Keeper -The Morphid Chronicles- [Review]

Keeper (Book 1 of The Morphid Chronicles)

by Ingrid Seymour
⭐⭐⭐

Don’t be fooled by the opening bit about the Trig test, this book drops you right into the middle of the action, at the beginning of Greg’s metamorphosis. I’ll admit, at first I was unsympathetic, (“Look, dude, math is a pain in my neck too. Deal with it bro.”) but things quickly got interesting. I didn’t read the synopsis or any reviews, wanting to go into this story blindly, and I’m pleased with how that turned out. I was able to share Greg’s worry and concern over what was happening to him as I read it.

“He straightened with a jolt and put a hand to the base of his neck. His fingers tentatively traveled down each vertebrae. Something bumpy and oozing blistered under his touch. Oh shit!”

Oh shit, indeed.

I’ll admit Greg was a little more prepared, having grown up a Morphid whereas I had never even heard of one until this point, but he still had his uncertainties about the process and how painful it was meant to be. As he staggered to get home and then dropped to the floor, the possibilities were flying through my mind (“He’s a werewolf! He’s some kind of human-reptile thingy! He’s… ground beef boy? What is this book?!”) By this point he himself had decided that something had gone wrong, that he was actually dying, and his mom’s nonchalance about the whole thing simultaneously bugged and reassured me. Sure enough, he emerged on the other side of his transformation very much improved (by conventional standards of beauty and the ideals of swoony bookish fangirls, of course).

Confused?

Well, basically Morphids are like caterpillars, plain and unnoticeable, until they go through a cocoon-like metamorphosis (possibly where the name of their race originated), and wake up two weeks later as tall, beautiful, well-endowed butterflies. At the end of the morphing process, a mark that looks a lot like a scarification tattoo appears on the back of their necks identifying which caste they belong to. A few castes are mentioned, but the book never really goes into much detail about the whole system. How did it start? How is it decided? Is it possible to fight against your assigned caste or is freewill really and truly nonexistent once you go through your metamorphosis? As it would turn out Greg’s mark is one that is very rare and hasn’t been seen for a long time. Greg is a Keeper (hence the name of the book) and his new caste brain immediately begins warring with his old one, sending him frantically in search of someone named Sam. All of his thoughts and actions are geared toward finding and protecting Sam from harm no matter what. This is handy because Sam, or rather Samantha, lives a pretty depressing life with virtually non-existent (both physically and emotionally) parents, and she could really afford to have someone around who cares about her well-being. Sam is also a Morphid, though she doesn’t know it yet, and is fated to be the companion of another Morphid named Ashby. Companions, like Greg’s parents, are absolutely and unquestionably attracted to their ‘Integral’ and it is their destiny to “support the growth of the population”.

Bow chicka wow-wow.

Seriously though, it’s like imprinting on someone you haven’t even met and then feeling an unreasonable attraction to them that drives you mad until you find them.

Ah, love.

I won’t get into details and spoil the fun for you, but this book is described as having a love triangle. Being that one of the people in said triangle only feels the way that they do because of metamorphosis-induced compulsion, so to speak, I feel like that is kind of an unfair description.

Don’t think of it as a love triangle.

I mean, it is…

but it isn’t.

Honestly, the only reason that I feel remotely bad for Ashby is all due to the first chapter from his point-of-view, in-which we get a glimpse of the absolute love and adoration that he feels for Sam. Also the whole lack-of-free-will thing too. I feel bad that he has to deal with that, but otherwise he seems rather snobby and annoying.

Dear Team Ashby, please don’t kill me!

Bad things happen, hijinks ensue; it’s all good, you should read it.

When I first heard about this book I thought “Hey cool, free book! I’ll get around to reading this eventually”. When I finally did read it, I thought “I can’t believe this book was free! Why didn’t I read it sooner?” I’ll admit I got really into the story and couldn’t put it down. I stayed up well into the wee hours of morning, and actually fell asleep while still reading, (I know this because I found the Kindle on the floor when I woke up—whoops!). While I enjoyed the story for the majority of the book, and I felt that the multiple pov’s was written well, the end of it left me with a weird feeling and many questions. Two issues were brought up in a council meeting near the beginning of the book, and though cases of them were hinted at during the story, they were pretty much left untouched and unexplained. This book is the first of a series, so I guess the time for answers will come later, but it bothered me how much was left up in the air. I have questions about things that didn’t happen, as well as things that did, but feel like they were left unresolved.  Also, there wasn’t much explanation about the history of the Morphid people and, again, the different castes. I will definitely read the next book in the series (Ripper) because, like I said, there are just so many unanswered questions, but I’m not in any rush to do so.







Violence Rating: PG13 (Fighting, blood, death)
Romance Rating: PG13 (sexy makeout scene, talk of desire for more)