Wild Blood

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Summary: "Do you Believe in the Good People?"
Review: "Wild Blood" is the final book in Kate Thompson's "Switchers" trilogy and deals with the inevitable choice that her young heroine Tess has to face: at the age of fifteen her Switcher powers come to an end, and she can choose either to remain human or to become any one of the animals that she can transform into permanently. To make things worse, her parents are going on holiday without her, and have sent her to stay with her Uncle Maurice, Aunt Dierdre and three cousins.

Life on the farm isn't too bad considering Tess now has a huge environment to explore, but she misses her fellow-Switcher Kevin who she needs to help her make a final decision. Furthermore, there are strange things happening at the farmhouse: odd-looking animals, shadowy figures in the woods and suspicious activity from her bad-tempered uncle and three secretive cousins. There is a mystery concerning the disappearance of Uncle Declan, and no one in the family is eager to talk about it.

And there is even more at risk - Uncle Maurice seems set to sell of the beautiful forest land to developers, and threatens to call up exterminators to rid the house of all the rats. Since Tess is on familiar terms with these rats, and since Kevin has finally gotten hold of her, she comes up with an ingenious way to save the rats, but a plan that has terrible consequences.

In the previous books "Switchers" and "Midnight's Choice" I was always rather confused at the emphasis that Thompson places on the rats, but now with a wonderful reworking of "The Pied Piper of Hamilton", it all makes sense. Thompson uses a wonderful blend of old folklore and fairy myth in order to create an interesting story that is superior to "Midnight's Choice," though not quite up to par with "Switchers". Although the final conflict and choice between opposing factions of the story are brought to quite an easy solution (even an abrupt one), readers who have followed Tess's story will get their questions answered.

For the first time I felt that I could relate better to Tess: she was rather distant in the previous books, but now finally she and Kevin come across as understandable, three-dimensional characters. Likewise, Uncle Maurice and the cousins Brian, Orla and Colm are interesting enough, but if you were a fan of Lizzie you'll be disappointed: she appears in the first couple of pages, imparts some more cryptic advice and then is gone. But she does better than Martin, who doesn't appear at all, and though Thompson does give us an update on his condition I was hoping for more character development on his behalf.

There are some components of the book that just don't work, namely the "Star Wars" references to the droids C3-PO and R2D2. Within the book there are Switching characters that turn into these droids, and visualising this borders on the ridiculous. How can one appreciate the mood of the Tuatha Da Dannan when there are science fiction characters from an entirely different story running around? All the instances in which they appear is extremely jarring, and often just plain silly: like when C3-PO tries to subdue a bear. I hope George Lucas doesn't sue.

Likewise, toward the end of the book the origins of the Switching powers are revealed, and as you may have guessed, it derives from the "wild blood" that is passed down from the Tuatha Da Dannan to their descendants. This is all very good and well, but in the first book "Switchers", Thompson establishes the fact that *all* children are born with Switching powers, though only a few discover and retain them. So what are we meant to believe? Are all children descended from the Tuatha? I highly doubt it, and therefore Thompson has contradicted the fundamental component of her trilogy.

Of all the Switchers books, I recommend the first installment - the next two never measure up to it, and may in fact leave readers disappointed and/or confused. It's up to you.

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Summary: this is one great book....
Review: I've never read any books by kate thompson but one day i was looking through the new books at the library and i happened to see it. I started reading it and i couldn't put it down! it was great. i just got sucked into it. i felt like i was tess and i couldn't stop reading. tess is almost 15 which means she has to decide what animal she is going to stay as. she is at her uncles house and suddenly her cousins disappear. her and kevin go on a quest to find them in the woods her uncle is so desperate to sell, and quickly. this book is great and i recommend it to all readers!

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Summary: A little bit of a disappointing end to the trilogy.
Review: Tess's fifteenth birthday is almost here. Soon she will have to decide her future -- and she must decide what form of an animal she will be for the rest of her life. When her parents send her to stay with her cousins for the summer on a rural farm out state, she realizes that she'll have to make her decision while she's there. But something is disturbing her, and it's something that has to do with the mysterious woods near the farm. As she tries to solve a dark mystery and avoid the rage of her tyrant Uncle Maurice, she becomes involved in ancient web of mystery and intrigue, and soon she is in utter danger. She has to keep herself from danger, but at the same time she has to make the biggest decision of her life. Her powers as a Switcher are almost up, and time is dwindling away. What animal will she choose to stay in forever? And will she ever get to see her fiteenth birthday? The final installment in Kate Thompson's fantastic fantasy Switchers trilogy, Wild Blood, was a little disappointing, and a bit boring. The story was just weak and not very suspenseful, and the plot kept repeating itself through the chapters. But I congratulate the author on writing this novel very well, and she constructs her paragraphs very beautifully. But, I had higher expectations in the conclusion of this wonderful trilogy. I recommend the Switchers trilogy to all fans of the Animorphs series, but the though you may find the plot similiar, this trilogy is actually very different, and unique in its own way.

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Summary: Gotta read, because I loved the first two...
Review: The first two Switcher books, were page turners that I couldn't put down for a moment. The second I did someone in the house picked them up and had their nose buried deep in the book. Not so with volume 3, Wild Blood. I kept waiting for the some breathless turns of plot and the excitement of one and two but Kate Thompson just couldn't deliver. She comes close on several occasions to the same sort of thrills and excitiment of the earlier books but it is never sustained and the ending was very disappointing. If you loved the first two you will have to read this one to tie up loose ends, just don't expect the same intesity of thrills and chills.

Rating:
Summary: Gotta read, because I loved the first two...
Review: The first two Switcher books, were page turners that I couldn't put down for a moment. The second I did someone in the house picked them up and had their nose buried deep in the book. Not so with volume 3, Wild Blood. I kept waiting for the some breathless turns of plot and the excitement of one and two but Kate Thompson just couldn't deliver. She comes close on several occasions to the same sort of thrills and excitiment of the earlier books but it is never sustained and the ending was very disappointing. If you loved the first two you will have to read this one to tie up loose ends, just don't expect the same intesity of thrills and chills.

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Summary: Wild Blood
Review: This book was nothing short of WONDERFUL! Afdter reading the first 2, this one set it off with an excelent conclusion to the trilogy! This is the finale about the life of a switcher named Tess. Every switcher has a powers goes away with the dawning of the sun on their 15th birthday. Then, they have to choose a form tha tthey would like to stay in for the rest of theri life. Tess, who's birthday is right around the corner discovers more about her gift. I suggest that if you are interested in readin this book, read the first two first. Those books are:

Switchers by Kate Thompson

Midnight's Choice by Kate Thompson

Happy reading!