decafplease's review against another edition
4.0
I finished this in one afternoon because it was such a thrilling read. I liked the twist on werewolves and how Carey treated the political situation on a whole, and it was written well, not superbly but enough to be engaging. Great read.
thereadingwren's review against another edition
2.0
2/5
The most disappointing read of the year. I was SO looking forward to this. Genetically modified WEREWOLVES and a BISEXUAL MAIN CHARACTER, with a sprinkle of FOUND FAMILY - this seriously should have been my all time favourite. Turned out to be a total bore.
I feel like the idea of this story was much better than what was produced. It should have been this found family of orphans helping Loup become a vigilante and helping their people and figuring out the nasty plot of the government, with a subplot of fated mates of the sapphic kind, while Loup also trains to become a boxer to avenge her brother. That sounds amazing but that's not what we got.
It took nearly 100 pages before the main character was even born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell kind of set up is that. Everything that got explained in the first 100 pages - the war, the world, the people, how they live, the genetically modified werewolves - could have been worked into the story in a conversation or two. The book would have been better for it.
For the rest of the book there would be these sprinkles of interest but after a few chapters that would be squashed by the boring nothingness of the book. If you read the synopsis it sounds like the Santa Olivia stuff is the main plot of the story, but it lasts for maybe 5 chapters and then it's over. I really just can't get over how amazing this should have been.
The love story aspect also didn't feel developed or genuine. It just felt like it was placed there as an after thought. There was just no interest. I didn't care about Loup and Pilar at all.
I'm going to be mad at this book for years to come because this could have been an All Star for me.
The most disappointing read of the year. I was SO looking forward to this. Genetically modified WEREWOLVES and a BISEXUAL MAIN CHARACTER, with a sprinkle of FOUND FAMILY - this seriously should have been my all time favourite. Turned out to be a total bore.
I feel like the idea of this story was much better than what was produced. It should have been this found family of orphans helping Loup become a vigilante and helping their people and figuring out the nasty plot of the government, with a subplot of fated mates of the sapphic kind, while Loup also trains to become a boxer to avenge her brother. That sounds amazing but that's not what we got.
It took nearly 100 pages before the main character was even born!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the hell kind of set up is that. Everything that got explained in the first 100 pages - the war, the world, the people, how they live, the genetically modified werewolves - could have been worked into the story in a conversation or two. The book would have been better for it.
For the rest of the book there would be these sprinkles of interest but after a few chapters that would be squashed by the boring nothingness of the book. If you read the synopsis it sounds like the Santa Olivia stuff is the main plot of the story, but it lasts for maybe 5 chapters and then it's over. I really just can't get over how amazing this should have been.
The love story aspect also didn't feel developed or genuine. It just felt like it was placed there as an after thought. There was just no interest. I didn't care about Loup and Pilar at all.
I'm going to be mad at this book for years to come because this could have been an All Star for me.
katranga's review against another edition
5.0
This was the first book in months that didn’t have me questioning whether I was gonna DNF it past the first few chapters, so THANK YOU. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Santa Olivia and all the people who lived there, especially Loup with her special gifts.
The first chunk of it in her mom’s POV and then her brother’s was really cool and enlightening, and then when we got to Loup, I got my favourite trope: found family!!! My heart goes out to the Santitos!! Also a f/f romance that didn’t feel dry and contrived??? Unheard of imo lmao.
I loved this writing style as well. Even the many boxing fights kept me entertained, and I don’t always care for action. It was all a kind of get-to-the-point kind of narration and description that I love, while also easily giving insight into Loup’s thoughts the entire time.
Also, subject-wise, it’s kind of off the wall—daughter of a literally fearless genetically-engineered maybe-werewolf raised as an orphan in a church at a forgotten post-apocalyptic outpost, who also boxes to avenge a death?? It’s a mouthful, but it all works extremely well. I wish more books I read pulled off original concepts this well!
The first chunk of it in her mom’s POV and then her brother’s was really cool and enlightening, and then when we got to Loup, I got my favourite trope: found family!!! My heart goes out to the Santitos!! Also a f/f romance that didn’t feel dry and contrived??? Unheard of imo lmao.
I loved this writing style as well. Even the many boxing fights kept me entertained, and I don’t always care for action. It was all a kind of get-to-the-point kind of narration and description that I love, while also easily giving insight into Loup’s thoughts the entire time.
Also, subject-wise, it’s kind of off the wall—daughter of a literally fearless genetically-engineered maybe-werewolf raised as an orphan in a church at a forgotten post-apocalyptic outpost, who also boxes to avenge a death?? It’s a mouthful, but it all works extremely well. I wish more books I read pulled off original concepts this well!
markphilpot's review against another edition
4.0
This is the first of Jacqueline Carey's books that I've read (though I have her Kushiel's Dart series in the queue) and I must say I throughly enjoyed it! A straight forward adventure with good characters grounded in a fascinating and rather realistic backdrop.
The protagonist Loup may seem flat but that is really intentional and I still found her engaging and extremely likable. Think of this as a semi-fantastical version of Million Dollar Baby but without the twisting social commentary at the end.
A highly entertaining and recommended read.
The protagonist Loup may seem flat but that is really intentional and I still found her engaging and extremely likable. Think of this as a semi-fantastical version of Million Dollar Baby but without the twisting social commentary at the end.
A highly entertaining and recommended read.
jelenar620's review
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kblincoln's review
5.0
I tore through this book, partly with an impending sense of doom considering the coronavirus times I'm reading this in, and the post-massive influenza epidemic that destabilizes the USA gov't enough that they decide to create a fictitious rebel Mexican general that needs to be "fought" and so create a locked down territory at our southern border wherein the tiny town of Santa Olivia becomes a prison for its villagers.
In to this soldier and gang-run prison comes a man dressed in army fatigues and possessed of supernatural strength and speed. He falls in strong, instant love with a villager, and they have a child just as his presence is discovered and he is forced to flee.
When his lover also dies, their daughter is sent to live with a whole scooby gang of orphans at the local church. Loup is as different as her father, but her adopted older brother, Tommy, protects and hides her differences.
But when Tommy is put in danger by his boxing hobby, Loup must choose to expose herself or continue hiding.
Carey's strength is making you fall in love with her characters, and that happens here. Not only do we fall in love with Loup, and Tommy, and her orphan buddies (all who are distinct and must decide to what degree they will "sell" themselves to the army to survive) but also with their long term enemy and gang leader Miguel Garza.
In the beginning, the orphans create a Santa Olivia legend by using Loup's super powers, I wish that had gone on longer because it was so heisty-fun, but the story makes it clear how easily in the small confines of the town their secret would get blown.
And I also wish there had been more courtship between Lou and her insta-love partner. They pretty much...waste no time at all.
And while the end resolves Loup's problem, it doesn't resolve everything. I haven't decided whether I'd read the second book in the series, I'm afraid after reading reviews that the passion/danger/fun of this book will be missing from the second and I'd rather remember Loup as I left her in this book-- battered, bloody, but uncowed, hair blowing in the wind as she faces a new destiny.
For those familiar with Carey's Kushiel saga, this is much less intricate, much less sex-focused, but still philosophical and explores the ways women must subjugate themselves to men in order to survive.
In to this soldier and gang-run prison comes a man dressed in army fatigues and possessed of supernatural strength and speed. He falls in strong, instant love with a villager, and they have a child just as his presence is discovered and he is forced to flee.
When his lover also dies, their daughter is sent to live with a whole scooby gang of orphans at the local church. Loup is as different as her father, but her adopted older brother, Tommy, protects and hides her differences.
But when Tommy is put in danger by his boxing hobby, Loup must choose to expose herself or continue hiding.
Carey's strength is making you fall in love with her characters, and that happens here. Not only do we fall in love with Loup, and Tommy, and her orphan buddies (all who are distinct and must decide to what degree they will "sell" themselves to the army to survive) but also with their long term enemy and gang leader Miguel Garza.
In the beginning, the orphans create a Santa Olivia legend by using Loup's super powers, I wish that had gone on longer because it was so heisty-fun, but the story makes it clear how easily in the small confines of the town their secret would get blown.
And I also wish there had been more courtship between Lou and her insta-love partner. They pretty much...waste no time at all.
And while the end resolves Loup's problem, it doesn't resolve everything. I haven't decided whether I'd read the second book in the series, I'm afraid after reading reviews that the passion/danger/fun of this book will be missing from the second and I'd rather remember Loup as I left her in this book-- battered, bloody, but uncowed, hair blowing in the wind as she faces a new destiny.
For those familiar with Carey's Kushiel saga, this is much less intricate, much less sex-focused, but still philosophical and explores the ways women must subjugate themselves to men in order to survive.
catsci's review against another edition
5.0
This is probably the best book I have read in a while. It was bursting at the seams with the strange and imaginative world that is a tiny town under the control of the army because of some super secret thing. So much happened, and the time sequencing was really good. It had lovely flow, and I was enraptured by the whole thing and always wondering what happens next. I'm dying for the next book now.
geraldine's review against another edition
3.0
this book sure is about boxing
this book sure also has a character with the same name as a breaking bad character
like the synopsis of the book isn't wrong, but this book is about boxing. it's about boxing
this book sure also has a character with the same name as a breaking bad character
like the synopsis of the book isn't wrong, but this book is about boxing. it's about boxing
Spoiler
me when loup came out into the ring with her boxing robe and everyone realized who she was and why she was there: :')cuteseal's review against another edition
4.0
A dramatic, whimsical, coming of age tale of a mutant orphan girl (more X-men than freaky) growing up in a post-apocalyptic outpost town. Her antics and adventures embody hope and purpose in the midst of oppression and hopelessness, a figurehead for a generation of abandoned townspeople.
Carey crafts her story with a graceful economy of words - letting the unsaid inspire the imagination. She paints a colourful and believable backdrop, and truly engages the reader with deep and involving characters.
I felt that the pacing and story development was spot on - I just wanted to keep reading right to the climatic and inevitable end. Ultimately though, the book is limited in scope, choosing not to dwell on the global and political climate - but rather focus in on the character and town of Santa Olivia.
Carey crafts her story with a graceful economy of words - letting the unsaid inspire the imagination. She paints a colourful and believable backdrop, and truly engages the reader with deep and involving characters.
I felt that the pacing and story development was spot on - I just wanted to keep reading right to the climatic and inevitable end. Ultimately though, the book is limited in scope, choosing not to dwell on the global and political climate - but rather focus in on the character and town of Santa Olivia.
catladylover94's review against another edition
medium-paced
0.5
liked the book, wish their was more about loup and what she could do, maybe in the next book