Solid 4.5 stars. There were some pesky editing errors throughout this that kept distracting me, but what a fabulous story. It took me a few chapters to become a part of this world, but once I did, I was hooked.Exit is an Echoback, which is sort of like a monkey, but not a monkey. Sort of a cat, but not a cat. I'm not totally sure what exactly he is, and I found myself trying to figure out his physical appearance pretty much every scene where it came into play. He has a tail, which is the biggest difference between him and the humans. He grew up in an orphanage and was raised as a human. He had never met another Echoback before. Though he has to pretty much hide his tail, it is one of the things that makes him such an asset to his job where he is basically their personal cat burglar, or is it monkey burglar?
There are also Visks, which are lizard people who don't have sex, other than to breed. This is quite the opposite of Exit, who is a bit of a sex fiend.
As for the actual story, there is so much to sink your teeth into. Exit is planning on being kidnapped, but not being taken as the Pirate Captain's pet. These are not swashbuckling pirates, other than they do crew a sort of pirate ship and they do plunder other boats. Exit's mission is to gather evidence against the pirates.
I won't go into any more detail, but, suffice to say, a lot happens. Exit meets other Echobacks and finds freedom in a land where he is allowed to let his Echoback side show. He runs into trouble quite often, usually with the help of the Captain's other pet, Topher. There are a lot of endearing characters in this story, and some others who are pretty awful. While this was a pretty long book, I flew right through it and jumped right into the next one.
I also have to add that I really enjoyed the A/N's, or author notes. Often, one would suggest if you wanted to learn more about, for example, Exit's time in the orphanage and how he lost his virginity, feel free to read such and such. Others would just explain where a certain term came from or its actual purpose. I found these quite interesting.