Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Scrud is used as an exclamation frequently (for scrud’s sake, scrudding, scrud it, filthy scrud) and there are a few instances of mild swearing (damn).  Name calling is frequent (fat boy, idiot, numbskull, stupid pig, gutter scum, insolent fool etc.).  The word bloody is sometimes used in conjunction with the above mentioned words (bloody scrud) and sometimes on it’s own.  The B word is used once but in context with it’s actual meaning which in this case was used to describe a small female wolf like anumal.  Someone uses a rude hand gesture.  There are a few references to cursing (he cursed quietly, etc.).

There are also references to vomit, urine and other “potty talk”.  Someone wipes his “vomit smeared jaw”, someone rolls in the “vomit he just created”, “anumal urine trickled down the walls in lazy rivulets” and so forth.

Violence:  There are way too many violent acts to mention them all individually.  Violent scenes were very descriptive.  Chasing, fighting, attacking, hitting, kicking, scratching, smashing, blood and gore account for the majority of the book.  I will list a few examples.  Sabers attack an elephant in an alley.  A lion jumps in to help the elephant.  There is a fight where all anumals are hitting, smashing, and scratching.  A saber is beaten unconscious and bleeding.  Animals are spitting blood, blood is splashing everywhere.  Clinton is punched by guards.  Wade cuts himself and puts his blood in a symbol.  He slits the throats of his guards, killing them.  “There was a wet, tearing sound as claws slashed through and bit into his muscle.”  During a game, an anumal is attacked by the opponent.  Claws dig, a nose crunches, someone smashes a foot into a face, blood is dribbling from teeth.  An already injured Clinton is beaten again by other anumals.  He is held to the ground and kicked repeatedly, punched in the belly, kicked in the back, and cut with a knife in his leg.  “An eruption of blood and guts spilled from the scavengers mouth.”  There was a “flurry of gore” and carnage.

Adult Themes:  There are scenes where characters are smoking and drinking.  Clinton and his brother are left alone after their parents mysteriously disappear.  There are some scenes where black magic is talked about.  Wade uses his own blood in a symbol and says an incantation.  There are dried, severed monkey arms on an alter along with feline skulls.  The ruling body for this city has become corrupt.  They lie, cheat and hurt innocent anumals.

Synopsis

The race of man is extinct…
A new breed has risen…
Anumalkind shall inherit the Earth…

After merging human and animal DNA together, the Anumal race turned against their creators…and wiped them out.

Now, millennia later, an ancient pact between warring clans has been broken. Dark powers are surfacing, threatening the survival of this hybrid race…and the fate of the Anumal species lies in the paws of a single lion…Clinton Narfell.  (taken from book description as seen on Amazon and Goodreads)

This self published book was requested for review by the author.  I will admit that I didn’t enjoy the book very much at all.  Some of that would be a personal preference as far as violence goes.  This book went from one violent fighting scene to another with very little in between.  There were so many things that didn’t make much sense to me.  Characters would appear and use some random magic (Floor magic, Weaver magic) but these were never explained.  I have no idea what they are or why someone would be using them.  The whole Lazarball thing made no sense either.  Why was the game important?  Where and why did it start?  What is the history?  If I hadn’t read the synopsis for the book I would have been completely lost as to what the point of the whole book was.  I felt just as lost as Clinton through the whole book.  The sentence I most connected with in the book was, “Clinton tried to piece together what had happened… but his mind felt like a shattered piece of glass.”  There were some fabulous, descriptive words used in this book and while I can appreciate the time and effort put in by the authors, this book wasn’t for me.