Review: Shift (Shifters, Book 5) by Rachel Vincent

Shift (Shifters, Book 5) by Rachel Vincent

441 pages, Adult Urban Fantasy

Mira (March 1, 2010)

$7.99 (Amazon, Paperback) $5.76 (Amazon, Kindle)

Procurement

I purchased this on Amazon.com. Thank you for shipping this one early!

My Grade

Plot: 4

Setting: 4

Writing: 4

Originality: 5

Characters: 4

Passion: 4

Overall: 25/30 = 83% = B

Cover/Title Bonus: 4

SPOILER ALERT!

I do  NOT put spoilers in my reviews; however, the SUMMARY and TRAILER are chock full of them! If you haven’t read PREY please do NOT read/watch those sections!

Summary (Amazon) (SPOILER!)

Being the first female werecat enforcer isn't easy. Scars accumulate, but I'm stronger in so many ways.

As for my personal life? It's complicated. Choices worth making always are. Ever since my brother's death and my father's impeachment, it's all I can do to prevent more blood from spilling. Now our Pride is under attack by a flight of vicious thunderbirds. And making peace with our new enemies may be the only way to get the best of our old foe.

With the body count rising and treachery everywhere, my instincts tell me to look before I leap. But sometimes a leap of faith is the only real option….

First Line(s)

“You should leave. Now.” My father’s growl of warning resonated in some dark, primal part of me, and suddenly I craved torn flesh and fresh blood glistening in moonlight. Wave after wave of bloodlust crashed over me and I swayed beneath the onslaught, struggling to control it. We would have justice for (spoiler). But this was not the time. Not the place. – page 1, Shift by Rachel Vincent

Trailer (SPOILER!!!!)

Please watch at your own risk! If you haven’t read PREY do NOT watch this!

Plot

Wow. I was impressed by the new happenings and the continued happenings. With that said, I found Shift to be anti-climatic. Yes, there was a high point to the story but it didn’t seem like the series advanced too much. It honestly felt like a filler episode such as a recap of Survivor on Thanksgiving night.

The things I wanted to see happen and be resolved didn’t happen. Instead I know they’ll happen in Alpha and that’s cool but I wanted them to happen now, in this book, or at least half way happen. Or something.

Setting

A lot happens on the Sander’s ranch. Then there’s a road trip to New Mexico and to the Malone territory. The thunderbird nest in NM was brilliantly described. I would be terrified to be in that place. Good grief!

Writing

I’m not sure what made Rachel veer off track so much. I’m not sure if she truly didn’t want this series to end or if she was looking for a new species to continue in a new series? I loved the adventure she sent them on but I honestly felt it was the wrong time to be doing it.

Or maybe she just had this brilliant idea to write about thunderbirds. It is a brilliant idea, loved it, just not in this spot of the series.

The outcome of this book only ensures that Faythe’s Pride has an upper hand when it comes time to war with the other prides. It also guarantees us that the rest of the unanswered topics will be addressed in Alpha because, oh boy, are there unanswered topics.

To Rachel

Rachel, I loved the plot of this book and I love your writing but I wanted MORE of what we had in Prey. I wanted heart ache and kick ass action. I wanted tension and a huge obstacle to overcome. Honestly I think you out did yourself in Prey and I’ll probably have a hard time ever reading something that was so perfectly written. I can honestly say that I can not wait for Alpha and I’m really wondering how you’ll pull it all off in only one more book.

Originality

Holy flying people Batman! Thunderbirds. How cool are they!? They were really cool. I loved them. They were truly unique and different and completely unexpected, which is a good thing but also a bad thing.

As I noted on above I felt like the series went a totally different direction once these guys were introduced. Instead of tackling the issue of the Pride war we sidestepped it to deal with these new creatures. The adventure was fun but it took away from my intense desire to embark on the war, the justice for You Know Who, and of course the huge tension triangle that is Faythe, Marc and Jace. I was truly disappointed that these issues were pushed to the side. Yes, they’ll make an awesome series ending book but I’m still disappointed.

Characters

The usual characters are present. The thunderbird adventure is taken by Faythe, Kaci, Marc and Jace, with Faythe, Marc and Jace being the most active.

Faythe has another encounter with tequila, which could have gone much worse and I honestly wished it would have. The “coming out” wasn’t as climatic as I’d hope it would be. It was actually predictable and I didn’t want it to be. Again, I’m back to hating that this wasn’t addressed fully. It was just skimmed over.

Passion

Yeah. Love triangle continues to build ever increasing tension between Faythe, Marc and Jace.

Also, I love showers and Faythe should take more showers. ;)

Don’t ask me who I think she should marry or crown mate of Alpha. I honestly couldn’t pick. I <3 Marc because he’s Marc but I have a soft spot for Jace. He really steps it up in this book where Faythe is concerned.

Obviously this isn’t resolved in this book. Again, I’m totally and completely disappointed about that. It will be addressed in Alpha. It just has to be. I just hope no one dies and that Faythe is really, truly happy with her choice. I can’t imagine it to be an easy choice at all and I’m wondering what factors she’ll be weighting to make her decision. :(

Overall

An awesome adventure with new and amazing thunderbird creatures; lacks in advancement to the series as a whole. It left me feeling incomplete. The ending was too tidy and left me wondering why I so wanted to read this book. The only thing, besides the awesome adventure, it did was ensure that all the other issues will be addressed in Alpha.

And why did it make Faythe seem so weak? She has way too many injuries in this book. Of course she’s not weak but damn, that girl must have gotten at least two crazy ass scars in this book!

Cover/Title Bonus

Amazing title and the cover is nice but Faythe never wears anything like the girl on the cover. Small detail but noticeable.

Series

If you haven’t read this series it really is an awesome series. Rachel is a fantastic writer and I can’t wait to see what she dishes out next!

Stray (Shifters) by Rachel Vincent

Rogue by Rachel Vincent

Pride (Shifters) by Rachel Vincent

Prey (Shifters) by Rachel Vincent

Shift (The Shifters, Book 5) by Rachel Vincent

 

Alpha (Shifters, Book 6) will release October 2010.

Have you read Shift yet? Link your review in the comments. I’m interested in reading others options.

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