Shift – Rachel Vincent
March 19, 2010 in Reviews
- Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
- Rachel Vincent’s Website
- List Price: $ 7.99 US/$9.99 CDN
- Publisher: Mira; (March 1, 2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0778327604
- ISBN-13: 978-0778327608
Buy Shift at:
**This book blurb & review contains spoilers from the previous novel, Prey**
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….
In the last Shifter’s book (Prey) all sorts of things happen to Faythe Saunders & her pride. Marc was exiled, Ethan was killed (sniffle) and Faythe & Jace slept together, which triggered Jace’s Alpha instincts.
Shift is a straight continuation of what’s happened in Prey, dealing with Ethan’s death and Faythe trying to figure out how to tell Marc she slept with Jace. On top of that drama, there’s a Pride War about to break out between Faythe’s Pride & Carl Malone’s (Jace’s step-father) and the other Prides are taking sides, than there are the Thunderbirds attacking the Pride & kidnapping Kaci.
I love Rachel Vincent’s writing, is always fast-paced & you don’t know who she’s going to decide to kill off! I’m still irritated with her for killing off Ethan, but killing off Ethan has led to Jace’s alpha instincts. He’s not following orders from Marc and he’s up in Faythe’s face telling her she hasto decide, him or Marc. People are starting to notice the change in Jace, but they think it’s a direct result of losing his best-friend, Ethan. Faythe keeps bs’ing and saying it’s not the right time to tell Marc, with Kaci being held and the Pride War looming. Really Faythe, is there ever a good time to say you cheated? Suck it up. Of course she’s also dealing with all the death’s around her and her place in the pride. Now she has this big issue with the boys to decide on, because whomever she doesn’t choose cannot stay in the Pride.
While I loved Shift, I had some issues. The Pride War has been really dragging out, I just want it to happen already! The book also ended with things between Faythe, Marc & Jace just hanging. There’s no hint to whom Faythe will choose, it was just left there. Faythe bugged me in this book, she just kept making too many excuses not to tell Marc! One of these two issues HAS to conclude at some point right? Well it does, October 1st comes the last book in the series. Grr. That’s why I wished Faythe had at least picked between Marc & Jace, cause I feel like book 6 won’t be able to close the series unless she picks right at the start of the book.
In anycase, if you love face-paced shifter goodness packed with a love triangle….grab Shift. But don’t yell at me when you get hooked.
Yeah, Faythe is getting to feel a bit bad-romance-novel-heroin-ish in the relationship department. That’s a good bit of why I’ve been holding off reading Shift even though I’ve already got it.
Lately I just don’t have the patience to read a book where the protagonist is indecisive in romantic matters. Let me tell you, that has killed off nearly all of the PR genre books for me and a hefty chunk of Contemporary and Urban Fantasy books as well. It’s like being sent to the hell of nails on a chalkboard, with some wailing, gnashing of teeth, and book throwing tossed in for good measure.
It kills me. There are as many plot-related ways to throw curve balls into a prospective relationship as the author can imagine. For some reason though, they always seem to fall back on the same two: Indecisive protagonist and gun-shy of any relationship protagonist. Seriously, if they’re lacking for an idea other than those two, check out a Charlaine Harris book or five; she’s used different ones for each love interest Sookie has had so far.
Bleh, now I’ve worked up a good grouchy.
It really irked me, just get it the hell over with and man up to screwing around. I hate when things drag out over more than 2 books.
I don’t mind a really wide plot item dragging on for several books, like wtf is up with the Black Council in Jim Butcher’s Dresden series, but an extremely specific issue should be resolved either in the same book or the very next.
SHUSH! I just got the first 3 Dresden books this week!!
See, it wouldn’t be true to Faythe’s character to man up to it at first…. i mean she has grown over the series but not that much LMAO. We have really only had 1 book of her love indecision, it could be worse…. it could be like 8! (I am looking at you Sookie!)
The black council thing does get to be tedious, but for some reason I don’t mind it so much….. but it does drag out and lots of time goes by inbetween books.
Awe, give Sookie a break. She generally makes a decision on a guy within a single book and sticks with it until something external happens to change matters. S’one of the things I dig about her.
The time between books thing in the series used to bug me too, until I looked at a timeline someone did up figured out it’s only going slightly faster than real time on average. Now I’m not so much bothered by it as I am completely undecided. I suppose he does it because it allows him to write events that otherwise wouldn’t have time to actually happen.
That is interesting Buzz…. I didnt realize the timeline was matching up that way!
She’s grown?! How do you figure, girlfriend needs me to direct her life!
HA! You are in for some seriously good reading then. He’s hands down the best UF author I’ve read.
Ha! I told you Nat!!! I have been trying to convince her to read Butcher for MONTHS!
Yeah yeah, bite me Tiff!
When I get the damn time to start em!
Damnit, woman, make time! Jim Butcher is easily as important to the world of literature as John Wayne was to the world of film.
she was boycotting solely on the fact that Butcher is hairy…. LMAO
Oh dear god I forgot I told you about that! LOL
*snort* I have a bunch of review ARC’s I need to get through, 3-4 of em this weekend/next week. I promise I’ll get there.
And I can’t believe you just damnit woman’d me!!
Feh, after the both of you using “man up”, I refuse to believe you’re bothered by that unless you just want to be.
I actually laughed out loud. I’ve never been damnit woman’d before, leave it to you to damnit me!
Ha! Got your damnit woman cherry! I blame it on too much Trek back when I was a kid and on your name not being Jim.
Was it as good for you as it wasn’t for me? LOL It’s an all around cherry popping week here!
hmmm no one popped any of my cherries this week, i feel left out.
I pop your cherry hourly on twitter. Bite me.
oh, thats what that strange poke is….. that explains so much.
Strange? Dont even go there Tiff, I will mess you up!