Many praise on the literature touch by the author on a topic that is so popularized nowadays so much so that some may ask: do we need another book on werewolves and vampires? I picked this book for Cynthia to read during our flight to Barcelona. And I finished reading it in one setting on our way back. Cynthia adores this book. As for me, my initial expectation turned out to be a notch too high.
It is a rather unique story. Werewolves are driven into extinction by the human hunters. Jake is the last of his kind and has since given up the hope of continue living with the curse. Or rather, continue killing during full moon and continue running away from the hunters with the silver bullets. The story then delves deeper into the cause of extinction, the involvement with the vampires, and the birth of a new motivation for Jake to perhaps live on.
“The Last Werewolf” – I admit – has an unique plot. It is never straightforward and full of surprises with a fair bit of distractions. Some of the sub-plots do not seem to go anywhere – and hence, a ‘distraction’. Do all the loose ends have to be tied up in the end of a story? I would prefer so. Some readers may think otherwise.
On writing style, his is certainly different from the typical werewolve and vampire books. Below is an illustration on the description of one of the main characters.
She had the look of a foreign correspondent caught off-guard mid-report by an explosion. Early thirties, eyes the color of plain chocolate and similarly dark hair in two soft shoulder-length waves. A single mole or beauty spot at the corner of her mouth. White-skinned but with a warmth and suppleness that betrayed – surely? – Levantine or Mediterranean blood. Certainly not ‘beautiful’ or ‘pretty’ but Saloméishly appealing, visibly smudged with the permissive modern wisdoms. This was a girl who’d been loved by her parents and grown vastly beyond them.
And another one on the first transformation from man to werewolf that by the way, the entire process counting the days leading to the full moon takes pages worth of materials.
A breeze stirred the honeysuckle, the hairs on my ears and delirious wet snout. My scrotum twitched and my breath passed hot over my tongue. My anus was tenderly alert. I pictured my human self jumping the twenty feet, felt the shock of smashed ankles and slivered shins – then the new power like an inkling of depravity. I leaped from the window and bounded into the moonlight.
I could appreciate a touch of artistic value onto writing a fantasy story, although at times, bulk of the text appears to be too airy for me to digest. My biggest discomfort is the author’s overly reliance on using parentheses to clarify ideas. That habit of his inevitably disrupts the fluidly of my reading and frankly speaking, before passing the halfway mark, I gave up reading anything that is written inside the parentheses. I would prefer to have the clarifications worked onto the paragraphs. That may require more work, but I think it is worth the effort.
On a positive note, Cynthia has pointed out the fact that some of the fantasy books of this genre are written from the girl’s perspective, on how the girl needs to be protected, and on talking about the emotion of love. This book is written from the man’s perspective and love has become an action. This is refreshing because rather than stating the obvious on how vulnerable the female party is, the story focuses on what the male character does. As for me, I like the raw energy and desire of the main character. He is, after all, a werewolf. An animal. A killer. The honesty in the main character’s sexual encounters for instance – both conventional and unconventional – is not for the narrow-minded. Neither is the idea of taking lives without remorse. Certainly R-rated in my opinion. Will there be a sequel? Highly likely so. Would I read that? Most likely, for the sake of closure.