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Black Dog (2014)

by Rachel Neumeier(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1908844833 (ISBN13: 9781908844835)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Strange Chemistry

review 1: I gave this book four stars because I was completely absorbed by it from beginning to end. But looking back, I feel like this book was more of a warmup than a self-contained story. I know there will be another book in this series coming out next year, but I wanted to see a lot more character development. I am especially hoping that Neumeier resolves the romantic part of the plot into something a little bit less... creepy. Natividad, the main female character in the story, is only 15 at the time this story is happening, and has promised to choose a husband by age 16—about four months from when the story begins. Her primary suitor is attracted to her before even knowing her, and acts violently possessive of her from the get go. The degree to which Natividad is treated as a... moren asset in this story, rather than as a person, has me (and, thankfully, her) feeling at least a little bit uncomfortable. I'd like to see this resolved in the following book... in a way that doesn't make me feel gross for reading it.
review 2: I loved Ms. Neumeier's The Floating Islands and House of Shadows - they were both elegant, cool (in the metaphorical temperature sense) fantasies, so I was excited to read Black Dog. However, it's a very different kettle of fish - much more upfront action fantasy/ paranormal romance. The world building is exemplary - I enjoyed the black dog lore very much, though the idea of the Pure was never really fully explicated. Natividad, the main character, is one of those heroines who is drippy until she decides to do something absurdly dangerous, and I rolled my eyes at her romance with the hunky Ezekiel. I appreciated the effort of making the several characters Mexican, but the use of Spanish phrases, which then had to be translated, was a bit clunky. Nonetheless, I still keep an eye out for more from this terrific writer. less

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