Book Review
Oct. 6th, 2012 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Last Werewolf
by Glen Duncan
This book was surprisingly enjoyable, werewolves never having been quite my thing. Narrated by its protagonist, it is the story of Jake Marlowe, who is the very last werewolf on earth, all the others having died or been killed by the Hunt (a division of WOCOP, an international organization devoted to the control of occult beings). Thus, he finds himself the sole object of a strange and vast web of intrigue and effort, because not only does the Hunt want to do him in, the vampires* are after him, too. Having lived for 200 years, most of them as a werewolf, world-weary and cynical Jake is initially quite ready to accept death, but that changes quickly, causing the book to become more of a noir thriller. I didn't always like Jake, but I always found him extremely interesting.
This novel is very gritty, with frank and unapologetic depictions of sex and violence, although neither is made intensely graphic or excessive. Jake has fully accepted the fact that he kills and eats people once a month, and that in his wolf form, he even enjoys it. Oddly enough, this is not quite as much of a hurdle as you might think. Duncan rescues this from becoming repulsive by making it so that in his wolf form, Jake does not just eat people as one does a steak. He also ingests the person's life and essence, so that he gains awareness of their personality, life events, etc. His victims' consciousness persist within him even over decades. This gives these parts of the book an almost elegiac quality, as Jake's perspective on many of his victims is fairly compassionate.
Many of the characters are wonderfully written. The central cast is all very complex and often pleasingly different from what you might expect them to be, given their role in the story. I would get more specific, but that would involve several spoilers. Duncan's prose is beautiful - often very poetic but never obscure or draggy. It all makes for a very good reading experience.
*Of course there are vampires as well as werewolves. Demons are also briefly mentioned, but do not ever appear.
by Glen Duncan
This book was surprisingly enjoyable, werewolves never having been quite my thing. Narrated by its protagonist, it is the story of Jake Marlowe, who is the very last werewolf on earth, all the others having died or been killed by the Hunt (a division of WOCOP, an international organization devoted to the control of occult beings). Thus, he finds himself the sole object of a strange and vast web of intrigue and effort, because not only does the Hunt want to do him in, the vampires* are after him, too. Having lived for 200 years, most of them as a werewolf, world-weary and cynical Jake is initially quite ready to accept death, but that changes quickly, causing the book to become more of a noir thriller. I didn't always like Jake, but I always found him extremely interesting.
This novel is very gritty, with frank and unapologetic depictions of sex and violence, although neither is made intensely graphic or excessive. Jake has fully accepted the fact that he kills and eats people once a month, and that in his wolf form, he even enjoys it. Oddly enough, this is not quite as much of a hurdle as you might think. Duncan rescues this from becoming repulsive by making it so that in his wolf form, Jake does not just eat people as one does a steak. He also ingests the person's life and essence, so that he gains awareness of their personality, life events, etc. His victims' consciousness persist within him even over decades. This gives these parts of the book an almost elegiac quality, as Jake's perspective on many of his victims is fairly compassionate.
Many of the characters are wonderfully written. The central cast is all very complex and often pleasingly different from what you might expect them to be, given their role in the story. I would get more specific, but that would involve several spoilers. Duncan's prose is beautiful - often very poetic but never obscure or draggy. It all makes for a very good reading experience.
*Of course there are vampires as well as werewolves. Demons are also briefly mentioned, but do not ever appear.
