Now this is a release I've been hyped for for ages. I already supported the OG animated series this book is based on years ago, and to now finally see the story completed in this book is very satisfying. I congratulate Grizzle on publishing her first book! I did beta read for this book and was given a free copy as a "thank you" in return, but this won't affect my review. Spoilers ahead!
Meet Layali, a painted dog princess who was banished from her home pack and sent on a mission to figure out who killed her father. On her journey, she befriends some dogs in another pack, as well as a cheetah cub, and figures out that her destiny might just be way bigger than she originally thought.
This was a great read, and I'm not afraid to say it. There is a reason I liked the animated series already for such a long time; the characters, setting and world building always were right up my alley.
Let's start with the characters, as I think they're one of the strongest aspects of this book. They're all delightfully distinct (and, at times, flawed). Layali is a very intriguing lead, who happens to be cursed with a demon that feeds on her negative emotions. Not only that, but she's also very much a spoiled princess who wouldn't last long on her own in the wilds away from any pack. There's the others: Feoria, Zahra, Zain and Kichea, all major players in the story, and I loved them. Heck, even some more minor characters go through development (Kwasi's redemption arc, Xenia finally accepting her daughters' wish not to study medicine).
The POV constantly switching also allows for a look into many characters' minds, which I personally thought was great. The only characters I didn't feel much of an connection to were Cyrah, the world's worst mother, and Kioni, who kind of felt like a generic cute kid character. Granted, it does make sense as she can't express her personality very well for a lot of the story due to her not speaking Canine, but even when she does speak she doesn't have that much to her character, even as she grows up in the pro/epilogue.
The writing may take some getting used to if you're not too familiar with POV-hopping and the medias res writing style, but for me it honestly worked really well. It's always clear which part of the timeline we're currently in due to given descriptions before a paragraph/chapter, or sometimes even just by context in the chapter itself. It was never had to follow where we were exactly and whom we were following at which point in time. Just be prepared when you're going into this one that you won't stick with one character for too long before getting into the next, as even mid-chapter the POV shifts repeatedly. It never happened too much if you ask me, though. I personally think it actually benefited the story and character-writing.
The story, with all its different setups at different points in time and for different characters, largely pays of all of these. Another reviewer has already brought up the lioness which was addressed repeatedly but never resolved, but I'd also have liked to have gotten some closure for Cyrah and her (not-)children. She's a horrible mother who disowned her only biological daughter after she got disfigured and refused to acknowledge the two orphans she raised as even being remotely worth anything. Yet she gets away unpunished, heck, we don't even see Kichea's reaction to her suddenly being all smug when Kichea becomes a mambokadzi. We just see it from Feoria's point of view, but I think since this was something that mostly occurred between Kichea and her mother we should've at least seen some closure with these two. If I were Kichea I'd absolutely do something about my asshole mother once I became queen, though.
The book also has a lot of positive LGBT+ representation, and it was all brought up very casually. It just felt very natural. There's gay/bi characters, ace/aro characters, and non-binary characters. The gods and Dreamwalkers in the story are non-binary or at least use neutral pronouns as well, but there were even some normal non-binary painted dog characters, which I definitely appreciated, being non-binary myself. I also really liked how, despite being the main two dogs of opposite sex, Layali and Zain don't end up together. It's not that it's not a possibility, it's definitely brought up, but neither of them seem ready at the time to think of taking on a mate. In the "current time" with elderly Layali, we don't see Zain, but it's also not outright denied that they could've been mates, so it's a possibility. I personally like them as just friends, but I wouldn't be opposed to them becoming a thing in a hypothetical sequel or anything. My favorite couple were Kichea and Feoria, though, they were so cute together. I do wonder, though, if, had Zahra not died, Zahra and Feoria might have become a thing instead? Who knows.
The world building is solid and while creative liberties from real life are taken (the dogs can cry tears, create fire and hold things in their paws), it feels justified. There's sliding levels of anthropomorphism, after all. If you really expect a realistic story along the lines of White Fang of this book, you'll be disappointed, but you won't be if you know going in that this is a story with more humanized animals. Heck, it's even brought up in the foreword, so go in prepared.
One tiny flaw I did notice in my copy is that some words would have dashes in between them in the middle of a page. I guess this is where the end of the word cut off before continuing on the line below in an earlier draft that was left after the story was re-formatted. Outside of that, though, I noticed no formatting errors, which is really neat for an indie!
What else can I say? For a debut novel, this was a really solid one! Great characters, a great story and journey, good representation, it's all there! Check this one out for yourself!
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