The Hunt (Shifter Origins, #1)

The Kingdom of Sajra hasn’t been the same since the lions died out leaving the tigers ruling the land. Five decades of poverty and discrimination against the panthers have led to a volatile situation that escalates when the Regis is murdered in front of all his people days before the yearly ceremonial Hunt. Prince Kael’s initial certainty that panther-shifter Cara is his father’s assassin is slowly revised as he investigates her claim of wrong time/wrong place. The deeper Kael digs into Cara’s past the more the foundation of his beliefs crumbles until all he has left is the unpalatable truth and an undeterred love.

Books about shifters are available far and wide, but a story that contains only shifters and no pure humans is an unusual tale - made more fascinating by the presence of only feline shifters in a world steeped in history, mythology, and ritual. A wolf has been mentioned in legends, but never seen. The tigers’ reign has encouraged conflict, prejudice, and hatred to fester amongst the other cats against the accused panthers, but said conflict is too easily resolved in the end. Additionally, the laser focus on the social injustice is such that the world building lacks a richness of depth though the characters do not suffer the same fate. Shoring up the world and drawing out the healing process between the species would raise this paranormal romance to mountainous heights.

Carol Conley