Book Review: Faewolf by D.M. Atkins and Chris Taylor
So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I went to Con.Txt III this year (YAY!) and had a blast. There were a number of presses represented in the consweet, including Circlet Press, in the person of Ravenna C. Tan. I bought a couple of books from her, knowing from her fanfic and from conversation that we shared a lot of tastes, so there will be a number of reviews related to works I bought off her table.
The first of these is Faewolf.
Now, I have a not so secret kink for paranormal romance, and most especially werewolf stories. I like the latest vampire craze just fine, but give me aggressive, protective, possessive wolf boys over the living dead any day.
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Faewolf delivers on pretty much all my wolfy-kinks, and does so with originality and style enough that I know I will definitely be buying the sequel.
We start with our wolf, known in his human form as Brian Fenwick. He is a lone wolf by choice, living and researching among humans at UC Santa Cruz. Brian has his own reasons for his research, hoping to eventually use his knowledge to help his pack, but he is lonely and often rather lost in human culture. This is because “Brian” is not actually a werewolf, but - as another character puts it later in the story - a were-human. Faewolves are born wolves, and only later develop a human form. Both forms are natural to them, but the wolf form is primary. Saoi is Brian’s wolf name, and he spends just about as much time in that form as he does in human form in the course of the story.
Brian TAs for a class that our other main character, Kiya, is taking. Kiya is an openly gay student, and he is Lakota Sioux. He speaks Lakota, and has strong ties to his family. Unfortunately, here at university he also has developed really bad taste in men. He has become involved with a man, Ted, who is not only possessive, but abusive. Kiya is not a passive victim, however. He breaks off the relationship, and is strong in his refusal to continue it, even in the face of Ted’s more and more pushy insistence that they aren’t really broken up.
That is pretty much where the novel picks up.
The research that went into the wolf behaviors, Sioux culture, and the setting of Santa Cruz, adds a level of realism that I think is often missing in paranormal novels. Sometimes authors don’t get that you need a lot of realistic details to make your magical world stand up to novel-length attention. Well, this is not a problem here. We get a lot of detail, a lot of facts, and thankfully, very few info-dumps. The authors excel at working information into the plot naturally.
The relationship between Kiya and Brian/Saoi develops slowly and is pushed along by the b-plot of Kiya breaking up with Ted. The two plots twine and cross so that they don’t have that contrived feeling that you can sometimes get in romances. The authors make a clear distinction between Kiya looking for a partner with a dominant character, and Ted looking for someone to abuse. It is nice to see that distinction clearly made without it falling into a) preaching, or b) a fuzzy defense of abusive behavior that’s okay as long as the abused party “wants it.”
The story climaxes with a twist that is believable, although unexpected, and gives both Kiya and Brian/Saoi a chance to show their love, courage, power, and sensuality. Overall, I have to say I found it a very satisfying read.
That said, I do have a few nitpicks with the story. At times the plot seems a bit formulaic. It does manage to avoid sinking into predictability, though. I’d like a few more fleshed out secondary characters. Again, this is a minor thing, especially if this is the first in a series, in which case there is plenty of time to get to know more about Kiya’s roommate and LGBT friends.
My biggest disappointment with Faewolf is that, although Kiya is a Lakota Sioux and raised to be very connected with his Native American culture and history, there is never a mention of his status in the tribe as a winkte.
Winkte is a very special classification in the history of the Lakota Sioux, and while its meaning for modern Sioux may be in flux, it is still a term used to describe homosexuals in that culture. There are ritual and spiritual connotations to this term, as there are to many of the terms for “two-spirits,” or homosexuals, in many Native American cultures. These would have added an interesting dimension to the story, as well as further grounding the plot in documented beliefs.
Considering how well the authors handled the inclusion of other cultural facts and species details, I think they could have done a lot with Kiya moving between modern American constructions of homosexuality and the modern Sioux constructions of winkte.
I am really, really, really, really, REALLY hopeful that the authors will include Kiya’s status as a winkte in the sequel to Faewolf .
Really.
Because there will be squeeing, and hand clapping, and virtual chocolate if they do.
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