Enjoyed this middle grade adventure ( )

This is a fun action adventure. There so much action that was able to read it in a short among of time. Caw has always been living alone with his three crows. Each crow has their own distinct personality. Everything seems to come too easy to Caw. He able to master controlling his Crows and is able to turn in to a crow while someone must older then him has been trying for years, but fail. I do not like that with main characters. I want to see them struggle and change. Caw later find out his Real name is Jack. One of my reading pet peeves is the name Jack in books. Every other book I have read has a character name Jack. This has been overdone and to me it complete laziness. I will give credit to Caw for keeping the name he calls himself.

The setting is in a city, but doesn’t capture the atmosphere of one well. I would have gone with a little more detail of how bag ragged the place is. When Caw goes to the underworld the creepiness of the place is capture really well.

Some of the other Ferals are interesting like Crumb and Pip. While some of them are interduce for a short time and you don’t get to know much about them.
The fight scenes are tame. It walks the thin line of trying to appeal to young readers while trying not to scare them to much. There one gritty death scene that affects what comes later. It doesn’t go too far.

I have read middle grade books that are not afraid to become dark. Not every kids book should be dark. Kids should be able to read whatever they feel comfortable with and that makes for a variety and level of tone. ( )

Ferals Book Review

by Jacob Grey

I give this book 3.5 crow talkers out of 5. What? I liked it...



Ferals Alternate Book Cover

First of all, let's start with the book cover. The cover above is absolutely beautiful (the one above.) I say its one of my favorite covers of all time. The color palette is tight, the typography plays into the scene and helps create an effective ambiance. In fact, it was the cover that attracted me to the book initially.

To the left is the alternate cover. I assume the intent here was to try to target the Young Adult demographic, and make the story feel bigger. It, too, is nice, but I prefer the original cover.

Ferals is a book about a boy named Caw (I know you caught the crow reference there...) who was abandoned by his parents at a young age, and raised by the crows. Talking to them is nothing out of the ordinary to him as that is all he has known. He and the crows live in the "nest," and they scavenge the city for food and their upkeep.

The inciting incident initially starts as a bully scene, but then turns into a scenario where some escaped convicts of the worst kind show up, and Caw takes note. He ends up intervening, something he doesn't typically do, and saves the day initially. The first theme brought up is whether his loyalties are to the people, or the crows. The crows end up supporting him, but his interference tangles him in this adventure with the escaped convicts. He'll end up finding out that they are more similar to him than he thought.

Caw partners with the Prison Warden's daughter and they try to hunt down the criminals while protecting their families, and learning about Caw's past, and parents in the process. The world becomes a bigger place as Caw learns he has more to do with all of it than he had originally thought.

The writing in this book is pretty good. This twists and turns were okay, but the writing was good. There is a slightly creepy element to Jacob Grey's style, and I like that. I didn't feel it ever really went overboard, but it was darker, for sure.

Overall, Ferals is a good book. The pacing was smooth—moved along nicer than most books I've read recently—the writing was clean, and ambiance was moody and palpable. The characters surrounding the protagonists were okay. I wouldn't call them flat, but they were just what they needed to be to move things along. All in all, I think I will be reading book #2 when it comes out. On that note, I got a look at its cover today, and it turned out pretty good, too!
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This novel will stretch your imagination as dark forces must be battled or death will prevail.

Caw has always been able to talk to crows, but he doesn’t remember much about his past. He remembers his parents sending him away through a high window. All he really remembers is life with the crows. He lives in a nest with three crows, knowing nothing about life. He can’t read; he doesn’t know any social customs; but, he wants to meet a girl that he is strangely drawn to. Come to discover, he is a feral, a person who can communicate with animals. Each feral has one animal with whom he/she communicates.

Lydia is intrigued by the boy watching her. She doesn’t seem to mind that he stinks badly. She’s determined to be his friend despite her parents feeling differently. As she discovers Caw’s secret, she leaves home to help him fight some criminals who escaped the prison her father runs. They almost killed her and her father, but Caw saved them. These criminals have abilities Lydia and Caw discover. Like Caw, they are ferals. Therefore, the police can’t fight them. With the help of other ferals and Lydia’s bravery (or stupidity if you so believe), Caw has to find the Spinning Man who brought darkness to the feral town of Blackstone.

I found the novel a little boring quite frankly. It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think the author is able to pull the reader into the story. Once you put the book down, I don’t see anyone rushing to pick it back up. Perhaps I am mistaken and this is a perfect novel for 6th graders. Let me know what y’all think! ( )

AMAZON REVIEW, 8/11/2015 :In a city ravaged by crime and corruption, 13-year-old orphan Caw’s only friends are the murder of crows he has lived with since his parents flung him from their house aged only five…
Caw lives in a treehouse in an abandoned city park, surviving on scraps of food and only communicating with his three crows. But a jailbreak at the prison forces him into contact with other humans – particularly a girl called Lydia, who is attacked by the escaped prisoners and is saved by Caw.
Caw realises that these escaped prisoners have more in common with him than he’d like… they too are FERALS – humans able to communicate with and control an animal species. And they want to bring their evil Feral master, The Spinning Man, back from the Land of the Dead. Only by joining forces with other good Ferals hiding throughout the city can Caw stand a chance of defeating them.
MY REVIEW : Not bad. Original idea and the crow characters added a bit of humour as did the character of Lydia. First in a series. For anyone who likes Science Fiction where people can communicate with animals.
Think this is a VPRC one but will have to check. ( )