Alpha

The Shifters series was one of the first paranormal series that I read when I ventured back into the genre in 2007. I have been a faithful and loyal fan ever since I ran across Stray in a used bookstore. I've bought and devoured every release in this series ever since. Faythe and the crew have never disappointed. They've always pulled me into their world and delivered an action-packed, blood-pumping thrill ride of a story. Alpha, was no exception!

I'm so sad that this brought the series to a close, after all of this time I feel like I'm saying goodbye to friends. Luckily, Rachel Vincent has shown us what a fantastic writer she is, delivering another amazing addiction to the series and ending it all in a way that left me feeling show more completely satisfied. There was no cop-out on the love triangle, we got a solid ending with Faythe picking one guy for certain. The major dramas were all wrapped up, but it was left open enough that we can imagine how our favorite characters have went on to live their lives after it was all done.

Overall, fans of this series will not be disappointed with the finale. If you aren't one of the minions that have already read this, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???? show less

I just want to talk about my thoughts on Alpha so I'm going to borrow the blurb from Rachel Vincent's website:

YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE FAYTHE…

The unscrupulous new Council chair has charged Jace, Marc, and me with trespassing, kidnapping, murder, and treason. Yeah, we’ve been busy. But now it’s time to take justice into our own hands. We must avenge my brother’s death and carve out the rot at the heart of the Council.

It’s not going to be easy, and loss seems unavoidable, but I have promised to protect my Pride, no matter what. With a target on my back and Marc at my side, I’m heading for a final showdown that can—that will—change everything forever.

I'm going to try to keep spoilers to a minimum but I don't know how to talk show more about my reaction to Alpha without discussing some key plot points so, I guess from here on out, THERE BE SPOILERS.

Wow. That's really all I have to say about this book. Knowing this is the last book in the Shifter series, I went into Alpha expecting fantastic action, lots of character growth, and a heap of heartache and, boy, did she deliver all this and more. There was so much in this book that I'm almost at a loss about where to start talking about it.

Faythe. She has changed so much from the girl we meet in Stray. In Alpha, we get to see her complete her transition from sort of selfish kid to a much more aware and hardened leader. Over the course of the series, she's gotten some scars, both physical and mental, and it's great to see how these experiences have shaped Faythe and the way she deals with all of the adversity presented in the novel. She's got a much better sense of strategy and has developed her leadership skills, though her temper and impulsiveness are still there. On her blog, Rachel Vincent always says how much she enjoys torturing her characters and I think it makes her stories so much stronger because you know that there's going to be a cost for things and that there's the potential for her characters to experience true loss, in addition to true happiness.

This also means that the potential for failure is high and, while my heart just broke many times over the course of Alpha, it made the Pride's struggle more tangible. Spoiler alert! When Faythe's dad died -- which I knew was going to happen if Faythe was going to become Alpha, as the book title suggests -- I cried. (And then was worried my boyfriend would see me crying while reading and wonder what was going on, which helped get rid of the tears.) Watching the Saunders family grieve was awful and real and added some major weight to the entire book. The stakes were so high throughout the novel and assuming that the author would be killing off one of my favourite characters made the storyline very powerful. End of this particular spoiler.

The love triangle. I've always been torn about who I wanted Faythe to end up with. In the start, it was Marc and then it was Jace because he grew up and stepped up and then it was Marc then back to Jace...They're both such wonderful men and offer such different things to Faythe that I wasn't sure what would happen. Heck, I wasn't sure what I wanted to happen! I do like the resolution of this plot thread and I think that it was written in a very convincing way. I'm sure there are people out there who will disagree with me; I'm just glad that Faythe finally made her choice.

Alpha is a wonderful end to a series I've thoroughly enjoyed over the years. I'll be reading Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series (YA) to tide me over until her new adult series hits the market....I can't wait!

Also published on http://ireadgood.wordpress.com show less

I love this series! This review has spoilers - so beware!
Faythe is fantastic! So many of the characters are truly fantastic! Rachel Vincent knows how to build a character you can really invest in! Faythe's mother is one of my all-time favorite characters. I don't know that there is a character in the book that I don't think is amazing. (Except of course the ones that she has so skillfully made us all love to hate!) I wasn't sure I could handle yet another love triangle, but have been awaiting this story so I dove right in - - so glad I did! The turmoil that is Faythe's life continues and you get sucked right in. I found myself laughing and crying, cursing and shouting for joy. I have been hoping that I was right about the ending - not show more disappointed! I have to admit though that for the first time in years - I had to jump ahead to see if I was going to be right about the final outcome of said love triangle. I don't honestly know if I could have finished the book had I been wrong. I was devastated when her dad dies - totally heart wrenching. Faythe is forced into so many hard choices and situations that the reader is left marveling at her ability to handle them all. Faythe has a crash course in grow-up in this one. It is a must read for anyone who has started the series. I was thrilled to see the Strays brought in and given the opportunity to be accepted and belong. It was a twist I hadn't expected, but that really fits with Faythe and her belief system. I was excited to see that she is thinking so broad about the tabbies and the strays as well as the pride cats. I can only hope that there will be at least one more look into the pride's world once Faythe and Marc are running it together.
Some of favorite quotes from the book:
page 187 - - "...armed with nothing but anger, shielded by nothing but courage."
page 428 - - "This isn't a pep talk. It's the truth."
page 472 - - "I could handle anything life saw fit to throw at me with my men at my back and Marc at my side." show less

E si conclude, infine, la serie Shifter.
E mi spiace un pò dirlo, per me non con una soddisfazione piena. Non completamente.
A conti fatti quest’ultimo capitolo mi ha un pò deluso, devo ammetterlo.
Nonostante la tensione, le scene clou, le emozioni non siano di certo mancate, quello che già negli scorsi due volumi si stava trascinando come un peso morto -il rapporto tra Faythe, Jace e Marc- appesantisce sempre più una situazione di per sè già pesante dati gli avvenimenti alquanto cupi del romanzo.
Era iniziato nelle passate letture questo triangolo di rabbia, incertezza e dubbi. E già allora mi aveva un pò infastidito, ma avevo cercato di non dargli un peso eccessivo nella convinzione che poi…si, insomma…che alla fine tutto show more avrebbe avuto un suo perchè. Che un gesto, una situazione avrebbe ribaltato gli eventi in modo eclatante, scenografico come già era successo con altre.
Invece L’ultimo graffio riprende e continua fino alla fine con questa fase di stallo. I dubbi di Faythe su chi ama chi e perchè ama lui e non l’altro. Ossignore, BASTA!
Non aveva abbastanza problemi essendo diventata il nuovo alpha? Con i clan rivali che vogliono sottometterla e in ultimo ucciderla? Con le responsabilità, le morti, le decisioni…
Insomma è come se l’autrice non avesse avuto più “idee buone” per risolvere una situazione di per sè semplice. Oppure, ancora peggio, è come se avesse perso di vista la “giusta misura” per rendere interessante il triangolo e fosse quindi scaduta nel banale e ripetitivo.
La serie Shifters è partita con ottimi spunti, originali e interessanti, è avanzata tutto sommato abbastanza bene, con anche alcuni bei colpi di scenati, è proseguita con oscillazioni non indifferenti e in conclusione è atterrata alquanto malamente. Magari se l’autrice avesse ridotto i romanzi a 4 e non avesse cercercato di scrivere sul nulla le cose sarebbero state un pò diverse. Ma…ma. Ma come si dice “con i ma e con i se non si fa la storia” quindi proseguiamo con le prossime letture…e lasciamo che la Vincent migliori quelle che, comunque sia, sono buone capacità ;) . show less

Well, that was disappointing. I'm honestly sorry that I ever read that first book (which I got free somehow?). I remember being annoyed at the spelling of the main character's name, "Faythe." I should have stopped then.The way the plot wound up, for the most part, had no real surprises. Anybody who has followed the series has to have figured out what was going to happen by now. It's been foreshadowed - heck, shouted from the rooftops.No, my disappointment is in the way the damned romance thing was handled. If you've bothered to read this but haven't read the series, I'm surprised. Anyway, we have a classic love triangle between Faythe, Marc, and Jace. The setting is supposed to be current day America with a twist - the characters are show more werecats, part of a hidden subculture.We all know that mainstream Americans are supposedly monogamous but more serially monogamous and closet - something - in practice. Anyway, werecat society is fiercely monogamous. Females are rare, and they're supposed to hit puberty, get married, and produce the next generation with their One True Love. Period. No other options.So Faythe has defied tradition so far. She went to college. Good for her! She had a boyfriend there. Even better! A non-Pride boyfriend. Great! (To my way of thinking, not her subculture's). She left her guy, Marc, standing at the altar to do all that, though. Eww - not classy. But after she goes back home, she gets back together with Marc. Hmph. Then she "connects" with Jace. That means "has sex with." Ooo, bad idea, since she was in a committed relationship with Marc at the time. Very bad idea. But Oh, They were Grieving! Together! For her brother and his best friend, who had just been treacherously killed by enemies! So of course the way to do that, instead of talking about their memories of him, is to roll around naked in the middle of a public room, right?Um, not the way I'd do it, but, apparently that's their way. They do their grieving with a lot more alcohol than I would too, though.They don't get caught, at least - not then. No, an enemy figures it out due to how the three interact, and tells Marc, and he believes the enemy (because everybody believes enemies over allies in the heat of battle). And they're all too immature to put the crap behind them and just deal with they're in the middle of a "war," too.I kept wanting to spank all of them, and it wasn't because I found any of them sexy.I did hope, at first, that bringing Jace in as a love interest - and Faythe does repeat, over and over and over again, that she loves Jace, that it wasn't "just sex" - might mean that there was hope for some sort of surprise in the end of the book. That would have been nice, right? Something of a twist that didn't lead to an unhappy ending? I would have loved to see that!She's going to be the first female Alpha, so why not the first Alpha with two husbands? She'll be the first Alpha who has to deal with pregnancy, so why not have one husband to protect her while she's pregnant and another to get deal with what has to be done in person? What a concept?My hope was buoyed by the fact that Vincent deliberately developed Jase as a decent potential partner, showing him taking care of Faythe well when she's injured, supporting her as she would need to be supporting when she takes over the Pride as Alpha, and working well with Marc and others repeatedly.Marc, on the other hand, is a jerk, slamming doors, stomping around, and doing everything but pissing on the furniture to mark his territory.Just once, I want to see a hero or heroine walk away when someone says, "I cant live without you!" I want to see someone say, "Whoa - that's WAY unhealthy, babe! You need THERAPY!"Instead, Faythe's father tells her to "Choose the one you can't live without." UGH. Thanks, Daddy! Codependent much?Do I think she chose the wrong Tom? Absolutely. But - she's a spoiled brat, and she chose a jealous ass. They deserve each other. Let the sweet, loving man go find the sweet, loving woman he deserves. Hopefully he'll stop the drunken escapades and keep it in his pants from now on. Maybe Kaci will grow up to be his Tabby?Anyway, there you have it. Volume Eleventy Billion and thirteen of How To Do Dysfunctional Relationships.Next, please! show less

"And when the first cat lunged, I leaped up to meet him." Another way to put it would be: The shit hath hitteth the fan.

All of the issues and conflicts from previous books have come to a head in Alpha. Not only were there physical throw downs, one right after another, but there was also some serious emotional turmoil to be had by Faythe and gang. No one was left unscathed and they all had everything to lose…

But you know what? You just gotta have Faythe! That’s right, I said it. Faythe has been through one hell of a personal, tumultuous journey in a very short time, but no longer do we see the whiney, naive, spoiled tabby. Instead, we see a young woman who is still very unsure of herself, but takes risks that are fueled by her show more compassion for life, equality, and those she loves. She stands up for what she believes in, regardless if it will get her a swift punch in the face. She fights with the indignation of a 1,000 soldiers, and she loves with the fiercest passion. She may not always think things through thoroughly, but she learns from her mistakes. The great thing about Faythe though, is that she turns her doubts into actions. She might be scared as hell to take a step, but she takes it, regardless. She doesn’t stick her tale between her legs and run for the hills. She stands, tall and trembling, determined to see her way through any given scenario, dead or alive.

I absolutely loved the opener. It was fantastic and had me giggling, but then it got sad real quick. Yes. Now I remember. Faythe had a serious decision to make. Marc or Jace? Honestly, I can’t imagine having such a decision to make in real life. My mind can’t even fathom it. *sigh* Especially, on top of the insurmountable pile of cat poop a pride has ever found themselves in!

As suspected, both men were severely hurting throughout this book. Marc showed it more, being the hothead that he is. His heart broke over and over, right in front of us, throughout the entire book. The amount of pain he felt was so severe that I thought he might not ever recover. He did a major transfer of emotion though, and it left Faythe even more somber and hopeless than before. I wanted to scream at him for that stunt he pulled, it felt so childish and utterly cruel! But then again, the guy was in such pain and he lashed out with the most embarrassing scenario he could think of, because she surely embarrassed him…

And then there’s Jace. Sweet, adorable, breath-of-fresh-air Jace. He had my heart the minute we met him when he and Faythe spent time in her room, lightly flirting. He doesn’t share the history that Marc shares with her but represents everything Marc is not. He challenges Faythe to be true to herself, Faythe likes herself better when she’s with him, he’s funny and easy-going, and there’s that serious heat between them…

I always root for the underdog, but this decision had much more riding on it than pure charm and a sexy name. (The name Jace is sooooooo sexy.) Faythe needed to choose the one man she couldn’t live without, but she also had to choose the right man to help her lead the pride. So what’s a girl to do? Jump off a cliff is likely the decision I’d choose! Faythe would never take the easy way out though. In the end, her choice is as it should be. Faythe made the decision because it was the right one for her and her pride.

In short, this was an intense, violent, passionate end to a series that has held a serious place in my heart as one of the best of the best. I’m a sentimental fool, but I don’t openly cry while reading very many books. RV is one of the few authors that brings the sobs. She is a master at eliciting emotion from her readers, and it makes me wonder how damn hard it was to write these books! I will miss Faythe, Marc, Jace and the South-central Pride SO much, but all is well that ends with Faythe as Alpha. Thanks to Rachel Vincent for this masterpiece of a series. It will forever remain on my ultimate awesomeness list. show less

Well I cried or teared up more times than I should admit to when I read this book. I have been a reader of this series from the time the first book was released. I adored that the book was about shifter cats rather than wolves...a pretty unique idea especially when it was first released. Fayth bugged me at first and I thought she was pretty whiny heroine but she won me over with her love of family and kick butt attitude. She never shirked from what she had to do when it was unpleasant and she always wanted to protect the underdog...uh, undercat?

The books seemed to change for me a couple back, when Fayth and her family were shaken by a death in the family. A death of one of my favorite characters nonetheless. When evil Calvin Malone show more started his hostile plans for the female tabbys and his takeover plans for Faythe's district, he became one of my most hated bad guys in literature. This man is just plain rotten, ya'all.

The one thing I didn't like about the series is when a love triangle was introduced, putting Faythe in the middle of Jace and her longtime love Marc. I never overly-liked Marc but I was half in love with Jace from the first book. The only thing that could have redeemed the horrible mess of the love triangle was for Faythe to end up making a shocking choice. Readers can see what happened there but I was disappointed. This entire plot felt like someone said, "There has to be a love triangle, everyone is doing love triangles these days"...and so it was quickly written in. It just came out of nowhere.

I struggled with whether to mark this review as a four star rather than a five star book due to that triangle and its complete non-effect on the series. I decided however that this final story deserves a five star review. It was handled (almost) perfectly. Story lines were completely resolved and we have a good idea of what happens with each character. There were casualties and the first in this book broke my heart. I should have seen it coming but I didn't. Its never easy for a writer to kill off long term characters and its not easy for those emotionally invested readers to let them go. Vincent handled this perfectly and realistically.

The action was well placed. It was there, it was intense, and it moved the plot. It was not so all encompassing that our dear characters were lost in it. There was plenty of time to plot with them and feel for them and visit them.

This was a deserving finale to a great, if sometimes uneven, debut series. I loved how things were handled with Ryan, Manx and Owen, Michael and his human wife, and even Jace. The book was sad but ended with a feeling of hope. You can't ask for more than that.

I will finish Vincent's YA Soul Screamer series and I look forward to her new and upcoming adult release. show less