Book Review: Stray by Rachel Vincent

Review: Stray
Series: Shifter Series – Book 1
Author: Rachel Vincent
No of Pages: 618
Release Date: 1 June 2010

I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I’d been warned about Strays – werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back... for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever and whoever--I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays--'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them...

My Thoughts:

I can’t believe I didn’t read this earlier, it was absolutely fantastic.

I will be honest and say that the sheer size of Stray did deter me from it for a couple of months. But once I started I couldn’t stop.

Faythe is not only a tom-boy and extremely stubborn. She is resourceful and smart and can absolutely kick butt when she needs to. She is trying to lead a normal life away from her Pride by going to college and having a normal boyfriend.

Inevitably she gets called home, because someone is hunting down tabbies (females) and she could very well be next on the list.

Even after being put under 24 hour surveillance Faythe is kidnapped by a psychotic jungle stray, one of the most dangerous breeds of cat known to them. She is held against her will in a prison with only a sobbing teenager, an empty coffee can and the stench of blood to keep her company.

Faythe could become one of my favourite female characters with the way she is going. She is smart mouthed and not afraid to pick a fight with someone bigger than her...and win. No matter what kind of situation she was put in, she never lost hope and always tried to find a way to escape, whether that be her prison or her bedroom. She could be a complete girl at times as well though which brought her character flawlessly together.

Vincent also did very well in fleshing out the other characters even though we were told the story through Faythe's eyes, we got a good insight into her father, brothers, ex-lover Marc and close friend Jace.

I will be honest and say that I don’t like Marc; I am definitely on team Jace for this one. Marc is too intense for my taste, which is understandable because of his job as an enforcer (which is like were-cat FBI) and background as a mistreated stray. Although it’s understandable, I still don’t like his possessiveness and short temper with other males. What I do like however is Faythe’s strength to stand up to him.

I really liked Jace; he was definitely my kind of guy, funny, laid back yet serious when needed. His role as close family friend and brother like relationship with Faythe maturing after she comes home is really sweet and well paced, too bad Marc kept getting in the way.

Vincent had an odd style that noticeably changed throughout Stray. In the first ten chapters there were too many words, too many embellished sentences and too many unneeded statements memorably the three sentences needed to describe how Ethan (Faythe’s brother) pulled himself off the bed using the end post.

Yet after the initial greetings and falling back into rhythm at Faythe’s home, the style changed to exceptionally good writing and gut wrenching emotion. Stray literally pulls you in after those initial chapters and literally will not let go.

The only other thing that got on my nerves was the ending. It ended just like that, no tying off loose ends or wrapping anything up. It just stopped.

Aside from the minor flaws Stray is absolutely incredible. It has strong characters and an even stronger plot. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next in this series as soon as possible.

Others in this series:
Rogue
Pride
Prey
Shift
Alpha

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