ARC Review: Otherkin by Nina Berry

I thought I knew myself. Then I met Caleb.

Dez is a good girl who does as she’s told and tries not to be noticed.

Then she rescues a boy from a cage, and he tells her secrets about herself.

Now inside her burns a darkness that will transform her.

Everything is about to change -- and neither Caleb, nor the Otherkin, nor those who hunt them are prepared for what Dez will unleash.



Review:

In most books, you can tell whether a book is going to be kick ass awesome or a complete flop from the first few chapters. From Otherkin’s opening action scene, I was hooked until the very last page.

I would definitely consider the opening scene of Otherkin as foreshadowing for the plot. This book never ends. Sure, you have “breathing periods” where you can reassemble your thoughts, but even those scenes are action packed or tension filled. And once that scene has ended you are immediately thrown back into the deep end where you watch Dez, Caleb and the others claw their way out of the mess they got in.

I really liked Dez. I think she’s the perfect blend of Kaylee from the Soul Screamers series and Rose from Vampire Academy. Often, you have characters that are either on one end of the selfless spectrum or the kick-ass spectrum. Berry found the perfect blend in Dez. She was a team leader, dedicated her life to saving her friends when tradition says otherwise, and had her own physical aspects to boot. Dez is strong and independent. Having said that, with such a strong female lead I find I often get frustrated with the male love interest.

Caleb is much like Dez, although he is a bit of a know it all and does tend to give very mixed signals, Dez and Caleb do balance each other out which made for an interesting read. There were definitely times when I loved and loathed him. London, November, Arnaldo and Siku make up the rest of the gang and each have their own shape-shifting ability. Really, this ensemble of a cast balanced each other out and was really entertaining. Although each of them (Caleb the most) was a little on the stereotypical personality, I found I ended up loving it.

The only character that I really struggled with was Dez’s mother. I just somehow couldn’t believe her. I think it was the fact that she was often naive (she sprouted off info after info about Dez’s adoption and it often came across as narrative) and the fact that she let Dez go off with a stranger (Caleb) whom both of them had only just me.

Berry has a rather simplistic writing style and that definitely reminded me of my other favourite authors, Richelle Mead and Kelley Armstrong. I do tend to love this form of narrative best because it means that I can just dive into the story and I won’t pause at weird phrases and words that I didn’t even know exist. The other thing I loved about Otherkin, was the spin Berry had taken for explaining how shape shifting occurs. It was different, and at parts confusing, but everything that happened in Otherkin was the perfect set up for the sequel, Othermoon.

Overall, I really enjoyed Otherkin. Berry’s simplistic writing style made it easy for me to fall into Dez’s point of view and the non-stop action meant I read it in one sitting. The characters were great, although at times a little stereotypical, but all seemed to fit together. Otherkin definitely sets everything up for Othermoon, and I cannot wait for its release date.

Review: 5 stars
Date Published: July 31st 2012
Source: publisher
Format: ebook
Date Read: July 2012
Page Count: 320
Series/Stand Alone: Otherkin #1