REVIEW: Stray

Author: Rachel Vincent

2007, Mira

Filed Under: Horror, Romance, Chick Lit, Thrillers, Young Adult

C4 Ratings.....out of	10
Language.....	3
Entertainment.....	5
Depth.....	3

I’m not sure I can say that I liked Stray. I wouldn’t read it again and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else (unless they were a werecat enthusiast, in which case I’m sure it would come to mind, and I would bring it up, and I would say, check this shit out). But I did read it in one week. Which says something.

First, a few fun facts about werecats:

1. Werecats have this amazing sense of smell. Lines including descriptions such as: “my citrus-scented pants” and “wholesome femininity layered with Herbal Essences and cherry Bubble Yum” really clue the reader in.  Over and over and over again
2. Werecats do not have nine lives. As the protagonist puts it, “that would be cool, though.” Maybe her werebabies will have that gene?
3. Good werecats don’t eat human flesh. Bad “strays” do.

Did I mention that I trash-picked this book from the trash? Yep. Found this gem on the side of the road. Look at the cover: You would have picked it up, too. There’s a sex kitten right on the cover and you wonder, is that a tattoo on her lower back, or a scratch mark?

I’m not always a fast reader. Sometimes I forget my book at home and end up spending the day with the Metro. Or I switch around, hopping from story to story.

One week says something. It says that I opted to read about werecat love triangles when I could have been out at the bar or catching up on my new favorite British teen drama, “Skins” or, you know, going to the library for a better book. It says that I remembered to bring it with me to work everyday so that I could read it on the train and on the elliptical machine at the gym. It says that I maybe hunted around my room for it late one night when it was hiding under my blankets and I really wanted to know whether or not the protagonist was going to be raped by the bad guy.

Was there a lot of character development? Not really.

There’s the main girl – you know the one. You want to be her when you grow up because she’s super tough, and clever, and all the mistakes she makes are adorable. Her name is Faith, but spelled, awkwardly, as “Faythe”. While the book is written from Faythe’s perspective, the reader never really knows what she’s going to do next. All this insight into her mind and still you’re surprised when she suddenly goes from hating her home life to leading the pack.

She also dresses like an uber-slut, but this is not exactly because she’s a whore. It’s because werecats are so used to seeing other werecats naked that halter tops are actually sexier to their kind than straight up nudity.

Faythe’s intelligence is illustrated in several scenes, but her depth is best summed up in the following passage:

Time was the great constant, eternally measuring my life in the ticks of a hundred second hands, the tocks of a thousand pendulums. It portioned my life into good times and bad times, the former too short, and the latter too long.

Other than the main girl, there are several guys she fucks/wants to fuck:  her college boyfriend, her high school sweetheart, this sexy guy named Jace. Plus the bad foreign guys (who are mostly “strays,” or cats that are not born into the weredom). Along with the were-boys, there are about a dozen family members and an even more extended werecat network (in wereworld, they refer to these extended pods as “Prides”). I got a little lost trying to keep track of who belonged to what family, but I did scan the pages trying to figure out who Faythe would finally choose to love.

Even with Faythe’s indecision regarding her next boyfriend, Stray is predictable. I mean, it’s a book about a mythological creature living among us and trying to save her people from the evil plans of similar creatures who are not as pure bred or morally strident. Guess what happens? Despite the predictability, it’s an entertaining, light read. It’s also a great for people who are interested in reading about things like disembowelment, intestines, and throat-ripping.

And there are moments in the book where some of the lines make no sense. For instance, someone, anyone, please explain the following excerpt to me:

Our eyes met. I have no idea what mine looked like, but his would have comfortably seated several little green men apiece.

I’m sure this book has spawned a series. The author left the ending nice and open for a sequel, or a prequel, or an entire series of similar ejaculations if she should chooses. However, unlike the Harry Potter books or the Twilight series, I don’t feel compelled to immediately go out and buy the next book. Because I don’t care what happens to Faythe next. Even worse, I bet a second book would follow the same plot lines and love choices. Yawn.

But then again, if I see it in another recycling bin outside, I’ll grab that shit right up.

Similar (But Better) Reads: The Twilight Saga (Meyer) & the Sookie Stackhouse series (Harris). For worse: http://paranormalromanceblog.com (“a harelquin romance blog devoted to paranormal love”).