Book Review: Shift

Title: Shift (Book 5)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Series: Shifters
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Synopsis: 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….

Character Review:

• Faythe: Faythe Sanders is unlike any character I have read, which is why she has become one of my favorite characters. She is strong, mouthy, independent and most of imperfect! I love imperfect characters and Rachel Vincent does a fabulous job of making this infinitely flawed character so likable. Throughout the Shifters series we have seen trememdous growth in Faythe as person and as potential leader of her family's Pride. In Shift we see a more mature, serious and sympathetic Faythe. This is the first book int the Shifters series that I haven't wanted to smack her. After her indiscretion with Jace in the previous book, I was ready to give up on her because though I had been disappointed in her at times throughout the series, I was seriously pissed at her after reading Prey and I was fuming that I would have to wait six months to know the fallout. Faythe redeems herself fairly well in Shift as she deals with the guilt of her infidelity, her growing love for Jace and the grief over Ethan's death. In Shift we are given more insight as to why she did what she did with Jace. We also see how much Marc andtheir relationship truly means to her. When we leave in Shift we see her as a formidable character who has come into her potential and makes us anxious to see her in her role as Alpha.


• Marc: Oh, Marc...Whereas readers have a love-hate relationship with Faythe, they either totally love him or totally hate him. One thing neither can disagree about is his loving loyalty to Faythe. I personally love Marc and have since the first book. I love how he brings out the best and the worst in Faythe. I love how no matter what he always stands by Faythe. And this quality is even more enhanced in Shift. His reaction to Faythe's infidelity is not surprising at all. Knowing Marc as we do we expected his anger and we also expected him to still want to be with her even after she slept with Jace. However the most surprising part of his reaction was his vulnerablity. We've seen Marc pissed and worried, but we aren't used to seeing him vulnerable. It costs him a lot to give Faythe the choice between him and Jace. Though frustrating, his response made him more likable in my eyes.


• Jace: I like the character of Jace. I liked him better as the one half of the Ethan-Jace persona, than as the angry and grieving Jace we find in Shift. Even though I do like Jace I absolutely hate him as a love interest for Faythe. We get to know him better in this book and the more I know the less I want him with Faythe. His love for Faythe, while no doubt is genuine, is also very unrealistic. He loves her for who he thinks she is not for who she actually is. I do not like how possessive he becomes of Faythe, even to the point of overstepping Marc's place in her life. His lack of respect for Marc and Faythe's relationship is more displayed in this book. Jace has a lot of potential to be a strong character and I am sure that in the final book of the series he will fully grow into that potential.
  

Overall Review: Good Bad or Ugly

While this is not my favorite book of the series it is a fast-paced enjoyable read. It is not as emotionally charged as the four previous books making it a nice transition book between Prey and the highly anticipated final book of the series Alpha (available October 2010). New plot lines and even a love triangle between secondary characters keep the the reader interested and makes him eager for the the next book.

**This book cannot stand on its own. I recommend that you read the first four books of the series before attempting this one. Stray, Rogue, Pride, and Prey