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bookswithlukas's review against another edition
5.0
This book blew my mind.
This was a book that I had pretty low expectations for, I mean I knew nothing of the author, or the story going in, and was simply thinking this would be another in your urban fantasy type series. Oh how wrong I was. While yes, the books main subject matter is werewolves, this is a more literary take on the wolf myth, and a surprisingly touching story of loneliness.
The best thing about this book was it’s narration. It’s not often that a book can set up it’s characters and it’s overall tone within the first few pages but this is what this novel does. Our main character Jake, ‘the last werewolf’, has lived his life alone for the last 70 years and is finally beginning to ponder the idea of suicide. (In this world werewolves live for hundreds of years.) He has decided that he has nothing left to live for, and when a bounty is placed on his head by the son of one of his victims, he decides to accept it as fate and give himself up.
Then something happens. (which I won’t go into because, SPOILERS)
This was like a werewolf book written by Bret Easton Ellis, the narration was quite depressing and witty at the same time, with a sort of blunt unemotional coldness that was really evocative of Ellis’s work. I didn’t know who Glen Duncan was when I started reading this, but I will definitely be hunting out his other works now. I was actually unaware he had written ‘I, Lucifer’ which has been on my radar for quite some time now.
Another thing this novel did well was dealing with the aspect of werewolves killing people, and making something unsympathetic quite sympathetic in a way. In this world, werewolves MUST kill people during the night of the full moon to live and if they don’t they will die. This means that our main character has killed people over the years, he sees it as ‘you either give up and die, or you live with the pain and deal with it’, and weirdly, it works.
I could talk about what works in this novel for days, but I’m just going to leave it by saying that I highly recommend this book if anything I have said above has appealed to you. Overall, 5 freaking stars, oh yeah.
This was a book that I had pretty low expectations for, I mean I knew nothing of the author, or the story going in, and was simply thinking this would be another in your urban fantasy type series. Oh how wrong I was. While yes, the books main subject matter is werewolves, this is a more literary take on the wolf myth, and a surprisingly touching story of loneliness.
The best thing about this book was it’s narration. It’s not often that a book can set up it’s characters and it’s overall tone within the first few pages but this is what this novel does. Our main character Jake, ‘the last werewolf’, has lived his life alone for the last 70 years and is finally beginning to ponder the idea of suicide. (In this world werewolves live for hundreds of years.) He has decided that he has nothing left to live for, and when a bounty is placed on his head by the son of one of his victims, he decides to accept it as fate and give himself up.
Then something happens. (which I won’t go into because, SPOILERS)
This was like a werewolf book written by Bret Easton Ellis, the narration was quite depressing and witty at the same time, with a sort of blunt unemotional coldness that was really evocative of Ellis’s work. I didn’t know who Glen Duncan was when I started reading this, but I will definitely be hunting out his other works now. I was actually unaware he had written ‘I, Lucifer’ which has been on my radar for quite some time now.
Another thing this novel did well was dealing with the aspect of werewolves killing people, and making something unsympathetic quite sympathetic in a way. In this world, werewolves MUST kill people during the night of the full moon to live and if they don’t they will die. This means that our main character has killed people over the years, he sees it as ‘you either give up and die, or you live with the pain and deal with it’, and weirdly, it works.
I could talk about what works in this novel for days, but I’m just going to leave it by saying that I highly recommend this book if anything I have said above has appealed to you. Overall, 5 freaking stars, oh yeah.
ameschreiber's review against another edition
1.0
Bestial and crude
Rambling plot, too ambitious
Characters were dull
Rambling plot, too ambitious
Characters were dull
shonaningyo's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 out of 5 stars
I rated it that based on two things: One, my enjoyment of the book was marred and hurt by the extreme 'literariness' of the book. It was beautifully written, but the fact that I couldn't follow or completely understand what Glen Duncan was attempting to convey with the English language put me off.
The English language is actually pretty flawed, when you think of it. Many different languages have a word or term for a specific thing or type of person or a weird event; the English language rarely, if not never, has that sort of thing occuring. And words that are meant to describe complicated emotions are equally complicated in their definition and rarely find themselves to be strung along in such a way that an average reader could understand. That's what frustrates me about this book.
I could not decipher around 1/5th of what this book was trying to describe and 'paint' in terms of the inner musings of Jake, the protagonist. It was almost to the point where I thought about abandoning this book, because, though I am well-versed in the English language and can easily grasp things I am interested in, reading the ramblings of a werewolf who has lived a long life and has made it his mission to describe to the reader in flowery language his thoughts of everything around him with a sense of sardonic, detached nihilism is not my cup of tea.
It did read like an 18th century novel, though, which the back of my copy had expressly warned me it would be. I was not disappointed; it was more thoughtful than most books I've read, and since it was written during this time, I was lucky to find this to be a believable story and not the work of a pretentious writer who thinks they're hot shit because they write in this fashion in this current time period.
The story itself was rife with Jake's potent sexuality and extremely high libido, which all werewolf and vampire fans have suspected (correctly) they possess. I didn't bat an eye at his dropping the 'cunt' and 'cock' bombs so casually; with the narrator being a 400 year + werewolf, things such as modesty are just an aesthetic he couldn't care less about.
The action and progression of the book was written so that ... it's hard to explain. You had to read the book very closely or you'd miss something important... here's an excerpt as an example:
Glen Duncan's ideas and personal spin on the werewolf's senses, transformation, and the thoughts and sensations while in werewolf form and when about to transform are unique and interesting to read; it's as if these are text book thoughts and memories of a true-to-life werewolf, and I commend him for that.
I rated it that based on two things: One, my enjoyment of the book was marred and hurt by the extreme 'literariness' of the book. It was beautifully written, but the fact that I couldn't follow or completely understand what Glen Duncan was attempting to convey with the English language put me off.
The English language is actually pretty flawed, when you think of it. Many different languages have a word or term for a specific thing or type of person or a weird event; the English language rarely, if not never, has that sort of thing occuring. And words that are meant to describe complicated emotions are equally complicated in their definition and rarely find themselves to be strung along in such a way that an average reader could understand. That's what frustrates me about this book.
I could not decipher around 1/5th of what this book was trying to describe and 'paint' in terms of the inner musings of Jake, the protagonist. It was almost to the point where I thought about abandoning this book, because, though I am well-versed in the English language and can easily grasp things I am interested in, reading the ramblings of a werewolf who has lived a long life and has made it his mission to describe to the reader in flowery language his thoughts of everything around him with a sense of sardonic, detached nihilism is not my cup of tea.
It did read like an 18th century novel, though, which the back of my copy had expressly warned me it would be. I was not disappointed; it was more thoughtful than most books I've read, and since it was written during this time, I was lucky to find this to be a believable story and not the work of a pretentious writer who thinks they're hot shit because they write in this fashion in this current time period.
The story itself was rife with Jake's potent sexuality and extremely high libido, which all werewolf and vampire fans have suspected (correctly) they possess. I didn't bat an eye at his dropping the 'cunt' and 'cock' bombs so casually; with the narrator being a 400 year + werewolf, things such as modesty are just an aesthetic he couldn't care less about.
The action and progression of the book was written so that ... it's hard to explain. You had to read the book very closely or you'd miss something important... here's an excerpt as an example:
"...Jake in a reverie at a stately pace, yes, but with aura madly vigilant, trip-switched, motion-sensored, hair-triggered, so that when the figure launched itself from the trees' murk I was ludicrously ready.
It happened to me very fast, the reversal..."
Glen Duncan's ideas and personal spin on the werewolf's senses, transformation, and the thoughts and sensations while in werewolf form and when about to transform are unique and interesting to read; it's as if these are text book thoughts and memories of a true-to-life werewolf, and I commend him for that.
tomfairfax's review against another edition
3.0
Well thought through addition to the werewolf mythos with a coherent focus on the sensory and moral experience of being a werewolf. Plus lots of sex. My pedantic criticisms involve the multi-billionaire protagonist being unable to organise any sort of protection against his various pursuers, plus an overload of the sensory stuff that slows the narrative at times. Worth reading the next in the trilogy.
shayfiction's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
tine1789's review against another edition
4.0
Ik was bijna de hele eerste helft aan het twijfelen of ik zou stoppen met lezen (het hoofdpersonage kan een stukje wauwelen hoor), maar eenmaal in de tweede helft zat er een heleboel meer vaart in en las ik het boek snel uit.
Ik zou dit boek niet aan iedereen aanraden - het is soms wat filosofisch en vaak nogal disturbing. Met dat laatste kon ik meestal nog wel leven (ik heb ondertussen al wat horror-achtige toestanden gelezen), maar er waren een paar zinnen waarbij ik mijn ogen moest sluiten en even luidop "nee" moest zeggen voordat ik verder kon gaan.
Toch heb ik, als ik het in zijn geheel bekijk, een vrij prettige leeservaring gehad, dus rond ik de sterren genereus naar boven af.
Hier nog wat quotes om af te sluiten:
Ik zou dit boek niet aan iedereen aanraden - het is soms wat filosofisch en vaak nogal disturbing. Met dat laatste kon ik meestal nog wel leven (ik heb ondertussen al wat horror-achtige toestanden gelezen), maar er waren een paar zinnen waarbij ik mijn ogen moest sluiten en even luidop "nee" moest zeggen voordat ik verder kon gaan
Spoiler
zoals die keer dat Jake zich voorstelde dat seks hebben met Talullah voelde als seks hebben met een zus (die hij overigens niet heeft, goddank) - NEE NEE NEE denk dat aub nooit meerToch heb ik, als ik het in zijn geheel bekijk, een vrij prettige leeservaring gehad, dus rond ik de sterren genereus naar boven af.
Hier nog wat quotes om af te sluiten:
We houden van het leven omdat dat het enige is wat er is.
God bestaat niet en dat is Zijn enige gebod.
Ik heb eens een keer gelezen dat je als kind huilt om de wreedheid van mensen en als volwassene om hun aardigheid.
npshafer's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0