Lisa Henry

3.5 stars
Disclaimer: I really enjoyed Duck, the first book in Kim Dare's Avian Shifters series.

This one, not so much, and I'm not entirely sure why. I think it comes down to a few differences.

1. This is light on the BDSM, and it turns out I preferred the BDSM aspect of Duck to the whole shifter thing. Birds...meh. I like the idea, but they're all just a bit...civilised. I want to see ravens pecking eyeballs out or something, I think. Or is that crows? Whatever it is, I want my birds of prey to be scary, my carrion birds to be creepy, and little twittery sparrowy things to be at the bottom of the literal pecking order.

2. I didn't like Kane. We were told that magpies were thieves and clever, but Kane didn't seem to be very clever at all. It felt like a missed opportunity, because I would have loved to see Kane get one over on the other birds every now and then, instead of being all guilty about his nature. I also didn't like how it's okay to be a bastard if you're a bird of prey -- that's in your nature -- but if you're a magpie then you're a worthless thief and should be reviled.

Mostly I'm going to blame my high expectations for why I didn't love this book. Duck was unlike anything I'd read before, and I really loved the world-building. Here, not so much. It's a well-written book, it just didn't grab my attention the way Duck did.

The half star is awarded for the doctor bird. Because that was clever. :)