Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Volume I

Hawksong: The Kieshaa'ra

Kirsten Simkiss

This was a series I remember my sister reading when we were younger. While I was off reading Atwater-Rhodes' vampire books, my sister preferred the shapeshifters. It was always on my list of books to eventually read, but I kind of just never got around to it until now. I found it to be fun and the different cultures, interesting, but all in all I'd probably give this one 3.5 stars. Still, I feel it was better than three stars so I've given it 4 on Goodreads.

While the books ends with a sort of happily ever after, I really felt that it was more of a "Okay, I'm glad they love each other, but I don't see any real chemistry between them." The characters were reasonably lovable, though obviously different, and both Dani and Zane are obviously committed to peace, I kind of hoped they'd find a way to fall for someone they actually loved as opposed to sticking with a marriage they were somewhat forced into for the sake of peace. Still, as a premise it's always a good thing to have opposites attract and, with kindled feelings, it makes secret relationships a conflict that never has to happen. Still, I thought the relationships they left behind for the peace-keeping marriage were more convincing than the official pairing.

I also thought it was weird that the whole country didn't eat meat because a prior queen who has been dead for years decided she didn't like it. Especially considering these people were hawk shapeshifters, I thought that was bizarre. I mean, if it were just sparrows I might understand - although sparrows are omnivorous - but hawks? It was weird to me. I'm glad they did explain that later because that was a really odd thing and it took me out of the story a bit.

Ultimately, I will definitely be reading on in the series, but I hope there's either a new set of characters or that these characters gets a ton more character development than the last book. I feel like I would have enjoyed this way more if I had read them back in middle school and early high school like the author's other books.

I would recommend this book to people who like the idea of shapeshifter societies. However, I've definitely seen better animal-based people societies than this.

Hawksong: The Kieshaa'ra Volume I

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