Chimera

Chimera is a thought-provoking examination of what it means to be human.

Being a teenage girl isn’t easy—and it’s even more difficult when you’re a werewolf.

Chimera, C. D. Bell’s second book in the Weregirl Trilogy, expands on the story of Nessa Kurland, a seventeen-year-old who was bitten by a werewolf and who now runs with the pack, when she’s not running on her high-school track team. Nessa is adjusting to her dual life as a high-school student and a wild animal when an increase in the violent wolf population begins to threaten her hometown. Nessa knows that the wolves don’t want to harm humans, but it seems that there’s no way she can convince the paranoid townspeople of this truth.

As she works with her best friend, Bree, and her werewolf boyfriend, Luc, to save the wolves, Nessa is thrown into a tailspin. Her mother is arrested for grand larceny, and so Nessa must also delve deep into her mother’s case. She comes to realize that her mom is not the person she’s always thought she was.

To help free her mother, Nessa is forced to work with her long-absent father. Daniel Host, a billionaire scientist, has the resources and the knowledge to help Nessa’s family—but the price may be too high for them to pay.

Chimera is a fast-paced young-adult adventure that features a solid female protagonist and plenty of twists and turns. As a sequel, it does an excellent job of hinting at events that came before, without revealing too much. Nessa’s story never seems incomplete, and the action is not bogged down by flashbacks or too much explanation.

Nessa’s character is tough yet caring, and her relationships with her friends and family are believable and entertaining. Nessa’s struggles with who she is will be familiar to anyone who has worked to find his or her own identity, and the fantasy portions of the novel never hijack the character development that is at the heart of the story.

Chimera is a page-turner as well as a thought-provoking examination of what it means to be human.

Reviewed by Angela McQuay

Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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