Book Review - Nadya

Title: Nadya
Author: Pat Murphy
Genre: Fantasy/Western
Page #s:  382
Publication Date: 1996
Location in Series: Stand Alone

Summary: The majority of Nadya follows the story of Nadya Rybek’s travel from Missouri out to Oregon in the 1830s. There are five other points of view, her parents, her first love, her second love, and her third and final love.

Nadya is born to Dmitri and Marietta, one a Polish immigrant the other from France. She grows up tending farm in Missouri and has a happy enough life, to start. The fact that she and her parents are all werewolves doesn’t throw a kink in their plans until the arrival of the Jones family.

After her parents’ murder Nadya decides to try her luck out west. She cuts her hair and claims to be a man. That is where she meets Elizabeth, a young woman who had been heading to California with her father before illness took him and left her alone with nothing but the contents of her wagon and the team of oxen to her name. She, Nadya, and an orphan from another wagon party travel together. On the way (and this section is the bulk of the novel) they find love in each other’s arms.

Unfortunately that love doesn’t last once they reach California. Nadya heads North where she meets Jacob Lowell. She finds happiness with him and his community of outcasts but their happiness is, once again, threatened.

Good Points:

• No one gets raped!
• Nadya is bisexual, finding love with both men and women, but the bulk of the novel focuses on her relationship with Elizabeth.
• Reads a bit like lesbian fanfic of the Oregon trail NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING!
• Not a new take on werewolves but there are no sparkly vampires present.
• Unsure of how true to life the encounter with the Cheyenne tribe is but they are treated respectfully by Nadya. Jacob Lowell’s tribe and status as half-white are also treated respectfully.
• The cast is very well rounded, each PoV used to perfection.
• Multi-racial community founded at the end.
• Fun sex scenes!

Bad Points:

• Unsure of how true to life the portrayal of the Cheyenne and Massuam are, as well as the Jacob’s experience with the Klukwalle.
• Just prior to them reaching California the story starts to drag, losing my interest for pages at a time.

Triggers:

• No one gets raped but a rape attempt is mentioned.
• Bestiality – although it depends on how you qualify it? As a wolf, Nadya retains some human thoughts and emotions but does not think like a human. One sex scene where she is mounted by a male wolf.
• Murrrrrrrrder
• Racial slurs, largely regarding Native American tribes but one or two applied to African Americans.

Rating: 4.5/5