Review: Imaginitive, Fun, Adventurous Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 14, 2012
I first came across this novel on a fellow blogger's site, The Selkie Reads Stories.  I absolutely LOVED the cover, enjoyed the review, added this to my ever growing 'to read' list, and left an excited comment on their post.David, one of the writers of this novel contacted me asking if I would like to read and review their novel! Heck Ya!!!I only got to it this month unfortunately, but so glad when I finally did.This book is a smorgasbord of AWESOMENESS!I loved that the story didn't really focus a lot about the past, and how the anumals came to be. Humans are extinct and the world is a much changed place. There is a multitude of colorful characters of every type of animal/human mix you can think of.  The main character definitely stood out, with his lion features. He falls into the stereotypical underdog category... always beaten down, but always gets up, shakes his mane, and off he goes again. And you want him to succeed.I couldn't help but envision one of my favorite childhood cartoons - Thundercats!Thundercats!! Heeheee! There were a lot of cat anumals in this book, and that is why I thought of it.As you read though, you kind of forget that they are DNA mixed. I found myself picturing them as humans in my mind. But that is only because, they are very much human in emotions and behavior, if not necessarily in appearance.The storyline is very engaging and exciting. A novel, whose type, I have not really read before. I kept thinking... 'Someone please make a cartoon series out of this! Or a movie or something!" because it is SO cinematic.Though I did not have a lot of trouble visualizing the characters in their described form, the added pleasure of art work in the novel was awesome! I really enjoyed ending a chapter, and coming to another piece of artwork before beginning the next.  David and Darren have an amazing site for Anumal Empire which I listed below for you guys to check out, and you should. There is some artwork not included in the novel that is really cool and worth a look.I would recommend this book for all ages. I can see this novel being really attractive to young male readers or young at heart, but if you have a sense of adventure like I do, you will love the world inside these pages, and the characters that were brought to life in it, regardless of your sex and age.Really looking forward to the next installment, because (damn you, David & Darren) we are left with a cryptic warning as our main character walks off into the desert towards his next adventure. Even without the cliffhanger, I would be eager to get my hands on the next book of the series.Lily's Review originally published Bookluvrs Haven website.*I received a eBook copy of this book for free to review from the author; this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own.*