Review: Darkest Fear by Cate Tiernan

Image from Goodreads

Title: Darkest Fear
Series: Birthright #1
Author: Cate Tiernan
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication Date: Jan 2014
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

What is your birthright?

Vivi Neves has rejected everything her parents hold dear – their heritage, culture, traditions – and their dark family secret: they’re haguari – cat people, shapeshifters who turn into jaguars, as their ancestors have done for thousands of years.

Then, tragically, her parents are killed. Vivi can cling to her own beliefs and live her life the way she wants -or she can embrace her heritage and avenge her parents’ deaths.

With danger closing in on her, her decision is forced . . . and she’s pulled deeper into a mystery that gets darker and more dangerous until finally she must face her heritage . . . or die.

REVIEW BY CAITLIN 7:4

The Darkest Fear is about an eighteen year old girl called Vivi Neves, Vivi is forced to carry a burden she can’t be relieved from; she is haguri, a shapeshifter who has the ability to turn into a jaguar. Although Vivi is reluctant to accept her culture she has no choice, if she doesn’t accept her birthright she will die a very gruesome death…

The Darkest Fear is an excellent book (despite a short sexual scene and sexual references) I would recommend it to anyone with similar book taste to me. However, the story is more suited to people thirteen/fourteen and up. I’m definitely going to read more books by this author as they are written with a certain fluency I enjoy.

I enjoyed reading about situations that could happen in real life (without the jaguar shape-shifters, of course). I really liked Vivi as a character, she is very unique and reacts differently from what you’d expect. She is more human than you’d predict, although she is haguri she feels the same emotions as everyone else.

If there is anything I would have the option to cut out it’d be the mild mature scenes, I felt if those scenes were eliminated it would appeal to a wider audience.

The plot ended with a cliffhanger as you would expect from the first book in the series. I’ll certainly look out for the second one!

Out of five I’d give this book a four, for reasons I’ve already stated.