Shikaree

3.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Chandra Pattal is a farm girl. But in the night, she sneaks out as a novice Shikaree, exploring the dangerous underground cities of Those Who Came Before, and trying to come out with relics to sell. One such excursion brings her a treasure map, except that it's stolen from her before she can act on it. With the bank about to foreclose, she needs to do something to bring in money before it's too late.

Review
The attractive cover (which happily relates to the plot) drew my eye, and then I downloaded the book based solely on the description. I somehow missed that it was the second in a loose series, and so missed some worldbuilding that I assume was covered in the first book. This one does work fairly well as a standalone.

The story itself is interesting and the characters engaging, though the tone is a kind of cozy fantasy, but with added gore. The races feel a bit on the D&D side, as does the magic, which it seems anyone can do, and there seem to be magical devices all over the place. I was more intrigued by the mysterious Those Who Came Before and their underground cities. I was a bit surprised to find that, in a world seemingly happily populated with humans, cat people (katarl), and rabbit people (harn), rat people (varmints) are an outcast class; it just didn't feel like it fit the tone.

The plot itself is largely solid, though there are some issues with pacing, and there's quite a bit that requires suspension of disbelief – as when, for example, a young teen girl can barely squeeze through a dangerous passage, but then a full grown man is able to do so as well. We don't have much information on their relative sizes, so it's possible, but it's the kind of thing that made me step out of the book for a moment.

The prose is generally smooth and well considered, though in the beginning it lacked polish in places and turns toward purple in places near the end. There are enough semantic errors (and some typos) that I wished it had undergone more thorough editing.

Altogether, a fun, light adventure that feels aimed at the YA market. While I enjoyed reading it, I'm not convinced that I'd seek out the first book or the sequel.

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.