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A review by nicolenikonetz
Stray by Andrea K. Höst
1.0
Well, I have to say, I'm extremely disappointed. I've had this book on my to read list for a long time and now that I have a Kindle, I finally downloaded the e-book. What I hadn't realized, is that this book is in diary format. It was surprising, but it can be done well with the right author, so I kept going.
Stray begins with Cass, an Aussie teen, accidentally stepping through a wormhole and finds herself in the middle of the forest on a completely different planet. She tries to survive until she is rescued by the Setari, a group of psychic warriors from the planet Tare. They take her back to their planet and process her as a 'stray', a displaced person who has stumbled through the ever increasing tears between worlds. Once there, she struggles to find her place within the Taren people, and get a handle on the nanotech computer that is injected in her brain as well as everyone else's. She also struggles to learn the language. Like, really, really struggles. Enough that I don't think she says a full sentence throughout the entire novel. Not even a simple sentence like "I like cats." No, its more like "like cat" throughout the entire novel. And then she is astounded when they think she is dumb!
The diary format hurts this novel pretty bad. I didn't feel any sort of connection to Cass throughout the entire thing. She comes across very removed from the situation, and her entire time on Muina, the forested planet she wormholes away to, I was not worried once for her survival or whether she'd make it. To be fair, she does reflect on her past entries, and says that she doesn't come across as scared and nervous and upset and she really has been. But then, I can't see anything she doesn't write in her diary! So she tells us that she's more scared and upset, but I have a hard time believing it because I'm not shown it at any point. As a side note, I did find it weird that her immediate assumption upon finding herself in an unknown forest is that it must be another planet or dimension. Normally people have to work up to that idea, no matter how much they like fantasy or science fiction.
I felt a lot of the characters were extremely under developed. Most of the Setari were shown as unemotional fighting robots, who didn't have any social skills whatsoever. The First Squad has the most personality, though I had a hard time keeping their personalities separate. Although they had more page time than the other squads, it was broken up enough by tons of introductions to new characters that it was difficult to remember that Mara and Lohn were supposed to be in a relationship, or which talents which person had. There was a point when several squads were on the same mission that I realized I was reading new names that I didn't remember being introduced to at all, never mind remembering their talents and personalities. Zan might be the only one that was slightly rounded, if only because we were able to see how she responded to hardship and how she became more comfortable with Cass the longer the story went on.
Cass was a difficult character to pin down, just because I don't know enough about her to describe her traits. She is described (all things that other characters call her throughout the book because, again, I was told not shown all these things) as too compliant (by several people who then continue to use her), as lazy (by herself), and unintelligent (they have to reassess her intelligence because since she can't pass kindergarten in their language until 2/3 into the book they assume she is dumb). I do admit though, that you can really feel the homesickness she feels and how sad she is that she might not see her family again. That is, until
The rest of the world building was pretty decent, and I did enjoy all of the different scenes and setting placed throughout the Ena (the psychic area filled with 'gates' to memories of other worlds). It was creative and unique, as well as the interplanetary relationships, I enjoyed that minor aspect as well.
The plot was bogged down and felt like it dragged. I can sum it up right here: medical, training, some action, medical, training, some action, medical, training, some action. Repeat that over a million times and you have a gist of the book. Every time something "big" happened it was back to medical to start this all over again. It was very boring and didn't spark any sort of feeling like there were many climaxes throughout the novel, just that it was repetitive.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. It was overly long and dragged, and there was little to no connection with any of the characters. Premise is a great idea, just executed poorly in my opinion.
Stray begins with Cass, an Aussie teen, accidentally stepping through a wormhole and finds herself in the middle of the forest on a completely different planet. She tries to survive until she is rescued by the Setari, a group of psychic warriors from the planet Tare. They take her back to their planet and process her as a 'stray', a displaced person who has stumbled through the ever increasing tears between worlds. Once there, she struggles to find her place within the Taren people, and get a handle on the nanotech computer that is injected in her brain as well as everyone else's. She also struggles to learn the language. Like, really, really struggles. Enough that I don't think she says a full sentence throughout the entire novel. Not even a simple sentence like "I like cats." No, its more like "like cat" throughout the entire novel. And then she is astounded when they think she is dumb!
The diary format hurts this novel pretty bad. I didn't feel any sort of connection to Cass throughout the entire thing. She comes across very removed from the situation, and her entire time on Muina, the forested planet she wormholes away to, I was not worried once for her survival or whether she'd make it. To be fair, she does reflect on her past entries, and says that she doesn't come across as scared and nervous and upset and she really has been. But then, I can't see anything she doesn't write in her diary! So she tells us that she's more scared and upset, but I have a hard time believing it because I'm not shown it at any point. As a side note, I did find it weird that her immediate assumption upon finding herself in an unknown forest is that it must be another planet or dimension. Normally people have to work up to that idea, no matter how much they like fantasy or science fiction.
I felt a lot of the characters were extremely under developed. Most of the Setari were shown as unemotional fighting robots, who didn't have any social skills whatsoever. The First Squad has the most personality, though I had a hard time keeping their personalities separate. Although they had more page time than the other squads, it was broken up enough by tons of introductions to new characters that it was difficult to remember that Mara and Lohn were supposed to be in a relationship, or which talents which person had. There was a point when several squads were on the same mission that I realized I was reading new names that I didn't remember being introduced to at all, never mind remembering their talents and personalities. Zan might be the only one that was slightly rounded, if only because we were able to see how she responded to hardship and how she became more comfortable with Cass the longer the story went on.
Cass was a difficult character to pin down, just because I don't know enough about her to describe her traits. She is described (all things that other characters call her throughout the book because, again, I was told not shown all these things) as too compliant (by several people who then continue to use her), as lazy (by herself), and unintelligent (they have to reassess her intelligence because since she can't pass kindergarten in their language until 2/3 into the book they assume she is dumb).
Spoiler
Due to her ability of enhancing others power through touch, she is on the side skirts of many battles and things that should be exciting. However, it was hard to get into these moments because she doesn't DO anything during them. Just stands there and watches the others fight while they take turns tapping her arm to power up. Any moment of action Cass does see, she immediately faints. Seriously, she faints 4 or more times throughout the novel. It makes it very hard to respect her and think "wow what a warrior, she's really fighting through all these obstacles and stretching her own limits." It just feels like a cop out so she can be rescued by her creepy stalkerish type crush Ruuel.Spoiler
part way into the book when she is magically transported into Earth's "near space". Not quite Earth but close enough to see shadows and memories of the world. Here she communicates with her family that she is safe. After that, she barely attempts to return home at all, and even refuses an opportunity for help to try and get her home. Careful there, Mary Sue, don't trip over your own self sacrifice.The rest of the world building was pretty decent, and I did enjoy all of the different scenes and setting placed throughout the Ena (the psychic area filled with 'gates' to memories of other worlds). It was creative and unique, as well as the interplanetary relationships, I enjoyed that minor aspect as well.
The plot was bogged down and felt like it dragged. I can sum it up right here: medical, training, some action, medical, training, some action, medical, training, some action. Repeat that over a million times and you have a gist of the book. Every time something "big" happened it was back to medical to start this all over again. It was very boring and didn't spark any sort of feeling like there were many climaxes throughout the novel, just that it was repetitive.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. It was overly long and dragged, and there was little to no connection with any of the characters. Premise is a great idea, just executed poorly in my opinion.