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A review by adelaidemetzger_robotprophet
Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan
4.0
MUCH better than the first book. So much so I felt that this sequel deserved more advertising and its own soundtrack than its predecessor did, but the first book needed exposure or I wouldn’t have known about the trilogy in the first place.
I think what made this one more interesting is the main character herself. Tallula isn’t only a woman who is emotionally driven by a new maternal instinct, she’s a “brand new” werewolf that still has close ties to her human side. I have to agree with some other reviewers that Glen Duncan’s pessimistic and ironic narrative gets a little annoying after a while, although I understand that this is his writing language as well as the tone for this trilogy. Even though this pinched a nerve every once in a while, Tallula’s character did change up the flavor compared to the first book because of what I previously pointed out. She’s more emotional than Jake was and she finds herself becoming sentimental about the things that she says and does—unlike Jake who didn’t give a s----. This made the book more enjoyable and thickened the plot as there was so much more at risk.
One thing I found that kind of dampened my view on Tallula was that her point of view on life—and her life in general—revolved around her being sexually interested since she was a young girl. It’s weird to think that Duncan’s characters all have sex related to their past and that’s what shapes them. I get that their libido is a byproduct of becoming werewolves but to have them already obsessed with it before the Curse kind of makes them addicts. I found this detail repetitive and annoying and I won’t be surprised if it’s a harboring trait in part three. Duncan could have been creative and spiced it up to have Jake’s personality influenced by something else (violence for example) while Tallula could still have sexual interest as part of her personality or vice versa.
Despite that, I am still interested in continuing to the third book because, hey, it’s the vampire’s turn.
I think what made this one more interesting is the main character herself. Tallula isn’t only a woman who is emotionally driven by a new maternal instinct, she’s a “brand new” werewolf that still has close ties to her human side. I have to agree with some other reviewers that Glen Duncan’s pessimistic and ironic narrative gets a little annoying after a while, although I understand that this is his writing language as well as the tone for this trilogy. Even though this pinched a nerve every once in a while, Tallula’s character did change up the flavor compared to the first book because of what I previously pointed out. She’s more emotional than Jake was and she finds herself becoming sentimental about the things that she says and does—unlike Jake who didn’t give a s----. This made the book more enjoyable and thickened the plot as there was so much more at risk.
One thing I found that kind of dampened my view on Tallula was that her point of view on life—and her life in general—revolved around her being sexually interested since she was a young girl. It’s weird to think that Duncan’s characters all have sex related to their past and that’s what shapes them. I get that their libido is a byproduct of becoming werewolves but to have them already obsessed with it before the Curse kind of makes them addicts. I found this detail repetitive and annoying and I won’t be surprised if it’s a harboring trait in part three. Duncan could have been creative and spiced it up to have Jake’s personality influenced by something else (violence for example) while Tallula could still have sexual interest as part of her personality or vice versa.
Despite that, I am still interested in continuing to the third book because, hey, it’s the vampire’s turn.