Foreign to You, by Jeremy Martin | ARC Book Review

Hello friends! Today I have my review of Foreign to You by Jeremy Martin.

**Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way impacted my review.**

Trigger warning: Species Hate, Bloody Violence, Death (of a secondary character), Gun Usage, Stabbings and Murder.

The harmony between humans and fianna, a species of shape-shifting deer, begins to wither as racial tensions and deeply rooted resentment turns violent.

Ruthless hunter Finn Hail and prophesied liberator Adelaide may be heroes to their own species, but they are enemies to each other. With war on the horizon, the reluctant pair must team up to find the most elusive of prey: the god of the Forest.

As enemies press in from all sides, true intentions begin to show. For Finn to save the boy he cares for most, he might need to aim his gun at the very god he seeks. And Adelaide, with her festering hatred for mankind, will have to determine if peace holds true salvation for her people.

Publication Date: February 11, 2019.

There were three things that bothered me while I was reading Foreign to You. The first is that the story took quite a while for the plot to get underway. The first 30% of the novel is what I found truly lacklustre about this entire novel.

The second being that the ending to this novel ends just about mid-scene. I don’t know if there will be a sequel to Foreign to You, so if Foreign to You remains a stand-alone novel, this story—to me, feels unfinished.

What I did not expect from Foreign to You was that there would be two points of view that we read from: Finn, and Adelaide. I was so incredibly relieved when I started reading the second chapter and found that it was told in Adelaide’s point of view.

The first point of view that we read from is Finn, who is human. Fun fact: When I started reading the first chapter I thought that if we only read from Finn’s point of view, I wouldn’t have made it to the end of the novel.

There were actually only a few times in this story that I actually enjoyed reading from Finn’s side of things. Every other time I read from Finn’s pov I ended up thinking about when Finn’s chapter would end. Finn is an alright guy, but there’s an underlying gloomy-ness to him that doesn’t really leave him. I have to cut him some slack though, because Finn is in a vulnerable state for a good majority of Foreign to You.

Adelaide, a shape shifting fianna, is the second point of view that we read from. I cannot tell you how much I preferred to read from Adelaide’s view point. I mean, in comparison to Finn, Adelaide is a breathe of fresh air that this novel sorely needed.

Adelaide’s story is one that she isn’t ready to accept and in facts asks why she is the one who has to fulfill the role that she has to play. Adelaide has a lot of character growth in this novel. Adelaide ultimately accepts what she has to do, and then suddenly she’s this person who is sure of the role she plays.

What I genuinely enjoy about Adelaide is that of all the humans in this story, Adelaide is the most human of all, and she’s not even human. Adelaide is strong at times, but she’s also very vulnerable and lets herself be weak.

Immediately what I liked about foreign to you was that in the beginning pages of the novel: there’s actually a trigger warning. Which is great, since there needs to be more trigger warnings in stories.

Another thing that I like is the cover. It’s actually what drew me into finding out what Foreign to You would be about. I read the first sentence and was hooked.

In terms of predictability, as I was reading Foreign to You I had made a few predictions and none of them came true. Which is a good thing. Yet I’m also bummed out about my being wrong. If I had been right I’m sure that I would’ve been upset about being right, but I don’t like how the story ends.

After everything, the writing was a curious thing to read. The way that some of the scenery and feelings were written was truly beautiful.

I ended up enjoying Foreign to You. Just not as much as I hoped I would, unfortunately.

I give Foreign to You, 3 stars.

If you end up reading Foreign to You, I would love to know your thoughts!