I really wish I could get behind this deck like so many others here, but I'm going to offer a dissenting opinion about this deck.
First off, I was so excited to get this deck after the reviews and everything I saw. I waited to open this deck until tonight so I could give a fresh reading to a friend with it; that is, until I opened it.
I took out the rather exhaustive book to find a deck in shrink wrapped plastic by itself- no box. Automatic points off for me since I don't want to buy bags for each and every deck I own. They're cards and a box will do just fine unless I feel the urge to get a bag for them. I'd be a bit more lenient if they included a bag, even a crappy one, but this is just a way for Llewellyn to try and score another sale. I don't want the seller forcing me to get a bag by neglecting to give the cards a box for them.
The Book
I barely cracked into this thing so I can't be too thorough. I like that the book is encyclopedic to a degree. The cards' meanings are given in a way that a new user can better apply them based on the question. Definitions are given for general readings, career, relationship, and health focused questions. The biggest turnoff for me was at the beginning of the book however when it clearly had a super new-age vibe to it. This can appeal for some for but for readers like myself it felt very contrived and fluffy. This is how the last few decks I've gotten from Llewellyn have been and it has really made me rethink if I ever want to purchase another deck from that publisher.
The Artwork
I actually really like the artistic style. It's simple, yet detailed, and is very easy to locate the important parts of the image. The colors are also well done; I like how the colors reflect the feeling the card should evoke.
Animal Choice
There are some animals in some depictions that are REALLY well chosen. I love the queen of swords as a wolf. Some are a bit of a stretch for me, such as a ladybug for wheel of fortune. Most of them I don't understand why the animal was chosen for the particular card unfortunately. I was hoping for a more intuitive assignment and maybe I need to read the 300+ page book to really understand it. That will most likely not happen.
Depiction
As a previous poster said, the animals are shown in a natural way and not anthropomorphised. However, sometimes they are just there on the card. The 4 of wands shows a crow just sitting next to 4 upright wands with a woodland background. This is more the rule than the exception sadly. Many cards are influenced by the RWS symbolism, yet some aren't. I went through the deck, card by card, until I came across the 5 of cups, showing a muskrat (I think) swimming away from his fellow muskrat he left on the shore after what looks like he murdered him. At this point, I put the deck down and really felt disenchanted with the whole thing.
Conclusion
This deck will now be unceremoniously placed on a shelf I like to call the land of misfit decks. I don't want to have to study every single card to understand the whole backstory to it in order to read with it. Maybe that's why I don't use oracle decks. I'm sure that if you dedicate yourself to learning everything in the book, this deck could really come together to be a powerful tool but I just don't have the time nor patience to do so. The heavily new-age feel to the book is unnecessary, or maybe it's not. I should have known that a deck with the word "totem" in its title could easily be slanted this way, much like a deck with "holy" in the title could foreshadow a heavy element of Christian theology. The lack of a box, something so simple, was the cherry on top of all this disappointment.