I really enjoyed this book. It was a different look at weres, something I've been longing for. Natividad is Pure--that means she's a magic user with the ability to protect humans from supernaturals and to help black dogs control their powers. Her twin brother has no powers, but he's loyal and he'd do anything to help save his sister. After their village is attacked and slaughtered they flee from Mexico to Vermont, looking for a group of black dogs that they hope will protect them. The black dogs (weres/shifters who often have trouble controlling their powers) are willing to protect the Pure, but Miguel must prove he has value. Meanwhile, those who slaughtered their family are still coming and are determined to kill everyone, Pure, human, and black dog alike.

With the caveat that Natividad must find a black dog mate in order to stay with them and be protected, this book could have gone the way of other were books and bordered on the creepy. But Natividad isn't having that, nor is the black dog who would like to be her mate. They, and her brother, approach the coming battle and all their other problems together.

A very cool book with a great main character of color. Give it a read.

(Provided by publisher) ( )

A young adult urban fantasy with a somewhat different, and somewhat complicated, take on werewolves. I didn’t find the worldbuilding as appealing as Neumeier’s secondary-world fantasy, but the story was tense and hard to put down.

After their parents are killed, Natividad Toland and her brothers flee Mexico and head north, seeking the protection of the black dog community of Dimilioc.
Learning to be part of Dimilioc - to heed its rules, trust those in authority and be properly loyal - presents challenges for all of the Toland siblings, who have become used to being an independent team. For Alejandro, who is a black wolf, joining Dimilioc means accepting that protecting his younger siblings is no longer his sole responsibility - and that, sometimes, isn’t his responsibility at all. Meanwhile, Natividad, who has Pure magic - and thus a calming effect on black dogs - is less interested in being protected than in using her her magic to protect others.

I liked the focus on sibling relationships, and appreciated the way the potentially hugely problematic condition of their joining Dimilioc - that Natividad will eventually chose a black dog mate - is effectively pushed to the side. ( )

Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier is a fresh twist on the werewolf and witch urban fantasies in the young adult genre. Black Dog focuses on the lives of three siblings as they run from Mexico to the northern United States, escaping from the stray Black Dog pack that murdered their parents. I loved the premise of werewolf myths actually coming from these black dogs with shadow magic and the idea of main characters from Mexico! However, Black Dog never pulled me in and I just couldn’t manage to connect with either of the narrators. Even when people were being eviscerated, I just didn’t care, making Black Dog a very slow read given its length.
Note: I received an eARC of Black Dog through Netgalley for an honest review. Some things may have changed in the final version.



Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier eARC {2.5 Stars}
Black Dog by Rachel Neumeier
Published by Strange Chemistry on Feb. 4th, 2014
Genres: Urban Fantasy, YA
Length: 448 pages
How I got my copy: NetGalley

Natividad is Pure, one of the rare girls born able to wield magic. Pure magic can protect humans against the supernatural evils they only half-acknowledge--the blood kin or the black dogs. In rare cases--like for Natividad's father and older brother--Pure magic can help black dogs find the strength to control their dark powers.

But before Natividad's mother can finish teaching her magic their enemies find them. Their entire village in the remote hills of Mexico is slaughtered by black dogs. Their parents die protecting them. Natividad and her brothers must flee across a strange country to the only possible shelter: the infamous black dogs of Dimilioc, who have sworn to protect the Pure.

In the snowy forests of Vermont they are discovered by Ezekiel Korte, despite his youth the strongest black dog at Dimilioc and the appointed pack executioner. Intrigued by Natividad he takes them to Dimilioc instead of killing them.

Now they must pass the tests of the Dimilioc Master. Alejandro must prove he can learn loyalty and control even without his sister's Pure magic. Natividad's twin Miguel must prove that an ordinary human can be more than a burden to be protected. And even at Dimilioc a Pure girl like Natividad cannot remain unclaimed to cause fighting and distraction. If she is to stay she must choose a black dog mate.

But, first, they must all survive the looming battle.

Strengths:
I was so happy to see that Black Dog had POC characters narrating the story. This also added a fun twist with the potential to bring in more Mexican culture to the over saturated urban fantasy genre. Plus, the cover doesn’t look white-washed, woot!
I loved the spin on werewolves that Black Dog developed. Black dogs are people that can turn into hellhounds, basically, but the transformation comes from their shadow coming up and enveloping them. There is the same struggle with the human mind versus the black dog instincts, but with the added bonus of shadows and hellish influences. The Pure magic described in the synopsis is pretty much a spin on good witches, since they use pentagrams and other religious symbols to cast protective magic. I liked the dynamic between Pure magic and black dog shadows, plus the whole sibling thing worked all these concepts together well.
I took Spanish for a year or two when I was around five, so I definitely do not understand written Spanish. Black Dog did a fairly good job of incorporating Spanish words (since it’s narrated by Spanish-speakers), while still including enough English explanations so that I didn’t get lost.

Weaknesses:
I was unfortunately not able to connect with either Natividad or Alejandro (the two narrators) at any point during Black Dog. While it was interesting hearing about the magic that both of them have, and Alejandro certainly has struggles with his Black Dog, they both felt like very bland characters to me. Natividad isn’t a girl that I would likely connect with if I met her in real life based on my impressions of her in Black Dog, and that is a big problem for me.
Black Dog takes place in an alternative world from ours as far as I can tell. There is mention of vampires previously keeping the general populace unable to see magical critters, but the vampires have recently been defeated so the humans are starting to figure things out. That’s about all I know about this world, however, since that’s all that is mentioned. It felt very strange for there to be these obvious disconnects from our world, but not much to fill in the holes left behind.
Black Dog was never able to make me feel tension for the characters’ fates, even during the action scenes. There are a couple of fairly large fights with the bad guys and people do definitely die, but I was never really worried about the main characters. There just didn’t seem to be any real risk in Black Dog in that I didn’t believe the author would let anything bad happen to our characters.
There is a really creepy arranged marriage vibe hinted at in Black Dog. The Pure women are protected by certain Black Dogs and considered highly desirable because they can have children with Black Dogs. Therefore, when Natividad shows up at this new pack, she is informed she will have to choose someone in a few months and one of the strongest men basically lays claim to her…. What the hell???

Summary:
Black Dog had a lot of potential but just ended up coming off stiff and dull. I was intrigued with the alternative world history that was hinted at, but we never got enough information to really understand what was going on in this world. I was excited to get to know some characters a little different from the typical young adult cast, but I was completely unable to connect to them for reasons I’m honestly still not able to pin down. When I finally looked at the page count of Black Dog in order to write this review, I felt a little bit better about how long it had taken me to read it, since it just felt like it kept going on. If the premise sounds really awesome to you, you might give it a try, but be prepared for a bit of a slow read. ( )

Visit my site to hear from the author on: Designing a New Kind of Werewolf, and Their World

I'll bet you were thinking werewolves when you read the Black Dog book description. Well you'd be wrong folks! These wolves are totally not what you are used to and I was so absolutely and undoubtedly happy with the differences. Instead these black dogs, or black wolves depending on who you ask, are a type of hell hound. Their shadow is the hound that tries to dominate them and gives them a lot of their impulses, and of course all of their shifter powers. When shifted their shadows take the injuries which they can then shift back to human allowing their shadow to carry away the injuries away from their human bodies. You will also sometimes see phantom shadow claws or other features on their human form. I really loved the way the author recreated the werewolf in Black Dog.

Natividad and her two brothers are on the run from the their parent's murderer and his band of black dogs. Her brother Alejandra is a black dog himself, while her twin brother Miguel is human and Natividad? - she is what is known as 'Pure'. Insert the word witch there it would adequately sum up what she is. Her kind has the ability to caste protective magic and calm the violent natures of black dogs. Pures are either highly valued as mates, or hunted. So she isn't a shifter at all. How are they all related and yet so different? Wel...you would just have to read to understand. The dynamic here and the way the author wove these things together just worked for me.

I enjoyed the main characters Natividad and Alejandro's story (they are the perspectives from which the book is told, though of course mostly its from Natividad's perspective). Considering I read this book in one sitting, you could say I quite literally gobbled it up. So of course that automatically jumps Black Dog up in my eyes since I pretty much didn't put it down until I was done. Given that, there were still some definite issues I had with it overall - but I do want to point out I read the Advance Reader Edition of this book NOT the final published version so some of these things may or may not have changed in the final version. Onto it shall we?

While the story arc for the characters was strong, the background history of the alternate version of our world was a touch weak. The story is set in a time after a war with vampires has taken place (I think worldwide?), so it is referenced a lot but there just isn't enough detail given on these points to properly acquaint the reader with the state of things in the world. One point that also bugged me a bit was the amount of Spanish in the dialogue between the siblings. I liked the fact that the main characters were Hispanic, it was definitely a great to see especially since I think in young adult fiction I've read the dominating ethnicity is usually Caucasian. However due to the amount of Spanish in their dialogue, even with what I think were the English translations woven in I constantly felt the need to look up the translations on the internet to make sure that I wasn't missing something. Perhaps I was being a bit anal because I don't like feeling like I'm not catching the little nuances. I do have a friend who read Black Dog as well and loved all the Spanish. She felt the internal translations within context was great. So I definitely think this point will either work or not work depending on each reader. The only other thing that irked me was the speech patterns didn't change enough from character to character. At one point I felt that if I read another sentence that ended with "you know?" I was going to have a hissy fit. I would understand if the three siblings talked similarly but when similar speech patterns showed up as well on the other characters it annoyed me a touch.

Aside from these very little things, I still REALLY enjoyed Black Dog. Natividad was of course headstrong and thought she knew best, which hey doesn't every teenage girl? Her brother Miguel always seemed to really know what was best and Alejandra - he's your typical over protective oldest brother. They each had their character role but they all worked those roles well. Perhaps they were a bit over simplified at times and could use some stronger character development and that is what I'm hoping for in the next book.

I think some readers might be concerned that Natividad is 15 and yet when they go to join the Dimiloc wolves she is essentially told in 4 months she has to choose a partner (that's right a mate folks) because Pure women are expected to breed. I personally didn't see anything wrong with this and yeah she's young and yes one particular guy says he better be the one she chooses, and so what if he's older than her and she isn't even yet 18 - all of this just didn't bug me. It might bug some other readers though. I remember seeing young girls when I was in high school and they were anywhere from 13 to 16 dating 18 to 20 year olds. Does it make it right? No, perhaps not - but does it make it realistic? Yes, I totally it does.

There was blood, death, battles and action. The pace was great and I really dug the budding romantic feelings coming from Natividad. The strongest point of this book was the completely unique take on werewolves. I'm hoping in the next book we will learn more about state of this world and it's history. Lovers of werewolf fiction will hopefully find this take on the lore a refreshing treat. ( )

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy.
allthingsuf.com

BLACK DOG is impossible to put down from page one. In one brilliant landslide of a book, Neumeier reimagines magic and shapeshifting, black dogs and vampires, and slips all of this intricate, clever world-building in around a cast of characters that are instantly appealing. The backstory is so deftly spaced out, it’s not until the end that you will realize that Neumeier has remade the world around you and that everything you expected about werewolves has subtly changed.

As a young adult novel, BLACK DOG manages to address an aggressive, primarily male dominated culture without too much titillation. As a teenager, I would have found the prospect of being pushed into the dating pool without consequences an irresistible fantasy, and Natividad’s interactions with Ezekiel are in the immature range. However, while Natividad’s magical nature makes her a desirable spouse (and limits her dating pool significantly), her age and her relationship with her brothers keeps sexual politics from overwhelming the story. In fact, every detail of BLACK DOG is well balanced. The stakes are high, the interpersonal dynamics are riveting, and the glimpses of nascent romance are sweet and sexy.

Though the magic of the final battle are a little bit vague, all preceding supernatural discussions offered just the mix of mystery and mechanics. Not so many details that the action gets bogged down, and not so much vagary that anything seems possible. Reminiscent of Robin McKinley’s SUNSHINE with a YA sensibility, BLACK DOG proves that in the hands of a master, every mythology has new adventures to offer.

Sexual content: None. ( )