Friday Night Reads: Fledgling by Natasha Brown

Fledgling by Natasha Brown is the story of Ana Hughes, a young woman with some serious medical concerns. Her health has always set her apart, even forcing her family’s move from Colorado to Idaho. There she meets Chance Morgan, but he’s got secrets of his own.

Likes

I appreciated how Brown incorporated Native American myths and legends into her novel. I feel like there’s a rich panacea of beautiful stories and love when they’re respectfully woven into novels. The lore created some interesting dynamics in this novel that worked.

I also liked that the author kept in mind these were teenage kids for characters. By definition, they’re impulsive; they don’t think things through well; and they’re rather stuck in black and white thinking. I think these characteristics came through well.

Finally, the world-building felt in between decent and strong for me. I was impressed with the story’s vivid details, detailed scenery, and magical elements. I would like to have seen more magic elements highlighted, but what existed worked for me.

Dislikes

This book definitely needed more research into the medical aspects. I’m not super versed in cardiology, but the pieces around Ana’s heart issues just didn’t feel realistic given what I have experienced. In addition, details like scrubs dragging on the floor aren’t accurate in a medical setting. Anyone in the medical field knows this. The inaccuracies pulled me out of the story.

I didn’t appreciate how far into the book it took to find the shifter elements. This book billed itself as a shifter story, yet the shifter storyline didn’t appear until three quarters of the way through. This is the first in the series. Still, it took too long to get to a major piece of the story.

Finally, I also struggled with the ending. It seemed to me like Brown had to quickly wrap up the book after dwelling too long on the story’s first half. There were some cool elements I would love to have seen explored a little more—like the whole conflict between Chance and his cousin.

Ultimately, these last two points come down to pacing. The first three quarters needed to be cut down some to speed up the pace. Then the ending needed to be drawn out more to eliminate the rushed feeling.

Conclusion

This one’s shaky for me. I almost didn’t finish it at several points, which was a shame because there were pieces I liked. But, on a positive note, there were pieces I liked. Your call on this one if you want to pick it up or not. I don’t think I’ll continue reading.