Opinions of a Wolf

Summary:
In the near future those who’ve committed a serious wrong for which most would feel guilty are given an animal by the spiritual world.  They are known as Zoos, and the animals attempt to guide them back to the straight and narrow as well as keeping the Undertow at bay.  Separation is painful and almost impossible.  If the animal dies, the Zoo dies.  Zinzi December of Johannesburg is one of these Zoos. Her animal is a sloth, and  her magical power is finding lost things.  Normally she sticks to everyday objects such as keys in the sewer, but when a music producer approaches her via his assistants for help in finding a missing teen Afropop star, she bends the rules.  She just may come to regret that decision.

Review:
Beukes excels at world-building, setting a vivid example of how to use showing not telling to its best, fullest extent.  I was instantly swept into this fantastical version of a nation I’ve never been to, yet somehow was able to quickly decipher which elements were pure fantasy and which based on the realities of modern South Africa.  The reader comes to understand how Zoos first showed up and why they exist without even really realizing she is acquiring this information.

Similarly, the character of Zinzi was a refreshing change from the typical urban fantasy female lead.  While she is clever and fairly fit, she is neither abnormally strong not incapable of making bad decisions.  She is a three-dimensional character with both positive and negative qualities.  She is not simply the put-upon dark heroine.  Her struggles are real and current, not simply in the past.  At first it appears that Beukes is going to fall into the completely redeemed heroine trope, but instead Zinzi still has demons to face.  She must repeatedly fall and get back up, something that rings as far more real than one epic fall followed by heroine perfection.

The one draw-back is that the plot is a bit confusing.  I had to re-read the climax to fully understand exactly what had been revealed as the big secret Zinzi was discovering.  Part of that was due to a couple of elements of the plot that seemed not to mesh well with the rest of it.  Some of the important fantasy parts of the plot should have, perhaps, had a bit more explanation.  There is a lot going on in this novel and sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming for the reader who is new not only to the fantastical elements of the tale, but to the South African cultural elements as well.  Although the plot is ultimately decipherable, it is not immediately easy to follow.

Overall this is a creative, unique piece of urban fantasy that simultaneously presents a truly flawed heroine and takes the genre into a city many modern readers are not familiar with.  I recommend it to fans of urban fantasy as well as fans of African literature.

4 out of 5 stars

Source: Gift

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