Helpful Score: 2
Color me shocked: Based on all the reviews I read about this novel, I expected to love it. I put it on all my Wishlists and waited impatiently to borrow a copy from a far-off library. I expected to be frightened, disgusted, haunted, thrilled ... I was utterly bored. I didn't find any character interesting in the least, for either good or bad. I found the main character's dilemna and goal(s) didn't touch me at all. I found nothing interesting, lovable, or even hateful in him - I felt nothing except boredom. He was dull. I didn't find any of the graphic scenes of violence and/or sex to be, well, graphic at all. They were uninteresting and almost non-existent. I'm currently reading a lightweight romance novel that has more violence, gore and sex in it, far more shocking and intense, than this novel. Given the nature of the story, this book should have been exciting and riveting, action-packed, suspenseful, a nail-biter, one of those books you can't put down. It wasn't. I feel like I must have read a completely different version that everyone else read.
Helpful Score: 1
This might be the worst book ever written. Ever. I had this book on my wish list, presumably because it was recommended and others liked it. It was awful. I did not like a single character in this book. I started the book three different times because I thought I missed something but realized this book just stinks. This might be the first time I have ever used the word 'stink' in a review of a book.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a truly quirky novel, as one might expect from the concept of a werewolf with existential ennui. Appropriately for a first-person narrative from someone who is bored with everything, the novel seems to start slowly; but curiosity and the skilled writing kept me going, and I'm glad it did. It did draw me in, and the terribly dry humor kept me entertained. Yes, the ending is cliched, but works within the framework provided. If you're looking for typical blood & guts horror, or if profanity ruins a book for you, give this a pass; but as a very different take on a horror trope, it's well worth reading.
Color me shocked: Based on all the reviews I read about this novel, I expected to love it. I put it on all my Wishlists and waited impatiently to borrow a copy from a far-off library. I expected to be frightened, disgusted, haunted, thrilled ... I was utterly bored. I didn't find any character interesting in the least, for either good or bad. I found the main character's dilemna and goal(s) didn't touch me at all. I found nothing interesting, lovable, or even hateful in him - I felt nothing except boredom. He was dull. I didn't find any of the graphic scenes of violence and/or sex to be, well, graphic at all. They were uninteresting and almost non-existent. I'm currently reading a lightweight romance novel that has more violence, gore and sex in it, far more shocking and intense, than this novel. Given the nature of the story, this book should have been exciting and riveting, action-packed, suspenseful, a nail-biter, one of those books you can't put down. It wasn't. I feel like I must have read a completely different version that everyone else read.
Color me shocked: Based on all the reviews I read about this novel, I expected to love it. I put it on all my Wishlists and waited impatiently to borrow a copy from a far-off library. I expected to be frightened, disgusted, haunted, thrilled ... I was utterly bored. I didn't find any character interesting in the least, for either good or bad. I found the main character's dilemna and goal(s) didn't touch me at all. I found nothing interesting, lovable, or even hateful in him - I felt nothing except boredom. He was dull. I didn't find any of the graphic scenes of violence and/or sex to be, well, graphic at all. They were uninteresting and almost non-existent. I'm currently reading a lightweight romance novel that has more violence, gore and sex in it, far more shocking and intense, than this novel. Given the nature of the story, this book should have been exciting and riveting, action-packed, suspenseful, a nail-biter, one of those books you can't put down. It wasn't. I feel like I must have read a completely different version that everyone else read.
Jacob Marlowe finds out he's the last werewolf living and has just been informed by the WOCOP that they plan to kill him during the next full moon. That's just fine with him. He's been living for almost 200 years and is just plain tired of it. So he plans to let the WOCOP's tails follow him and just let the death happen. The fates don't quite see it that way, though, and nothing quite goes according to Jake's plans.
I was expecting a completely different book than what I got due to the fact that the publisher sent it to me after my favorable review of American Psycho. I was expecting a lot of violence with some social commentary. What I got was a literary take on a genre theme highly reminiscent of Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. This is not a bad thing at all. I highly enjoyed reading a richly verbose and literate book featuring werewolves.
Since this is werewolves and not vampires, though, the themes are different. First there's the fact that werewolves must kill to live, which is eloquently addressed in Jake's psyche in the book. Second is the fact that Jake is suicidal. The passages featuring his depression are reminiscent of the more depressed Lord Byron poems.
Unfortunately all these good aspects are a bit let down by the ending. It felt rather cliche and expected, and I didn't like what became the focus in the end. There are so many other ways the ending could have gone that would have been amazing and powerful, but instead I finished this book and basically said, "AGH not this shit again."
Overall this is a literary take on a genre theme. It is violent and sexual, but not disturbingly so. Recommended to fans of Anne Rice.
Check out my full review. (Link will be live on September 1, 2011).
I was expecting a completely different book than what I got due to the fact that the publisher sent it to me after my favorable review of American Psycho. I was expecting a lot of violence with some social commentary. What I got was a literary take on a genre theme highly reminiscent of Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire. This is not a bad thing at all. I highly enjoyed reading a richly verbose and literate book featuring werewolves.
Since this is werewolves and not vampires, though, the themes are different. First there's the fact that werewolves must kill to live, which is eloquently addressed in Jake's psyche in the book. Second is the fact that Jake is suicidal. The passages featuring his depression are reminiscent of the more depressed Lord Byron poems.
Unfortunately all these good aspects are a bit let down by the ending. It felt rather cliche and expected, and I didn't like what became the focus in the end. There are so many other ways the ending could have gone that would have been amazing and powerful, but instead I finished this book and basically said, "AGH not this shit again."
Overall this is a literary take on a genre theme. It is violent and sexual, but not disturbingly so. Recommended to fans of Anne Rice.
Check out my full review. (Link will be live on September 1, 2011).
