Title: Black Dog
Author: Rachel Neumeier
Page Count: 393 pages
Publisher: Anara Publishing
Publication date: July 28, 2016
A Quick Summary
Natividad and her two brother no longer have a home, as it was destroyed by their father’s enemy. However, with the war against vampires over, their enemy looks to finish off his enemy’s enemy’s blood. This causing the siblings to run to the very place their father was banished from. With Natividad being a Pure and her brother Alejandro, a Black dog, the Dimimilioc clan is their best shot especially since Miguel is full human, and these siblings refuse to split up. However, their destination and goal isn’t what it once was, No longer overly strong and easily over powering for any enemy. The siblings learn they each are gifted and each of them have something to bring, especially since coming so far brought an overwhelming army to the doors of strangers that they learn to bond with. Th only question for these three is, will their pursuers kill them, will their new allies, win against their enemies, and how much can the learn to to believe in themselves and trust their new hone to help them through some rough times.
Review
Black Dog was an extremely exciting read.It not only kept the reader on their toes, but it also kept the reader interested in what was to come. From page one, you start developing opinions and feelings for the three main characters, a set of siblings. Each one ring very different than the other. It brought some humor and curiosity in the beginning, as they are attacked by black dogs, under their enemies control, or o you are led to believe, but never get a definitive answer on. I will explain what a black of in the middle book is much like a werewolf, however I didn’t really get the sense of werewolf in the beginning. It actually something as. The story went, that i was able to figure it out, though it is explained about a fe times through out the story.
Now, i can honestly say that although there weren’t a whole lot of realism in it, as it is a urban/rural fantasy, it was still able to have an underlying meaning i certain places. Those little lessons were fun to decipher and watch the characters move through and grow. And example is when Natividad realized, shoving memories that were unpleasant away was getting her into trouble. We all need to face things we may not like to be able to better ourselves and our future. I feel like maybe there was more to that than she realized, but hidden with the unpleasant memories we didn’t want, kept her from reaching her potential many of times. It was things like this that not only could be understood, we all have things we rather not remember, but also made her to slightly annoying at times, when you just want to strangle her to help out instead of being useless.
Through out the story we follow mostly Natividad and Alejandro’s point of views. Yes we get to see Miguel and others say and do things, but the focus was primarily on those two. I do wish we could’ve seen more from Miguels perspective as he is human with a ton of knowledge and nothing all that special. I feel a portion from him would have quite delightful, as he had some comedic events, but he always seemed to planning and figuring things out. He would’ve been a good character to follow, even if for a short moment here and there. Just to truly understand all of who he is. I feel maybe he was written just to guide the story through a little, rather than to play a bigger part, which is fine, but her did play a semi big part towards the end to help wrap things up. Especially since he seemed to know anything.
With that being said, it was still a really good book that deserves four out of five stars. I did find a small error in the writing, but it was late in the book and could easily have been missed. It developed nicely, but was not rushed, and the characters were entertain, to say the least. It takes a wonderful on what werewolves are and makes it something that is far from what we are used to and f you know me, i like my shifters of all kinds and vampires. I think the one thing i would have liked to see added, besides the above mentioned, is a little more development on Natividad and Ezekiel’s relationship. Only because it hints at it but i feel I need more. I just hope in the books that follow this one we can see that develop further. That’s just the girl in me though.
I definitely recommend to my shifter lover’s who don’t mind a little mystery and a whole lot of action. I feel this was a rather good read and loved sinking my teeth into it. So check it out and don’t forget, happy reading!
Book Otaku Reviews 