Frank W Smith

DNF @26%

Book source ~ ARC. My review is voluntary and honest.

Werewolves and vampires exist and they hate each other. They try to stay out of each other’s way, but the vampires have gotten bolder lately. When Jon the werewolf prevents a vampire from killing someone in his territory he kills her instead. And that pretty much starts a shitstorm.

The blurb sounded great when I came across it, but the execution lacks. I tried so hard to like this, but I couldn’t. Now, I know I got this book a few years ago, so it’s possible it may have been revised so take that into consideration. But this edition, for me, falls flat. The writing is choppy and uneven. The dialogue is painful. The Big Bad is trying too hard to be Hugely Bad & Evil and the werewolves are the picked on white hats who are just trying to live their supernatural life under the radar. I made it to 26% before I realized I don’t care what happens to anyone. And when you don’t care you waste your time. So, I’m moving on.… (más)

Wolf Song is religious fiction at its best, when you don't realise it is. When the burly werewolf, Jon, kills a vampire in an attempt to stop an innocent bystander from become dinner, he unwittingly starts a supernatural war.

On the surface this book could be read as the old vampires versus werewolves tale. Look a little deeper and you'll find notable similarities between vampire and demons (as seen by Christianity). The werewolves look a lot like men fighting the daily temptation to give in to their baser desires and then there are the 'crows.' A Catholic sect dedicated to protecting humanity from the demonic influences and willing to work with and save as many werewolves as possible. Anyone else seeing the religious correlations? Yea, me too. I can't know that this is what the author intended...well, I guess I could ask, but I haven't, so I don't. I felt it was pretty clear tough. I'm not particularly religious, but i still really enjoyed the book. I acknowledge the underlying theme, but never felt proselytised to.

Those characters meant to be likeable were likeable (I was especially fond of The Horseman) and those that were meant not to be weren't. There were few grey characters. You pretty much knew where everyone stood at all times. The 'vampires bad, werewolves good' was maybe a little heavy-handed, but not nauseatingly so.

The writing was clear and easy to follow. There were a few 10 gallon words and you might as well look 'umbra' up before hand. You'll need to know it. But I always enjoy writing that has a little vocabulary enhancement to it. This is a plus for me. Not everyone likes it, so just go in knowing and all should be ok. While maybe not the feel-good book of the year, Wolf Song is well worth reading.… (más)