cover is far better than the contents, and the cover isn't even here, on goodreads! Let me ask you something: when you read a book of short stories about werewolves, what are you looking for Werewolves.
And when you're looking for werewolves, what do you want to hear about People turning into wolves, So please explain, how is it that in this ENTIRE collection of stories there is only ONE and I mean ONE slightly involved description of a person turning into a wolf How is this possible THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE.
It' an affront. If you read this book, read it because you DON'T want to hear about people turning, metamorphosing, transforming, into blood thirsty hairy beasts, A reread in. Really a celebration of werewolf stories, so some of the are derivative, but a number of them were remarkably good and a lot of them have stuck with me through the years.
Some stories were intriguing, some were boring, My favorites were the ones featuring werewolves and wolves as the protagonist, least favorite probably the one with Kagwai, who honestly annoyed me, I would've liked more exposition as to who is the main character, setting, etc, because it was very distracting having to figure out random info from the pov almost halfway through the story.
Read as an elementary schooler obsessed with werewolves: it was exactly what an imagination on overdrive ordered, I enjoyed this book, some stories MUCH more than others, Give it a try.
Note to self: Not quite sibling friendly because of one story, "Green Messiah, "
Ive reviewed each short story separately, as simply judging this book as a whole wouldnt convey my exact responses to the variety presented here.
Just a note, however, before the reviews, Im picky with my werewolf stories, This does play some into my opinions of these stories, but Ive also grown to realize, if the writing is good, I can overlook my dislike of the werewolf not being the bloodthirsty slave to the moon I love and still enjoy the story.
Bad Blood:Stars
The full moon has risen, smack halfway into the Sunset Hills Junior High Ecology Clubs backpacking trip, They are far from civilization, and the only warning they get of what is to come is a campfire story about a werewolf, Then a wolf really does appear, and Val is determined to do what she can to keep herself and her fellow club members safe, But the night is long, and the firewood supply might not be enough to keep them alive,
This seemed like a very typical story to start out with, in the beginning, A bunch of kids sitting around the campfire telling scary stories, However, it had an interesting twist, and went from being boring to interesting very quickly, Though, I dont know if I was ever completely into the story and I was jolted out of it some each time it was mentioned that the narrator was a girl.
I felt more like it was a boy telling the story, and not a girl,
The Werewolfs Gift:,Stars
Lord Ulfric has been the terror of the woods and surrounding land ever since his change from man to wolf, but all he really wants is a cure.
Then Puck, a pixie, brings him a present, in an attempt to manipulate the wolf, But will it work
This story didnt make a whole lot of sense to me, The entire way through, I thought there was something more, and then the story was over without there ever being that more, It was a much simpler story than it seemed, and not in a good way, Looking back on it, it was a nice little story, definitely not something Ive seen done before, with werewolves, but there was too much of what I thought was foreshadowing for me to enjoy it.
The White Wolf:,Stars
Kagwai does not believe in the White Wolf, It is a childs tale, and he is finally old enough to gain his own totem animal shape, The winter is harsh, but that does not stop him from going out on his own, Then the White Wolf comes, but Kagwai is willing to face enough death to prove he is a man,
This is not the first time Ive seen werewolves and Indians mixed together, so it didnt feel as original as it would have ten years ago.
Granted, this story was written before Twilight, so I cant really hold that against it, This story did hold my attention, and it had some interesting truths to it, about humans and acceptance/rejection, but while it held my attention, I cant say I necessarily liked it.
Not All Wolves:Stars
Dieter finds himself trapped in the shape of a wolf in a busy town, It does not matter that he keeps a sane mind as a wolf, for people see him as nothing but a bloodthirsty monster, Even the Church will not protect him, and so he flees, searching for somewhere he can hide for the night, somewhere he can be safe until he is a man again.
But there is no place to hide for a werewolf,
This is the story where I realized I could enjoy a story about a nonbloodthirsty werewolf, The characters felt real, and I loved the historical context of it all, as well as a few nods towards werewolves fearing silver and fire without being overly obvious about it.
Wolfskin:.Stars
Ghwer has just turned thirteen, and, with his birthday present, he finally enters the Hall of Shape Shifting, Only, he
has arrived too late to be a dragon, or any other of the cooler creatures, But when he dons the wolf hide, he finds it is everything he wanted, The change is not permanent, but Ghwer has no intentions of returning to his former life of being helpless,
I dont see futuristic werewolves done very often actually, Ive never seen it done, so this was an interesting read, and enjoyable as well.
I felt as if I got to know Ghwer quite well, and it was fascinating to see a world so different from my own, especially through the eyes of a character who just saw it as normal.
Night Calls:,Stars
Allie has always wanted to hunt wolves, but shes a girl, and only eleven, When she is allowed to go with her father to collect a wolf pelt after a full moon, they discover the body of a man instead.
Her father keeps this a secret from all but a few, but men were hurt on that hunt, and after the next full moon, the entire village knows there are beasts among them.
The question is, which men Who will be the next to die And is the true burden to know
This is my favorite story out of this collection.
This has much of what I love about werewolves, and its done in a way that keeps my interest, I kind of wish this story was expanded out into a novel, for I feel like the story/world/characters are rich enough to do that with.
However, this story also doesnt suffer at all for being a short, There was mystery to it, and this mystery was handled beautifully and feed into the suspense and foreboding,
Wolf From the Door:,Stars
Professor Forrest much rather be in Hawaii, but instead is stuck dealing with college students in the frigid state of Alaska, Then Lucy Garou comes into his office to discuss her term paper, only for her to find the paper she thought was perfect was not at all what Professor Forrest was expecting.
I enjoyed this story up until the very end, Both characters were interesting and played well off of each other to move the story forward, but the ending line took away any tension there was, and just killed the story for me.
Monster Mash:Stars
Flashcat belongs to a ninthgrade band called The Nerds, and they had made their way through the preliminaries of a band competition.
Which was great for the band, but the Halloween Night Battle of the Bands falls on a full moon, Flashcat decides to go, “dressed” as a werewolf, but things quickly go awry,
I felt as if this story played out very well, with small hints about the main character until we needed to know for sure what she was.
I thought the ending was very sweet, and while it was what I had been hoping for, it didnt feel boring, I was a little confused with how wolf/human she appeared in various parts of the story, because there were a few parts I thought she was more wolf than human, but people acted like she was still a human.
Still, even with that confusion, I did enjoy this story,
The Passing of the Pack:,Stars
All of his life, hes seen the wolves, Theyve protected him, and have frightened him, And now theyve come for him, keeping him prisoner in a cave until the time comes for him to visit their leader, It is there he learns a harsh truth, one that he is not sure he wants to accept,
I had the same problem with this one as I did with the first, but in reverse, For most of the story, the narrator sounded more like a girl than a guy, It was only towards the end the narrator felt male, Speaking of the end, Im not sure how much I liked it, I felt like the end was forced, and I didnt get enough of a sense of wonder to understand why the main character did what he did.
Also, the last line irritated me, probably again because I dont understand why the choice he made was the right one,
Flesh and Blood:Star
Sally has gone on vacation with her parents to Krev in Eastern Europe, but she expected it to be much more exciting than it has been so far.
Then she discovers a beautiful red dress, and a matching shawl and pair of highheeled shoes, At night, after her parents are in bed, she tries the dress, shawl, and shoes on, only to discover there is much more to them than she had thought.
The first sentence of this story explains exactly how I felt while reading it: bored, The main character was bored, and so I was bored, She must be a city girl, because I would have loved being where she was and exploring the land around her, but all she did was whine about how boring it was and that she wanted to go home.
Also, her transformation was kind of random, Im not sure why she transformed, and the whole story seemed kind of pointless,
Green Messiah:,Stars
The Green Messiah is a genetic program to repopulate wild animals through humans, and Lupe has been chosen for the task, for she matches the legends of old.
Slowly, she learns everything there is to know about wolves, and, at the same time, her genetic code is slowly being changed, She is their experiment, the first girl to be trying this, But can the wolf mind coexist with a humans
An interesting concept, I dont quite agree with everything presented here, with evolution, but I did like the twist on it, Out of all of the stories in this book, Lupe is the character I find the most interesting, She starts out so different from humans even in the beginning, and watching as she changed further was fascinating, You could tell the author knew something about wolves, as well, Content warning of a mention of period blood,
The Wolfs Flock:Stars
Adek, as he is called, is a barons son, but his birth was shrouded in signs of the wolf, causing what would be his people to jeer and curse at him.
The news comes of a crusade to the Holy Land, for children, and Adek jumps at the chance, eager to be rid of the change that has come upon him with puberty.
Nothing else has worked in the past this crusade is his last chance, or he will be hated forevermore,
Loved this story, up until the end, Then it just turned depressing, even though I doubted the ending I wanted would have worked out anyways, and that probably would have been depressing in some way as well.
But, other than that, I feel this storys setting was more unique than most of the others, which helped to keep me interested and entertained.
Met By Moonlight:Stars
Len finds himself walking back nine miles to his Uncle Maxs cabin in snow on the night of a full moon, after his snowmobile stops working.
It is then, four miles into his trek, he comes upon a lone girl, She takes him to his hut, and they talk, But wolves prowl around them, and Len knows they are anything but safe,
Just as the last story had a unique setting, this one had a unique werewolf, I dont want to say too much to give anything away, but I was fascinated by the werewolf in this story, and it made me want to keep reading, even when I didnt care for the other character as much.
A Winters Night:Stars
Janos is a gypsy, hiding one lonely night in a cemetery, Who would think to look for him there Until a boy rushes to the cemeterya Jew boy, being chased, The time is WWII. No mercy is given to gypsies and Jews, not by the Nazis, With his hiding place blown, can Janos survive
This story would be my second favorite, and it is the first story to really take me by surprise, and its set during one of my favorite time periods to read/learn about.
It was a little bit slow at first, but I enjoyed the insights of the main character, and how well the whole story worked together.
One Chance:Stars
Susana and Billy live hard lives, at the tender age of eleven, Billy is abused, and both of them are bullied, One day, Billy comes to her, calming to have a way to escape the hurt, but this escape only allows for one chance, Can Susana leave behind the people she loves, in order to live a life without fear Or will the cost be too much for her
One of my favorite werewolf stories Ive ever read is this authors Wolf Moon, so I was looking forward to this story.
Sadly, this story wasnt very good, not for a werewolf tale, Really, the werewolf could have been replaced by anything, be that shifting into another animal, or being a fairy or elf or even just a normal person.
Not to say the entire story was awful, I did like the main two characters, and the choices the two of them made were exactly right for them and made the ending work.
However, I wasnt a fan of the slang, It instantly dates this story, when I dont think that was the authors intentions,
I was reading this partially for pleasure, and partially because I read all werewolf stories I come across for seeing what other writers have done in other words, for research.
So, I might be a little harsher in my review than other people might be, but Overall, this book was okay, but there were a few hidden gems though, I did learn from even the worst of the stories.
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Explore Werewolves: A Collection Of Original Stories Produced By Jane Yolen Presented In Paper Edition
Jane Yolen