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Coyotes is a unique tale in how its narrative is designed and unfolds. Sean Lewis certainly has an idea for his Western tale that he spins. With the jarring opening, Lewis uses this to put the reader in the middle of the story. It causes us to ask questions about what exactly is happening and why the new officer on the force ended up in such a situation. And then, we are introduced to our main protagonist who seems to be the one responsible for exactly what was happening. The officer moves into the next situation and seeks to take the girl to be questioned.



The interrogation is not any different than one you’ve seen in a crime story before. Lewis pits the two against one another; owever, the young girl seems out of it. Her lack of focus folds in quite well to her backstory, which the writer shows using the work of artist Caitlin Yarsky. The artist is smart to use different colors to show how things used to be and not how they are. In the present, she utilizes very bleak colors. It is a huge difference from how bright things were in the past for our main protagonist.



The home of our protagonist, Analia, seems to be something like Mexico. The reader is not given any indication of where the events happen. It becomes somewhat confusing as the story jumps to multiple different points, and the metaphor of what the coyote means for the story is introduced when speaking about hunters and meat.



The art flows very nicely. Yarsky continues to do a great job of differing the mood within each part of the story or different scenes, but Lewis confuses those who are not completely familiar. He gives the reader very little clues to understanding just what is happening; however, he does a great job at showing what a different life Analia had before things changed for her. It creates a nice contrast, one that Yarsky takes the chance to develop. She does not make all of her characters look the same and keeps things unique and fresh.



Analia seems to be indoctrinated into fighting by those around her early on in life. Lewis is digging into just how people’s lives can be impacted by extremism. It’s fascinating to think of how one can change if they are indoctrinated. Yet, it’s also shown how the coyotes attack her and others, altering her perception in life.

Analia seems to abandon her identity at one point in the story, which is part of her moving into this new version of herself. The coyotes do come back into the story, and they seem to attack again. It almost seems in her mind these coyotes are human hunters. Either way, the narrative seems much more focused on imagery and symbolism than explaining things.



It’s a very interesting story and one that leaves much mystery to reveal. Lewis and Yarsky put together a tale that introduces the reader to a new world and one that is somewhat the same but, at the same time, it’s what creates an interesting paradigm for the character to navigate through as it includes differences, too. Seeing how Analia grows and gets out of her situations will be an interesting journey for the reader.



Tommy Zimmer is a writer whose work has appeared online and in print. His work covers a variety of topics, including politics, economics, health and wellness, addiction and recovery, and the entertainment industry. 

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Tommy Zimmer, Fanbase Press Guest Contributor

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