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So I'm doing my paper on werewolves in YA fiction, right? And expanded it to include a were-owl and cat-person because I couldn't find enough werewolf books that touched on the sort of things I wanted to touch on.
You may get to read it, but then again you may not, because I have like 3 pages of "Jung Jung Jung Seeeeeeeeeeexxx sex sex giggle giggle," and that's just embarrassing. More so when you hand it in to your professor than when you post it on the internet, but the point stands!
But anyway, a rundown of the six books I wrote about, running from the very good to the "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." Skip to the end for the ranting!
Nevernever, Will Shetterly.
Wolfboy lives in the faerie borderlands, cursed to be a werewolf and surrounded by a motley pack of friends. There are two stories he lives through--one involving people trying to find the heir of Faerie, who is one of Wolfboy's close friends, just a young girl, and who doesn't want to be discovered just yet; the other involves his friend the elf Strider being framed for murder outside a nightclub. They're good stories; I like Wolfboy's narrative voice, casual but insecure. "If you're about to have sex for the first time, or for the first time with someone new, and you're a werewolf, it's okay to be embarrassed." And then: "It's over now. Go home."
It would have been a decent enough novel if "It's over now" was true, but it's not; the last little bit is the bit that's really ABOUT Wolfboy rather than just revolving around him, and it ties together the pieces of the story into one beautifully sharp, sad knot. And that is why I love it.
Owl In Love, Patrice Kindl.
I wrote a few words on this earlier. It's the story of a young were-owl in love with her science teacher, and saying anything more would spoil the plot--even if the plot has few really twisty moments. I think the only reason I preferred Nevernever is that I'm a plot girl rather than a character girl; the plot twist that makes me go "Ooooooooooooh" will get me every time. The narrative voice is beguiling, detached, anthropological, humorously lacking in self-awareness--but it evokes a lot of sympathy, too. "My parents have given me permission to marry Mr. Lindstrom. It is very sweet of them, but I'm afraid they have little practical understanding of the laws of New York State..." Watching the subtle little twitches of character growth is the wonderful thing about this book, and so I think it would get even better for me on a second reading; as it is, the balance between humor and sincere is just perfect, and I think the only thing I saw as a flaw was that it steps away from the narrative conventions I'm used to by having a plot we're supposed to be able to guess. It's not a bug, I think, it's a feature, considering Owl's lack of self-awareness. Highly recommended.
Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
Werewolf girl falls in love with human boy, tragedy, angst, finds love with werewolf instead. (Sorry, spoilers, but I can't honestly talk about the book without mentioning it). I am so, so torn in regards to this book. Halfway though my second reading, I wondered, "This was a School Library Journal best book?"--yet it redeems itself by the end. And then doesn't.
When Klause tries to be sensual, she does it very well. That by itself is almost enough to carry the story, since after all it is about werewolves in love. Yet, despite that, the shift in her affections at the end--it was sort of explained, but it never felt that real to me. It works on an archetypal level but not a character level, because I get what Klause is saying by saying that Vivian needs to accept her werewolf nature and love someone who's a werewolf like her and loves that she's a werewolf, but I just don't see what's so great about Gabriel and I don't believe that she sees it either. And at the same time, the book really, really got to me. Pushed my buttons. I liked large parts of the ending and couldn't help myself.
I'm not sure how I feel about it in the end, but it's a very prototypical werewolf book and if you like the idea of werewolves at all, as a concept, I'd recommend it.
Wolf Moon, Charles de Lint
Werewolf turns up in Congenial Ragtag Inkeeper's inn, falls in love with her, stays with her Congenial Ragtag Family. It's not a bad book. It's fantasy, the prose is rather nice if you like that sort of high style...and it's not a bad book. But I didn't like it very much. It felt conventional to me; I like a lot of the stuff that de Lint was trying to do (i.e., write a fantasy that was small-scale rather than epic), and I don't think that it was done badly, but these days otherworldly fantasy has to be done better than "decently."
The Nine Lives of Chloe King, by Celia Thomson. Volume 1 : The Fallen.
Girl mysteriously develops cat superpowers. Meets many boys. Angsts about the romance between her two best friends. It says something about this book that I devote exactly three sentences of my (8-page, singlespaced, so far) paper to it. It's just...banal. Pointless. Scattered with text messaging in an attempt to be hip and cool that falls flat. Why should I waste another word on it?
The Wereling, by Stephen Cole. Volume 1: Wounded.
OMG Worst Gender Politics Ever.
I am so serious. We have Tom, the boy, who gets bitten by werewolves but is magically resistant to their turning-into-a-werewolf power, and so they rub herbs all over him and wrap him in a wolf pelt until he finally turns into a werewolf. But even then, he turns out to be a special magical Wereling who can be a werewolf while still retaining his human side! (Note: all werewolves are pure evil killing machines). Kate, on the other hand, is the daughter of werewolves. She will become a werewolf herself when she has sex with a werewolf. But if she has sex with a non-werewolf to try to mitigate the chances of her getting turned into a werewolf, then "her mother would have won." So basically, the only thing she can do is remain a pure untouched virgin, while Tom gets to be a werewolf and suffer no repurcussions. Oh, and the parallels between shapechanging and sex are really embarrassingly, giggle-causingly transparent. I hated, hated, hated this book. It's not that it's horribly written or anything (although NO ONE would actually say "semicolon-dash-right parenthesis" to convey ;-) in words), but the politics make me want to take a cold shower.
Note to self : Justine Larbalestier, werewolves, Tanith Lee. Why did I not KNOW about this? Now I have to read it and put something in my paper about it by Tuesday. Hooray.
You may get to read it, but then again you may not, because I have like 3 pages of "Jung Jung Jung Seeeeeeeeeeexxx sex sex giggle giggle," and that's just embarrassing. More so when you hand it in to your professor than when you post it on the internet, but the point stands!
But anyway, a rundown of the six books I wrote about, running from the very good to the "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force." Skip to the end for the ranting!
Nevernever, Will Shetterly.
Wolfboy lives in the faerie borderlands, cursed to be a werewolf and surrounded by a motley pack of friends. There are two stories he lives through--one involving people trying to find the heir of Faerie, who is one of Wolfboy's close friends, just a young girl, and who doesn't want to be discovered just yet; the other involves his friend the elf Strider being framed for murder outside a nightclub. They're good stories; I like Wolfboy's narrative voice, casual but insecure. "If you're about to have sex for the first time, or for the first time with someone new, and you're a werewolf, it's okay to be embarrassed." And then: "It's over now. Go home."
It would have been a decent enough novel if "It's over now" was true, but it's not; the last little bit is the bit that's really ABOUT Wolfboy rather than just revolving around him, and it ties together the pieces of the story into one beautifully sharp, sad knot. And that is why I love it.
Owl In Love, Patrice Kindl.
I wrote a few words on this earlier. It's the story of a young were-owl in love with her science teacher, and saying anything more would spoil the plot--even if the plot has few really twisty moments. I think the only reason I preferred Nevernever is that I'm a plot girl rather than a character girl; the plot twist that makes me go "Ooooooooooooh" will get me every time. The narrative voice is beguiling, detached, anthropological, humorously lacking in self-awareness--but it evokes a lot of sympathy, too. "My parents have given me permission to marry Mr. Lindstrom. It is very sweet of them, but I'm afraid they have little practical understanding of the laws of New York State..." Watching the subtle little twitches of character growth is the wonderful thing about this book, and so I think it would get even better for me on a second reading; as it is, the balance between humor and sincere is just perfect, and I think the only thing I saw as a flaw was that it steps away from the narrative conventions I'm used to by having a plot we're supposed to be able to guess. It's not a bug, I think, it's a feature, considering Owl's lack of self-awareness. Highly recommended.
Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
Werewolf girl falls in love with human boy, tragedy, angst, finds love with werewolf instead. (Sorry, spoilers, but I can't honestly talk about the book without mentioning it). I am so, so torn in regards to this book. Halfway though my second reading, I wondered, "This was a School Library Journal best book?"--yet it redeems itself by the end. And then doesn't.
When Klause tries to be sensual, she does it very well. That by itself is almost enough to carry the story, since after all it is about werewolves in love. Yet, despite that, the shift in her affections at the end--it was sort of explained, but it never felt that real to me. It works on an archetypal level but not a character level, because I get what Klause is saying by saying that Vivian needs to accept her werewolf nature and love someone who's a werewolf like her and loves that she's a werewolf, but I just don't see what's so great about Gabriel and I don't believe that she sees it either. And at the same time, the book really, really got to me. Pushed my buttons. I liked large parts of the ending and couldn't help myself.
I'm not sure how I feel about it in the end, but it's a very prototypical werewolf book and if you like the idea of werewolves at all, as a concept, I'd recommend it.
Wolf Moon, Charles de Lint
Werewolf turns up in Congenial Ragtag Inkeeper's inn, falls in love with her, stays with her Congenial Ragtag Family. It's not a bad book. It's fantasy, the prose is rather nice if you like that sort of high style...and it's not a bad book. But I didn't like it very much. It felt conventional to me; I like a lot of the stuff that de Lint was trying to do (i.e., write a fantasy that was small-scale rather than epic), and I don't think that it was done badly, but these days otherworldly fantasy has to be done better than "decently."
The Nine Lives of Chloe King, by Celia Thomson. Volume 1 : The Fallen.
Girl mysteriously develops cat superpowers. Meets many boys. Angsts about the romance between her two best friends. It says something about this book that I devote exactly three sentences of my (8-page, singlespaced, so far) paper to it. It's just...banal. Pointless. Scattered with text messaging in an attempt to be hip and cool that falls flat. Why should I waste another word on it?
The Wereling, by Stephen Cole. Volume 1: Wounded.
OMG Worst Gender Politics Ever.
I am so serious. We have Tom, the boy, who gets bitten by werewolves but is magically resistant to their turning-into-a-werewolf power, and so they rub herbs all over him and wrap him in a wolf pelt until he finally turns into a werewolf. But even then, he turns out to be a special magical Wereling who can be a werewolf while still retaining his human side! (Note: all werewolves are pure evil killing machines). Kate, on the other hand, is the daughter of werewolves. She will become a werewolf herself when she has sex with a werewolf. But if she has sex with a non-werewolf to try to mitigate the chances of her getting turned into a werewolf, then "her mother would have won." So basically, the only thing she can do is remain a pure untouched virgin, while Tom gets to be a werewolf and suffer no repurcussions. Oh, and the parallels between shapechanging and sex are really embarrassingly, giggle-causingly transparent. I hated, hated, hated this book. It's not that it's horribly written or anything (although NO ONE would actually say "semicolon-dash-right parenthesis" to convey ;-) in words), but the politics make me want to take a cold shower.
Note to self : Justine Larbalestier, werewolves, Tanith Lee. Why did I not KNOW about this? Now I have to read it and put something in my paper about it by Tuesday. Hooray.
