Hawksong - Book Review

If you remember my blog about CALNVAK, you'll remember that I loved Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Given she was a teenage best seller, I was like... in fan heaven. Demon in my View was amazing and a book that quickly became a favorite of mine. Then her first book in the Kiesha'ra series came out: Hawksong. This was my first real introduction to shape shifters.

Now, if you have never heard of this book before, let me give you a quick summary. Danica, a hawk shifter, is heir to the throne. Her family/kingdom is at war with the serpiente people (snake shifters). She, like many others, wants peace for her people so she makes a deal with their heir, Zane. To marry and put an end to the war.

So when I first read this book it gave off very much Romeo and Juliet vibes (still does) to some degree. I love the concept, always have, and even used it many times in my own writing. What stood out to me was the characters. I loved their drive, that need to put their people and kingdom first. The book does not come without its flaws of course, but the characters make up for that. Now with that said... I read the first book, Hawksong and the second Snakecharm and was instantly hooked. When the third, Falcondance, came out I bought it on release day and when the fourth, Wolfcry, came out I did the same.

But then I read Wolfcry... and I was so upset. If you haven't read the series and you don't want spoilers, stop reading now... if you have read it... here is my very sad rant.

Wolfcry destroys the characters and everything that happens in book 1-3. It felt SOOO Off... that I was just destroyed. It took me years after book five came out to read it and I was still so angry. Book 1 and 2 fights to bring the kingdoms together, to form one land where they can be at peace. The two main characters, Zane and Danica anger people and family to assure their kingdoms can live in peace and feel accepted and belong. Then they have a child and this young girl is brought up knowing that it's hard to keep the kingdom as one but it's needed to assure the safety of the people and keep a war from happening. YEARS and YEARS go into this kingdom and this arrangement. They fight so hard.

Then it comes time for their daughter to take over. She falls in love with a wolf shifter who struggles to be around others. The wolf, a female, doesn't want to move to the kingdom with the heir. So, on announcement day, the heir to the throne, Zane and Danica's daughter, stands up in front of the kingdoms and goes, "I'm in love with this wolf. We are going to run away into the woods together, we are going to be happy together and this kingdom can disband." And her parents go, "Yeah, sure. Go for it."

Teenage me goes...... "THE FUCK!" Now, don't get me wrong, love is LOVE. I am THRILLED to see a lesbian relationship in a book and this was one of my first encounters with it, but their respond was so out of character for them. I wanted so badly to be like, "We support you, we love you, we want you to be happy. Go, run off and be with the love of your life. WE will find another way to keep this kingdom together. We will find another way to assure our people are safe."

Instead, I got, "Yup, all of the work we did, all of the fighting we did for YEARS to protect our people, naw, don't matter, let them dissolve and disband and the war can start again, it's cool."

It has been over 20 years since I read this book and I want so badly to re-read it now and see if it still upsets me so much... but it pains me and the fear of that let down of character motivation just crushes me.

I recommend to everyone Book 1-3. Be advise reading into book 4 and 5... that you might find yourself disappointed. But maybe not...

Have you read the series before? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below. And if I get back to reading them now that I'm older... I'll update you on my thoughts now that I have calmed down a bit.