Other Review

Title: Other

Author: Karen Kincy

Released: July 2010 by Flux

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Gwen hides a dangerous secret: she’s Other. Half-pooka, to be exact, thanks to the father she never met. Most Americans don’t exactly roll out the welcome mat for Others, especially not the small-town folks of Klikamuks, Washington. As if this isn’t bad enough, Gwen’s on the brink of revealing her true identity to her long-time boyfriend, Zack, but she’s scared he’ll lump her with the likes of bloodthirsty vampires and feral werewolves.

When a pack of werewolves chooses the national forest behind Gwen’s home as their new territory, the tensions in Klikamuks escalate-into murder. It soon becomes clear a serial killer is methodically slaying Others. The police turn a blind eye, leaving Gwen to find the killer before the killer finds her. As she hunts for clues, she uncovers more Others living nearby than she ever expected. Like Tavian, a sexy Japanese fox-spirit who rivals Zack and challenges her to embrace her Otherness. Gwen must struggle with her own conflicted identity, learn who she can trust, and-most importantly-stay alive.

 Outstanding debut! Karen Kincy does a fantastic job weaving our world with a mythological one, a place were all beings can coexist. Can you imagine seeing a centaur in the produce aisle - it would definitely make grocery shopping a lot more interesting. Karen takes a current problem in our world and develops this amazing story around it. The story itself is great, but it is the underlying lesson it teaches that makes me love it.

Gwen is "Other" a mythological creature that has the magical power to shape shift. In her small town Others are looked down upon. She longs for the day when she can change freely. Her family is very supportive, but are also strict on her shape-shifting. Gwen's shape-shifting gene seems to get her in a lot of trouble. The pooka(shape-shifting) side kinda reminded of ADHD, she acts without thinking things through sometimes.

When a pack of werewolves move into town, everyone is quick to judge; even Gwen.  Gwen is very prejudice towards werewolves and vampires - they are Other, but she is blood-born; they are an STD. When the killings start, its obvious to Gwen it's the werewolves, but Chloe, Gwen's trusted friend, isn't so sure. The murders are adding up, and it seems like the serial killer is targeting Others.  When Chloe is killed, Gwen is determined to find her killer.

Gwen teams up with Tavian (eye candy she meets at the bookstore, who also seems to know she is Other), to find the killer.  This is one of my favorite parts in the story- a little romance, a little danger, secrets reveled. Gwen finally starts to overcome her prejudices and her character really develops during these few chapters.

 Great read, I would recommend this to any fantasy lover. One thing I do want to point out, is, Gwen is a mythological creature; she has some views on Christianity, that are understandable from her point of view- but do not represent Christians in a positive light. I do no have a problem with this, but I know some readers might, so I wanted to mention it.