Stray - Rachel Vincent The first half of this book was very difficult to get into. It's told from the first person perspective of Faythe Saunders, a werecat, who has been running away from her responsibilities for five years. At first I wanted to smack Faythe around, she's whiny, pouty, and childish in the way she deals with her family and those around her. She feels like she is in an untenable situation, but instead of acting like an adult and sucking it up every once in a while she just acts extremely selfishly and with little regard for who she steps on in her single minded quest to escape. I found extremely difficult to sympathize with the character and her POV grated.

After the action kicks in, though, things improve drastically. Forced to act, the character gets much better and certainly becomes an easier narrator to tolerate. The situations and violence in this book are, at points, horrific. This book is gritty and unflinching in those regards. However, by the end I was drawn into the world and grudgingly drawn to Faythe. That's quite an accomplishment for Vincent to take me from near loathing of the main character to acceptance, and a credit that the darkness of the story never feels exploitative or over the top.

I definitely feel that the book and series is worth a shot and that the first half is worth plowing through to get to the end.