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Cage Punks #1

Chameleon

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Cameo lives in a caged supernatural city where all species are tagged at birth with silver brands embedded in their foreheads. Her X brand identifies her as a Mixbreed, but she's so much more. Like a chameleon, she can shift from one person's image to another. It's a great way to make money for a habitat street kid, or Cage Punk as most people call them. Wiz, her street partner-in-crime, finds her jobs to use her abilities. Some jobs entail changing into people to take academic tests. Others require more skill and involve higher risk. When Wiz asks Cameo to stand in for a Were-wolf teenager who doesn't want to go to her debutante ball, it seems like just another job, until a corpse is discovered and an old friend of Wiz appears.

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

10 people are currently reading
426 people want to read

About the author

Kenya Wright

123 books2,604 followers

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Kenya Wright wrote her first novel during her third year at UM Law school. She dropped out a month after the release and never looked back.

Words are power,
and Kenya wants to be the greatest wizard that ever lived.

It's an audacity to inspire
and teach the healing of love through arousal.

It's this crazy idea that love
can not only help a reader escape,
but the story can also teach the person
about being human,
while making them laugh,
cry,
and hot for more sex.

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5 stars
46 (33%)
4 stars
57 (41%)
3 stars
24 (17%)
2 stars
5 (3%)
1 star
4 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Laura Thomas.
1,545 reviews106 followers
January 17, 2014
I’ve read Kenya’s adult Santeria Habitat books and loved them, so I was excited to try her New Adult book Chameleon.

When the supernaturals lost the war against the humans, they were rounded up and forced to live in caged cities called Habitats.

Each supernatural had their own particular brand placed on their forehead and a choice of which walled city they wanted to live in.

Cameo lives in Santeria. She has glowing white skin and hair, and her body is covered in scales.

She’s lived on the streets for most of her 17 years, hiding from her abusive mother, other more powerful supernaturals, and mean cage punks. That’s what the kids are called.

Wiz saved her, fed her, helped her to get where she could fend for herself. Now they work together.

Cameo has a secret only Wiz knows about. She has the power to look like anybody she wants. Wiz becomes known as the go to guy when someone needs a stand in for an original. They never suspect it’s a real person. And it proves to be lucrative, keeping them both fed and sheltered.

When a job that should have been easy goes very wrong, Wiz senses a set up. Sure enough, the Bearded Dragon is coming and he wants Wiz to keep his blood promise. The one that will occur on Cameo’s eighteenth birthday.

Cameo knows something bad is coming and when Wiz won’t or can’t tell her what it is, she races from danger to danger, trying to make sense of it.

Time is running out. Cameo’s birthday is approaching, and someone will die soon.

After reading the adult Habitat series, I was surprised by how well the author wrote this in a teenagers point of view. She kept in a younger voice, helping you to feel their emotions. The characters acted as teens would, impulsive, reckless, and emotional.

Cameo has a few friends she can trust, and maybe a new one with a vampire with a surprising secret.

Wiz was the adult, the go to guy for all of the cage punks, giving them sanctuary at the Haven.

It was interesting to read about how these unwanted kids lived. They resided on the rooftops, perhaps so they could see danger coming. It was a harsh life but Wiz helped to feed them and gave them some sense of safety.

There were a few scenes with some sexual tension. A few had me chuckling. But they are just attraction and frustration. Nothing unsuitable for young adults and it was appropriate as teens are either talking about sex or thinking about it, a lot.

A couple of characters from Kenya’s other books make cameo appearances and I was thrilled to know they were still alive and kicking while I wait for the next book.

Chameleon does have an ending. It’s not a cliffhanger. I was actually shocked, thinking, “No, this can’t be happening.” But it actually worked very well and I was happy with it.

There is room for more, but I would be content with the ending as it is.

Kenya has built this amazing world of caged cities, with so many different mixbreeds and purebreds. Powers abound and something is always happening. There’s never a dull moment.

I received this book for my honest and unbiased review.
Profile Image for Elsa Carrion.
699 reviews109 followers
May 16, 2022
What a beginning!
Good world building.
Very mysterious.
Didn't really feel the love for the characters. I understand that Cameo came from a home that wasn't very good for her self esteem. However, she had plenty of time around positive people and yet she continued to stay in her past, instead of moving on. Don't care to much for the poor me pity me type.

I loved Wiz character, a little creepy once you find out what he had to do to protect and survive.

I would have loved if there was more about their past, the story gave a little history but not enough.

This story was published back in 2013. When I first downloaded it back in 2016 it was not listed as a series. Not sure when that changed, regardless It is now listed as a series. I looked for the rest of the series, I mean 2013 was a while back and surely the rest of the books should be published by now. Unfortunately my search came up with nothing. Now I'm a little upset, with the author and with my self, more with myself, because I should have looked first before I started this story. I have came across this situation before and I'm usually pretty good at looking first before I start a story and invest time in reading it. I failed epically this time. There is no second book. Has the author lost interest in the story? I don't know because there is nothing mentioning why the second book has not been published or why is it listed as a series and there's no other book coming. I would have like to know what happened to all the kids on the rooftops and what Wiz and Cameo future looked like besides the little 6 pg Epilogue that's included. I tried going to the authors face book page, web page and was unable to contact her with my questions/concerns.

This story is a 4 star however be aware there is no book 2 and it does not have a very nice tidy conclusion. It leaves you wanting more or at least it did me.
Profile Image for Fangs for the Fantasy.
1,449 reviews193 followers
May 20, 2015
Living in the walled city of Santeria, one of the caged Supernatural denizens within, Cameo scratches a living as a reviled mixed-breed, but one with a unique power: she can change her shape to look like anyone.

Working with Wiz, her partner and long term crush, she manages to make considerable cash with this skill, especially for a homeless street kid; but as her reputation becomes known, the risks grow ever harder

Especially when a person from Wiz’s past appears – old debts become due and there’s far more to their history than ever Cameo guessed.




This is set in the same world setting as the Santeria Habitat series and I love that series. I love the world building. I love the concept of the various kind of supernaturals living in their caged cities and the different societies and cultures they have had to bring together and build. It’s intriguing to see a word where everyone is a supernatural of one kind or other and what that means, as well as the closed in setting caused by the closed city. It’s a really excellent and truly original world setting that I have never see anything close to it anywhere else.

I also love that the foundation of this book is Santeria. Each of the Habitat walled cites are designed around a particular faith and the supernaturals within are either adherents or sympathetic to that fait (or recognise that their particular supernatural nature will be tolerated within that faith). So the buildings, the districts the rituals, the expressions and the customs of this city all evolved around Santeria. It’s a rich and diverse element of the story and world that I love.

The plot itself is gloriously twisty but not that focused on the Habitat as much as the main series is. This draws on a lot of the history and believe of the fae

Cameo’s shapeshifting powers are also excellent as there’s a lot of imagination gone into exploring how this would be marketable and useful beyond the obvious. But this also mixes into this series’ excellent class analysis and the treatment of Mixedbreed supernaturals like Cameo. Exploited and shunned, her useful talents make her in demand, but being mixedbreed also makes her vulnerable. She can be easily used or scapegoated with little consequence which makes accepting jobs fraught

Cameo herself is a very fragile character. Her nature has left her physically very different and her abusive mother filled her with a vast amount of self-loathing. Her body image issues re interestingly confused still further with her ability to change her appearance so completely. It’s hard to tell her appearance doesn’t matter when her whole livelihood centres aound imitating other’s. It’s hard when she can assume the form of beautiful people for her not to notice how people treat he differently and how they react to her real form. It’s hard to tell her to love herself when she can change her appearance and set change as some kind of permanent goal. Why learn to see the beauty in herself when she can imitate the beauty in others?

I have a couple of stand out criticisms about this book

First of all the mystery goes on for far too long. There is a lot of investigating which I appreciate because too many urban fantasy protagonists interpret “investigation” as hanging around and doing nothing until someone hands them all the answers they want on a platter. So I do appreciate that Cameo always investigated, kept hammering at the answers, kept trying to find the answer. And she’s creative ad intelligent and capable in finding those answers


But, at the same time, I do think she may have seized on clues that appeared only a little relevant or coincidental. They turned out to be super-duper relevant, certainly – but don’t see entirely how Cameo could have known that when she seized on them as something vital to investigate.


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Profile Image for Kagama-the Literaturevixen.
828 reviews136 followers
March 16, 2014
Cameo is a mix breed and her white hair and scaly white skin makes her odder than most inhabitants of Santeria,the compound or habitat where people of her kind live.

Together with her friend Wiz she takes on work as a stand in or decoy for people who can pay. Its risky but its a living.

It all goes to hell one day when the person she has been hired to impersonate turns out to be dead and they were actually being used as scapegoats.They manage to get away but in the process Wiz is hurt.

This catches the attentions of a man called the Bearded dragon who has a score unsettled with Wiz.But he is not telling her exactly what brought this so she decided to find out the truth herself together with her friends.

This book had potential I was especially excited about the shapeshifting abilites part of the maincharacter and it is explored in an interesting way and the way she goes about her shapeshifting is explained too.

Cameo doesnt like the way she looks since she was abused by her mother because of this she keeps Magazine cutouts of womens faces and bodies by her mirror so she can pick out those she like the best and mimic them.She just wants to be a normal girl.

description

I quite liked her personality for the most part even if she made some choices I didnt agree with or completely understand.

She felt like an authentic teenager albeit a shapeshifting one with scales and the supporting cast wasnt unlikable either apart from one person

But as you can see I only gave this two stars and the reason for this is that the plot was so unfocused and I was often confused about what was really going on.And when I was starting to think I was starting to get a grip on the story it got screwier.Not in a "my mind is blown" kind of way I might add.

And to be honest I didnt find the love interest very appealing.

He kept confusing Cameo,stating that no all they could ever be was friends only to snap and turn into this creepy guy whose mantra was no one is allowed to touch you but me. And then in the next hes pushing her away again and refusing to tell her the full truth.

Towards the end I felt the author simply dropped the original plotline just so she could get to the ending and find a way for the two of them to have a happy ending. Despite there being loose ends with the plotline and having to leave supporting characters hanging.

The sentiment between the couple can more or less amount to thist:

"But what about the others?"

"Eh never mind as long as we are happy"

There were also several grammatical errors wich irked me.




Profile Image for Joy H.
19 reviews1 follower
January 5, 2014
I wish there was a 4.5 rating. I'm a fan of YA and the Habitat Series by Wright so I was psyched when this book came out. Overall, I really liked it. We have the great urban fantasy world created by Wright, but this time seen through the eyes of our teenage protagonist Cameo. She's struggling to accept herself but doesn't know the truth about who she really is. The mysterious and sexy Wiz, who's taken her under his wing, has a lot of secrets and Cameo's got to figure them out before his time is up.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. It's got the same features of mystery, action, awesome world-building, and romance of the Habitat Series, but this time suitable for all ages. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 was because of a few editing issues and I wasn't a fan of the very end. However, this book grabbed me. I actually hit the climax on a break at work. As soon as the day was over, I headed to my car and fired up my e-reader to finish. I ended up spending an hour in a creepy, darkening parking garage as I read to find out what would happen to the characters I cared about. Let's just say I jumped pretty high when I got a text, and realized I had completely forgotten about where I was or what I was doing--hallmark of a good book.

So in short...recommended reading.
3 reviews
Read
October 9, 2013
I'd like to know why this book is here and book 3 of the habitat series keeps getting pushed back. How about we make that our #1 priority and put the side jobs on the back burner. I'm itching for that 3rd book.
Profile Image for Katherine.
179 reviews7 followers
June 29, 2013
Wow. This book is is not what I expected it to be, but great nonetheless :)
Profile Image for Rhys Ethan.
Author 10 books58 followers
Want to read
July 26, 2012
Wow of all the book in my to do list, this must be the one I'm most looking forward to read
Profile Image for Llaph .
1,066 reviews28 followers
December 4, 2017
I really like this world Wright created, I love the main series, and wish there were more books set in it. There is a lot of potential, especially if you think about all of the other habitats in the world.
The only issue I really have is the jerkiness of the story. At some points it went smoothly and at others it was like ... hurryupandtellthispartokay.
The main background premise/plot was way cool and I was thinking there might be more books where it spread it out and was rather sad that it actually got wrapped up--for the most part--at the end.
There are a bunch of loose ends left out there which made me sorta sad. The main one got tied up, but in a total ... weird/scratch my head and think omg that was fast sort of way.
Profile Image for Aixa.
61 reviews1 follower
January 1, 2014
*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Chameleon not what I expected but it is an awesome concept and exceptional story.

I loved the easy reading and the flow of the story line. There is no slow, dragging your feet in the story to make you want to skip. Everything flows beautiful and you don’t want to put it down.

I love how throughout the story the life of Cameo is actually explained and you are not left wondering what happen or if what you think is going on is right. And the visualization of the characters as well as the city made me love it even more. How would you picture a person or a mix hybrid that seems half chameleon and half human? Would you picture it like the book cover or does your imagination pictures it as the way Cameo describes herself?

I read a lot so some of the ideas in this story I can pin point in others but I love how completely different is described.

Cameo’s struggles in life are so real that it doesn’t matter how different she really is or that this story is science fiction. Any one could relate to her. Having an abusing mother that hated her all the way until her end and then being almost homeless could be anyone struggles, but at least she is not alone in the world and has some friends that actually care for her.

But, why was she abused? That is explained throughout the story when her friend Wiz asks for her help for a job that ends up being Pandora’s box to who Cameo really is and how she came to be.

The only reason I didn’t give this awesome story a 5 star/olives is because of the ending. While I acknowledge that this is an adult-science fiction story the ending is something I don’t approved. While it seemed rushed I don’t like how that was the only way Cameo could be with the one she loves. (I wont tell you, I don’t want to spoil it for you).
Other than that, the story was amazing and I am looking forward to checking out what else has Kenya written.

I am giving this story 4 stars/olives for its greatness.
Profile Image for April.
2,640 reviews175 followers
October 3, 2014
Really awesome and creative story. I was attracted by the cool cover and from page one I was not disappointed. Great pacing, the story has constant flow that never left me feeling a lull. I can see any teen who is into Sci-Fi or Urban Fantasy, really getting into this engaging book.

Cameo is a terrific character, so happy she isn't the typical angsty teen. The whole world is rich and full, I am very interested in checking out the grown up series Habitat that this is a spin-off from.

Warning, you are going to need a box of tissues, things get really emotional. I am talking serious ugly crying!

*Disclosure- I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. All thoughts, opinions and ratings are my own.
Profile Image for Dalene.
482 reviews12 followers
January 23, 2014
First, I would like to thank the author Kenya Wright for giving me this book for an honest review. This is the first time I read this author and I love the book. There were a few editing issues. The world building is awesome, I love it. The characters are very well developed. I am looking forward to reading more from this author. Great work Kenya.
Profile Image for J.L..
Author 15 books72 followers
Read
March 22, 2016
Totally subjective: Couldn't connect with the characters, probably because I'm picky about my YA books.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews

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