Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar
Dec. 29th, 2010 06:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Millar’s expansive take of werewolves in the modern world – friendly werewolves, fashionista werewolves, troubled teenage werewolves, cross-dressing werewolves, werewolves of every sort – blends satire, black comedy, fantasy and is hard-edged, hilarious, believable and utterly un-put-downable.
As teenage werewolf Kalix MacRinnalch is pursued through the streets of London by murderous hunters, her sister, the Werewolf Enchantress, is busy designing clothes for the Fire Queen. Meanwhile, in the Scottish Highlands, the MacRinnalch Clan is plotting and feuding after the head of the clan suddenly dies intestate.
As court intrigue threatens to explode in all-out civil war, the competing factions determine that Kalix is the swing-vote necessary to assume leadership of the clan. Unfortunately, Kalix isn’t really into clan politics – Laudenum’s more her thing. But what’s even more unfortunate is that Kalix is the reason why the head of the clan ended up dead, which is why she’s now on the run in London ...
Kalix MacRinnalch - the troubled youngest member of a werewolf clan - has been on the run since attacking her father. Her addiction to Laudenum and low self-esteem make her vulnerable to both the werewolves and mortal hunters who are looking for her and she’s at death’s door when she’s found by Daniel and Moonglow, two English Literature students who decide to help her. But Daniel and Moonglow find that they’ve taken on more than they’ve bargained for when Kalix’s father dies and the clan has to vote on the next family chief. With Kalix’s brothers Markus and Sarapen battling for votes, it soon becomes obvious that it’s Kalix who could swing things either way ...
I really wanted to enjoy Mark Millar’s novel about dysfunctional werewolves but the fact that it is such a triumph of ‘tell’ over ‘show’ made it difficult. Kalix herself was difficult to sympathise with because she is so self-destructive and unwilling to deal with her situation. Much of this is to do with her background - ironically, one of the few things not made explicit is her relationship with her father, which appears to have been physically and potentially sexually abusive – but the fact is, she’s unwilling to take control or responsibility for herself and her lack of gratitude to Daniel and Moonglow really grates.
Many of the characters are little more than stereotypes. Daniel is the student who doesn’t study, hopelessly in love with Goth/hippy hardworker, Moonglow (who naturally doesn’t feel the same way). Sarapen is a ruthless traditionalist who makes rash, impulsive and often violent decisions. Markus is more of a Renaissance werewolf who’s desperate that his secret love of wearing women’s clothes is never made public, while Thrix, the Werewolf Enchantress is a career minded fashion designer desperate to cut herself off from her family. The only scenes that worked for me were between Thrix and Malveria (a fashion obsessed fire elemental) – mainly because they inject some much needed humour and show a real lightness of touch – but even then they became repetitive very quickly and a sub-plot about Malveria’s attempts to out-fashion a rival failed to hold my attention.
All in all, there wasn’t a great deal in here to keep me interested and frankly I found it difficult to slug through. Although the book ends with a set up for a sequel, I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
This urban fantasy about dysfunctional werewolves and their political struggle should have been a home run but the fact that Miller uses a writing style that’s almost all ‘tell’ rather than ‘show’ and the fact that Kalix is so wilful in refusing to deal with her own situation made it difficult for me to ultimately care. The scenes between two fashion-obsessed characters gave it much needed humour, but even they become repetitive and go on for too long. All in all, there wasn’t enough for me here to want to read the sequel.
As teenage werewolf Kalix MacRinnalch is pursued through the streets of London by murderous hunters, her sister, the Werewolf Enchantress, is busy designing clothes for the Fire Queen. Meanwhile, in the Scottish Highlands, the MacRinnalch Clan is plotting and feuding after the head of the clan suddenly dies intestate.
As court intrigue threatens to explode in all-out civil war, the competing factions determine that Kalix is the swing-vote necessary to assume leadership of the clan. Unfortunately, Kalix isn’t really into clan politics – Laudenum’s more her thing. But what’s even more unfortunate is that Kalix is the reason why the head of the clan ended up dead, which is why she’s now on the run in London ...
Kalix MacRinnalch - the troubled youngest member of a werewolf clan - has been on the run since attacking her father. Her addiction to Laudenum and low self-esteem make her vulnerable to both the werewolves and mortal hunters who are looking for her and she’s at death’s door when she’s found by Daniel and Moonglow, two English Literature students who decide to help her. But Daniel and Moonglow find that they’ve taken on more than they’ve bargained for when Kalix’s father dies and the clan has to vote on the next family chief. With Kalix’s brothers Markus and Sarapen battling for votes, it soon becomes obvious that it’s Kalix who could swing things either way ...
I really wanted to enjoy Mark Millar’s novel about dysfunctional werewolves but the fact that it is such a triumph of ‘tell’ over ‘show’ made it difficult. Kalix herself was difficult to sympathise with because she is so self-destructive and unwilling to deal with her situation. Much of this is to do with her background - ironically, one of the few things not made explicit is her relationship with her father, which appears to have been physically and potentially sexually abusive – but the fact is, she’s unwilling to take control or responsibility for herself and her lack of gratitude to Daniel and Moonglow really grates.
Many of the characters are little more than stereotypes. Daniel is the student who doesn’t study, hopelessly in love with Goth/hippy hardworker, Moonglow (who naturally doesn’t feel the same way). Sarapen is a ruthless traditionalist who makes rash, impulsive and often violent decisions. Markus is more of a Renaissance werewolf who’s desperate that his secret love of wearing women’s clothes is never made public, while Thrix, the Werewolf Enchantress is a career minded fashion designer desperate to cut herself off from her family. The only scenes that worked for me were between Thrix and Malveria (a fashion obsessed fire elemental) – mainly because they inject some much needed humour and show a real lightness of touch – but even then they became repetitive very quickly and a sub-plot about Malveria’s attempts to out-fashion a rival failed to hold my attention.
All in all, there wasn’t a great deal in here to keep me interested and frankly I found it difficult to slug through. Although the book ends with a set up for a sequel, I won’t be reading on.
The Verdict:
This urban fantasy about dysfunctional werewolves and their political struggle should have been a home run but the fact that Miller uses a writing style that’s almost all ‘tell’ rather than ‘show’ and the fact that Kalix is so wilful in refusing to deal with her own situation made it difficult for me to ultimately care. The scenes between two fashion-obsessed characters gave it much needed humour, but even they become repetitive and go on for too long. All in all, there wasn’t enough for me here to want to read the sequel.
