REVIEW: Howl at the Moon by Christine Warren
Book Reviews / D ReviewsChristine Warren / shapeshifters6 Comments
Warning this may be spoilerish.
Dear Ms. Warren:
This is my first book of yours and while I didn’t love this book, I do like your voice so it won’t be my last. In fact, the book was really a B read for me until Page 108 when the heroine does something inexplicable. At one point, I thought you were going to right the ship for me, but it all was lost at the page 256 mark.
I like the world you have filled with shapeshifters, demons, and other magical creatures but I just didn’t like how the story played out. I was never sold that the hero deserved any kind of emotional justice (except maybe the bad kind). I thought that the primary characters acted in contravention with their belief system for no reason.
Samantha Carstairs is the personal assistant of the Alpha of the Silverback Clan. As most assistants, she knows everything that goes on in the Pack and more. Obviously, the Alpha trusts her implicitly. She’s also best friends with Dr. Annie Cryer, a scientist studying the lupine genome. Sam’s position in the Pack is tested by her friendship when Dr. Cryer swears Sam to secrecy with information that is vital to the Pack.
Noah Baker is ordered to infiltrate the Pack, find out information on the Pack’s scientist, and report the information back to his commanders. He’s sent in alone with no back up and proceeds to lie to everyone about his intentions from the Alpha to Samantha.
Essentially the core of the conflict is this:
Samantha – I know something that would totally devastate the Pack and I’m going to tell an outsider about it even though I am the personal assistant to the Pack Alpha and I totally admire and respect the pack Alpha.
Noah – my sister has married into the Pack and I totally admire and respect the Pack but I’m going to infiltrate it and get its secrets to give to the government while I romance one of the Pack’s most trusted members.
Samantha – Even though Noah has totally betrayed me and the Pack and placed us in terrible jeopardy, since he’s said sorry and has a long ding dong, I’m totally going to forgive him. I mean, come on – he said sorry at least twice and it really doesn’t matter that the entire Pack’s existence could be in jeopardy. The Pack’s safety is nothing compared to the way this guy rocks my boat.
Noah – I feel totally guilty about what happened, but not so guilty that I can’t sex Samantha up six ways from Sunday. Thankfully I’ve got a really long ding dong that will make all the pain go away; that and a few sorries always does the trick.
Graham – Even though I am the Pack Alpha and at least two members of the Pack have placed us in terrible jeopardy, I can just look the other way because they cleaned the mess up.
Government – We are totally inept. We send in one guy to do a job and he doesn’t even do a very good job at it. The information we want just falls into his lap. Is pretty amazing that we even have a government given how totally inept we really are. Because the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, it is easy to erase the fact that the Pack has killed high ranking officials within the organization and there are no reprisals.
I suppose if you read this book and don’t look at anyone’s motivations, the story is fine. It’s a standard conflict but because the motivations seemed to be incredible to me, I had a hard time enjoying the book. It ultimately became a wallbanger for me because I was so irritated with all of the characters. Noah frustrated me because he apparently had no honor and Samantha because she had no backbone. I am convinced that the plot and setup were the cause of my dislike and I am hoping that the next book I read in this series will be a winner. D
Best,
Jane
This book is due out on October 30, 2007.
I’m totally spoiled…I had no idea he had a large ding dong. *g*
I will never grow up. I read “long ding dong” and started laughing. Why, why, why does it still set me off so? :-)
I started reading her Others series at Ellora’s Cave and love her voice. Long ding dong, hmm?
So the portrayal of the government is pretty accurate?
Jody W – I did think that a bit when I was typing it up but I thought I would give the US gov’t the benefit of the doubt.
LOL! The long ding dong must have outweighed her con list. I liked this book because in general I like Warren’s style. It’s fun, it’s out there, though admittedly I had to turn my head at the whole betrayal/forgiveness thing, too. I had a hard time liking Noah because his principles were brought into question from the first chapter. But again, it was fun. Is it on my keeper shelf? No.