Growl completed Growl AUTHOR: Skyler_blue
LEAD: Kai
GENRE; SETTING: action, romance, genderbender; school
CHAPTERS: 81
READER INFORMATION: [M]  (this story was originally un-rated but the author decided to rate it when it came up to the last ten chapters or so for violence/mild gore)  

Disguising yourself as a boy shouldn't be so hard. But add a life-threatening tournament, a team of hot-tempered delinquents and an older brother with a huge secret?

School just got a lot more difficult.

You're willing to do anything in order for your older brother to stay alive. Anything. Even if that means disguising as a guy and entering the famous life-threatening boys-only competition for the prize money. Sounds simple, right? Not when your classmates are delinquents. And not when some of these delinquents want to slit each other's throats. Will they trust you? Or will everything fall apart when they know your secret?

There's only one way to find out... Let them hear how loud you can Growl...

thoughts PLOT: This is another one of those fics that's been on my radar for a while but that I've only just recently got round to reading. I think a number of people know I'm a fan of girl-disguised-as-a-boy stories and it's always nice to find a good one. Shinhye's brother is dangerously ill, and since she's a minor, she can't just be left home alone. Consequently, her brother's best friend enrols her at Shinhwa Academy, except due to spacing issues there's no room for her to join the girls' side and she instead ends up in the one room on campus that still has a space – on the boy's side. Shinhye's complicit in this, too, as soon as she finds out that enrolling in one particular class would give her the opportunity to enter Growl, a famous televised competition for teenage schoolboys with a phenomenal amount of prize money. She could really do with that prize money. Her brother could really do with that prize money. The hospital bills could be paid with that prize money.

Naturally, though, the competition isn't that easy, and her school companions for Growl also take some time to accept her. They also have their own problems, and the ghost of a strangely familiar Lee Hyunbin has them constantly at each other's throats... and then some of them start finding out that Shinhye is actually a girl.

There are some quite obvious inspirations lurking, like the shower sequence from Hana Kimi and references to Boys Before Flowers, and, of course, The Hunger Games. I did feel it occasionally leant too much on THG, but that was largely because of the archery. I've shot before, and you have to be pretty strong to draw and fire a bow successfully first time round – forget about aiming. There's no way you can just pick one up and hit bull's eye first time round and then suddenly be a pro, even with natural talent. I felt it would have made more sense if her special weapon had been a slingshot, since she does mention towards the beginning that she'd shot bugs and insects with a sling, which means a pretty mean aim.

Once this got going, it was an enjoyable read. It just took a little time cranking up to pitch, and there are also some shaky foundations and inconsistencies. For example, the school is actually the first to suggest dressing Shinhye up as a boy, and no school would ever do that because of the legal ramifications. On the subject of schools, I still don't get how Jihoon, who teaches at the school, is unable to go from the school to see Shinhye every so often when Chanyeol is at the same school (and boards?) but somehow works in the same shop as Shinhye. Considering Chanyeol can go between the two, there's no reason why Shinhye couldn't just bunk with Jihoon for a bit and still go to the job, especially if she hates school. Also, there's this whole deal about Shinhye missing lessons at the school she's technically enrolled in because they're so poor she spends her time th