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rellimreads's review
4.0
This is book 1 in Matt Sarafini’s Feral series.
Feral is right. I enjoyed the world building with this one, right from the opening dinner scene. Told from various perspectives there’s not only horror, but mystery, suspense, and action sprinkled with a bit of levity as well. Sarafini also weaves friendship and love (who knew I could be as invested in a werewolf courtship outside shifter romance genre?) - but make no mistake this is firmly horror.
Once Jack realizes something is very wrong at The Big East resort he tries to help. Unfortunately he places his trust in the wrong people, many of whom aren’t who they seem. As his friends turn he has to decide between friendship and survival.
I loved this huge cast of characters, and yes, even some of the antagonists. Everyday people, werewolves, and Monster hunters converge. There’s no clear winners and losers. While this is a complete and enjoyable story, there are some loose ends that tease book 2, Devil’s Row.
Narration:
Matt Godfrey is perfect for this kind of story. He’s wonderful at the voices, emotions, and invoking the nuances of Serafini’s writing. I love the personality he brings to all the characters. Great listen.
CW:
sexual assault & continued pursuit of young woman by her father, graphic abortion scene,
Feral is right. I enjoyed the world building with this one, right from the opening dinner scene. Told from various perspectives there’s not only horror, but mystery, suspense, and action sprinkled with a bit of levity as well. Sarafini also weaves friendship and love (who knew I could be as invested in a werewolf courtship outside shifter romance genre?) - but make no mistake this is firmly horror.
Once Jack realizes something is very wrong at The Big East resort he tries to help. Unfortunately he places his trust in the wrong people, many of whom aren’t who they seem. As his friends turn he has to decide between friendship and survival.
I loved this huge cast of characters, and yes, even some of the antagonists. Everyday people, werewolves, and Monster hunters converge. There’s no clear winners and losers. While this is a complete and enjoyable story, there are some loose ends that tease book 2, Devil’s Row.
Narration:
Matt Godfrey is perfect for this kind of story. He’s wonderful at the voices, emotions, and invoking the nuances of Serafini’s writing. I love the personality he brings to all the characters. Great listen.
CW:
sexual assault & continued pursuit of young woman by her father, graphic abortion scene,
rock_n_reads's review
4.0
Werewolves are not usually my thing (unless we’re talking Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black), but this novel by Matt Serafini caught my attention. I listened to the audio version, and it made for an entertaining ride.
This is a visceral, action-packed story that I found to be unique with regards to others I’ve encountered so far in the sub genre. I will definitely be reading more of this author’s work in the near future!
This is a visceral, action-packed story that I found to be unique with regards to others I’ve encountered so far in the sub genre. I will definitely be reading more of this author’s work in the near future!
findingmontauk1's review
4.0
Feral is my introduction to the mind of Matt Serafini. And what a mind it is! It's always nice to find an author who writes just what you want to read. And when a write does not shy away from the gore is just a bonus! Now, I am not a gore-FIEND by any means, but I would rather it just be laid out there on paper in front of me than daintily skirted around like has happened before with other books. There is no holding back with this one. Time to go pick up the sequel now! I need more and I need it now!
Thanks so much to the author for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this as an audiobook in exchange for an honest review! 4 stars!
Thanks so much to the author for allowing me the opportunity to listen to this as an audiobook in exchange for an honest review! 4 stars!
errantdreams's review
2.0
There’s a weird vein of sexism touching the story here and there–I say weird, because I’m pretty sure the author thinks he created some strong female characters–Elisabeth, for example, can kick a lot of butt. But apparently Lucy’s unwillingness to put up with Allen’s arrogance makes their inability to get along “her fault, mostly”. The women are all absolute stunners (of course). Lucy, who is very attractive and apparently has everyone wanting to get with her, of course only has eyes for Jack, who is painted as the somewhat-clueless well-intentioned nice guy of our story. There are a number of descriptions of female characters that I think of as “men-writing-women” examples. At one point even Elisabeth’s point of view is marred with the sentence, “A familiar set of breasts bounced through the crowd.” (Objectification much?) There’s also of course the obligatory scene in which Elisabeth contemplates her own assets. And naturally Elisabeth is actually falling for centuries-younger arrogant womanizer Allen. It seems a bit odd as well that Lucy seems perfectly normal in her first scene only to reveal later that her father had tried to force her sexually a day or two ago. Even a hint of preoccupation on her part would have been nice.
There are quite a few places where the author uses words that don’t seem to mean quite what he thinks they mean. The meaning is just a couple shades off, or it’s obvious he chose a word that sounded similar to what he wanted but isn’t actually related. “Whelped” definitely doesn’t mean what he thinks it means, even though he uses it in several places.
The earlier sections of the book need to be tightened up a bit. Some conversations–especially the interminable double-date with Lucy, Jack, Allen, and Elisabeth–are, well, interminable. I hope the author meant for the fact that Elisabeth is a werewolf to be obvious from the start. I mean, she has unusual diction and her last name is “Luna” for heaven’s sake. She might as well have taken out a billboard.
Allen has a bunch of visions while he’s turning into a werewolf. I’m just not big on visions and dreams unless they actively add something to our understanding of the story, which these don’t. They just seem like opportunities to up the depravity level.
Oddly enough, the one real saving grace of this book ends up being Allen. He’s the character who actually grows throughout the story, and who becomes more complex and interesting. He’s the character I was least looking forward to reading about, but he ended up being much more interesting than Jack. Unfortunately the book seems to expect us to see Elisabeth as one of the protagonists, when she’s more than happy to tear up random humans for fun; she doesn’t have to be the stereotype of the tortured monster, but she also doesn’t have to take so much glee in it. Of course the author seems to try to make her more sympathetic by giving her a history of having saved (“Turned”) a black slave back in the day. Unfortunately the man is just a plot device meant to humanize Elisabeth.
I definitely found myself wondering how on earth there could be enough prey to sustain an entire town full of werewolves. Judging from Allen’s transformation, the wolves quickly come to rely on humans for prey, and with the number of wolves Fane’s been turning, there simply shouldn’t be enough prey for everyone. Also, the werewolf transformations remind me of the B-movie transformations of my youth (we’re talking special effects of 30 years ago). If you like that, awesome, but it kind of took away from things a little for me.
Fane and the other bad guys–especially the other bad guys–are terribly one-dimensional. They’re highly stereotypical and do little other than commit atrocities, threaten, and sneer.
My second-favorite character in the story is Amanda, but unfortunately she’s a little problematic too. Naturally she takes a liking to Jack despite the fact that he nearly gets her killed. She knifes a man on werewolf property and no one smells the blood? (Wolves are shown to have very keen senses–like being able to track a person by scent who was driving a car at the time.) Also, even a gun with a suppressor on it doesn’t entirely silence shots, so again, those with wolf senses should have heard her shooting within the house she was in.
There are a couple of other tiny things, but that’s most of it. Allen is the breakout and unexpected star of the book, but he doesn’t make up for the rest.
Content note for m/f and f/f sex, incest, molestation and attempted rape, and of course gore.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/10/review-feral-matt-serafini/
There are quite a few places where the author uses words that don’t seem to mean quite what he thinks they mean. The meaning is just a couple shades off, or it’s obvious he chose a word that sounded similar to what he wanted but isn’t actually related. “Whelped” definitely doesn’t mean what he thinks it means, even though he uses it in several places.
The earlier sections of the book need to be tightened up a bit. Some conversations–especially the interminable double-date with Lucy, Jack, Allen, and Elisabeth–are, well, interminable. I hope the author meant for the fact that Elisabeth is a werewolf to be obvious from the start. I mean, she has unusual diction and her last name is “Luna” for heaven’s sake. She might as well have taken out a billboard.
Allen has a bunch of visions while he’s turning into a werewolf. I’m just not big on visions and dreams unless they actively add something to our understanding of the story, which these don’t. They just seem like opportunities to up the depravity level.
Oddly enough, the one real saving grace of this book ends up being Allen. He’s the character who actually grows throughout the story, and who becomes more complex and interesting. He’s the character I was least looking forward to reading about, but he ended up being much more interesting than Jack. Unfortunately the book seems to expect us to see Elisabeth as one of the protagonists, when she’s more than happy to tear up random humans for fun; she doesn’t have to be the stereotype of the tortured monster, but she also doesn’t have to take so much glee in it. Of course the author seems to try to make her more sympathetic by giving her a history of having saved (“Turned”) a black slave back in the day. Unfortunately the man is just a plot device meant to humanize Elisabeth.
I definitely found myself wondering how on earth there could be enough prey to sustain an entire town full of werewolves. Judging from Allen’s transformation, the wolves quickly come to rely on humans for prey, and with the number of wolves Fane’s been turning, there simply shouldn’t be enough prey for everyone. Also, the werewolf transformations remind me of the B-movie transformations of my youth (we’re talking special effects of 30 years ago). If you like that, awesome, but it kind of took away from things a little for me.
Fane and the other bad guys–especially the other bad guys–are terribly one-dimensional. They’re highly stereotypical and do little other than commit atrocities, threaten, and sneer.
My second-favorite character in the story is Amanda, but unfortunately she’s a little problematic too. Naturally she takes a liking to Jack despite the fact that he nearly gets her killed. She knifes a man on werewolf property and no one smells the blood? (Wolves are shown to have very keen senses–like being able to track a person by scent who was driving a car at the time.) Also, even a gun with a suppressor on it doesn’t entirely silence shots, so again, those with wolf senses should have heard her shooting within the house she was in.
There are a couple of other tiny things, but that’s most of it. Allen is the breakout and unexpected star of the book, but he doesn’t make up for the rest.
Content note for m/f and f/f sex, incest, molestation and attempted rape, and of course gore.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/10/review-feral-matt-serafini/
tracyreads's review
4.0
Review on Sci Fi and Scary now!
I often purchase books I hear other, trusted readers raving about on Twitter. Well, as often as I can. Feral is one of these books. Prior to reading this one, I read Serafini’s Ocean Grave (4 stars) and Rites of Extinction (my 5 star review for this book is right here). I think I purchased this book somewhere between these reads and then this past August I picked up more of Serafini’s titles directly from him at Scares that Care. Because when I click with an author’s writing style, I latch on. I need them all.
I am still a newbie when it comes to werewolf fiction. If you’ve been following my reviews, you might remember that I started reading them this year, first with Carnivorous Lunar Activities by Max Booth III and then Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. All three about werewolves; all wildly (ha!) different and special. Feral is an entertaining and brutal read. There are some scenes in this book that made me cringe in revulsion. I remember thinking WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
Here’s the thing. Fellow reviewer and horror author Cameron Chaney mentions in his video review that the depravity in this novel really does make sense. Their humanity is stripped away, so what’s left? I completely agree. If their sense of self is shredding, then anything and everything is fair game. Serafini delivers whether the reader is ready for it or not. Spoiler (not really): you won’t be ready for it, but if you’re like me, you’ll dig it.
One final note before you go. In the three books I have read by this author so far, he manages to have female characters that are absolutely kick-ass in one way or another. This book is no exception. While a couple of girls might be wolf fodder, there are no weepy damsels in distress when it comes to the main attraction. There is a villain that makes my teeth curl and a “take-no-shit, I’ve got this handled” heroine ala Private Vasquez. These ladies are glorious and I ADORE reading about female characters written so well.
Stay tuned for more of my reviews of Serafini’s work and whatever he comes up with next. I can’t wait
I often purchase books I hear other, trusted readers raving about on Twitter. Well, as often as I can. Feral is one of these books. Prior to reading this one, I read Serafini’s Ocean Grave (4 stars) and Rites of Extinction (my 5 star review for this book is right here). I think I purchased this book somewhere between these reads and then this past August I picked up more of Serafini’s titles directly from him at Scares that Care. Because when I click with an author’s writing style, I latch on. I need them all.
I am still a newbie when it comes to werewolf fiction. If you’ve been following my reviews, you might remember that I started reading them this year, first with Carnivorous Lunar Activities by Max Booth III and then Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones. All three about werewolves; all wildly (ha!) different and special. Feral is an entertaining and brutal read. There are some scenes in this book that made me cringe in revulsion. I remember thinking WHAT IS HAPPENING?!
Here’s the thing. Fellow reviewer and horror author Cameron Chaney mentions in his video review that the depravity in this novel really does make sense. Their humanity is stripped away, so what’s left? I completely agree. If their sense of self is shredding, then anything and everything is fair game. Serafini delivers whether the reader is ready for it or not. Spoiler (not really): you won’t be ready for it, but if you’re like me, you’ll dig it.
One final note before you go. In the three books I have read by this author so far, he manages to have female characters that are absolutely kick-ass in one way or another. This book is no exception. While a couple of girls might be wolf fodder, there are no weepy damsels in distress when it comes to the main attraction. There is a villain that makes my teeth curl and a “take-no-shit, I’ve got this handled” heroine ala Private Vasquez. These ladies are glorious and I ADORE reading about female characters written so well.
Stay tuned for more of my reviews of Serafini’s work and whatever he comes up with next. I can’t wait
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