Hyena xenofiction, don't mind if I do! Spoilers ahead.
Vaka is a young male hyena who is done with his gender always being pushed around by the stronger and larger females. Instead, he and a few friends form a new, all-male hyena clan that goes somewhat against the old Crocuta laws of his kind. Vaka is struggling as a new leader, especially when his clan is under constant threat of lions and rival clans. And can all the hyenas within his own clan even be fully trusted?
This makes for a breath of fresh air between all the canine and feline xenofiction I tend to read. Truly, spotted hyenas are one of my favorite animals yet there's little to no xenofiction books (or even media in general) about them, which is a real shame. I get that hyenas are generally not in most people's good graces, but I feel that having a few more xenofiction stories about them would help their reputation. Wolves used to be widely maligned as well in the past, and currently they're one of the most popular species to write xenofiction books about.
As for Crocuta, I thought it was a well-written and interesting story. The story of a smart male constantly treated as lesser within normal groups of his society, so he decides to make a better place for those of his gender by building his own clan. Vaka is a compelling protagonist and I genuinely liked how he was just...really quite smart, true to his name (meaning "wise"). He's a real thinker as opposed to the usual hyenas of his kind who just rush into action or a fight on a whim. And it's genuinely admirable how he's willing to create a better home for his friends.
The other characters I was less enthused about. Don't get me wrong, they're not awful, but I just had a hard time keeping track of who was who in Vaka's clan after a while. A bunch of males end up joining in rapid succession and most of them leave very little impact on the story, so it becomes a bit hard to keep up with them. The side characters I liked the most were Hondo, an elderly honey badger, and Bashiri, a tiny half-blind hyena, though. They were well-written, had clear personalities and featured prominently in the story. But the rest like Shinga, Shinga, Udye and a bunch more minor characters just leave so little impression. Especially since some of them end up dying and it's clearly supposed to leave a big impact on the reader, but it just doesn't because we don't know these characters well.
I did think that Kuru and Negodo were decently written as well, though. They also feature more prominently than the rest of the cast (hence why I could actually remember them), but I didn't find them particularly likable like Hondo or Bashiri.
That said, this is a generally well-written story about rising up against oppressive traditions with a lot of exciting twists and turns. It also has some interesting animal society rules for the hyenas (and even other species) and I liked the spiritual connection the hyenas had to their shadows, with their spirits basically becoming those after they die and some hyenas being skilled enough to hear to the shadow spirits speak to them.
I personally did find it a bit long (I think it could've been a couple dozen pages shorter and it'd have been just as good, it started to drag a little after a while with Vaka recruiting other animals to his cause. Just got a bit repetitive and same.) and like I said, not a lot of the characters were memorable; but it was a neat book and I'm very glad that I at last got to read a hyena xenofiction. To all (wannabe) animal xenofiction authors out there, yes, this is indeed a call to write more about this species. Please and thank you.
Rating: 3.5/5
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