Finis.
Author: Angélique Jamail
Elsa's family grows more unkind by the week. Her boss, a seven-foot-tall rage demon, has control of everything but his anger. And her cat wants to eat her. Things could be better.
In a world where one's Animal Affinity is a sign of maturity and worth, Elsa's inability to demonstrate hers is becoming more than a disappointing nuisance; it's becoming a danger. She has no confidence she'll ever conquer her Plainness by "blossoming." She also fears both the wolf packs that prowl her neighborhood and being stuck in a life plummeting rapidly from lackluster to perilous. Fortunately, she has a cousin and a co-worker who know her better than she knows herself and can see through to what society won't.
Finis. is the magic realism of our time, a story of finding one's way to the end of things, of persevering through the dregs of life to discover something more.
Reviews
It's not often I get that viscerally emotional on behalf of a fictional character. In a setting of overt fantasy, Angélique Jamail has created some of the most real people I've encountered via text in a long time.
Ari Marmell, author of Hot Lead, Cold Iron and The Widdershins Series
A silver vein of irony runs through Angélique Jamail's fantastic Finis. It is a witty tale of conformity, prejudice, and transformation, in a world that is disturbing as much for its familiarity as for its strangeness. In a place where everyone is different, Elsa is the wrong kind of different, and that means facing pity, discrimination, danger, and sharp teeth. Dive into this story, readers, and confront them for yourself; it may just change the way you feel about things...
Marie Marshall, author of The Everywhen Angels and I am not a fish