Bioshifter: Volume 1

Bioshifter, Book 1

By: Thundamoo, Natalie Maher

Narrated by: Sarah Beth Pfeifer

Hannah has a routine. Wake up, take a shower, go to school, go to work, come home, and pass out.

It's a perfectly normal routine for a perfectly normal girl who does not have to remember how her limbs work every morning because of haunting nightmares of being a very different creature in a very different world. That's all she thinks they are—nightmares—until one night, they're all too lucid, and her body on Earth starts to change. Slowly, Hannah's humanity starts to slip away... but surely she can continue just sticking to the routine, right? It'll be fine. It has to be.

A mix of urban and traditional fantasy, Bioshifter is a story in two worlds, with magic leaking in from one to the other. It's a story about love, self-acceptance, neurodivergence, and a whole lot of trauma. Strap in and enjoy!

©2023 Natalie Maher (P)2023 Podium Audio

Just as good as a audible

I started reading it as soon as it was on the patreon and I got the book as well, and I'm glad to get it as a audible too. great story, interesting characters with a lot of introspection. Fun performance too. thank you

I despise the character, but still a good book

Let me say this. I loathe the main character. She's a whiny, self entitled, little drama queen. Everything she does is slightly stupid. Ever interaction she has with anyone is cringey. I hate literally everything about her as a person (not the whole gay thing that's whatever).

And yet, it's a good book overall. The narrator knocks it out of the park. I want to know what happens next. I never feel like the book is spinning in neutral. It's a good book if you can get past the protagonist.

The plot is basically 2 stories. In one she's a normal girl turning into a monster bit by bit. I call this plot the B plot and it overstays it's welcome by a large margin. It's primary purpose is to characterize her and it does so well, but adds nothing more to her characterization as the book goes on. It slides into building romances and teen angst drama with no clear purpose beyond childish suspense of if the parents will catch her or not. The A plot meanwhile is that every time she goes to sleep she wakes up as spider monster in a fantasy world. This is a good story with an interesting setting, neat characters, and good action. She's still pretty annoying here but she can't really talk properly so most of her stupid social interactions are limited (this does not apply to her inane thoughts). It does at least bleed over into the B plot some which is nice but could stand to have more of an impact on B plot then it does.

As an aside, the story is very LGBTQ+ to the point of being a little silly. Every character is either autistic or part of the community. Which is absolutely fine and logical. Weird social outcast girl who is barely a functional human being would probably surround herself with people she thinks can relate to her at least a little. The issue is that the story is treading a fine line towards being pandering and making things gay/autistic/etc for the sake of it. It largely avoids it, but a character towards the end leans more into it out of nowhere which is weird given the near apocolyptic events happening. The reveal (if the writer thinks its important to the story) would have been much better suited towards the middle of the book where it had time to breathe instead of slamming it down like it's just as important as the massive events going on in the end. Made worse by the character having some more pressing issues that aren't concluded in the book. There are also other instances of this tonal whiplash sprinkled throughout the book. Particularly when MC is freaking out about being gay instead of growing monster parts. She has been gay her whole life, I figure the whole rapid mutations should take the front seat for a bit since it's new and life altering. It's also not really a major deal nowadays really.

Also for some reason the Author included a lot of specific cultural references that won't age very well (given how specific they are) and seem to be in the book solely to state opinions on them. Which is fine as they aren't terribly intrusive but they are noticeable.

Great book with great narration

I need the next book asap. Natalie creates unique worlds, characters and problems that I can’t get enough of.

Underrated author by orders of magnitudes

I don’t love fantasy, but Natalie Maher is the exception. I like her characters, her flawed, intelligent protagonists, and how she makes the reader feel their emotions. Her stories are unconventional and wholly captivating.

This one is funnier, and felt more personal. However, Hannah is more than a bit edgy and political (woke), very much realistic but slightly irritating to me.

(I miss Jessica Almacy as the narrator but Sarah is fantastic also.)

I really loved this crazy book

Natalie Maher did such a good job with crazy eldritch body changing dysphoria that I thought she couldn't top it, but this one certainly does. I love the crazy, neirotic MC going through shennanigans in 2 worlds and their gradual bleedover. The magic system was unique and fun with no stats or anything like that. I very much enjoyed this book, though moments were pretty stressful at times, and I had to pause it for a couple days and come back to it. There is just enough humor to add relief to the horror, and the narrator does a fantastic job bringing that out as well as all of the unique characters. I will definitely be getting the next book in the series whenever it comes out.