Seventeen-year-old Caleb O’Connor is a werewolf who tries to break out of his reclusive magical community in Maine to go to MIT, hoping he can make it in in a technological world where no one believes in monsters. He’s drawn back to Maine when, one fateful weekend, his three best friends sneak into a mysterious, abandoned mansion. One of them, René, dies there. A second, Toby, is put on trial for his life by the magical community. His crime? Caleb never finds out for sure… except that somehow his friends have let loose something much worse than any of them could have imagined. When Toby is executed, Caleb vows revenge. He has rejected magic, but, in order to avenge his friends, he will have to become a better student of magic than he ever was of science.
His opportunity comes in the form of one of his own professors, who invites Caleb to his old family castle in Romania, where he’ll teach him magic in exchange for help driving the Undead from the rugged mountains. Along with learning how to harvest the magical powers of the elements, stars, and planets, he also leads a pack of Romanian werewolves and raises a “cub” as his own son. He learns hard lessons about loyalty and betrayal, and about the tangled balance between man, beast and monster.
“[T]his book is distinguished by its plot and by its human characters, (or the human aspects of its werewolf characters). You could strip away the supernatural aspects of the book and still reveal a complex, dynamic and satisfying tragic tale of love and loss and betrayal and loyalty and courage. Lots of werewolf/vampire books rely on the trappings and glamour of the legendary creatures and overlook story, plot and character. This book does not fall into that careless error. There is a real and engaging story here.”
~ Amazon review
ISBN (print): 978-1938463495
ISBN (ebook): 978-1938463501
Bitingduck Press, LLC
“The characters are complex and vividly drawn with distinctive traits that cross the lines of good AND bad. Each character is important to the story and their pasts unfold as a huge part of the plot! As I said, this is dark and it’s intense, these are not your sparkly vamps or cuddly werewolves so wear your garlic and keep the wolfsbane handy!”
~ Goodreads review
I was drawn right into the story and the world of magical and supernatural beings. There were the traditional werewolves and vampires as well as many strange new creatures. This story also described how a modern day community of wizards live, hunt, hurt, and help these beings. The book uses a new lens to show how all these characters live and interact in today’s world; sometimes successfully and sadly many times not.
~Amazon review