Beasts

Beasts
John Crowley

I opened this battered little book expecting to find a romance with a sci-fi/fantasy twist. At least, that's the impression given from reading the blurb on the back, or taking a look at the cover. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case at all.

The story takes place in a vaguely defined near future, in a United States held very loosely together after a civil war fractured the country. We jump from character to character, seemingly without rhyme or reason, until we reach the point where all of these people (and what a varied term 'people' becomes in this book) rally around the main character, Painter.

Painter is a leo, one of a race of genetically engineered hybrids of man and lion, who finds himself at the center of a political movement he wants no part in. Renyard, a one of a kind fox-hybrid, is a political councilor as crafty and cunning as either fox or man could ever dream to be. Sten, the boy who would be America's king, finds a cause in aiding Painter. The cast of characters is even more varied and supprising than I've room for here.

My only complaint about this novel is that the landscape is too ill-defined. At times, I felt a little lost, when even a simple map would have clarified much. I'm left puzzling over the political landscape when I could be considering the plot or the amazing cast of characters. However, I did enjoy this book quite a bit, and couldn't put it down.

-Surprisingly quite tasty