Review: Cool, gritty and moving
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2013
This took me by surprise.  I must admit, I went on a bit of a free e-books downloading spree on Smash Words, picking up anything that sounded interesting in the fantasy / sci-fi genres.  By the time I got round to reading this one, I had forgotten what it was meant to be about.  I was not expecting what wound up happening!I think the brilliant thing about this book is that it somehow manages to be a cop drama, a comic book-esque vigilante story (it reminded me of the 'Dark Man' films, which I love), a Jeckyll and Hyde sci-fi tale, and a genuinely touching story about learning to move on from grief.  (Most of) the relationships were brilliantly portrayed.  The immersion into femininity was really well done.  I just thought this book was beautiful from top to bottom, while simultaneously gritty and tense.  I absolutely cannot wait to read book 2.In fact, I was prepared to give this 5 stars...until it hit the romance element.  Now I have no issues with 'Stacey' falling for a woman.  It makes sense, in that it's a man who's now a woman, so what choice does he have now but to become a lesbian?  But the particular person he fell for...it didn't make sense to me.  I couldn't see what she had done to make him fall for her that way.  They didn't appear to have a very deep interaction up to that point.  Furthermore, the age gap didn't work for me.  He was 50 inside and she was 30.  He was 18 outside and she was 30.  Either way you look at it...no.  And why did she like him so much?  That's not to speak of the ethical conundrum, which I don't want to give away.  But even that, I shrugged off - until it reached the resolution to that little love triangle.  It actually made me feel a little sick, and I think if you're going to keep that romance in the book, just take out that one page.  It spoiled the book for me and lost a star off an otherwise 5-star rating.So I tried to pretend that page never happened.  I'm blotting it out of my memory and imagining it wasn't there.  And bring on book 2!