The Beast of Callaire by Saruuh Kelsey
Published May 20th, 2014
Genre: YA Fantasy/Mythology
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-beast-of-callaire-saruuh-kelsey/1119059310?ean=9781291790603
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424300
Yasmin is a descendant of the Manticore. A creature of Persian mythology. A Legendary.
But she doesn’t want to be. Unlike the Legendaries in The Red, Yasmin wants nothing more than an ordinary life. She tries to fool herself into believing that she doesn’t change into a beast every full moon and savagely kill innocent people.
But when Yasmin starts hearing a voice in her head and is drawn into dreams that aren’t her own, she is led to Fray—a girl who once saved Yasmin from hunters, who has shadowy memories that hint at her having Legendary magic—and Yasmin is catapulted into a life of Majick and malevolence.
Despite the danger around her and Fray, Yasmin might finally have a chance at being a normal girl with a normal girlfriend. But with Legendaries being killed, a war between the Gods brewing, and the beast inside Yasmin becoming stronger each moon, her mundane life is little more than a dream.
Yasmin the young woman, the beast, or the telepath? It doesn't seem to matter which Fray gets she can handle all three which is something no one else has been able to do Yasmin's whole life. But it's Fray that no one seems to understand, and that needs protection, and Yasmin, Yasmin's brother Guy, and the academy that are going to do just that. No one is sure what is so special about Fray yet but they know she is special and needs to be guarded from the Red, meanwhile keeping themselves alive. In the meantime Yasmin has not only kindled a new relationship with Fray but also brought back a lot of older relationships with friends she had stopped seeing, especially ones from the academy. But Yasmin and her brother, Guy really get back together and renew their relationship, as her brother helps protect her from those hunting them, especially the hunters after the beast that keeps killing the locals. Will Yasmin ever figure out the secret between her and the beast? The secrets about Fray?
This book is action packed and exciting from the first chapter, and never lets up. I was so lucky to be pick to review this book, because it is such a good book. Face paced, action around every page, and ok ok, there was some romance, but did I tell you about how much action , magic, and paranormal stuff was packed into this book? I think author Saruuh Kelsey has put something for everyone into this book. Once you get started you will not want to put it down, it is that good.
FIVE STARS
Saruuh Kelsey is the author of the Lux Guardians series. Her debut and the first in series, THE FORGOTTEN, a YA science fiction set in Victorian London and London 25 years in the future, is out now for free. Book two, THE REVELATION, releases October 7th. THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE, the first novel of a new YA fantasy series, with a same sex paranormal romance, is out May 20th.
Website: http://saruuhkelsey.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/luxguardians
The Giveaway:
2 Beast of Callaire paperbacks and one swag pack consisting of a paperback, postcards, stickers, and a tote bag open Internationally.
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Except from the book:
The wood is
beautiful through these eyes, but I wish I could choose what they looked at.
The edges of the leaves are crisp, the flat green my human eyes would see is
brought into bright relief. But I only see what the beast wants to see, so I
can’t focus on each brilliant new thing because I’m wary and paranoid of what
the beast will be drawn to next. A squirrel—a rabbit—a stray human wandering
along the trail.
I could kill someone and I wouldn’t be
able to stop it. My jaws would rip flesh from bone and I’d be paralysed in my
mind, watching the horror as it happens. I know because it’s happened. Six
times. Thankfully, four of those people got away with only claw welts or bite
marks. But two of them are dead because of me.
One was a girl no older than nine. I
killed her when I was fourteen, before I’d become used to the Change, before
the beast had settled into its control of my body. Now it only kills for sport,
not by accident, and mostly it hunts small animals. Easy prey. Even in
Manticore form, I’m a coward. I’m glad of it.
The second person I killed was a middle
aged man last year. He had a gun pointed at my friend Willa as she lounged in
the pool of Almery Wood. I’m not sure whether he meant to kill her for spoils
or just for the hell of it, but I don’t regret killing him as much as the young
girl. It still haunts my nightmares sometimes, though, his glazed green eyes
and slack, wrinkled face.
I still don’t know why the beast killed
to save my friend. Maybe there’s the smallest connection between the two of us,
between girl and monster. But as the leaves are ripped beneath large, golden
paws I’m not so sure. The Manticore is a creature made of bloodlust and vicious
intentions. I doubt there’s any part of it that cares about anyone other than
itself.
The beast steps into a clearing lit by
moonlight and shakes out its fur, the feathers of its wings tickling my
ears—its ears. I shake my head instinctively to get rid of the irritation but
the beast’s head stays still. It doesn’t care about what aggravates me. I doubt
it even knows what aggravates me. I might have thoughts but this creature is
mindless.
The beast turns suddenly, my head
spinning with the motion, and it regards the trees, all tall and close
together, their braches reaching out and speckled with leaves. My hearing
strains for a noise—I’m not sure what startled the beast.
A low, guttural growl comes from the
depths of the beast’s stomach and I finally see what the Manticore heard. A
middle aged man comes from behind a wide trunked service tree, the vibrant
leaves contrasting against the intentionally dark brown of his jacket. He meant
to blend in, whoever this man is. I futilely try to urge the beast away, to
turn and run, but the Manticore will never back down.
I can tell by the rumble coming from its
mouth—my mouth—and the way its claws are ripping up the earth that it’s going
to attack. I’m going to kill another person. The terror and dread wants to
churn my stomach but my body is no longer mine. It poisons my mind instead,
fills me with visions of bloody limbs and skin torn open.
By the time the man has produced a gun
from behind his back it’s too late for me to realise he’s a hunter and too late
for the beast to react to the threat. The hunter fires his shotgun and
absolute, blinding agony shocks through me, uniting Yasmin and the Manticore
for one second in merciless pain.
But then the beat is lumbering to its
feet, paws gripping for purchase, and I’m reminded that I don’t decide what
happens with my body. It’s a detached, lonely feeling, and at the same time the
worst terror imaginable. For something to decide where you go, what you do,
what you see …
The beast races out of the clearing and
around tree trunks, its usual speed affected by the gunshot wound in its
shoulder. The pain seems to pulse louder in my head, becoming something dark
and large and demanding. I’m not sure how much longer I can stand this.
I’m sure, suddenly, that I’m going to
die. And in this moment, dying as the beast is the worst thing I can think of.
The beast’s ears prick to the sound of
footsteps but by now it can’t move at all. All it can do is raise its large
head, pull downy wings around itself as a flimsy, useless shield, and watch as
the owner of the footsteps nears us.
Wide, green eyes are right in front of
my eyes, bushy brown eyebrows drawn low and accompanied by a frown. A girl. A
girl in the woods. Thank you, I think
at this stranger but I have no Majick in this form so she doesn’t hear my
gratitude. This is an angel come to deliver me a swift death, to save me from this
excruciating feeling.
I relinquish my grip on consciousness
and let the waiting blackness swallow me.
