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Werewolf novels
I recently read a couple of novels about werewolves: Mercedes Lackey's Beauty and the Werewolf, which was somewhat mediocre, and Gail Carriger's Soulless (both the original novel and the manga adaptation), which I enjoyed much more than I'd expected.
Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite fantasy authors, and when she tackled one of my favorite subjects (werewolves), I was expecting to really love the book. So I was disappointed that the result was a bit "meh," at least in my opinion.
Beauty and the Werewolf is part of Lackey's Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, her line of fairy tale inspired romance novels. As one might expect from the title, it draws mainly on the Beauty and Beast fairy tale, although there are also elements of Cinderella and Red Riding Hood: the main character Bella has a stepmother and two stepsisters (although her father is alive in this version), and she wears a red cloak to visit the old wisewoman in the woods.
While returning home from Granny's house in the woods one evening, Bella is attacked by a werewolf who turns out to be the reclusive Duke Sebastian. He was supposed to have been safely locked up during the full moon, but somehow got loose that night. Sebastian manages to restrain himself from killing Bella, but he does bite her, and thus she is forced to spend a three-month quarantine locked up in his castle to see whether she has been infected with his curse (by order of the King and the country's Fairy Godmother). Bella is naturally quite upset and resentful about being attacked and imprisoned against her will, but Sebastian is very apologetic and does his best to make her enforced visit as comfortable as possible. And she gradually finds herself warming to the kind and scholarly Sebastian, while at the same time she feels both attraction and distrust towards Eric, Sebastian's handsome but amoral Woodsman.
The mild-mannered, scholarly Sebastian reminds me a bit of Lupin from the Harry Potter series, so you'd think that he would appeal to me. But although he's a pleasant character, he's a bit bland compared to the more vibrant, roguish character of Eric, and at one point, I was almost rooting for Bella to end up with Eric instead of Sebastian.
And one major flaw regarding the ending of the story was thatthe villain was so obvious that I'd predicted it from almost the beginning of the novel, and it was completely unrealistic that none of the other characters suspected him in the slightest. In fact, it was so obvious that I thought it must be a red herring, but no, it turned out to be exactly as I suspected.
There were a few nice original touches in the story, though--I liked that Bella's stepmother and stepsisters weren't evil. At worst, they're a bit shallow, but they get along well enough as a family and there's genuine affection between them and Bella. In fact, by the end of the story, Bella realizesthat she's the one who's been treating her stepmother unfairly rather than the other way around.
Even a mediocre Lackey novel is still a fun read--pleasant though insubstantial fluff. But I would recommend borrowing this one from the library rather than spending money on it.
***
Gail Carriger's Soulless was a much more captivating read. It's set in a steampunk-ish AU Victorian England in which supernatural beings like vampires and werewolves openly exist, and have certain rights and restrictions under British law. The novel has an interesting concept, in which these supernatural creatures have an excess of "soul," while the main character Alexia is a preternatural, someone who is "soulless"--hence the title. Her touch can render a vampire or werewolf mortal for as long as she remains in physical contact with them, which makes her a potential danger to them. (In the past, preternaturals were vampire and werewolf hunters, before the humans and supernaturals forged a somewhat uneasy truce.)
At the age of twenty-five, Alexia is considered a spinster with no prospects of marriage, due to her strong-willed and independent nature, along with her unfashionably dark skin and prominent nose (which are blamed on her late father's Italian heritage). She is content to enjoy the freedom of remaining single and independent, but when she is attacked by a rogue vampire, sparks fly between her and Lord Maccon, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack and an investigator for the Bureau of Unnatural Registry. Gruff and impatient, Maccon is annoyed by Alexia's interference in B.U.R. matters, while Alexia chafes at the restrictions of her gender--she wants to make use of her preternatural abilities, and it's obvious that she would have been recruited by the B.U.R. if she had been male.
It's obvious that the animosity between these two only masks their attraction for each other--they're sort of like a supernatural Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice. But even though the romance comes as no surprise, their verbal sparring is delightful, and the chemistry between them positively sizzles compared to the more tepid romance between Bella and Sebastian.
While Maccon does rescue Alexia from danger at certain points in the story, she's no Disney princess passively waiting for her prince to come. She wields her parasol as a formidable weapon, using the tip of it to stake a vampire in the opening chapter. And it's obvious that her strong will is what attracts Maccon--an Alpha female to his Alpha male. In one quite amusing scene, he botches his courtship of her by treating her like a female werewolf, forgetting that for all her independent nature, she is a young Victorian lady who isn't familiar with werewolf mating customs.
The supporting characters are also vivid and delightful, including the charmingly flamboyant and foppish vampire Lord Akeldama, and Professor Lyall, who is an outwardly mild-mannered and scholarly werewolf, but strong enough to hold his position as Beta (second-in-command) in Maccon's pack.
There's a great deal of comedy in the book, and I enjoyed the witty banter between Alexia and Maccon, and Alexia and Lord Akeldama. But there are some very moving and poignant touches: Alexia has been told so often by her mother and half-sisters that she is homely and unattractive that she has come to believe it. (It's obvious that by modern standards, she would be quite attractive, though perhaps more striking than delicately pretty.) It's heartbreaking when she is unable to believe that Maccon really loves her, because she can't imagine that he could love such a homely spinster.
The book was nicely paced, with a good balance of action, suspense, and romance, and is a highly recommended read.
The manga adaptation illustrated by REM and published by Yen Press is nicely done--of necessity, the story is condensed, but it captures the spirit of the novel quite well. My only complaint is that Alexia seems a little too conventionally pretty. I can understand that objectively, she isn't as homely as she thinks she is, but her tanned skin and too-large nose are constantly harped upon in the novel, but even in the color pages, her complexion doesn't seem any different from that of her blonde and fair half-sisters, nor does her nose seem any bigger. It doesn't have to be a Snape-sized schnozz, but I would have liked to see an Alexia who looks closer to her novel description, which is more striking and distinct than your average shoujo-manga heroine. (Though I do like the way REM draws the werewolves with slightly pointed ears, and I love the bishonen look she has given to Lord Akeldama, which actually matches his description pretty well.)
The sequel Changeless was not quite as compelling as the first book, possibly because Alexia and Maccon are separated for part of the story. But it's still a lot of fun with Airships and intrigue, and things pick up when Alexia joins Maccon in Scotland, where she meets his former pack and learns about the past that he's been hiding. I should warn, however, that it does end on a huge cliffhanger that almost caused me to throw the book across the room. (I refrained because it was a library book.) However, I now have the third book, Blameless, in hand, and am eager to see how the cliffhanger will be resolved.
Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite fantasy authors, and when she tackled one of my favorite subjects (werewolves), I was expecting to really love the book. So I was disappointed that the result was a bit "meh," at least in my opinion.
Beauty and the Werewolf is part of Lackey's Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms series, her line of fairy tale inspired romance novels. As one might expect from the title, it draws mainly on the Beauty and Beast fairy tale, although there are also elements of Cinderella and Red Riding Hood: the main character Bella has a stepmother and two stepsisters (although her father is alive in this version), and she wears a red cloak to visit the old wisewoman in the woods.
While returning home from Granny's house in the woods one evening, Bella is attacked by a werewolf who turns out to be the reclusive Duke Sebastian. He was supposed to have been safely locked up during the full moon, but somehow got loose that night. Sebastian manages to restrain himself from killing Bella, but he does bite her, and thus she is forced to spend a three-month quarantine locked up in his castle to see whether she has been infected with his curse (by order of the King and the country's Fairy Godmother). Bella is naturally quite upset and resentful about being attacked and imprisoned against her will, but Sebastian is very apologetic and does his best to make her enforced visit as comfortable as possible. And she gradually finds herself warming to the kind and scholarly Sebastian, while at the same time she feels both attraction and distrust towards Eric, Sebastian's handsome but amoral Woodsman.
The mild-mannered, scholarly Sebastian reminds me a bit of Lupin from the Harry Potter series, so you'd think that he would appeal to me. But although he's a pleasant character, he's a bit bland compared to the more vibrant, roguish character of Eric, and at one point, I was almost rooting for Bella to end up with Eric instead of Sebastian.
And one major flaw regarding the ending of the story was that
There were a few nice original touches in the story, though--I liked that Bella's stepmother and stepsisters weren't evil. At worst, they're a bit shallow, but they get along well enough as a family and there's genuine affection between them and Bella. In fact, by the end of the story, Bella realizes
Even a mediocre Lackey novel is still a fun read--pleasant though insubstantial fluff. But I would recommend borrowing this one from the library rather than spending money on it.
***
Gail Carriger's Soulless was a much more captivating read. It's set in a steampunk-ish AU Victorian England in which supernatural beings like vampires and werewolves openly exist, and have certain rights and restrictions under British law. The novel has an interesting concept, in which these supernatural creatures have an excess of "soul," while the main character Alexia is a preternatural, someone who is "soulless"--hence the title. Her touch can render a vampire or werewolf mortal for as long as she remains in physical contact with them, which makes her a potential danger to them. (In the past, preternaturals were vampire and werewolf hunters, before the humans and supernaturals forged a somewhat uneasy truce.)
At the age of twenty-five, Alexia is considered a spinster with no prospects of marriage, due to her strong-willed and independent nature, along with her unfashionably dark skin and prominent nose (which are blamed on her late father's Italian heritage). She is content to enjoy the freedom of remaining single and independent, but when she is attacked by a rogue vampire, sparks fly between her and Lord Maccon, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack and an investigator for the Bureau of Unnatural Registry. Gruff and impatient, Maccon is annoyed by Alexia's interference in B.U.R. matters, while Alexia chafes at the restrictions of her gender--she wants to make use of her preternatural abilities, and it's obvious that she would have been recruited by the B.U.R. if she had been male.
It's obvious that the animosity between these two only masks their attraction for each other--they're sort of like a supernatural Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice. But even though the romance comes as no surprise, their verbal sparring is delightful, and the chemistry between them positively sizzles compared to the more tepid romance between Bella and Sebastian.
While Maccon does rescue Alexia from danger at certain points in the story, she's no Disney princess passively waiting for her prince to come. She wields her parasol as a formidable weapon, using the tip of it to stake a vampire in the opening chapter. And it's obvious that her strong will is what attracts Maccon--an Alpha female to his Alpha male. In one quite amusing scene, he botches his courtship of her by treating her like a female werewolf, forgetting that for all her independent nature, she is a young Victorian lady who isn't familiar with werewolf mating customs.
The supporting characters are also vivid and delightful, including the charmingly flamboyant and foppish vampire Lord Akeldama, and Professor Lyall, who is an outwardly mild-mannered and scholarly werewolf, but strong enough to hold his position as Beta (second-in-command) in Maccon's pack.
There's a great deal of comedy in the book, and I enjoyed the witty banter between Alexia and Maccon, and Alexia and Lord Akeldama. But there are some very moving and poignant touches: Alexia has been told so often by her mother and half-sisters that she is homely and unattractive that she has come to believe it. (It's obvious that by modern standards, she would be quite attractive, though perhaps more striking than delicately pretty.) It's heartbreaking when she is unable to believe that Maccon really loves her, because she can't imagine that he could love such a homely spinster.
The book was nicely paced, with a good balance of action, suspense, and romance, and is a highly recommended read.
The manga adaptation illustrated by REM and published by Yen Press is nicely done--of necessity, the story is condensed, but it captures the spirit of the novel quite well. My only complaint is that Alexia seems a little too conventionally pretty. I can understand that objectively, she isn't as homely as she thinks she is, but her tanned skin and too-large nose are constantly harped upon in the novel, but even in the color pages, her complexion doesn't seem any different from that of her blonde and fair half-sisters, nor does her nose seem any bigger. It doesn't have to be a Snape-sized schnozz, but I would have liked to see an Alexia who looks closer to her novel description, which is more striking and distinct than your average shoujo-manga heroine. (Though I do like the way REM draws the werewolves with slightly pointed ears, and I love the bishonen look she has given to Lord Akeldama, which actually matches his description pretty well.)
The sequel Changeless was not quite as compelling as the first book, possibly because Alexia and Maccon are separated for part of the story. But it's still a lot of fun with Airships and intrigue, and things pick up when Alexia joins Maccon in Scotland, where she meets his former pack and learns about the past that he's been hiding. I should warn, however, that it does end on a huge cliffhanger that almost caused me to throw the book across the room. (I refrained because it was a library book.) However, I now have the third book, Blameless, in hand, and am eager to see how the cliffhanger will be resolved.