Rachel Vincent: Alpha

• ISBN-13: 9780778328186
• Publisher: Mira
• Publication date: 10/1/2010
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 472

The unscrupulous new Council chair has charged Jace, Marc and me with trespassing, kidnapping, murder, and treason. Yeah, we've been busy. But now it's time to take justice into our own hands. We must avenge my brother's death and carve out the rot at the heart of the Council.
 It's not going to be easy, and loss seems unavoidable, but I have promised to protect my Pride, no matter what. With a target on my back and Marc at my side, I'm heading for a final showdown that can - that will - change everything forever. A showdown I'm not sure I'm ready for.
 But life never waits until you're ready. 

Here we are again at the end of another series. A sad day for all. However, since it's a happy ending, we're not too sad to see it go.
 Faythe is having problems, again. These problems being a nearly seamless continuation of the problems in the previous novel, which had not arrived at a resolution. Calvin Malone is still practicing extreme douchebagger-y, but now Parker's father is pissed off because Faythe gave up his son Jerald to the Thunderbirds - perfectly justifiable, unless you're an ass. Which apparently half the cats in North America are. From what I can tell, in the Pride world, the men are either good guys or a combination of stupid, sadistic, or weak-willed. Thus, we have a fairly even divide between Malone's allies (the assholes) and Faythe's allies (the good guys).
 Now, I have spent a lot of time from basically the fourth book onward being incredibly frustrated with the political structure of the world that the characters inhabit. That's what I'm supposed to be feeling, so I'm not complaining, but one has to wonder why the toms all have medieval mentalities in the modern world. I understand that tabbies are not particularly prolific in the child-birthing department, but that doesn't mean that they automatically hand their lives over to the nearest Alpha male. This is really the core of the problem, other than Calvin's megalomania - the toms can't seem to understand Faythe's desire to be her own woman. Thus we have lots of "rape her because she's a woman and she's standing up to me and I don't know how to deal with that" going on. And I come to one of my issues with this book - many of the characters hit that one dimensional note I was talking about - stupid, sadistic, or weak. That's a little disappointing from someone that I know can do much more.
 My other problem with this book was the wrap up, of which he barely had one. The final big battle only lasted two chapters, and we had one chapter to basically resolve Faythe's relationship status and list the dead and wounded. Not really a wrap up. We know that the way Prides work is going to change, but we have no resolution of some of the basic problems. For example, how is Faythe going to deal with the remnants of Malone's allies? How is Paul Blackwell going to react to the all-out war that just occurred? Will he support Faythe's reign or continue to follow his chauvinistic beliefs? Is Jayce going to take over Malone's Pride? Lots of interesting paths to pursue, and while I appreciate that Vincent was leaving the future open for the reader to imagine, I would have appreciated a little more closure in the political arena.
 Other than that - I greatly enjoyed this book. Faythe has really grown up since Stray, and I was rather impressed with the way she handled the tension between Jace and Marc. Old Faythe might have yelled or run away from the problem - new Faythe merely asks for time and tries her best to maintain an even playing field. Any anger she displays is justified and she uses it to her advantage rather than letting it overwhelm her.
 Overall: A-
 The ending was too abrupt for my taste, but the rest of the book felt like it flew by. Vincent makes you weep, makes you laugh (not so much in this one), and makes you think about what you would do were you in that situation.