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vylotte's review
3.0
The third in The Last Werewolf series. Glen Duncan once again populates the world with darker, grittier werewolves and vampires, banding together against the world that knows they exist and is systematically destroying them. The author knows how to craft a gorgeous sentence, though it feels lighter (less substantial?) than the first book, which I called art.
whatsheread's review
5.0
True to form, By Blood We Live is not for the faint of heart or easily disturbed. As in the other two books, the descriptions of sex and violence are extremely graphic. Mr. Duncan leaves nothing to the imagination, especially when it comes to the monthly transformation and the intense build-up to it.
Yet, for all its explicit scenes of rough sex and gory murder scenes, By Blood We Live is a love story. Love is the driving force of the novel, whether it is of lost loves, future loves, or parental love. Talulla is still suffering from Jake’s death, and his memory is the measurement she uses for all relationships. In everything she does, deliberately or subconsciously, she is always seeking to make him proud and live up to his legacy. Then there are her children. Aged three now, she will never forgive herself for losing her son immediately upon his birth and constantly upbraids herself for her lack of protection. There is no doubt that her love for her twins is as deep as it is fierce. Finally, there is the increasing obsession she has with Remshi. She might be a legendary creature with a penchant for evisceration and vivisection, but her heart longs for the peace and comfort a loving relationship brings to everyone.
That Talulla and Remshi are living out an ancient prophecy is just a portion of the story. The introduction of the newest human danger, the Vatican-based Christian cult bent on unmasking the creatures and disposing of them, sets the stage for an entirely new battle. While the vampires and the werewolves will always oppose each other, the world in which they skirmish is definitely changing, and it is in this new world in which Talulla must find a way to negotiate her pack to safety. Given how the story itself ends, one can only hope Mr. Duncan has at least one more novel to write to close out Talulla’s story properly.
There is something incredibly hypnotic about the entire story. Talulla’s stream-of-consciousness rants are heartbreaking in the depths of emotion they show. Her mindset when fully transformed is equally mesmerizing because of the singular focus of the Wolf. In spite of all her outward toughness, Talulla remains the lost girl she was when Jake finds her, and her self-doubt is overwhelming at times. These very human attributes help balance the violence and destruction of which she is more than capable of inflicting on anyone who may get in her way.
By Blood We Live continues to explore the meaning of being human. For all her ferocity, Talulla is incredibly fragile, and she struggles to balance her brittle feelings with the fierce killer she becomes. That she both craves and abhors her behavior on every full moon underscores her continued conscience and is proof that she has not lost her humanity entirely. Then again, her capacity for love is further proof that she is not the monster she believes herself to be. The guilt she carries around with her – guilt at surviving when Jake is gone, guilt at her son’s kidnapping, guilt at her preoccupation with something other than her pack, guilt at the people who have been bitten or killed helping and protecting her – is brutal, but it is what helps keep her tied to her humanity when the Wolf wants nothing more than for her to shed her last vestiges of her past and fully embrace what she has become. For, no matter how often she changes and kills, as long as she continues to feel guilty about it, Talulla will always be human.
The third novel in The Last Werewolf series continues Talulla’s fascinating story. Her personal battles against the Wolf, as well as the battles she fights on behalf of her loved ones, remain provocative and intense. Mr. Duncan’s writing maintains its edginess, finding beauty in the grotesque, and capturing the elegance behind the mental anguish that comes with self-doubt and self-loathing. By Blood We Live is every bit as bloody and riveting as the first two novels, and fans can only hope that we will continue to follow Talulla through her personal existential crisis and her battle for survival.
Yet, for all its explicit scenes of rough sex and gory murder scenes, By Blood We Live is a love story. Love is the driving force of the novel, whether it is of lost loves, future loves, or parental love. Talulla is still suffering from Jake’s death, and his memory is the measurement she uses for all relationships. In everything she does, deliberately or subconsciously, she is always seeking to make him proud and live up to his legacy. Then there are her children. Aged three now, she will never forgive herself for losing her son immediately upon his birth and constantly upbraids herself for her lack of protection. There is no doubt that her love for her twins is as deep as it is fierce. Finally, there is the increasing obsession she has with Remshi. She might be a legendary creature with a penchant for evisceration and vivisection, but her heart longs for the peace and comfort a loving relationship brings to everyone.
That Talulla and Remshi are living out an ancient prophecy is just a portion of the story. The introduction of the newest human danger, the Vatican-based Christian cult bent on unmasking the creatures and disposing of them, sets the stage for an entirely new battle. While the vampires and the werewolves will always oppose each other, the world in which they skirmish is definitely changing, and it is in this new world in which Talulla must find a way to negotiate her pack to safety. Given how the story itself ends, one can only hope Mr. Duncan has at least one more novel to write to close out Talulla’s story properly.
There is something incredibly hypnotic about the entire story. Talulla’s stream-of-consciousness rants are heartbreaking in the depths of emotion they show. Her mindset when fully transformed is equally mesmerizing because of the singular focus of the Wolf. In spite of all her outward toughness, Talulla remains the lost girl she was when Jake finds her, and her self-doubt is overwhelming at times. These very human attributes help balance the violence and destruction of which she is more than capable of inflicting on anyone who may get in her way.
By Blood We Live continues to explore the meaning of being human. For all her ferocity, Talulla is incredibly fragile, and she struggles to balance her brittle feelings with the fierce killer she becomes. That she both craves and abhors her behavior on every full moon underscores her continued conscience and is proof that she has not lost her humanity entirely. Then again, her capacity for love is further proof that she is not the monster she believes herself to be. The guilt she carries around with her – guilt at surviving when Jake is gone, guilt at her son’s kidnapping, guilt at her preoccupation with something other than her pack, guilt at the people who have been bitten or killed helping and protecting her – is brutal, but it is what helps keep her tied to her humanity when the Wolf wants nothing more than for her to shed her last vestiges of her past and fully embrace what she has become. For, no matter how often she changes and kills, as long as she continues to feel guilty about it, Talulla will always be human.
The third novel in The Last Werewolf series continues Talulla’s fascinating story. Her personal battles against the Wolf, as well as the battles she fights on behalf of her loved ones, remain provocative and intense. Mr. Duncan’s writing maintains its edginess, finding beauty in the grotesque, and capturing the elegance behind the mental anguish that comes with self-doubt and self-loathing. By Blood We Live is every bit as bloody and riveting as the first two novels, and fans can only hope that we will continue to follow Talulla through her personal existential crisis and her battle for survival.
anothercurleyhairbooklover's review against another edition
3.0
it is a 3.5.....hard to say. Not as hard hitting as the other two in the series. I liked the various viewpoints, but the plot seemed to be repeating itself from the previous books.
annasirius's review against another edition
3.0
I bought this in a charity shop, not realising it was the third book in a trilogy. It's not badly written, but there's a little too much American bravado in the 20k years old vampire, and I just don't care about werewolves. I stopped reading at the beginning of chapter 22.
gerhard's review against another edition
5.0
Transcendent, gore-soaked third volume in Glen Duncan’s werewolf/vampire series is a magnificent conclusion, but also takes the series to a whole new level. Duncan takes a bit of a risk here in that he slows his breakneck plot down with the introduction of the 20 000-year on-again, off-again love affair between Remshi and Vali, and the couple’s mysterious link to Talulla.
However, it is a risk that pays off handsomely, with Duncan pouring some of his most incandescent writing into the tale of these star-crossed lovers. Twilight, True Blood, Anne Rice, all take note: this is how you do inter-species romance properly, with sufficient gravitas and eroticism, but also a healthy meta-appreciation of the absurdity of the genre’s constraints, so you are able to transcend them.
We also have the successor to the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena (WOCOP), the Catholic Church’s Militi Christi vigilante hit squad thrown into the heady brew of the plot, plus the mysterious Olek secreted away in a converted ashram in India, convinced he has found the ultimate cure for what ails a fallen world.
If you have not read Duncan before, this is definitely not the place to start – best begin with The Last Werewolf. For the up-to-date reader, Duncan does subtly reiterate some plot arcs of the preceding two novels at crucial points. Given the gonzo, Grand Guignol way the plot erupted in Talulla Rising, I left scratching my head as to how Duncan would resolve the mess in the third volume. Suffice it to say, he is in total control of his material here.
Technically, Duncan is a master of both splatter and psychological horror. There are jaw-dropping set pieces here of quite stunning depravity, and then long lyrical stretches of painful beauty. I especially loved the way he works Robert Browning into the plot, which of course will be familiar to fans of Stephen King, but Duncan’s take on the Childe Roland story is much deeper that what King attempted with his Dark Tower series.
However, it is a risk that pays off handsomely, with Duncan pouring some of his most incandescent writing into the tale of these star-crossed lovers. Twilight, True Blood, Anne Rice, all take note: this is how you do inter-species romance properly, with sufficient gravitas and eroticism, but also a healthy meta-appreciation of the absurdity of the genre’s constraints, so you are able to transcend them.
We also have the successor to the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena (WOCOP), the Catholic Church’s Militi Christi vigilante hit squad thrown into the heady brew of the plot, plus the mysterious Olek secreted away in a converted ashram in India, convinced he has found the ultimate cure for what ails a fallen world.
If you have not read Duncan before, this is definitely not the place to start – best begin with The Last Werewolf. For the up-to-date reader, Duncan does subtly reiterate some plot arcs of the preceding two novels at crucial points. Given the gonzo, Grand Guignol way the plot erupted in Talulla Rising, I left scratching my head as to how Duncan would resolve the mess in the third volume. Suffice it to say, he is in total control of his material here.
Technically, Duncan is a master of both splatter and psychological horror. There are jaw-dropping set pieces here of quite stunning depravity, and then long lyrical stretches of painful beauty. I especially loved the way he works Robert Browning into the plot, which of course will be familiar to fans of Stephen King, but Duncan’s take on the Childe Roland story is much deeper that what King attempted with his Dark Tower series.
catniprocks's review against another edition
5.0
FUCK that was a good book. WHY does that have to be the last??? Rip me to shreds then rebuild me better, faster and stronger. PRIMAL!
johnmarlowe's review against another edition
3.0
This was a 2 ½ for me, although I must not have been in the mood for it because I like Glen Duncan’s style and the subject matter.
This is the third book in Glen Duncan’s werewolf/vampire series. I’ve just not liked the second and this third book as much as I did the first. It’s probably me. But, we werewolf readers found out who Remshi is in this book and what happened to Tallula and her werewolf children.
This is the third book in Glen Duncan’s werewolf/vampire series. I’ve just not liked the second and this third book as much as I did the first. It’s probably me. But, we werewolf readers found out who Remshi is in this book and what happened to Tallula and her werewolf children.
knowledgelost's review against another edition
4.0
It’s a sad day for me; Glen Duncan’s Bloodlines trilogy has finally come to an end. This series has been a favourite of mine and I have been desperate to get my hands on By Blood We Live. If you don’t know, this trilogy started off as a bit of a joke for Glen Duncan. One New Year’s Eve party he jokingly claimed that he would write a page-turner with werewolves, and “none of my usual philosophical angst or moral inquiry.” Having recently been dumped from a publisher (he had no best sellers and had won no awards) the move towards literary genre fiction was a recipe for success for Duncan.
In the early planning stages, Glen Duncan had planned to write a “clever narrative with a memorable antihero at its feral, furry heart”. Being disappointed by the recent wave of popular paranormal novels (Twilight, etc) Duncan drew from the horror novels he loved (Frankenstein and Dracula) as well as his favourite werewolf movie (An American Werewolf in London); the end result was The Last Werewolf. It was Duncan’s take on the werewolf novel; remaining true to the mythology, unlike other paranormal novel The Last Werewolf was gritty, violent and over sexed. Jake Marlowe is the last werewolf alive, with the pending extinction of his new race, will he give up? The novel was nothing like other horror novels I read, this was dark and literary.
Then came Talulla Rising, which continued the story, this time from the point of view of Talulla Demetriou; a strong female protagonist that both kick-assed and was full of inner torment (my catnip). Where The Last Werewolf looked at life and loneliness, Talulla Rising forced more on love and family. It has been a two year wait but finally By Blood We Live was finally released to conclude this fantastic trilogy.
In By Blood We Live we follow both Remshi, 20,000-year-old vampire that has been haunted by Talulla in his dreams. Having half the novel from a vampires perspective is an interesting change for fans of the series. This novel focuses on survival and humanity, which are both common elements in a paranormal novel but a nice way to tie this trilogy together. Talulla is been pursued by a Vatican-based Militi Christian group of monster hunters who have taking the place of the now defunct WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena). Remshi tries to uncover why Talulla haunts him as well as trying to stop the recklessness of a newly turned vampire.
While I wasn’t disappointed by By Blood We Live, I felt like this book wasn’t as great as its predecessors. It did conclude the trilogy and there were some great moments within the novel, I just felt like it had less to say than the first two. The literary wasn’t as prominent, almost like Glen Duncan is moving into the realm of best-selling author. While he does deserve the success, I would hate to see Duncan throw away any sign of the literary in his future novels. Rest assured that the dark and gritty feel to this series is still there. Something I must have looked in the first two novels was the amount of literary and pop culture references have been made; I know they were always in this series but I noticed them so much more in this novel.
I loved this series and I plan to reread them sometime in the near future; I know I’ll need to return to these witty and dark novels. I also have to try some of his other books, I know he said he wasn’t going to add his “usual philosophical angst or moral inquiry”, but I’m so glad he did, it really works for him. I hope Glen Duncan continues on his literary genre fiction journey and I’m eagerly awaiting what he does next. Has anyone else read this series? Or does anyone want to try to predict what genres his next book will cover?
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/03/26/by-blood-we-live-by-glen-duncan/
In the early planning stages, Glen Duncan had planned to write a “clever narrative with a memorable antihero at its feral, furry heart”. Being disappointed by the recent wave of popular paranormal novels (Twilight, etc) Duncan drew from the horror novels he loved (Frankenstein and Dracula) as well as his favourite werewolf movie (An American Werewolf in London); the end result was The Last Werewolf. It was Duncan’s take on the werewolf novel; remaining true to the mythology, unlike other paranormal novel The Last Werewolf was gritty, violent and over sexed. Jake Marlowe is the last werewolf alive, with the pending extinction of his new race, will he give up? The novel was nothing like other horror novels I read, this was dark and literary.
Then came Talulla Rising, which continued the story, this time from the point of view of Talulla Demetriou; a strong female protagonist that both kick-assed and was full of inner torment (my catnip). Where The Last Werewolf looked at life and loneliness, Talulla Rising forced more on love and family. It has been a two year wait but finally By Blood We Live was finally released to conclude this fantastic trilogy.
In By Blood We Live we follow both Remshi, 20,000-year-old vampire that has been haunted by Talulla in his dreams. Having half the novel from a vampires perspective is an interesting change for fans of the series. This novel focuses on survival and humanity, which are both common elements in a paranormal novel but a nice way to tie this trilogy together. Talulla is been pursued by a Vatican-based Militi Christian group of monster hunters who have taking the place of the now defunct WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena). Remshi tries to uncover why Talulla haunts him as well as trying to stop the recklessness of a newly turned vampire.
While I wasn’t disappointed by By Blood We Live, I felt like this book wasn’t as great as its predecessors. It did conclude the trilogy and there were some great moments within the novel, I just felt like it had less to say than the first two. The literary wasn’t as prominent, almost like Glen Duncan is moving into the realm of best-selling author. While he does deserve the success, I would hate to see Duncan throw away any sign of the literary in his future novels. Rest assured that the dark and gritty feel to this series is still there. Something I must have looked in the first two novels was the amount of literary and pop culture references have been made; I know they were always in this series but I noticed them so much more in this novel.
I loved this series and I plan to reread them sometime in the near future; I know I’ll need to return to these witty and dark novels. I also have to try some of his other books, I know he said he wasn’t going to add his “usual philosophical angst or moral inquiry”, but I’m so glad he did, it really works for him. I hope Glen Duncan continues on his literary genre fiction journey and I’m eagerly awaiting what he does next. Has anyone else read this series? Or does anyone want to try to predict what genres his next book will cover?
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/03/26/by-blood-we-live-by-glen-duncan/
row's review against another edition
2.0
2.5.
I feel mean because I love a lot of GD's other books and the trilogy started off very promisingly, but this book is repetitive and dull and jumpy and just not effective.
I feel mean because I love a lot of GD's other books and the trilogy started off very promisingly, but this book is repetitive and dull and jumpy and just not effective.
gotossmycausticsalad's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0