Othermoon

Gr 9 Up—This sequel to Otherkin (Kensington, 2012) opens with Desdemona living with her family in their new home near Las Vegas. The pace quickly picks up as tiger shape-shifter Dez and her fellow shifters meet up to rescue one of their classmates from his abusive father. Simultaneously, Dez is being pursued by her boyfriend's evil brother, who wants her help with escaping from and rebelling against the Tribunal. The teens all head back to school for more training, undergoing team-building exercises, all while Dez hides the truth from her friends. Trust issues come to the surface and friendships are tested when the students are faced with their biggest challenge yet-they discover that the Tribunal is building a particle accelerator that can ultimately take away their shifting powers. It will be even more difficult for Dez to face the Tribunal when she and Caleb break up. Readers might become annoyed with the constant focus on Dez, who is always the leader and the one with secret powers to solve the situation, making all the other characters seem flat. The esoteric vocabulary of the world Berry has created, combined with the random, futuristic science-experiment plot and the unnatural dialogue, might lose readers as well. That said, fans of the first book will be clamoring for this title and will be eager to get their paws on the final book in the trilogy. Plus, tiger fans will enjoy going "beyond the story" at the end of the novel and learning some facts and proverbs about the great cat.—Lindsay Klemas, JM Rapport School for Career Development, Bronx, NY