Review: Suburbs Aren't What They Used to Be!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
“Shape Shifters of the Suburbs: The Boy from the Temple of Heaven” by Luke Loaghan is an intriguing tale of urban shape shifters. The story follows a young Chinese boy and his adoptive American mother, from her first failed attempt to adopt a child, until the boy’s 8th Grade graduation. Mary Johnson gave her new son the name “Breccan” Johnson. On his first night in her house she went to say goodnight, only to discover a Golden Retriever sitting on his bed, with Breccan nowhere in sight. Suddenly the dog smiled and shifted into Breccan. Mary was so happy to finally have a child of her own, that she didn’t even flinch to see him as a dog, then transform back into a child! Over the years there were times Mary would not allow Breccan to do “normal” kid stuff, out of concern that he might not be able to control spontaneous shape shifting. Still, at school Breccan learned to cope, and made a couple close friends.I really enjoyed this story. It was entertaining, and unique in its treatment of the shape-shifter theme. There was plenty of action, a plethora of supernatural beings, and a lot of good fight scenes. Too many typos were a distraction, but the story bulldozed through those with alacrity. While some may find the just-in-the-nick-of-time coincidences excessively convenient, I found them to add much entertainment value, if not believability. All things considered, this story was quite good. The ending is a perfect lead-in for a sequel, and I’m looking forward to reading it one day. I definitely recommend this book, especially for the middle-grade through young adult ages.