Faythe’s pack is preparing werecats of North America are
poised on the edge of the civil war…
Until a new threat appears – Thunderbirds. None of them
are used to fighting the birds and they scrabble desperately to find some way
to stop the assault
As ever, Faythe and her fellow tabbies are prime targets.
This book has opened the world building of the series a
lot more to include another of the shapeshifter creatures that occupy this
world. The Thunderbirds
It
would have been really nice if “Thunderbirds” actually involved even a shred of
Native American mythology beyond just the word. Instead it just means “werebird”.
Actually, given the “spicy latinos” of the first book, I think I’m leery of
wishing this book includes more than its two token latino characters.
The werebirds themselves are relatively interesting –
especially since they seem to show a very different culture which should,
really, be a wonderful challenge to all that is wrong with werecat culture. It’s
not patriarchal and it’s completely non-hierarchical. I also like how they’ve
adopted a level of avian nature into the shapeshifters with things like carrion
eating. One of the many complaints I’ve had of the werecat world building is
how it has failed to really establish them as cats (like they keep going for “runs”.
Cats play in many ways, but they’re not wolves, they’re not endurance runners)
While the world building of the Thunderbirds is
interesting and I’d actually like to see more of this new society, the plot is
just a bit meh
The Thunderbirds are attacking… but the sheer inability
of them to actually sensibly change their decisions is… dubious
Similarly the werecats inability to come up with any
strategy to fight back seems equally dubious. All they did was cower inside,
completely unable to fight back against a Thunderbird strategy that seemed
limited to picking them up (sometimes needing 2 birds) and the dropping them.
On top of that we had an equally dubious decision for Faythe and Kaci to go
running off virtually unguarded for their own safety
This is a classic hallmark of dubious decisions pushing a
plot that has a gaping hole in it. This whole decision is there to keep Faythe
centred on the plot line rather than find a more obvious solution that actually
makes sense but doesn’t involve her (like call in other pack members and
telling them to come with guns).
Another significant portion of the book is consumed by a
ridiculously tiresome love triangle which has designated-love-interest-but-not-really
being eternally distracted by the need to rebel and arm wrestle Mark. It
consumes a lot of pages and really shows that he’d make a terrible Alpha simply
because he cannot focus on the task at hand
Like with the last few books I have to return to how this
series is ruined
by the awfulness of the first book (and, to a lesser extent, the second).
The thing is, while I think there is a considerable amount of author regret
over that book, there’s no real walking back what happened in that first book
and the context of that continues on.
One of the most galling of which is the continued
comparison of Faythe to Kaci (I think there was even a deliberate choice to
give them unusually spelled names to emphasise the similarities). Kaci is in
the same position that Faythe was in book one – rebellious, determined to
insert herself while everyone (Faythe included) tries to shelter and protect
her. She is even hunted by ALL THE THINGS because she is a Tabby and that’s
basically what this entire world is built on – precious
objects-who-are-not-people
But Kaci is 13. A child. As such a level of sheltering and making decisions for her is to be expected because childhood. Faythe wasn’t. Faythe wasn’t a child and, while her tone was generally annoying, her wishes (to go to college, have a boyfriend of her choosing) was not unreasonable or childish. But that is now how her actions in the first book are represented. Faythe, a woman making her own decisions, was a childish rebel who needed to grow up. And now she has. And that is terrible framing
Which is why I’m also taking back the whole idea that the
later books are better because Faythe is now giving advice, having ideas and
being respected by her fellows. Yes, totally taking it back. Because while it’s
all true the ONLY reason this is the case is because Faythe has made the MAN
APPROVED DECISION. This can’t be stressed enough – in the first book she was
shamed, infantilised and imprisoned. She is now “respected” but only because
she’s completely given up on everything she wanted in the first book.
Coupled with the ongoing problem of Kaci and Manx being
little more than items to be owned and controlled, we still have several
problems with the depiction of women. We have Faythe’s mother sort of stepping
up – it seems to be a book thing now for her to stand up, make a pretty speech-
which is, yes, admittedly kind of awesome and strong. And then she fades back
to the kitchen. We’re told that she’s a leader and a force to be reckoned with
but we only get these tiny events which do less to reinforce this than suggest
the author has just remembered she’s supposed to be a major force. And,
apparently, the only female werecat who is.
I have to say this book series has managed to come a long
way from the depths of the first book – but it hasn’t been smooth and at least
some of that has been avoiding the issues. A lot of the misogyny of the “good”
werecats has mellowed – but only because Faythe is now on message. The terrible
racism is no longer apparent – but only because we no longer have South American
werecats as antagonists. In some ways it feels like these problems have gone
simply because everyone is walking around it and Not Talking About it. Sadly
even with this improved, I simply don’t find the book very fun. The plot is too
weak and driven by dubious decisions, distracted by a love triangle and poorly
paced for me to really enjoy it.
