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A review by meringued
Stray by Andrea K. Höst
3.0
3.5 stars
I had no idea what to expect from this book going in; I didn't even really know what it was about, and I had zero idea it was science fiction. So that was a (delightful!) surprise.
The story is narrated by Cass through her diary entries. The narration felt very real, with confusion, profanity, slang, and pop culture references. Cass felt like a real high school student who wandered into an unknown world, and I think very few books capture that "realness" as well as this one did. Cass doesn't know everything, she isn't good at fighting (she doesn't even want to exercise most of the time- true realness), she doesn't enjoy her specialness but just wants to go home and be normal. In a way, the narration reminded me of [b:Wolf Tower|293395|Wolf Tower (Claidi Journals, #1)|Tanith Lee|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391128560s/293395.jpg|1279335] by Tanith Lee, which is high praise. Claidi and Cass have a lot in common. There is also no romance in this book, but hints of romance to come. I don't know if that is a positive or negative for you, so take that as you will.
The story is very unique and original (although, I don't read much science fiction). Höst has created a complex world, and there is obviously a lot left to be explored in the sequels. I did feel confused about a lot of the world introduced, and I'm not sure if that is due to Cass' confusion, her Australian way of talking, or simply the way it was explained wasn't very clear. There was also SO much infodumping that come by way of Cass taking classes and learning from textbooks, which got tedious after a while. The middle drags due to the sheer amount of explanations given about the world.
I will definitely be back for more, of the Touchstone trilogy and Höst's other books.
I had no idea what to expect from this book going in; I didn't even really know what it was about, and I had zero idea it was science fiction. So that was a (delightful!) surprise.
The story is narrated by Cass through her diary entries. The narration felt very real, with confusion, profanity, slang, and pop culture references. Cass felt like a real high school student who wandered into an unknown world, and I think very few books capture that "realness" as well as this one did. Cass doesn't know everything, she isn't good at fighting (she doesn't even want to exercise most of the time- true realness), she doesn't enjoy her specialness but just wants to go home and be normal. In a way, the narration reminded me of [b:Wolf Tower|293395|Wolf Tower (Claidi Journals, #1)|Tanith Lee|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391128560s/293395.jpg|1279335] by Tanith Lee, which is high praise. Claidi and Cass have a lot in common. There is also no romance in this book, but hints of romance to come. I don't know if that is a positive or negative for you, so take that as you will.
The story is very unique and original (although, I don't read much science fiction). Höst has created a complex world, and there is obviously a lot left to be explored in the sequels. I did feel confused about a lot of the world introduced, and I'm not sure if that is due to Cass' confusion, her Australian way of talking, or simply the way it was explained wasn't very clear. There was also SO much infodumping that come by way of Cass taking classes and learning from textbooks, which got tedious after a while. The middle drags due to the sheer amount of explanations given about the world.
I will definitely be back for more, of the Touchstone trilogy and Höst's other books.