Book Review: Othermoon by Nina Berry

Everyone has secrets. I had no idea mine would lead me into shadow. Dez has found the place where she belongs. With the otherkin. With Caleb. Or so she thought. As the barriers between our world and Othersphere fall, a wall rises between Dez and Caleb, leaving her fiercest enemy her only friend.

And maybe something more.

Now Dez must make a devastating choice: keep the love of her life, or save the otherkin from annihilation.

I am a big fan of Otherkin, the first book in the series.  I thought it was fun and exciting so I was really looking forward to reading Othermoon.  I did really like it but it was very different from the first book which I am not sure I liked.

There is no fun and laughs in this one, it is a lot darker and a lot more serious which I didn’t really have an issue with but I missed the fun action that Nina Berry is so good at writing.  I would have loved to see more of that and less of the drama and angst.

The big change was in the characters.  Dez has hardened, she has gotten tougher and bossier but I still really liked her and I still think she does things for the right reasons.  The big change came in Caleb.  Caleb was one of the reasons a loved Otherkin, I really, really liked him but there were times in this that I barely recognised him.  He was bitter and angry, he fell on the wrong side of most the moral arguments that came up (agreeing that mass murder of their not all bad enemies is a good idea for example.)  He was so quick to judge and distrust Dez but did not do the same to his sister who was doing and thinking exactly the same.  He was so quick to walk away from her and he did it so easily that I wondered why he was with her in the first place.  I thought he would snap out of it by the end but he didn’t and I was disappointed.  Dez was not blameless but at least she was open to talking and working things out but he wasn’t so maybe she is better off without him.

Lazar, (a reluctant villain from the first book) Caleb’s brother, had a much bigger role in this book which I liked.  He is interesting and quite nice, I am pretty sure he is crushing on Dez and if she ends up with him I wouldn’t be disappointed.  He turns out to be a lot more supportive and has a completely different opinion to his brother when it comes to the big stuff (mass murder etc)

Like Otherkin this book is not perfect and it is completely unrealistic, but I still really liked it.  I do wish that some of the lighter parts of the first book had made it into this one but I get why they didn’t.  I cannot wait to read the next book in the series because despite my issues and the unrealistic-ness this series is really entertaining and sometimes that is just what I am looking for.

 3 stars

Published January 29th 2013 by KTeen.  A free copy was provided for review. Image courtesy of Goodreads

Review by Kate Phillips