Running With the Pack

Series: Stand-Alone
Genre: Anthology
Author: Various (edited by Ekaterina Sedia)
Publisher: Prime Books

I'm happy to report that the popularity of werewolf fiction has not declined during my hiatus: all the books that I had planned to review first thing I got back had been checked out of the library before I got there. So, I improvise. I got Running with the Pack as a gift from a blogging friend a while back, and had meant to get around to it last year, but stuff kept coming up. So, maybe this is fortuitous: one should, after all, dispense with old business before getting to new.

There's no major theme or gimmick for this anthology, beyond werewolves. That means the authors have full license to unleash their creativity, and produce a remarkably varied body of work.

Promise of the Wolves

Series: Wolf Chronicles (#1)
Genre: Adventure
Author: Dorothy Hearst
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

I've been duped. Or rather my girlfriend, who got me this book for Christmas, has been duped. But I don't mind too much, because a good story is a good story.

If you've seen this book marketed as a werewolf book, it ain't. It's a fantasy novel that takes place 14,000 years ago, before the neolithic revolution. Is there a genre for prehistoric fantasy? There ought to be, because I can think of two or three works using a similar conceit. You could also argue that Promise of the Wolves is a furry story, since most of the main characters are essentially talking wolves. So I'm a bit out of my element here, but not enough that I can't recognize a worthwhile tale being told.

Lupines and Lunatics is on hiatus

I'm taking a break from reading and reviewing. I don't know how long, but definitely until January. If March rolls around and I still haven't gotten back, I'll post to let you know what's going on. Recently, I haven't been pleased with the quality of my reviews. The last few have not been up to standards. After doing this for more than a year, I'm burned out and need a break.

Additionally, there are a lot more restrictions on my time these days. The day job takes a lot out of me, and when I get home I have to work on this blog, Shooting for the Moon, keeping up with friends' blogs, my own novel, and just generally keeping my shit together. It's too much. Somethings got to give, and right now what's giving is the novel, which is supossed to be my ticket to a better future.

I love this blog, but you have to have priorities. I'm putting Lupines and Lunatics into hibernation so I can work on getting Bonds of Fenris published. I'll be back when I have more time. In the meantime, I'll stay in touch via the personal blog.

Keep on howlin', you sons-of-bitches.

Torn

Series: Broken (#1/1.5)
Genre: Romance
Author: Dean Murray
Publisher: Self-Published (via Smashwords)

(Review copy provided by the author.)

I was not too enamored of Torn to begin with, but at the end it did something that outright infuriated me. By now regular readers know that I'm not a fan of books that tell half a story and leave the rest for the sequels. Well, Torn is like that, but worse. It's one side of a story that is intended to be seen from two sides. In other words, there's a complete story here, you're just not getting it. For that, you have to pay for another book. And if Torn by itself is any indication, both together get you a story barely worth the price of one book.

Pride

Series: Shifters (#3)
Genre: Adventure
Author: Rachel Vincent
Publisher: MIRA

Rachel Vincent is an excellent writer, but it's kind of difficult to enjoy her werecat books. On the one hand, she crafts interesting characters, and has an especial talent for snappy dialog. On the other, the world in which her books take place is grim. Sympathetic individuals are few and far between, with most of the cast holding up a fundamentally corrupt social order. Each new book is a struggle between cheering for the good guys and wanting them all to die in a fire. Thankfully, with Pride she finally seems to have found a direction for the series that the reader can get solidly behind, and the result is worth the wait.

Wolf Mark

Series: Stand-Alone
Genre: Adventure
Author: Joseph Bruchac
Publisher: Lee & Low Books

The last book I recall snatching off the library shelves on total, blind impulse was Red Moon Rising, which turned out to be an underrated gem. I picked up Wolfbreed and Raised by Wolves in the same fashion. So when I saw Wolf Mark sitting on the new books cart, having heard nothing of it beforehand, I trusted my instincts and grabbed it. I was not disappointed. Joseph Bruchac has crafted a tale that, while not quite as original as he seems to think, delivers a solid reading experience.

Eternal

Series: Tantalize (#2)
Genre: Romance
Author: Cynthia Leitich Smith
Publisher: Candlewick

I've been advised that criticizing other authors on this blog could hurt my chances of getting agented. Unfortunately, I also have an obligation to my readers to be honest. And I'm terribly sorry, but there's just no easy way to say this: Cynthia Leitich Smith can't write. She got her start in children's literature, and maybe she's good at that, but YA is a different beast. While Eternal is generally an improvement on its predecessor, Tantalize, it's still light-years away from where it needs to be to stand out in the crowded YA Paranormal field.