The book focuses on the story of Hazel/Red, a young woman from mid 15th Century England, and follows her adventures between the time of the War of the Roses and her life in modern-day England.
Hazel, after being attacked by a werewolf and turned into one of their kind, rises through the ranks to become Sentinel Exemplar, tasked with dealing with rogue werewolves who break the rules of Wolf society. However, for me, it is hard to describe the characters in the book as being the 'Good' guys and the 'Bad' guys as the lines between right and wrong are so blurred. Red is just as happy to kill innocent victims without any hesitation or conscience as the werewolves she is tasked with hunting down. That is the problem I have with these type of stories. Werewolves kill without thought in a brutally casual and callous manner and that makes it hard for me to truly invest, as a reader, in feeling any empathy with the characters. Miss Gent has done well therefore to have me root for Red despite her bloody life and past as the story flits back and forth through the centuries and around Europe.
Personally, what raises this book above the standard bite and slash werewolf novel is the attention to detail given to the back story of the characters and sticking to the true nature of the werewolf in folk tales. These werewolves are bloody in tooth and claw and are not likely to be seen posing around a High School gym comparing hand-creams and hair care products. These wolves are the creatures of old nightmares, and the book is all the better for it, as Miss Gent delivers a fresh take on an old story. The society of wolves is laid out as a multi-layered tapestry of various classes and orders from the head of all Wolves, the Lycaeon, down to the hated Throwbacks which Red hunts and exterminates. Having the leader of Wolfkind called the Lycaeon is itself a nod to the Greek myth of Zeus transforming the king of Arcadia into a wolf for serving up a child as a meal to the god.
Ultimately for me what is important is how the story feels as a whole, and from the opening scene of a rogue werewolf stalking a lone woman through the dark streets of a town in the English Midlands through to the climatic finale, the story rattles along at a cracking pace with pithy and earthy dialogue. Add to the mixture a rogue werewolf who has started peddling drugs to other wolves and his intention of overthrowing the Lycaeon with the aid of his army of followers and the scene is set for a thrilling and enjoyable read.
Purchase links -
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deadlier-than-the-male-ebook/dp/B004AE3K8Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377961095&sr=1-3&keywords=d+michelle+gent
US: http://www.amazon.com/Deadlier-than-the-male-ebook/dp/B004AE3K8Q/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1377961149&sr=8-6&keywords=d+michelle+gent
Michelle will be giving away an e-book of Deadlier. Go here to enter the competition!
Review by Stuart S. Laing author of the Kindle Edinburgh chart #1 The Robert Young of Newbiggin Mysteries
find out more at his website
http://stuartslaing.wordpress.com/
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