Now, clear your mind. Breathe deep. Exhale. If I was to say to you I’ve got this great book here, it’s a coming of age story but there’s a twist. It’s about… Werewolves! What would be your first thought? To what conclusion would your brain jump? YA? I knew it! However, Mongrels is not a young adult book, it’s a finely crafted story told from a teenage werewolf. He lives with his aunt and uncle and they travel the length and breadth of the United States never staying in place too long. I’d heard Mongrels was good and it is, it’s one of those that, although not flawless, is difficult not to enjoy.
As mentioned, the story follows the lives of three Werewolves, Libby, Darren and the unnamed teenage narrator. They travel and never settle too long and at night, Libby and Darren turn and get up to all kinds of lycanthropy based shenanigans. The Narrator has yet to get his flat tongue and isn’t, technically, a fully-fledged werewolf yet. The chapters change occasionally between current times, with the narrator ageing incrementally, and in the past to when he was younger so we can see events that have shaped his personality. Jones hasn’t just presented us with a situation and expects us to get on with it, he’s fleshed out this hidden sub-culture. Libby and Darren both dispel Werewolf knowledge to the Narrator, we learn what’s Hollywood bullshit and what Werewolves like and dislike. What kills them, why they should always wear jeans and why they avoid French Fried. It feels as if the Narrator is relaying secret knowledge that we, the reader, shouldn’t be privy to. When reading, you may feel that some sections are mundane, like the old trope, is this the most interesting part of your protagonist’s life? If not, why aren’t you showing us that? Then you’ll remember “oh yeah… They’re Werewolves.” Every day is the most interesting day. That’s part of Jones’ talent as a writer, he makes you believe the surface level normality of the pack.
I can normally judge a book by how quickly I get through it. How I want to read it, how I don’t want to put it down. If I find myself day-dreaming about garden gnomes or scaring my cat with cucumbers, then that’s a good indication that I’m just not into it. At no point throughout Mongrels did my mind wander. It’s a wholly satisfying read and the horror that comes with the subject matter is told in such a matter of fact way, that you think back to it when you close your eyes that night. If you read it, let me know when you get to the bit about the tights. That shit is just plain nasty. Anyway, would recommend Mongrels, give it a read then enjoy a basket of live baby rabbits to mull it over.
Ben
ain gripe I had was with the way the story is told. A series of audio logs, news reports and interviews with characters is a genuinely refreshing way to tell a story, but it’s the scale of the tale that makes it hard to fathom. Sleeping Giants is about, funnily enough, a sleeping giant. Some buried, giant metal hand is found and many years later some suspicious man, we assume is dressed in a black suit with an American flag pin adorned upon it, starts assembling a crack team to recover the rest of the pieces. We never find out truly who he is only that A: he’s mysterious and B: a bit of a bastard, who slowly grows fond of his team, in a distant Father way who’s watching their son score the winning touchdown at prom kind of thing. Or however sport works. Basically, the second most interesting character remains an enigma which is frustrating in the bad way. The most interesting character, dare I say, is the robot itself. Its origins hinted upon but never confirmed, and its scale and purpose bewildering to the people of Earth. Which leads me back to the gripe. The method of storytelling. We are presented with an intergalactic, teleporting, almost indestructible killer space robot, and we only get to appreciate the global and potentially universal implications of such a discovery, from such a narrow and blinkered view point. It doesn’t allow you to fully appreciate the world that Neuvel is attempting to create. This is supposedly the first of a trilogy all set in the same universe and if the next two are written in the same format I cannot see how it’ll work. You get a good idea of the direction he’s taking it in, and if it continues with interviews and audio logs you’ll have the literary equivalent of a low budget sci-fi that couldn’t afford to show all the explosions and lasers and giant robot fights. You know, the good stuff.
y tale retelling industry seems to have been drowned by the YA scene and to be honest I’d rather stick on a pair of magical red shoes and dance until I need someone to chop my feet off than force my way through YA. These reasons are probably why I have yet to fully sink my teeth into the Fairy Tale genre.
ard antics you can’t help but nurture a little doubt.
Fox and bear books 