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A review by jscarpa14
Dangerous by Kelley Armstrong
3.0
Derek is a werewolf who spent the first five years of his life in a research facility. He started out with three other werewolves but when the others attacked a nurse they disappeared. The only other child he sees is Simon and when Simon’s dad offer to take him home Derek jumps at the chance. Ten years later Derek, Simon and Simon’s Dad have lived under various aliases, always hiding from Simon’s Dad’s former employers for reasons they don’t understand. When Derek severely injures a boy attacking Simon with a knife and makes the news it’s time to move again. But Simon’s Dad doesn’t arrive to pick them up at the appointed time and when they return home he’s nowhere to be found. Strangers are tracking them and they need to leave, will they find his Dad or will the strangers catch them first?
The short story is a mix of a distant third person and a first person narrative from Derek’s point of view. I’m not a big fan of short stories because there’s just not enough there for me which is a lot of the reason I didn’t give this the best rating. Despite its length the way the points of views are divided, the first portion told in the distant third person portraying Derek’s childhood in the research facility followed by the first person narrative then years later, actually works well. The beginning is distant but chilling and you can’t help but feel for the little boy. The second half you feel bad for Derek and how he’s treated in the school environment, but events after that happen so face it’s hard to read become attached to the characters or the story. One issue I did have with this store is that the description of the fight scene doesn’t match up with Simon’s description of the same events in The Summoning and I personally feel Armstrong is an experienced enough writer that she should be making attention to detail mistakes. However the story is definitely fast paced and combined with other series novels it does enhance understanding of the character in the series, but by its self because it’s so short it’s a little lacking.
Derek is decently developed as a character in this story, but secondary characters are mostly told about rather than having their character traits shown due to space. You know enough about the character for them to be distinctive, but not enough to become attached. Derek’s character however shows some decent development in the story offering pieces of him that we didn’t get to see in the series.
Overall if you’re planning to read the Darkest Powers Trilogy I’d definitely recommend this short story, but if you’re not there’s not enough of the short story to hold interest as a standalone title.
The short story is a mix of a distant third person and a first person narrative from Derek’s point of view. I’m not a big fan of short stories because there’s just not enough there for me which is a lot of the reason I didn’t give this the best rating. Despite its length the way the points of views are divided, the first portion told in the distant third person portraying Derek’s childhood in the research facility followed by the first person narrative then years later, actually works well. The beginning is distant but chilling and you can’t help but feel for the little boy. The second half you feel bad for Derek and how he’s treated in the school environment, but events after that happen so face it’s hard to read become attached to the characters or the story. One issue I did have with this store is that the description of the fight scene doesn’t match up with Simon’s description of the same events in The Summoning and I personally feel Armstrong is an experienced enough writer that she should be making attention to detail mistakes. However the story is definitely fast paced and combined with other series novels it does enhance understanding of the character in the series, but by its self because it’s so short it’s a little lacking.
Derek is decently developed as a character in this story, but secondary characters are mostly told about rather than having their character traits shown due to space. You know enough about the character for them to be distinctive, but not enough to become attached. Derek’s character however shows some decent development in the story offering pieces of him that we didn’t get to see in the series.
Overall if you’re planning to read the Darkest Powers Trilogy I’d definitely recommend this short story, but if you’re not there’s not enough of the short story to hold interest as a standalone title.