Friday, December 21, 2012

Shifted Perspective by J. Bridger


Title: Shifted Perspective
Author: J. Bridger
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Length: about 231 pages (ebook)

Caleb is a senior in high school with a pretty normal life, when he wakes up one day as a Cocker Spaniel. He soon learns that it runs in the family; his mother was a carrier, and he is a runt (because he changed years later than normal). He goes to stay with his mom's side of the family in California, so he can become part of the pack and learn the ways of the shifters.

This was a neat spin on the usual shifter mythology. I love shifters, and the idea of there being a hierarchy based on the type of animal you shift into is pretty cool and not something I've seen before.

So I liked the idea, and the main plot line involving a serious of mysterious murders that seem to be the work of a rogue werewolf was pretty interesting. But I did have some issues, which seem easiest to describe in point form:

  1. This is kind of minor, but the shifters are real jerks in this book. I found I didn't care for that. Their disdain for humans and thinking they're so superior was a little tiresome.
  2. When Caleb calls his (ex-)girlfriend, a high school journalist, to California to help solve the mystery, that just felt like a plot device to get her there to complicate things. First of all, it was weird that a teenager was working on solving a mystery rather than going to the pack leader or just letting someone else deal with it, but calling in a high school journalist because she's good at figuring things out?
  3. There are a couple of pages of racism regarding the Romani people. They are called gypsies, described as having magical powers and being the enemies of the shifters, and Caleb says that he didn't think they existed anymore. It was actually hard to read.
So, there were things that bugged me. Overall it was an enjoyable story, though, and I'll probably check out the next book in the series.

3 stars.

Full disclosure: Free ebook copy received from the author.

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