain it is that I felt like I was watching one episode of a reality series which focused on Catherine's life (something along the lines of Keeping Up with the Kardashians). Which is fine except that I hadn't watched any episodes before nor after so I only had this one episode on which to base my opinion. And since it is a reality show, there doesn't necessarily have to be a plot, just a few days in the life of Catherine Pierce. I wanted more.
There was also unrealistic dialogue, and I already mentioned some flat characterization. And though there really wasn't any instalove since the romantic leads knew each other prior, but the romance was thrust in really suddenly and in my honest opinion, very unrealistically. I found it very hard to get on board because their union did not seem at al genuine. One second they aren't even friends, the next second, they are really into each other.
After three years of silence , David waltzed back into her life to declare his undying devotion? In what universe did that happen?
My point exactly.
However, this book was not completely awful. There were some great ideas and beautiful writing here, and I appreciate the way Nenia writes about traditional gender roles, and placing societal roles and the roles nature intended in opposition. Catherine grew on me because she is so independent and doesn't try to change for anyone. She breaks the rules and suffers the consequences. She stands up for what she believes in and refuses to bend to become someone else's definition of what she should be. I have respect for her as a character and hope to see some growth in her as well.
So yes this one was not a success for me, but I still love this author as an author and as a human being who fucking rocks. I am also a grumpy bugger so you shouldn't take too much to heart what I have to say. Many of my friends liked this book so I'm kinda the odd one out as usual. I am really looking forward to reading more of Nenia's work, including the rest of this series.
January 26, 2016
Think you have witches all figured out, like to play with those magical spells and incantations? What's a little harmless hocus pocus to an average shape shifter? To Catherine and others of her kind, they are her worst nightmare.
Drawing powers from the earth and able to transform into any being at will, this hotheaded teenage girl is hunted, sought after prey. Psycho witches such as Fin wants to capture her, because she breaks the rules and won't conform. But this sick freak has other motives and no one is safe when he's been deemed judge, jury and executioner!
The Slayers on the other hand merely wants her dead and don't care about exposure to the humans. The blood sucking vampires are out for blood, then she has to worry about one of her own turning her in to the council. Either way Catherine is screwed! The old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer will get you killed. The name of the game is to stay alive and not be the next in line to disappear. Nenia Campbell will cast her own mystical spell in this epic read! Enjoy the journey, live for the hunt in this five star read!
Drawing powers from the earth and able to transform into any being at will, this hotheaded teenage girl is hunted, sought after prey. Psycho witches such as Fin wants to capture her, because she breaks the rules and won't conform. But this sick freak has other motives and no one is safe when he's been deemed judge, jury and executioner!
The Slayers on the other hand merely wants her dead and don't care about exposure to the humans. The blood sucking vampires are out for blood, then she has to worry about one of her own turning her in to the council. Either way Catherine is screwed! The old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer will get you killed. The name of the game is to stay alive and not be the next in line to disappear. Nenia Campbell will cast her own mystical spell in this epic read! Enjoy the journey, live for the hunt in this five star read!
March 16, 2018
Rating: 3.5 ★★★
Finally! This book got me out of my reading slump!
Nenia, girl, you did an amazing job! Catherine is a queen. Such a relatable character; well, besides the whole shape-shifting abilities. I’m not sure how I feel about Finn yet, but I’m digging his whole I’m-a-super-cool-and-strong-witch-and-I-can-do-whatever-I-want attitude! Also, he sounds rather dashing.
The writing was really good and I love how you didn’t shy away from using cuss words. I mean, everyone says fuck… I really enjoyed the double POVs, as it allowed us to not only see Catherine’s perspective, but also Finn’s. This may sound a little strange, but I liked how I could easily distinguish between the two characters without having to constantly remind myself whose POV I was reading. One may think that just because the two characters are of different genders, the distinction should be easy. WRONG! I’ve read books where I couldn’t tell who-was-who because their personalities melded together… But not in this case! Catherine and Finn are two very different characters and I’m living for it!
The story itself is very promising and damn, that cliffhanger! I’m really excited to read the next instalment and see what happens!
P.S.: I have a bad feeling about David…
Finally! This book got me out of my reading slump!
Nenia, girl, you did an amazing job! Catherine is a queen. Such a relatable character; well, besides the whole shape-shifting abilities. I’m not sure how I feel about Finn yet, but I’m digging his whole I’m-a-super-cool-and-strong-witch-and-I-can-do-whatever-I-want attitude! Also, he sounds rather dashing.
The writing was really good and I love how you didn’t shy away from using cuss words. I mean, everyone says fuck… I really enjoyed the double POVs, as it allowed us to not only see Catherine’s perspective, but also Finn’s. This may sound a little strange, but I liked how I could easily distinguish between the two characters without having to constantly remind myself whose POV I was reading. One may think that just because the two characters are of different genders, the distinction should be easy. WRONG! I’ve read books where I couldn’t tell who-was-who because their personalities melded together… But not in this case! Catherine and Finn are two very different characters and I’m living for it!
The story itself is very promising and damn, that cliffhanger! I’m really excited to read the next instalment and see what happens!
P.S.: I have a bad feeling about David…
November 19, 2015
Apr 5, 2014 (before reading)
Almost got this:
instead of this:
Nuh-uh Amazon, you're not fooling me. I want the prettieh cover!
(And the prettieh cover I got, on smashwords.)
Almost got this:
instead of this:
Nuh-uh Amazon, you're not fooling me. I want the prettieh cover!
(And the prettieh cover I got, on smashwords.)
July 16, 2017
I reread this in preparation for Star Crossed. Just now I realized it's been three years almost to the exact day since I first read this. Now that I've read the second and third books as well, I see how this is actually a good lead-up to those. There's quite a bit of info to get through, but there are some lovely descriptions. I also didn't notice how many types of trees were mentioned on my first read, which really adds some lushness to the story. My original rating of 3.5 stands.
REVIEW
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I think I can definitely say I prefer Campbell's paranormal works to her thriller works. (For me, that's pretty much true of any author I read.) However, shapeshifters aren't my favorite, and I almost wasn't going to read this. But I'm glad I did!
Catherine is one of those heroines I think a lot of people, like her classmates in the book, might not like because of her toughness and confidence. Heroines like her are often polarizing. (On the other hand, people tend not to like weaker heroines either. Heroines don't have an easy time of it, man.) Anyway, I liked her. She reminded me a little of Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy, though perhaps not quite as brash and definitely not as sexual. There was enough vulnerability to mitigate her harsher moments.
Finn is a powerful male witch, something I really liked. Also, he's totally hot:
Well, shut up and let me look at you. And I do mean shut up. He may be gorgeous, but Finn was a total dickwad. I loved his obsession and struggles between desire and societal norms, though, and I hope that's touched more upon in the series. I'll be keeping my eye on him.
As with most (maybe all) of Campbell's other books I've read, this one is not pretty. By that I mean she doesn't sugarcoat anything. Her characters do all sorts of bad things and have bad things done to them. So I think if you're expecting something light and uplifting, with clear-cut romance, you should probably look elsewhere. I'm going to keep that in mind for myself when I read more of her books, because otherwise I might end up feeling yucky (thanks a lot, Nenia).
So it was a surprise (not unwelcome) when this book took a sweet turn. Yay!
This is only the first book in the trilogy (I think it's a trilogy and not a longer series), but I do wish the threads had been wrapped up a little more. At the same time, I do think it works as a first book, getting everything introduced and then just ABANDONING the reader with only Finn's obsessive musings to sustain them to the next book.
I'm looking forward to more Finn, more David, and more of their interactions with Catherine.
3.5 stars.
REVIEW
I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I think I can definitely say I prefer Campbell's paranormal works to her thriller works. (For me, that's pretty much true of any author I read.) However, shapeshifters aren't my favorite, and I almost wasn't going to read this. But I'm glad I did!
Catherine is one of those heroines I think a lot of people, like her classmates in the book, might not like because of her toughness and confidence. Heroines like her are often polarizing. (On the other hand, people tend not to like weaker heroines either. Heroines don't have an easy time of it, man.) Anyway, I liked her. She reminded me a little of Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy, though perhaps not quite as brash and definitely not as sexual. There was enough vulnerability to mitigate her harsher moments.
Finn is a powerful male witch, something I really liked. Also, he's totally hot:
A cold beauty, cloaked in cruelty. Cheekbones as sharp as the cutting edge of his knife. Hair like a bank of glowing embers. A harsh face softened only by his surprisingly full mouth and dark, velvety eyelashes as long as a giraffe's.
Well, shut up and let me look at you. And I do mean shut up. He may be gorgeous, but Finn was a total dickwad. I loved his obsession and struggles between desire and societal norms, though, and I hope that's touched more upon in the series. I'll be keeping my eye on him.
As with most (maybe all) of Campbell's other books I've read, this one is not pretty. By that I mean she doesn't sugarcoat anything. Her characters do all sorts of bad things and have bad things done to them. So I think if you're expecting something light and uplifting, with clear-cut romance, you should probably look elsewhere. I'm going to keep that in mind for myself when I read more of her books, because otherwise I might end up feeling yucky (thanks a lot, Nenia).
So it was a surprise (not unwelcome) when this book took a sweet turn. Yay!
This is only the first book in the trilogy (I think it's a trilogy and not a longer series), but I do wish the threads had been wrapped up a little more. At the same time, I do think it works as a first book, getting everything introduced and then just ABANDONING the reader with only Finn's obsessive musings to sustain them to the next book.
I'm looking forward to more Finn, more David, and more of their interactions with Catherine.
3.5 stars.
April 8, 2014
I won a copy of this on the Booklikes giveaway!
=D
I WANT THE NEXT BOOK! Stupid cliffhanger being a cliffhanger.
Listen up, Nenia Campbell. I want the next book to Bleeds My Desire released in precisely sixty seconds after this goes up online, and then, exactly 3.8 seconds later, the sequel to Black Beast. In return, I won't destroy the universe. Also, I'll post a lot of really cute pictures. I promise. .
=D
I WANT THE NEXT BOOK! Stupid cliffhanger being a cliffhanger.
Listen up, Nenia Campbell. I want the next book to Bleeds My Desire released in precisely sixty seconds after this goes up online, and then, exactly 3.8 seconds later, the sequel to Black Beast. In return, I won't destroy the universe. Also, I'll post a lot of really cute pictures. I promise. .
April 21, 2014
Nenia is a friend of mine, but as you can see that hasn’t stopped me from being any less annoyingly opinionated on this book, the first of hers I have read. You should pity her. Also, I won it in a giveaway, so you can’t even claim she should expect me to be nice or anything, even though I have been looking forward to reading this ever since I saw the blurb.
Black Beast is framed by the point of view of a young up-and-coming hunter witch named Finn, because he’s obsessed with the new prey he’s locked on to: Catherine Pierce, a teen Shifter who hasn’t settled yet, which is out of the ordinary in the Otherworld. Although most of the POV is from Catherine, occasionally Finn’s creepy POV is added in as well, besides the framing, which sometimes works and sometimes does not, seeing as how Catherine is really the protagonist. Also, Finn’s POV just serves to be creepy. Did I mention he’s a creep?
Catherine is determined to live life under the radar, but it doesn’t help that everyone at school think she’s a freaky outcast, and the Otherkin – witches, vampires, Slayers and other Shifters – all hate her as well. Even amongst Shifters she’s a freak. Catherine works part time in a second hand book shop, and takes home a mysterious dark-magic book one of the customers was interested in (we never find out why – just one of the many, many questions left unanswered in this book), then she’s attacked by the Witch hunter, and shenanigans ensue when she decides she’s incapable of dissecting a cricket because of her Shifting ability, so she enacts a daring break-and-enter-and-destruction-of-school-property to free said crickets.
The plot is a bit of a mess, and the climax of breaking into the school to rescue the crickets was decidedly anti-climactic. I was hoping for a second showdown of Catherine vs Finn where Catherine kicked his ass all the way back to Creepytown, but I was disappointed. There was almost no point in having Finn in the book, as we spent most of our time in Catherine’s head as she moped around not doing very interesting things, having weird dreams and occasionally shifting.
However, the shifting moments were pretty cool. I loved being inside Catherine’s head when she shifted into an animal. The worldbuilding was intense and awesome, with so many factions bristling on the edge of war with one another, a whole history of previous conflicts, and although I was confused about whether regular humans knew about the Otherkin for a while, I eventually figured it out. I loved how the world was so complex and I can see this series continuing indefinitely because of that.
The book plays a very deliberate homage to Twilight, pairing Catherine up with a potential love interest in biology class, and several other sneaky references. It also offers refreshing changes to your typical paranormal novel in that Catherine’s mother is not absent, but involved in her children’s lives and she’s tough and she makes rules she expects her kids to abide by. She’s pretty cool.
I thought Catherine was going to face more intense or difficult trials and hurdles than she did in this book. Instead she spent it fending off people (whether it was a guy with a crush or someone out for her blood), being snarky, and, quite reasonably being a normal teenage girl struggling to follow the rules. Even the Shadow Thane mentioned in the blurb didn’t really feature, and the community group subplot went nowhere.
I prefer my books to gather up their threads at the end and provide answers. Even if one or two overarching issues were left undisclosed and ready to create conflict in the second book – I fully expect Finn to be back in the next book – there were way too many plot threads unravelling and too many unanswered questions to really complete the story. An extra twenty thousand words wrapping up those threads and giving an actual climax involving a certain Shifter/Witch showdown wouldn’t go amiss. I couldn’t help but be disappointed, but at least reading this book has shown me that Nenia’s writing is not for me.
Black Beast is framed by the point of view of a young up-and-coming hunter witch named Finn, because he’s obsessed with the new prey he’s locked on to: Catherine Pierce, a teen Shifter who hasn’t settled yet, which is out of the ordinary in the Otherworld. Although most of the POV is from Catherine, occasionally Finn’s creepy POV is added in as well, besides the framing, which sometimes works and sometimes does not, seeing as how Catherine is really the protagonist. Also, Finn’s POV just serves to be creepy. Did I mention he’s a creep?
Catherine is determined to live life under the radar, but it doesn’t help that everyone at school think she’s a freaky outcast, and the Otherkin – witches, vampires, Slayers and other Shifters – all hate her as well. Even amongst Shifters she’s a freak. Catherine works part time in a second hand book shop, and takes home a mysterious dark-magic book one of the customers was interested in (we never find out why – just one of the many, many questions left unanswered in this book), then she’s attacked by the Witch hunter, and shenanigans ensue when she decides she’s incapable of dissecting a cricket because of her Shifting ability, so she enacts a daring break-and-enter-and-destruction-of-school-property to free said crickets.
The plot is a bit of a mess, and the climax of breaking into the school to rescue the crickets was decidedly anti-climactic. I was hoping for a second showdown of Catherine vs Finn where Catherine kicked his ass all the way back to Creepytown, but I was disappointed. There was almost no point in having Finn in the book, as we spent most of our time in Catherine’s head as she moped around not doing very interesting things, having weird dreams and occasionally shifting.
However, the shifting moments were pretty cool. I loved being inside Catherine’s head when she shifted into an animal. The worldbuilding was intense and awesome, with so many factions bristling on the edge of war with one another, a whole history of previous conflicts, and although I was confused about whether regular humans knew about the Otherkin for a while, I eventually figured it out. I loved how the world was so complex and I can see this series continuing indefinitely because of that.
The book plays a very deliberate homage to Twilight, pairing Catherine up with a potential love interest in biology class, and several other sneaky references. It also offers refreshing changes to your typical paranormal novel in that Catherine’s mother is not absent, but involved in her children’s lives and she’s tough and she makes rules she expects her kids to abide by. She’s pretty cool.
I thought Catherine was going to face more intense or difficult trials and hurdles than she did in this book. Instead she spent it fending off people (whether it was a guy with a crush or someone out for her blood), being snarky, and, quite reasonably being a normal teenage girl struggling to follow the rules. Even the Shadow Thane mentioned in the blurb didn’t really feature, and the community group subplot went nowhere.
I prefer my books to gather up their threads at the end and provide answers. Even if one or two overarching issues were left undisclosed and ready to create conflict in the second book – I fully expect Finn to be back in the next book – there were way too many plot threads unravelling and too many unanswered questions to really complete the story. An extra twenty thousand words wrapping up those threads and giving an actual climax involving a certain Shifter/Witch showdown wouldn’t go amiss. I couldn’t help but be disappointed, but at least reading this book has shown me that Nenia’s writing is not for me.
March 10, 2015
I won a copy of Black Beast from Bookshelf Reflections. Thank you Inge and Nenia Campbell!! You are both beautiful creatures and I adore you. And Nenia, I apologize in advance for anything negative I say here or comments I have made while reading. You really do have a talent and I look forward to reading any (except for maybe the erotica one lol) of your other books in the future.
2.5 – 3 stars
First, I would like to say that contrary to my rating, I did enjoy Black Beast. The story line is continually interesting and kept my attention and I’m likely to continue reading the series.
Characters:
Catherine: The MC. Honestly, didn't really care for her. She kind of reminds me of Bella Swan with a bratish, self-inflicted shell around her that makes her come off as an asshole but also shows how weak and immature she is emotionally. That being said, I don’t hate her and I definitely like her light-years more than Bella, but she isn't all that like-able either.
Sharon: Girl needs to be bitch-slapped. That is all.
David: Typical cocky popular kid. I question his emotional age as well though. He’s like a little schoolboy who has a crush on you but kicks you instead.
Karen: Underdeveloped character. All I got was that she was some high-ranking Councilman’s daughter betrothed to a creep that she randomly boinks in the most detached manner. Oh, and she’s a spy.
Finn: Creep extraordinaire. If I met this guy in person, I would think he had a small shrink dink based on persona. Yes, he’s that guy.
With a little psycho thrown in...
Plot:
- In the words of Kat Stark “there [is] so much info-dumping that it clogs the toilet and makes a mess”. I mean seriously, I couldn't have said it better. The first few chapters are the worst. Not only are you trying to keep track of everything all at once but there are no smooth transitions. I’m Finn, blah, blah, blah DUMP blah, blah, blah. If you can get through this, it’s smooth sailing after that.
-Although it’s not slow, nothing really happens. Basically, Book 1 feels like an introduction into the series.
-For the most part, the paranormal creatures, witches, shape-shifters, vampires, are the same…but the world building is creative and brings a new twist to things. I like it.
-Overall, the book felt rushed and forced at times.
1) It’s in need of editing (grammar usage, syntax, duplicate paragraphs, etc.).
2) Smoother transitions are desperately needed throughout. The story doesn't flow easily and is often quite choppy, losing the weight and context of the story.
3) Tends to be overly descriptive on menial topics.
I think with more time taken and some revision, this novel would be fantastic. Editing is a process that cannot be rushed. Not sure that that is the case here, but that is how it feels, in my opinion.
Looking forward to checking out Shadow Thane #2!
2.5 – 3 stars
First, I would like to say that contrary to my rating, I did enjoy Black Beast. The story line is continually interesting and kept my attention and I’m likely to continue reading the series.
Characters:
Catherine: The MC. Honestly, didn't really care for her. She kind of reminds me of Bella Swan with a bratish, self-inflicted shell around her that makes her come off as an asshole but also shows how weak and immature she is emotionally. That being said, I don’t hate her and I definitely like her light-years more than Bella, but she isn't all that like-able either.
Sharon: Girl needs to be bitch-slapped. That is all.
David: Typical cocky popular kid. I question his emotional age as well though. He’s like a little schoolboy who has a crush on you but kicks you instead.
Karen: Underdeveloped character. All I got was that she was some high-ranking Councilman’s daughter betrothed to a creep that she randomly boinks in the most detached manner. Oh, and she’s a spy.
Finn: Creep extraordinaire. If I met this guy in person, I would think he had a small shrink dink based on persona. Yes, he’s that guy.
With a little psycho thrown in...
Plot:
- In the words of Kat Stark “there [is] so much info-dumping that it clogs the toilet and makes a mess”. I mean seriously, I couldn't have said it better. The first few chapters are the worst. Not only are you trying to keep track of everything all at once but there are no smooth transitions. I’m Finn, blah, blah, blah DUMP blah, blah, blah. If you can get through this, it’s smooth sailing after that.
-Although it’s not slow, nothing really happens. Basically, Book 1 feels like an introduction into the series.
-For the most part, the paranormal creatures, witches, shape-shifters, vampires, are the same…but the world building is creative and brings a new twist to things. I like it.
-Overall, the book felt rushed and forced at times.
1) It’s in need of editing (grammar usage, syntax, duplicate paragraphs, etc.).
2) Smoother transitions are desperately needed throughout. The story doesn't flow easily and is often quite choppy, losing the weight and context of the story.
3) Tends to be overly descriptive on menial topics.
I think with more time taken and some revision, this novel would be fantastic. Editing is a process that cannot be rushed. Not sure that that is the case here, but that is how it feels, in my opinion.
Looking forward to checking out Shadow Thane #2!
July 10, 2015
I just re-read the entire series in one day. If that doesn't tell you you should buy the book, I don't know what will.
September 15, 2014
What the hell did I just read? This left me confused, bored and more confused, with a bit of a headache…. The story felt all over the place… What I got so far was; that Finn is an obsessed mad witch who hates shifters and Catherine, the heroine of this series, is a shifter, but not just any shifter, she can shift to different forms, which is not the norms to the shifter’s world. Shifter’s are suppose to settle on one form when they hit the puberty and Catherine hadn’t.
Then besides Finn going after Catherine… there is Chase, her classmate, who is described as "nerdy boy with the oily skin and the greasy hair” that she dreads, who is after this black magic book… then there’s David, her childhood friend she reconnected after three years of non communication, who is helping her save the crickets from being dissected… then there is a vampire who is trying to kill her too!
Sounds interesting right?
Well, it would have if it the story actually was going somewhere!
So…. “What are we talking about?” Is exactly how I felt like at the end of the book. The story did not fall together… I have no idea what I’m suppose to be getting at… Overall, it just did not make sense to me.
There is I guess some suspense and action which falls flat to me… the romance is zero...
Characters wise, I couldn’t relate with anyone…. Catherine is snappy and often mad… Finn sounds like an obsessed psycho… And David, well, for the time he is in the story, I guess he is alright…
Should I read the next book? It does feel like I should to make sense of this first part of the series… I just hope that it does. :(
Then besides Finn going after Catherine… there is Chase, her classmate, who is described as "nerdy boy with the oily skin and the greasy hair” that she dreads, who is after this black magic book… then there’s David, her childhood friend she reconnected after three years of non communication, who is helping her save the crickets from being dissected… then there is a vampire who is trying to kill her too!
Sounds interesting right?
Well, it would have if it the story actually was going somewhere!
So…. “What are we talking about?” Is exactly how I felt like at the end of the book. The story did not fall together… I have no idea what I’m suppose to be getting at… Overall, it just did not make sense to me.
There is I guess some suspense and action which falls flat to me… the romance is zero...
Characters wise, I couldn’t relate with anyone…. Catherine is snappy and often mad… Finn sounds like an obsessed psycho… And David, well, for the time he is in the story, I guess he is alright…
Should I read the next book? It does feel like I should to make sense of this first part of the series… I just hope that it does. :(
January 14, 2016
Not bad but not enough to pay for the next one.
March 26, 2024
I think this book was just a little bit ahead of its time, because in 2024 we LOVE heartless psycho MMCs.
My favorite thing about this witch/shifter paranormal was the world-building. It was very cool & I loved reading about the shifting.
I quite liked Catherine. I like prickly angry FMCs. I also loved Finn and wanted even more of his plots and stratagems. I wasn’t into David. He had very IF HE WANTED TO, HE WOULD energy.
The writing is also compelling and interesting, with so many perfect lines that I highlighted.
The only thing I didn’t love was that they were in high school, but I think they are older in future books.
✅ I recommend
My favorite thing about this witch/shifter paranormal was the world-building. It was very cool & I loved reading about the shifting.
I quite liked Catherine. I like prickly angry FMCs. I also loved Finn and wanted even more of his plots and stratagems. I wasn’t into David. He had very IF HE WANTED TO, HE WOULD energy.
The writing is also compelling and interesting, with so many perfect lines that I highlighted.
The only thing I didn’t love was that they were in high school, but I think they are older in future books.
✅ I recommend
February 26, 2016
Can't wait for next one!
November 6, 2014
Have you ever had the feeling when you read something that perhaps the author loved all things paranormal so much that they wanted to cram as many different paranormal beings into one book as they could?
No?
Well I'd have to say this is what Nenia tried to do here. It left me thinking along these lines:
Shifters and witches and vamps - Oh My!
The influx of Otherworld characters aside, the story was an interesting one. There was a lot of exposition and world building that I think was a touch too long, if I were editing this and the next book (that I haven't read yet) I would probably cut half of this book and smash it together with book #2 and call it the first book.
Aside from one really important scene with said deranged witch from the synopsis, much of the rest of the story was building characters, relationships and background. There's info dumping galore, which kind of irked me.
Ok, let's get back on track here - This book is the first in what is currently a 5 book series (4 novels and one novella - PS, don't check out the synopsis of the novella if you haven't read the rest of the books first - it totally starts with a spoiler! FAIL)
The synopsis of Black Beast drew me in, but I felt it gave me a skewed idea of what was going to happen in the book. Nenia's tiny blurb in her 'review' of the book is far more to the point and accurate. I think a review of the synopsis could be in order.
My favourite character was David, which seems to be a little off kilter with the rest of the reviewers. I didn't love or hate Finn, but I have a feeling I'm funnily going to enjoy his role in the next books... I'm messed up like that.
Will I continue to read the series? Hell yes! even if it's just to read the deranged goings on between Finn and Catherine as the series progresses.
Some things I noticed:
19% - The woman's large brown eyes were made large(r) by her...
29% - with her lucks (delete the s)
58% - but either the witch didn't hear... Repeated paragraph twice.
64% - It (delete it, add If) it was a real emergency...
77% - how many of these fundraisers... Repeated paragraph twice.
87% - ...shift (into) something small," she...
95% - I'm more concerned about (what) you'll do...
**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review**
No?
Well I'd have to say this is what Nenia tried to do here. It left me thinking along these lines:
Shifters and witches and vamps - Oh My!
The influx of Otherworld characters aside, the story was an interesting one. There was a lot of exposition and world building that I think was a touch too long, if I were editing this and the next book (that I haven't read yet) I would probably cut half of this book and smash it together with book #2 and call it the first book.
Aside from one really important scene with said deranged witch from the synopsis, much of the rest of the story was building characters, relationships and background. There's info dumping galore, which kind of irked me.
Ok, let's get back on track here - This book is the first in what is currently a 5 book series (4 novels and one novella - PS, don't check out the synopsis of the novella if you haven't read the rest of the books first - it totally starts with a spoiler! FAIL)
The synopsis of Black Beast drew me in, but I felt it gave me a skewed idea of what was going to happen in the book. Nenia's tiny blurb in her 'review' of the book is far more to the point and accurate. I think a review of the synopsis could be in order.
My favourite character was David, which seems to be a little off kilter with the rest of the reviewers. I didn't love or hate Finn, but I have a feeling I'm funnily going to enjoy his role in the next books... I'm messed up like that.
Will I continue to read the series? Hell yes! even if it's just to read the deranged goings on between Finn and Catherine as the series progresses.
Some things I noticed:
19% - The woman's large brown eyes were made large(r) by her...
29% - with her lucks (delete the s)
58% - but either the witch didn't hear... Repeated paragraph twice.
64% - It (delete it, add If) it was a real emergency...
77% - how many of these fundraisers... Repeated paragraph twice.
87% - ...shift (into) something small," she...
95% - I'm more concerned about (what) you'll do...
**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review**
August 28, 2023
3.5 stars
I ended up liking this far more than I thought I would. I liked the world building a lot, it's not easy to pull off an original supernatural/fantasy story, but Nenia did a great job.
One downside for me was that Catherine acted a bit TSTL at times. I also got a bit tired of her being an overly angry angsty teenager, but I kind of understood why her character acted that way. I hope to see some growth from her character as the series progresses.
The dark angsty build up between Catherine and Finn is what I am LIVING for right now. I need more scenes with them in it. I'm in love with Ginger Draco Malfoy lol.
I ended up liking this far more than I thought I would. I liked the world building a lot, it's not easy to pull off an original supernatural/fantasy story, but Nenia did a great job.
One downside for me was that Catherine acted a bit TSTL at times. I also got a bit tired of her being an overly angry angsty teenager, but I kind of understood why her character acted that way. I hope to see some growth from her character as the series progresses.
The dark angsty build up between Catherine and Finn is what I am LIVING for right now. I need more scenes with them in it. I'm in love with Ginger Draco Malfoy lol.
January 6, 2020
Good world-building and interesting characters that have me wanting to read on in this series. Not an easy read (frankly, the hero is an arse) but it has definitely captured my imagination. This has a high school setting which may come across as a bit YA but the characters are not typical teenagers.
Story arc comes across as little clunky at times, but I definitely feel it is going somewhere.
Story arc comes across as little clunky at times, but I definitely feel it is going somewhere.
September 11, 2020
It was high time I came back to Nenia's writing! I missed her voice and the way she makes amazing worlds! The story was also amazing with twists and turns and I seriously need to get to the next book ASAP!
P.S. Nenia when will I get the next IMA series! You've been killing me slowly for the last 6 years! XD
P.S. Nenia when will I get the next IMA series! You've been killing me slowly for the last 6 years! XD
June 2, 2015
Black Beast by Nenia Campbell
First in the Shadow Thane series
4 stars
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4.25
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4.5
Swoon Worthy Scale: 3 (cause y’know he’s kind of jerk)
Villain Scale: 4
Character Scale: 3.5
Plotastic Scale: 4 (if the ending hadn't turned in the direction it did i would've been a 5)
Cover Thoughts: This cover is absolutely gorgeous. I mean look at it. It fits how I pictured Catherine and it has a shifter feeling to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OMG I won a copy! Thank you so much, Nenia! Starting this right after my current e-read.
First in the Shadow Thane series
4 stars
Catherine Pierce is apart has a lot on her plate. She’s a shifter. When a witch and Council member of the Otherkind named, Finn, comes across a file that is incomplete of a shifter he decides to hunt her down and take matters into his own hands. Catherine has a lot of problems- her biggest one is that she never took a form after hitting puberty. She’s still shifting and now a witch is after her and dark magic hangs in the air around her. Slayers are hunting and things could spin out of control for the Otherkind. I have two quick notes to make before proceeding with my review:
1) Nenia is a friend of mine and this in no way affects my rating or review.
2) Dear Nenia, stop writing so well and making me read your books in one day. There's no sequel yet and this is torture.
Sincerely,
A Broken Reader
Seriously this book was awesome. I won this in a giveaway and I’m so happy I decided to pick this one up. Nenia knows how to write a good paranormal with touches of urban fantasy in her story. I fricken love the world created her. It’s full of prejudice, contempt, and paranormal awesomeness. This is a YA, but I would recommend it for 15 and up. It has more of an urban fantasy vibe with teenagers. I love this mixture. I don’t come across it very often and it’s fun when I discover gems like this.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 4.25
The main female character is Catherine. Catherine was a pretty badass character. She works in a bookstore and is a shifter! I liked the whole Shifter aspect. My favorite thing about Catherine is the fact that she’s a Shifter who doesn’t have an exact form. I like even more what is brought up at the end as to why this may be. The one thing that bothered me about her is how she just had to do this prank. It was just kind of boring, to be honest. If that whole scene wasn’t in the book I probably would’ve given Black Beast a 5 star rating. Catherine’s high school high jinks are just boring and it’s the reason I struggled with this novel.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 4.5
The main male character is Finn. He’s a prick. I don’t like him, but at the same time I hate him so much I like him. I like characters like that. It’s really weird to say I hate a character so much it makes me like him because if I met Finn in person I would hate his guts. As a character, I like him and I enjoy what he brings into the world of the Otherkind.
Swoon Worthy Scale: 3 (cause y’know he’s kind of jerk)
The Villain- Well, I think there’s a huge villain hinted at continuously throughout this novel, but at the moment Finn is the bad guy. He can pretty scary so it fits him. I’m honestly curious to see if he continues to be a villain or if he becomes a hero.
Villain Scale: 4
The characters introduced in this novel show promise, but most of them were not touched on all too much. I’m anxious to see more of these characters.
Character Scale: 3.5
I love UF worlds and this for me felt very action packed. The first 65%ish was intense and had me captivated. I couldn’t put my Kindle down! Then something happened. I didn’t enjoy the last few chapters as much. Instead of the intense action packed story I was introduced to, Catherine became friends with a long lost friend and possible romance blooms. So does a really boring plan of high school stupidity. The story lost its flare a bit for me. I loved the action packed chase scene with Finn and Catherine. It was intense and something I would’ve enjoyed to have happened again. The last part of the epilogue though. It definitely caught my attention. I love where this story is going and I can’t wait to read the next book in the Shadow Thane series.
Plotastic Scale: 4 (if the ending hadn't turned in the direction it did i would've been a 5)
Cover Thoughts: This cover is absolutely gorgeous. I mean look at it. It fits how I pictured Catherine and it has a shifter feeling to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OMG I won a copy! Thank you so much, Nenia! Starting this right after my current e-read.
October 20, 2014
Well… apparently i'm reading loads of book that are more setup than payoff. If they keep being that good I'll still take them over the Fifty Shades and other Halos.
Update (October 20, 2014)
So yeah, this book. I guess I'll do my usual breakdown of plot-characters-worldbuilding (which is just the way I guide my rants, not an actual structure).
This book's plot is…probably its weakest element, actually. As I said above, it's mostly setup. Catherine Pierce finds a book of black magic and she's the only shape-shifter who can see that. Finn Riordan is a witch with a very unhealthy obsession to hunt down Catherine in a love/hate kind of way. There's also some high school drama and a weird new youth club. That's in a nutshell… but that's also most of what happens.
I can give it a pass, though, because of the medium—self-published novel, shorter than a classically-published would be—and because it's not boring. Setup can be fun. Compare with Halo that I'm reading right now, where the plot doesn't move but there's also no setup; that's boring.
The main characters is where it gets interesting, if a little odd. By all means I should hate Finn, but I can't. Finn is despicable, he's sexist, suffers from a severe case of fantastic racism which clashes against and is fueled by his attraction towards shapeshifters (which is a thing real-life racists sometimes experiment; see the exotification and the various racial fetishes that exist out there). His behavior towards Catherine is very much abusive.
But I don't exactly dislike him. Is it the magic of having a PoV that causes this? Is it the implication that he's bi (unless I read too much into that)? Is it the societal bias to be more forgiving towards men? Is it his dark and troubled past? Is it the obvious fact that he'll be relevant and on the good guys' side at some point, as introduced by the poem at the start of the book? Is it… okay, I don't know. I'm confused, but I have feelings, and that's a good thing.
As for Catherine, she's more likable, thankfully. I really like her relationship with Lucas, but I'm not so sure about the way she interacts with her friends. It's realistic for someone being around muggles and being unable to share her differences? Probably? My biggest problem with her is that…she doesn't do…a lot, plot-wise. She stumbles into it, and doesn't do much about the book except hide it. It's not bad, per se, but it can be frustrating, especially when we have a lot of people with a lot more information around her.
There's also a main antagonist in the form of the Shadow Thane, but so far he's mostly a boogeyman figure who terrorizes people in their dream, so…eh. More on that later? Maybe?
The other characters are pretty secondary, so I don't feel like spending a lot of time on them, but overall they were okay. I can't say much more about mostly irrelevant people. Even Chase, who you think might be an antagonist…nope. Well, yes but not really. More on that in the next book. I did really like David; enough so that his kissing Catherine got my little shipper heart going, but…yeah, I don't have a lot to say about him.
The world building is also really cool, IMO. And God knows I don't like the Masquerade trope, but in spite of that, yeah, I liked the world building. I'm still not quite sure why there's a Masquerade, but again, more on that in the next book. Aside from that, this idea of dueling supernatural species who are both the creation of rival deities is a cool concept (in its execution more than its originality, although… is it original? I don't even know), the way the shape-shifters work had the advantage of easily highlighting what's special about Catherine without turning into the tell-y "this isn't normal! even though we never saw what was normal". The existence of vampires is a little more puzzling to me, because they break the symbolic duality I mentioned, but they are worked into the mythos, so no complaints there (not until I see one in action).
As I mentioned, I'm already done with book two as I'm writing this, and book three is waiting to be synced to my ipad. Definitely recommend this one.
Update (October 20, 2014)
So yeah, this book. I guess I'll do my usual breakdown of plot-characters-worldbuilding (which is just the way I guide my rants, not an actual structure).
This book's plot is…probably its weakest element, actually. As I said above, it's mostly setup. Catherine Pierce finds a book of black magic and she's the only shape-shifter who can see that. Finn Riordan is a witch with a very unhealthy obsession to hunt down Catherine in a love/hate kind of way. There's also some high school drama and a weird new youth club. That's in a nutshell… but that's also most of what happens.
I can give it a pass, though, because of the medium—self-published novel, shorter than a classically-published would be—and because it's not boring. Setup can be fun. Compare with Halo that I'm reading right now, where the plot doesn't move but there's also no setup; that's boring.
The main characters is where it gets interesting, if a little odd. By all means I should hate Finn, but I can't. Finn is despicable, he's sexist, suffers from a severe case of fantastic racism which clashes against and is fueled by his attraction towards shapeshifters (which is a thing real-life racists sometimes experiment; see the exotification and the various racial fetishes that exist out there). His behavior towards Catherine is very much abusive.
But I don't exactly dislike him. Is it the magic of having a PoV that causes this? Is it the implication that he's bi (unless I read too much into that)? Is it the societal bias to be more forgiving towards men? Is it his dark and troubled past? Is it the obvious fact that he'll be relevant and on the good guys' side at some point, as introduced by the poem at the start of the book? Is it… okay, I don't know. I'm confused, but I have feelings, and that's a good thing.
As for Catherine, she's more likable, thankfully. I really like her relationship with Lucas, but I'm not so sure about the way she interacts with her friends. It's realistic for someone being around muggles and being unable to share her differences? Probably? My biggest problem with her is that…she doesn't do…a lot, plot-wise. She stumbles into it, and doesn't do much about the book except hide it. It's not bad, per se, but it can be frustrating, especially when we have a lot of people with a lot more information around her.
There's also a main antagonist in the form of the Shadow Thane, but so far he's mostly a boogeyman figure who terrorizes people in their dream, so…eh. More on that later? Maybe?
The other characters are pretty secondary, so I don't feel like spending a lot of time on them, but overall they were okay. I can't say much more about mostly irrelevant people. Even Chase, who you think might be an antagonist…nope. Well, yes but not really. More on that in the next book. I did really like David; enough so that his kissing Catherine got my little shipper heart going, but…yeah, I don't have a lot to say about him.
The world building is also really cool, IMO. And God knows I don't like the Masquerade trope, but in spite of that, yeah, I liked the world building. I'm still not quite sure why there's a Masquerade, but again, more on that in the next book. Aside from that, this idea of dueling supernatural species who are both the creation of rival deities is a cool concept (in its execution more than its originality, although… is it original? I don't even know), the way the shape-shifters work had the advantage of easily highlighting what's special about Catherine without turning into the tell-y "this isn't normal! even though we never saw what was normal". The existence of vampires is a little more puzzling to me, because they break the symbolic duality I mentioned, but they are worked into the mythos, so no complaints there (not until I see one in action).
As I mentioned, I'm already done with book two as I'm writing this, and book three is waiting to be synced to my ipad. Definitely recommend this one.
November 29, 2014
It takes a lot for me, and i mean a lot to pick up an young adult novel. No i am not that old that i can't relate, it's just that i am tired of reading bubbly, high-school drama crap.
Let's start this review off by listing the things this novel didn't have.
1. A female lead that bemoaned her paranormalcy, wishing for a more humane existence.
2. The above mentioned female focusing all her struggles on first kisses and prom.
3. A friend who she was crushing on since, like, foeva. And! Finaly when they get it on....
4. A super-sexy 'new guy' in her class, that appeared out of thin air and has a distinctively European name, that matches his distinctively expensive European car, and his distinctively designer European leather jacket. All of this is necessary, of course, as it is a deflection method to avert interested individuals from his 'dark and troubled' and slightly 'unusual' past.
5. A triangle of such epic proportions that would make the one in Bermuda piss it's pants.
Nop....none of that....refreshingly this young adult, urban fantasy novel had something more.....a story!
This particular story is about a young woman named Catherine, who happens to be a shapeshifter, with a slight defect. She hasn't truly found her form, and as it is customary to have your form by the time you hit your puberty, this leaves Christine isolated in her shifter community. Since in this world all the paranorms are still in the proverbial closet, it leaves her feeling and behaving like a freak.
The shifter community is bound by tight laws set in place to curb their behavior and minimize any potential exposure to the general public. These laws are implemented by witches, who are shifters natural enemies.
Christine is young, happy, a bit of a rule breaker, and something in her family line causes her to get the attention of the chief enforcer of the witches council.
Finn....The more then 'slightly' sexually deviant witch with enough emotional baggage to sink the Titanic. Twice. Who happens to have a thing for furry young things. (Sounds dirty????Good, because it is!)
From there the story explodes in five different directions, packed with non stop action. There is a book involved,dark magic to the core. There are assassins and car cashes. There is a dark demonic presence invading dreams. Also there is a kitten.....that poops where it should!
Once again Campbell delivers a book that is truly entertaining and different, with characters that live their life in the gray area.They are not walking pillars of virtue and they are not evil, mustache twirling masterminds. Depending on the situation, they feel a wide array of emotions good or bad.It gives them so much more then those dreaded two dimensions.
....bit bummed at this point that there is yet no solid release date on the sequel, but good things come to those who wait.
Let's start this review off by listing the things this novel didn't have.
1. A female lead that bemoaned her paranormalcy, wishing for a more humane existence.
2. The above mentioned female focusing all her struggles on first kisses and prom.
3. A friend who she was crushing on since, like, foeva. And! Finaly when they get it on....
4. A super-sexy 'new guy' in her class, that appeared out of thin air and has a distinctively European name, that matches his distinctively expensive European car, and his distinctively designer European leather jacket. All of this is necessary, of course, as it is a deflection method to avert interested individuals from his 'dark and troubled' and slightly 'unusual' past.
5. A triangle of such epic proportions that would make the one in Bermuda piss it's pants.
Nop....none of that....refreshingly this young adult, urban fantasy novel had something more.....a story!
This particular story is about a young woman named Catherine, who happens to be a shapeshifter, with a slight defect. She hasn't truly found her form, and as it is customary to have your form by the time you hit your puberty, this leaves Christine isolated in her shifter community. Since in this world all the paranorms are still in the proverbial closet, it leaves her feeling and behaving like a freak.
The shifter community is bound by tight laws set in place to curb their behavior and minimize any potential exposure to the general public. These laws are implemented by witches, who are shifters natural enemies.
Christine is young, happy, a bit of a rule breaker, and something in her family line causes her to get the attention of the chief enforcer of the witches council.
Finn....The more then 'slightly' sexually deviant witch with enough emotional baggage to sink the Titanic. Twice. Who happens to have a thing for furry young things. (Sounds dirty????Good, because it is!)
From there the story explodes in five different directions, packed with non stop action. There is a book involved,dark magic to the core. There are assassins and car cashes. There is a dark demonic presence invading dreams. Also there is a kitten.....that poops where it should!
Once again Campbell delivers a book that is truly entertaining and different, with characters that live their life in the gray area.They are not walking pillars of virtue and they are not evil, mustache twirling masterminds. Depending on the situation, they feel a wide array of emotions good or bad.It gives them so much more then those dreaded two dimensions.
....bit bummed at this point that there is yet no solid release date on the sequel, but good things come to those who wait.
March 29, 2016
First, the usual disclaimer that I'm friends with Nenia on Goodreads, she seems like a cool person, and I received a copy of this book for free. However, as usual, this has in no way affected my review.
Okay.
So this book has no storyline. A bit of a problem, no? It seems to consist entirely of a beginning that never got off the ground--and to my mind, stories should include middles and endings as well as beginnings. I guess that's why they call it an 'arc', huh. Like a big happy rainbow of plotline, which you follow across the sky. Or, you know, other places. I've included the things that happen in the book below, and on the off-chance anybody actually wants to read this book, have even used spoiler tags:
Jesus fucking christ, right?! (For those who didn't read the spoiler, we're dealing with a girl and a crazy guy who I've dubbed El Batto.)
I took notes for the first bit of the book before giving up because it was all in such a shabby state. So with no further ado, my shit-list ('why all the swearing, Laura?' BECAUSE THE BOOK WAS AWFUL AND MADE ME MAD.):
1. The whole fucking book, bar two sentences, is in italics. Who cares about convention, anyway?!
2. Convoluted, ambiguous sentences: "The files were classified and meant for Council use only, though he did not limit his usage and perusal of them as such."
3. Cliche language: "Sometimes, he could still hear the screams."
4. Language deserving of an emo 14-year-old: "Pray to your gods. Perhaps they will turn over in their graves. Or perhaps not."
5. Contradictions, much? "She was Finn's fiancee. They had been betrothed at a young age. Informally, though there was nothing casual about the arrangements at all." What the fuck does 'informal' mean in this context if not 'casual'? How the hell can a betrothal be informal, in either event? That shit is REAL.
6. Random unsignified shifts to the first person: "Finn frowned. The last entry had a tag denoting an edit. I authorised no edits for this file. There were several notes delineated in the margins." This might have been a nice place to insert some punctuation, or perhaps italicise his thoughts--but oh wait, no-can-do, the whole wretched book is italicised. Is it all a thought? Is it all a dream? Honestly, I could see it ending that way.
7. So many stupid, stupid typos and errors. "All fully developed shape-shifter had a beast" "she heard a soft gasp, followed immediately by the covert sounds of someone trying very hard to be noticed. But Catherine--she noticed."
8. Misused words. "anything circumspect had to be revealed".
9. Subject/object confusion. "A voice had been screaming into Catherine Pierce's ear the whole way to work. A field mouse, specifically." Que? What exactly in this is the field mouse?
10. Come on. At least sort your time adverbs out. "One only need let their guard down for a second before getting torn to pieces." The word you're looking for is 'and', and while we're on the sentence, why the switch to the third person impersonal? The tone shifts, aaagh, the tone shits. (Typo, but I'm leaving it.)
11. Jargon. "Catherine was surprised Prey's caterwauling had made it so far past her highly discriminatory thalamus."
12. Pointless sentences and paragraphs that only confuse the non-story: "All Catherine had to do was look at a photo once, although video or real life worked better, and form the animal's image in her head." Umm, so what's the difference? This is never mentioned again. If 'acquiring' an animal to shape-shift into is 'better' if the animal is in front of her, then what happens if she acquires it by just e.g. seeing it on TV? Does she not get it? Does she miss the animal's back? Does she turn into a mutant?! If you're going to mention basic mechanics, at least bother explaining them properly.
13. Tense shifts. "...the Fourth Rule forbade all that. But there are always exceptions."
14. Cases of 'I feel like nobody re-read this before publishing': "'Is that Chase Hill outside? Ugh. Tell me it's not. Tell me that loser is not fucking outside.' Catherine emptied out another sack of books. 'Um, hello? Catherine? Did you hear me?' 'You told me not to tell you.'" Um. No. No, she didn't.
15. Oh my god did the creep go up. El Batto starts talking about seeing a photo of Catherine when she was 14 years old. This is what it provoked in him: "the moment he had laid eyes on her picture for the first time, months ago, he had found himself entertaining thoughts the likes of which he had never had reason to contemplate--not in such detail. Others did, of course. It was considered a fetish. ...[W]hen he'd lain with Karen the other night, it hadn't been her face he'd seen during climax." THAT IS FUCKING RIGHT. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A PICTURE OF A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL.
16. Seriously, at this point, where was the effort? "Catherine casually reached over to hit CTRL and TAB in unison." To change programs. IT'S ALT FREAKING TAB. Seriously, why even include this detail if you're not sure enough to be accurate about it? Also, are you noticing how many sentences start with 'Catherine'?
17. "Catherine could care less". One of my my pet peeves. It's 'couldn't' care less. 'Could care less' means the exact opposite of what you're trying to say.
18. This bit is way too long to type out--and hey, the author didn't need to conclude, so my effort doesn't have to be high, either--but if you have the Kindle ebook, check loc 2529 for a section of dialogue which is completely irrelevant and nonsensical.
19. Paragraphs repeat themselves twice. Like, the whole thing. Twice in a row. Nice editing.
20. Inconsistency. The author variously uses 'fairy-tale' and 'faerie tale'.
21. More inconsistency. "Finally, after being put on hold again" (she was never put on hold).
22. Serious 'cheese' factor. "'What did he say?' 'One doesn't need to say anything. One can simply let it be known.' 'You're speaking in riddles,' he hissed. 'But you understand.' 'My understanding has limit.'" Not only cheesy, but out-of-place against the tone in the rest of the text.
23. The sheer hypocrisy: "...not submitting to the false dichotomy of femininity set by the unspoken, hypocritical mandates of their society; and they scorned her for knowing herself... [Later that page:] He couldn't have just said 'no'. He'd had to insult her, too. ...David must be a small man, small between the legs, to overcompensate thus." FOR FUCKS' SAKE. If you're going to pretend to be a feminist, even of the hard-line Tumbrina variety, DON'T FUCKING MIX IT WITH SEX- OR GENDER-BASED SHAMING. Absolutely disgusting.
24. Wut. "...trying to see how close they could get while the large cats as they slept."
25. Ahhh, this section was one of my favourites. "A truck was heading straight for her... The car fishtailed in the street, swinging back around in her direction. ... The front of the truck was all beaten in. ... The car was speeding off." Yes, that's right. The truck turned into a car, then a truck, then back into a car again. Lolwut.
I've honestly run out of energy to talk about things like the female protag stealing cats, illogical crime scene proceedures, more comments about "Why do women always feel they have to settle for less?", the student club which people keep talking about and never actually contributes to the plot in any way, etc etc etc. So I guess I'm in the same mental state as the author was.
Overall, this book wasn't as unreadable as some I've encountered. Its one saving grace was the mythology, which while inconsistently explained and honestly feeling-more-like-a-plot-device-than-anything-coherent (hello, Mary Sue!), was interesting. But seriously, man. This book needed an editor, and a good one! It then needed thorough cutting, remixing, revisiting, and the implantation of some kind of structure. I feel like the author used the success of indie series such as Dulcie O'Neill (To Kill A Warlock) as an inspiration: these books end on a cliffhanger to drive the plot forward, so you get the first book for free and then buy the rest. However. In those books, and other indie books like them, there still exists a plot in each book--it's like a TV series, where an episode has a story but there is also an overarching story-line throughout the series. This book, though, while obviously setting up for a series, did not deliver a story itself. As such I am forced to recommend against it, and honestly would suggest the author revisits the text. It's not good. Then again, with 79% of people on Goodreads liking it, maybe it's 'good enough'. Personally, I'd like to see the author aiming higher.
1.5 stars.
Okay.
So this book has no storyline. A bit of a problem, no? It seems to consist entirely of a beginning that never got off the ground--and to my mind, stories should include middles and endings as well as beginnings. I guess that's why they call it an 'arc', huh. Like a big happy rainbow of plotline, which you follow across the sky. Or, you know, other places. I've included the things that happen in the book below, and on the off-chance anybody actually wants to read this book, have even used spoiler tags:
Jesus fucking christ, right?! (For those who didn't read the spoiler, we're dealing with a girl and a crazy guy who I've dubbed El Batto.)
I took notes for the first bit of the book before giving up because it was all in such a shabby state. So with no further ado, my shit-list ('why all the swearing, Laura?' BECAUSE THE BOOK WAS AWFUL AND MADE ME MAD.):
1. The whole fucking book, bar two sentences, is in italics. Who cares about convention, anyway?!
2. Convoluted, ambiguous sentences: "The files were classified and meant for Council use only, though he did not limit his usage and perusal of them as such."
3. Cliche language: "Sometimes, he could still hear the screams."
4. Language deserving of an emo 14-year-old: "Pray to your gods. Perhaps they will turn over in their graves. Or perhaps not."
5. Contradictions, much? "She was Finn's fiancee. They had been betrothed at a young age. Informally, though there was nothing casual about the arrangements at all." What the fuck does 'informal' mean in this context if not 'casual'? How the hell can a betrothal be informal, in either event? That shit is REAL.
6. Random unsignified shifts to the first person: "Finn frowned. The last entry had a tag denoting an edit. I authorised no edits for this file. There were several notes delineated in the margins." This might have been a nice place to insert some punctuation, or perhaps italicise his thoughts--but oh wait, no-can-do, the whole wretched book is italicised. Is it all a thought? Is it all a dream? Honestly, I could see it ending that way.
7. So many stupid, stupid typos and errors. "All fully developed shape-shifter had a beast" "she heard a soft gasp, followed immediately by the covert sounds of someone trying very hard to be noticed. But Catherine--she noticed."
8. Misused words. "anything circumspect had to be revealed".
9. Subject/object confusion. "A voice had been screaming into Catherine Pierce's ear the whole way to work. A field mouse, specifically." Que? What exactly in this is the field mouse?
10. Come on. At least sort your time adverbs out. "One only need let their guard down for a second before getting torn to pieces." The word you're looking for is 'and', and while we're on the sentence, why the switch to the third person impersonal? The tone shifts, aaagh, the tone shits. (Typo, but I'm leaving it.)
11. Jargon. "Catherine was surprised Prey's caterwauling had made it so far past her highly discriminatory thalamus."
12. Pointless sentences and paragraphs that only confuse the non-story: "All Catherine had to do was look at a photo once, although video or real life worked better, and form the animal's image in her head." Umm, so what's the difference? This is never mentioned again. If 'acquiring' an animal to shape-shift into is 'better' if the animal is in front of her, then what happens if she acquires it by just e.g. seeing it on TV? Does she not get it? Does she miss the animal's back? Does she turn into a mutant?! If you're going to mention basic mechanics, at least bother explaining them properly.
13. Tense shifts. "...the Fourth Rule forbade all that. But there are always exceptions."
14. Cases of 'I feel like nobody re-read this before publishing': "'Is that Chase Hill outside? Ugh. Tell me it's not. Tell me that loser is not fucking outside.' Catherine emptied out another sack of books. 'Um, hello? Catherine? Did you hear me?' 'You told me not to tell you.'" Um. No. No, she didn't.
15. Oh my god did the creep go up. El Batto starts talking about seeing a photo of Catherine when she was 14 years old. This is what it provoked in him: "the moment he had laid eyes on her picture for the first time, months ago, he had found himself entertaining thoughts the likes of which he had never had reason to contemplate--not in such detail. Others did, of course. It was considered a fetish. ...[W]hen he'd lain with Karen the other night, it hadn't been her face he'd seen during climax." THAT IS FUCKING RIGHT. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A PICTURE OF A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL.
16. Seriously, at this point, where was the effort? "Catherine casually reached over to hit CTRL and TAB in unison." To change programs. IT'S ALT FREAKING TAB. Seriously, why even include this detail if you're not sure enough to be accurate about it? Also, are you noticing how many sentences start with 'Catherine'?
17. "Catherine could care less". One of my my pet peeves. It's 'couldn't' care less. 'Could care less' means the exact opposite of what you're trying to say.
18. This bit is way too long to type out--and hey, the author didn't need to conclude, so my effort doesn't have to be high, either--but if you have the Kindle ebook, check loc 2529 for a section of dialogue which is completely irrelevant and nonsensical.
19. Paragraphs repeat themselves twice. Like, the whole thing. Twice in a row. Nice editing.
20. Inconsistency. The author variously uses 'fairy-tale' and 'faerie tale'.
21. More inconsistency. "Finally, after being put on hold again" (she was never put on hold).
22. Serious 'cheese' factor. "'What did he say?' 'One doesn't need to say anything. One can simply let it be known.' 'You're speaking in riddles,' he hissed. 'But you understand.' 'My understanding has limit.'" Not only cheesy, but out-of-place against the tone in the rest of the text.
23. The sheer hypocrisy: "...not submitting to the false dichotomy of femininity set by the unspoken, hypocritical mandates of their society; and they scorned her for knowing herself... [Later that page:] He couldn't have just said 'no'. He'd had to insult her, too. ...David must be a small man, small between the legs, to overcompensate thus." FOR FUCKS' SAKE. If you're going to pretend to be a feminist, even of the hard-line Tumbrina variety, DON'T FUCKING MIX IT WITH SEX- OR GENDER-BASED SHAMING. Absolutely disgusting.
24. Wut. "...trying to see how close they could get while the large cats as they slept."
25. Ahhh, this section was one of my favourites. "A truck was heading straight for her... The car fishtailed in the street, swinging back around in her direction. ... The front of the truck was all beaten in. ... The car was speeding off." Yes, that's right. The truck turned into a car, then a truck, then back into a car again. Lolwut.
I've honestly run out of energy to talk about things like the female protag stealing cats, illogical crime scene proceedures, more comments about "Why do women always feel they have to settle for less?", the student club which people keep talking about and never actually contributes to the plot in any way, etc etc etc. So I guess I'm in the same mental state as the author was.
Overall, this book wasn't as unreadable as some I've encountered. Its one saving grace was the mythology, which while inconsistently explained and honestly feeling-more-like-a-plot-device-than-anything-coherent (hello, Mary Sue!), was interesting. But seriously, man. This book needed an editor, and a good one! It then needed thorough cutting, remixing, revisiting, and the implantation of some kind of structure. I feel like the author used the success of indie series such as Dulcie O'Neill (To Kill A Warlock) as an inspiration: these books end on a cliffhanger to drive the plot forward, so you get the first book for free and then buy the rest. However. In those books, and other indie books like them, there still exists a plot in each book--it's like a TV series, where an episode has a story but there is also an overarching story-line throughout the series. This book, though, while obviously setting up for a series, did not deliver a story itself. As such I am forced to recommend against it, and honestly would suggest the author revisits the text. It's not good. Then again, with 79% of people on Goodreads liking it, maybe it's 'good enough'. Personally, I'd like to see the author aiming higher.
1.5 stars.
December 23, 2019
This book was just plain fun. It had a little bit of everything, and a lot of the best things.
I read it in tandem with the last of the Farseer Trilogy, as an antidote for the angst created by the Farseer Trilogy. It was a wonderful antidote. THIS is how I want to fell when I'm reading.
The book was seriously reasonably priced. I got to the end, which has an explosive last paragraph leading to the next book. I thought "Oh no -- she's doing it." I headed over to look at the next book in the series and found -- it is also seriously reasonably priced!
In Campbell we have the rare writer who cares more about her readers than gouging her readers.
The reasonably priced thing means I can keep reading and reading and reading, my favorite thing.
I read it in tandem with the last of the Farseer Trilogy, as an antidote for the angst created by the Farseer Trilogy. It was a wonderful antidote. THIS is how I want to fell when I'm reading.
The book was seriously reasonably priced. I got to the end, which has an explosive last paragraph leading to the next book. I thought "Oh no -- she's doing it." I headed over to look at the next book in the series and found -- it is also seriously reasonably priced!
In Campbell we have the rare writer who cares more about her readers than gouging her readers.
The reasonably priced thing means I can keep reading and reading and reading, my favorite thing.
August 12, 2014
I am unbelievably lazy when it comes to reviewing- seriously I am, but I really love this author's work so here goes :)
This is paranormal done right FINALLY!!!
I loved this book I really did, aaaand I'm gushing. This is why I don't write reviews, it's either enraged ranting (seriously- I mean Christian Bale level of ranting) or it's just a love fest all the way through. I'll try to be as coherent as I possibly can ;)
The characters:
Catherine Pierce: I really REALLY like her.Were-creatures and shape-shifters have been done to death, but this book really presents a fresh new take on the subject. The fact that Catherine hasn't "settled" makes her unique, but not so unique that she turns into that "speshul snowflake" trope that's so common in Urban Fantasy. She's flawed and impulsive but she does what she thinks is right and she's realistic- which is refreshing. There is a fine line between tough and cold/harsh, and I thought she was vulnerable enough to make her a like-able character :)
Finn: FINNN!!!!!
He is just scrumptious and dark and twisted and I love him. He's a dick with control issues but I love how complex his character is (though I wouldn't mind if he softened up some- just a smidgen). He comes off a little rapey at times....
But then again if you're at all familiar with Nenia's work, don't expect some fluffy, safe, clean cut romance. Finn's lust is mixed in with his revulsion of what Catherine is. He is incredibly conflicted, and this made him a more sympathetic character (if you can believe it). The second book gives us more insight into his character and SPOILER (is it really? I don't know but just to be on the safe side) he starts to treat Catherine as more of a person than the creature he views her as in this first installment.
The writing:
I read Fearscape and loved it, but I had a few issues with the way the dialogue was written. In some parts it felt stilted and staged and not at all how teenagers would talk. However, I didn't have the same problem with this book, and I think I enjoy the supernatural elements more than the thriller theme of the Horrorscape trilogy.
Nenia Campbell has remarkable insight into the human mind,and that is what makes her characters so engrossing. I've read a lot of her books and even if I don't think they're all perfect, one thing I can say is that her characters are three dimensional, complex, engaging characters. I loved the Predator/Prey interactions going on in Catherine's mind. I thought it was really well done, and ironically, made her seem more human. :)
Just one little gripe:
Catherine's in a lot of danger in this book and it gets even more intense in the next book. I feel like her parents could have gotten more involved.
Another little gripe, this is the last one I promise XD
THE ENDING: I swear I've never been so frustrated. The ending just... ended. It was abrupt and sudden and I actually thought I had bought a copy that was missing pages. This seems to be a trend because in Bleeds My Desire she did this too: I hate it, it makes me sad. However, because this is the first book it mostly introduces the mystery and mythology, so while I don't like it I can understand it (very VERY begrudgingly) but I do get it :)
EVERYONE READ THIS SERIES!!! I think Nenia Campbell is really talented and painfully underrated. I've already read the second one and I'm really excited for the third book, Crowned by Fire.
This is paranormal done right FINALLY!!!
I loved this book I really did, aaaand I'm gushing. This is why I don't write reviews, it's either enraged ranting (seriously- I mean Christian Bale level of ranting) or it's just a love fest all the way through. I'll try to be as coherent as I possibly can ;)
The characters:
Catherine Pierce: I really REALLY like her.Were-creatures and shape-shifters have been done to death, but this book really presents a fresh new take on the subject. The fact that Catherine hasn't "settled" makes her unique, but not so unique that she turns into that "speshul snowflake" trope that's so common in Urban Fantasy. She's flawed and impulsive but she does what she thinks is right and she's realistic- which is refreshing. There is a fine line between tough and cold/harsh, and I thought she was vulnerable enough to make her a like-able character :)
Finn: FINNN!!!!!
He is just scrumptious and dark and twisted and I love him. He's a dick with control issues but I love how complex his character is (though I wouldn't mind if he softened up some- just a smidgen). He comes off a little rapey at times....
But then again if you're at all familiar with Nenia's work, don't expect some fluffy, safe, clean cut romance. Finn's lust is mixed in with his revulsion of what Catherine is. He is incredibly conflicted, and this made him a more sympathetic character (if you can believe it). The second book gives us more insight into his character and SPOILER (is it really? I don't know but just to be on the safe side) he starts to treat Catherine as more of a person than the creature he views her as in this first installment.
The writing:
I read Fearscape and loved it, but I had a few issues with the way the dialogue was written. In some parts it felt stilted and staged and not at all how teenagers would talk. However, I didn't have the same problem with this book, and I think I enjoy the supernatural elements more than the thriller theme of the Horrorscape trilogy.
Nenia Campbell has remarkable insight into the human mind,and that is what makes her characters so engrossing. I've read a lot of her books and even if I don't think they're all perfect, one thing I can say is that her characters are three dimensional, complex, engaging characters. I loved the Predator/Prey interactions going on in Catherine's mind. I thought it was really well done, and ironically, made her seem more human. :)
Just one little gripe:
Catherine's in a lot of danger in this book and it gets even more intense in the next book. I feel like her parents could have gotten more involved.
Another little gripe, this is the last one I promise XD
THE ENDING: I swear I've never been so frustrated. The ending just... ended. It was abrupt and sudden and I actually thought I had bought a copy that was missing pages. This seems to be a trend because in Bleeds My Desire she did this too: I hate it, it makes me sad. However, because this is the first book it mostly introduces the mystery and mythology, so while I don't like it I can understand it (very VERY begrudgingly) but I do get it :)
EVERYONE READ THIS SERIES!!! I think Nenia Campbell is really talented and painfully underrated. I've already read the second one and I'm really excited for the third book, Crowned by Fire.
September 13, 2014
My review: 4/5
Black Beast is like A Discovery of Witches meets Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson. Being a shape shifter that hasn't settled already makes her a freak and deserving of suspicion, but coming across a spell book in the library where she works, draws a lot of unwanted attention to Catherine from slayers, witches, and even other shifters.
This is the first book in the series, and as such, we get a taste of the secondary characters, but not enough to get fully invested in them. I look forward to learning more about them as the series continues. All the characters are flawed, which I love.
Catherine: She doesn't care to be in high school, or in the human world for that matter. She breaks the rules of revealing her true shifter self. That makes her a target for the witches' council. She makes some poor choices. I wasn't going to say this, but since she says this about herself so often, I am compelled to bring it up.
Her own words: How stupid she was being. How careless
The moment Catherine asked, she realized it was a stupid questions
How could I be so stupid? How could she not? It was practically second-nature to her at this point.
But probably the most stupid thought she has is this one, about Sharon, her lazy, good-for-nothing co-worker: Why do women always feel thy have to settle for less? IMO, it's Mike who's settling. More about Sharon later.
Finn: A super witch who has been tasked with bringing in Catherine for breaking the rules. He's not very likable at this point. When he's not trying to capture Catherine, he uses Karen as a booty call. I'm hoping as the series continues my opinion of him will change.
David Tran:Also a shifter. His parents won't let him associate with Catherine because she hasn't settled. His family used to be friends with hers, but now the Trans want nothing to do with the Pierces and their freaky daughter. He makes her mad and insults her, but David does end up helping Catherine with the cricket problem, and he seems like a nice guy. We'll see where this goes.
Chase: Creepy human dabbling in black magic. He reminds me of Arnie Cunningham from Stephen King's Christine He is desperate to get his hands on the spell book.
Sharon: The Co-worker from hell. She's lazy, she doesn't show up for work, and then wants Catherine to cover for her. This is her pathetic reason for not showing up for work: Mike asked me out for coffee and I didn't want to say that I had to go work at the library because how lame is that? ....I'm so embarrassed about this dumb job.
What if Mike decided not to show up to his job for the same reason. Would you sympathize and pay for his coffee, since he has a lame job, or would you call him a loser and tell him to get his priorities straight? Newsflash: Be grateful you have a job. There is nothing wrong with working in a library.
The ant scene was probably my favorite part. I kind of wished she had ditched the cricket mission to bring David a sweet.
Black Beast is like A Discovery of Witches meets Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson. Being a shape shifter that hasn't settled already makes her a freak and deserving of suspicion, but coming across a spell book in the library where she works, draws a lot of unwanted attention to Catherine from slayers, witches, and even other shifters.
This is the first book in the series, and as such, we get a taste of the secondary characters, but not enough to get fully invested in them. I look forward to learning more about them as the series continues. All the characters are flawed, which I love.
Catherine: She doesn't care to be in high school, or in the human world for that matter. She breaks the rules of revealing her true shifter self. That makes her a target for the witches' council. She makes some poor choices. I wasn't going to say this, but since she says this about herself so often, I am compelled to bring it up.
Her own words: How stupid she was being. How careless
The moment Catherine asked, she realized it was a stupid questions
How could I be so stupid? How could she not? It was practically second-nature to her at this point.
But probably the most stupid thought she has is this one, about Sharon, her lazy, good-for-nothing co-worker: Why do women always feel thy have to settle for less? IMO, it's Mike who's settling. More about Sharon later.
Finn: A super witch who has been tasked with bringing in Catherine for breaking the rules. He's not very likable at this point. When he's not trying to capture Catherine, he uses Karen as a booty call. I'm hoping as the series continues my opinion of him will change.
David Tran:Also a shifter. His parents won't let him associate with Catherine because she hasn't settled. His family used to be friends with hers, but now the Trans want nothing to do with the Pierces and their freaky daughter. He makes her mad and insults her, but David does end up helping Catherine with the cricket problem, and he seems like a nice guy. We'll see where this goes.
Chase: Creepy human dabbling in black magic. He reminds me of Arnie Cunningham from Stephen King's Christine He is desperate to get his hands on the spell book.
Sharon: The Co-worker from hell. She's lazy, she doesn't show up for work, and then wants Catherine to cover for her. This is her pathetic reason for not showing up for work: Mike asked me out for coffee and I didn't want to say that I had to go work at the library because how lame is that? ....I'm so embarrassed about this dumb job.
What if Mike decided not to show up to his job for the same reason. Would you sympathize and pay for his coffee, since he has a lame job, or would you call him a loser and tell him to get his priorities straight? Newsflash: Be grateful you have a job. There is nothing wrong with working in a library.
The ant scene was probably my favorite part. I kind of wished she had ditched the cricket mission to bring David a sweet.
January 22, 2015
...and this is why I need to actually stay on top of reviewing things. I'm trying very, very hard to keep my thoughts here on just the first book in the series, and to judge it by its own merits.
It's hard, though. So, so hard.
Most of Black Beast is dedicated to setting up the world of the story, and the main character - Catherine Pierce, a teenage shape-shifter.
And I love the world. And Catherine. And I know that there's got to be a fair bit of exposition in the first book in a series. But Black Beast reads so slow in some parts. I mean, one of the biggest plot points involves breaking into a school building to free crickets. Crickets.
This is where I begin to struggle to keep my opinion of the series as a whole separate from my opinion of this book in particular.
Because the action in the series definitely does pick up, and in light of that, the groundwork laid out in Black Beast is essential. It was tedious to read in parts, but in the long run, I was glad for it.
But! That doesn't change the fact that it was slow...grah! Now I feel like I'm being unfair.
I'm just going to move on to another topic.
Catherine was a very fun character. A lot of shape-shifter urban fantasies either deal with the shifter fighting against their animal nature to hold on to their humanity, or they deal with the shifter succumbing to their animal nature, and becoming a beast.
Catherine? Catherine just doesn't care. She'll play human to fit in so that her family doesn't get targeted, but inside she knows she's a beast. But even though she relies more on her animal side than her humanity, it doesn't mean that she's without a moral code. For instance, she frees said crickets because she doesn't feel right dissecting them when she knows what it feels like to be a cricket.
And I actually enjoyed that balance more than if Catherine had leaned to either extreme.
The entire lack of form settling with Catherine also reminded me of The Golden Compass, so points for that. I always did like that whole "settling" as you mature idea, and it was nice to see the idea played with some more.
As for other characters...Catherine definitely stole the show. Mostly. There was an exception. But I will avoid speaking of he-who-shall-not-be-named here, as he doesn't make his appearance proper until the second book. (But holy god, do I have words on that one.)
It's hard, though. So, so hard.
Most of Black Beast is dedicated to setting up the world of the story, and the main character - Catherine Pierce, a teenage shape-shifter.
And I love the world. And Catherine. And I know that there's got to be a fair bit of exposition in the first book in a series. But Black Beast reads so slow in some parts. I mean, one of the biggest plot points involves breaking into a school building to free crickets. Crickets.
This is where I begin to struggle to keep my opinion of the series as a whole separate from my opinion of this book in particular.
Because the action in the series definitely does pick up, and in light of that, the groundwork laid out in Black Beast is essential. It was tedious to read in parts, but in the long run, I was glad for it.
But! That doesn't change the fact that it was slow...grah! Now I feel like I'm being unfair.
I'm just going to move on to another topic.
Catherine was a very fun character. A lot of shape-shifter urban fantasies either deal with the shifter fighting against their animal nature to hold on to their humanity, or they deal with the shifter succumbing to their animal nature, and becoming a beast.
Catherine? Catherine just doesn't care. She'll play human to fit in so that her family doesn't get targeted, but inside she knows she's a beast. But even though she relies more on her animal side than her humanity, it doesn't mean that she's without a moral code. For instance, she frees said crickets because she doesn't feel right dissecting them when she knows what it feels like to be a cricket.
And I actually enjoyed that balance more than if Catherine had leaned to either extreme.
The entire lack of form settling with Catherine also reminded me of The Golden Compass, so points for that. I always did like that whole "settling" as you mature idea, and it was nice to see the idea played with some more.
As for other characters...Catherine definitely stole the show. Mostly. There was an exception. But I will avoid speaking of he-who-shall-not-be-named here, as he doesn't make his appearance proper until the second book. (But holy god, do I have words on that one.)
Read
January 13, 2015I had heard about Nenia’s writing through a few reviews on GR and of course I’d heard about her thanks to her own awesome reviews. Of course, when a giveaway happened, I jumped on the occasion to see what this was all about. So, I found myself presented with Black Beast, the story of a shape-shifter in modern America.
I’m not an expert when it comes to Urban Fantasy, but I know Black Beast had a quality that almost every story I read in this genre didn’t have: It wasn’t filled with stupidity. Yes, stupid things happened, but the author was very aware that they were stupid things to do.
The backstory wasn’t forced down our throat through blatant exposition, but laced into the main charactersvery angry thoughts as sh*t happened events unfolded. The world-building was simple, and yet more solid than that of most books I’ve read in that genre. You won’t catch a headache if you try to remember everything important, and you won’t feel like nothing happened in the past. I’d say it’s a happy medium.
The take on shape-shifters was traditional, but rather enjoyable in that for once, I felt like the author knew something about animal behavior… I would have probably enjoyed something more in depth, but at least, it didn’t feel like misinformation – which is often the case when Fantasy writers talk about animals. Points for Nenia!
Black beast uses the French phrase “bête noire” which is fine, because that means “pet peeve” and it does use two of mine when it comes to storytelling: Dream sequences and prophecies.
I do not care for either of those. I hate them, in fact.
Something else that I didn’t like is that the book seems more of an introduction than a real story. There’s a major plot that I understand could be used as a “fil rouge”, a story arc that extends upon several novels, which involves black magic and the legend of the black beast, but it’s not the only conflict that is unresolved. In fact, the book ends on the resolution of – what felt to me as – a minor subplot and some character development. This might be even more apparent to me as I finished this book while I see people talking about Serials on GR.
That’s my problem, though, I’m often more interested in the plot that I am in the characters, at least when it comes to a first – or second – book. Now, I know this isn’t the case for most readers I met on GR, so you might actually want to try this. The characters do not fail to be engaging – unless you’re as much a sociopath as I am.
My conclusion is thus: Give this book a try, it truly deserves it.
I’m not an expert when it comes to Urban Fantasy, but I know Black Beast had a quality that almost every story I read in this genre didn’t have: It wasn’t filled with stupidity. Yes, stupid things happened, but the author was very aware that they were stupid things to do.
The backstory wasn’t forced down our throat through blatant exposition, but laced into the main characters
The take on shape-shifters was traditional, but rather enjoyable in that for once, I felt like the author knew something about animal behavior… I would have probably enjoyed something more in depth, but at least, it didn’t feel like misinformation – which is often the case when Fantasy writers talk about animals. Points for Nenia!
Black beast uses the French phrase “bête noire” which is fine, because that means “pet peeve” and it does use two of mine when it comes to storytelling: Dream sequences and prophecies.
I do not care for either of those. I hate them, in fact.
Something else that I didn’t like is that the book seems more of an introduction than a real story. There’s a major plot that I understand could be used as a “fil rouge”, a story arc that extends upon several novels, which involves black magic and the legend of the black beast, but it’s not the only conflict that is unresolved. In fact, the book ends on the resolution of – what felt to me as – a minor subplot and some character development. This might be even more apparent to me as I finished this book while I see people talking about Serials on GR.
That’s my problem, though, I’m often more interested in the plot that I am in the characters, at least when it comes to a first – or second – book. Now, I know this isn’t the case for most readers I met on GR, so you might actually want to try this. The characters do not fail to be engaging – unless you’re as much a sociopath as I am.
My conclusion is thus: Give this book a try, it truly deserves it.
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