Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski

Wolfborn Reviews

• 
  Zitong Ren

  DNF at page 44/284.
  
  I don’t know, maybe I would have liked it if I had read it a few years ago, but again, maybe not? Although it is targeted at YA, it feels that it is better aimed towards middle-grade readers purely based on the context from the first few dozen pages that I have read. Beyond that, many things about the book are incredibly frustrating. If you liked this book, I mean no offence, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
  
  There is way too much info dumping. Now, I’m not one to complain about a well developed world, in fact, I absolute love books with stellar world building. Alas, there is a difference between world building and giving out the names of places, religions, countries and other bits of information on past wars, skirmishes and information about other places when it has zero relation the the story. Let’s say that the characters were talking and right about the conversation, we go into the narrator’s head where we receive loads of information that is both utterly pointless for a standalone novel less than three hundred pages.
  
  The book if clearly based on medieval European history, with the addition of myths, something the author confirms in the afterward, which is fine. Places in epics like
  The Lord of the Rings have inspirations from the real world. The issue is how blatantly obvious it is. Holy Wars? Holy League verses the Ottoman Empire. Sarzins have harems with young women? Taken directly from the Ottoman Sultan’s harem. It wouldn’t have made much difference if it was set in medieval Europe and it would of made remembering names and places a fair bit easier. World building= quite lazy.
  
  The dialogue is clunky and way to long each time a character speaks they say too many things, making it quite unrealistic. There is already instalove tropes in that upon seeing a girl, there literally say, ‘I feel like I know you,’ and the attraction is instant. Do these things actually happen? How often do people in the real world and upon laying eyes on a person for the first time have an instantaneous connection?
  
  It’s a shame that I’m only a few pages into chapter 3, but I can’t see myself going further as too many things bother me about the writing. Perhaps it gets better further down the road, but I don’t really want to keep going anymore. 2/10
• 
  Hazel West

  Thoughts on the Overall Book: I'm not usually a frequenter of paranormal, but this one caught my eye and I'm really glad I gave it a go, because it's just the kind of paranormal novel I love to read. When I do read paranormal it's usually ghosts, faeries and occasionally werewolves, and this one had faeries and werewolves, so that made it all the more awesome. And the fact that it was taken from a medieval story and Celtic myth made it all the more intriguing.
  
  Cover--Yea or Nay: Yes, it's very simple and pretty and I love the wolf on it.
  
  Characters: Etienne (a name I love by the way) is a great protagonist and narrator. He's an honest, good-hearted and brave young man and a character the reader is able to connect with easily. I also liked how he could have been worried all the time because of his bisclavret (werewolf) family history, making it possible he could turn into one at his age, but he didn't let it bother him or get in the way. I really loved Armand too, he was a great comrade in arms character, and I wish we had gotten to see more of him. Geraint was also a good character even though he was quite a victim of circumstance. A lot of times characters like that can get washed out or annoying, but Geraint didn't. I also liked Jeanne and Sylvie, in fact, all the women in this story (apart from Eglantine, of course) were strong characters without attitudes which I liked. The villain Dupre, wasn't in the story a lot physically, but you still got to know him and also know he really was evil and scary too.
  
  The Romance: There is a romance between Etienne and Jeanne, but it doesn't interrupt the plot and is in the easy way of two people who know they love each other. There's a little bit of drama concerning them at the end, but nothing horrible. In short, I really liked them as a couple.
  
  Writing Style: I don't know if Sue Bursztynski has read any of Rosemary Sutcliff's books, but her writing style reminds me of Rosemary's. It's not quite as beautiful, but it's still good writing, and the way she crafted the story line as well as portrayed the relationships between the characters, especially Etienne and Armand and Etienne and Jeanne was really reminiscent of Rosemary's. I loved how she took the idea for this story from an old medieval tale, making this almost a re-telling. I really want to read the original now. I also loved the addition of Celtic folklore in this story. This is historical fantasy, so it's not necessarily "our world" but she paints a picture that is quite like Saxon Britain with even mentions of the "Rom" (Romans in our wolrd) having occupied their country centuries before. It gave her place an easy history for readers to follow. She changed some things around with the Celtic folklore too, with mentions of feasts like Beltane and Samhain. There was also a part where Etienne and Armand end up in the "Otherworld" with is the realm of the Fae, and there's several times where the Wold Hunt appears as well as "Kernun" who is supposed to be Cernunnos--though the portrayal of him in this book is not nearly as frightening as some I've read. Overall, it made the read all that more intriguing, and I liked this take on werewolf legends.
  
  Problems/What bothered me: I didn't have any problems, but I can see where some readers might run into issues with this book, so I'll address that here. If a reader is not acquainted with the actual Celtic legends that this is based on, it might be a little confusing, because the author doesn't go into a lot of detail about any of it. You can google all this stuff though, and it will be fine. For readers who do know all the Celtic legends, this will only make the read more interesting as it did for me.
  
  Conclusion: 4 stars, I really enjoyed this, and I hoped the author will write more books like this because there are so few paranormal authors that I actually enjoy reading.
  
  Recommended Audience: Guy and girl read, 15 and up. There's a lot of violence mentioned, but nothing is ever shown in any detail. Fans of Rosemary Sutcliff who don't mind reading something different would like this, I think. Also those who enjoyed Katy Moran's "Bloodline" books would like this too. I thought it kind of had the same feel to those as well.
  
• 
  Tsana Dolichva

  Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski is a standalone YA werewolf novel. Or I could just as easily call it a straight fantasy novel that happens to have werewolves in it. The fantasy world is loosely based on dark-ages Europe — after the Romans left — with the mythology a remix of a few Celtic and Gaulish ideas, including faeries.
  
  The main character, Etienne, is sent out to be fostered with one of his father's allies when he's in his teens — later than usual because as an only son he was needed at home. While serving with Lord Geraint, Etienne learns that Geraint is what Etienne himself has long feared: a werewolf born. However, Geraint is a good and fair master and quickly earns Etienne's loyalty.
  
  There are two types of werewolves in the Wolfborn universe, however: born werewolves, called bisclavret, who are descendant from creatures created by one of the gods, and the other kind, who made a deal with the Dark One to gain the power of shape-changing. Needless to say, the latter tend to be more evil.
  
  For a short book, there several different aspects of mythology packed in — werewolves, faeries, gods — but not, I think, too many. It's hard to judge since I am relatively familiar with Celtic mythology, but I thought the different ideas were sufficiently fleshed out and tied in well to the story.
  
  I found it interesting that Etienne's journey was not a heroic quest or some other common fantasy trope. Instead, it was about him going from fearing werewolves to accepting them (well, the bisclavret ones, anyway) as a normal part of his world's nature. Oh, also, the blurb suggests it's a romantic story but it's not really. It's based on a romantic story (wriiten by Marie de France in the twelfth century, as the afterword tells me), but the focus is shifted in this retelling.
  
  The book reads like Etienne is telling the story well after the fact, when he's older. There are some moments when he comments retrospectively on the events taking place. This reminded me a little bit of Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice where Fitz is more or less recounting his life story. There was some similarity in setting and themes too, although Etienne is a page, not an assassin, and Wolfborn is much, much shorter. I enjoyed that aspect, but to me it didn't feel quite like a YA book for that reason. Although it's the length of a YA book, however, and the main character is in the correct age bracket, I think it would work well as a bridging step between other YA fantasy books and "grown up" fantasy books like Hobb's or the multitude of others, some of which I've reviewed. Mind you, I was reading Robin Hobb while I was in my teens (before, ahem, YA was it's own category), so i don't see why teenagers wouldn't enjoy Wolfborn.
  
  The book is quite short, coming in at less than 300 pages, and I think in parts it suffered a little for it. There were some aspects of the story which I think could have been fleshed out a little more. For example, there were a few scenes where I thought the characters could maybe have spent a bit more time talking about their predicament on the page, instead of summarising. It's not that thinks weren't thought through, but a little bit more on-the-page world building would not have gone amiss either, in my opinion. In the end, the story spanned about three years (although the last year was sort of an extended epilogue, so perhaps doesn't count) which is a lot of time to squeeze into so few pages. It wasn't hurried, though, and some "and then nothing much happened for x weeks" bits were rightfully skipped, but I still would have liked to stay with the characters longer.
  
  I recommend Wolfborn to fans of Celtic-style settings in fantasy with a werewolf twist. I think it would be enjoyed by both readers of adult fantasy after a quick read and readers of YA fantasy. As I said, it'd make a good gateway dr— book for YA readers to transition into "grown up" fantasy books.
  
  4 / 5 stars
  
  You can read more of my reviews on
  my blog.
• 
  Edwina Harvey

  This YA fantasy is the story of Geraint, a noble lord of the Kingdom of Armorique, told through th eyes of his new page,Ettienne, who notices his Lord has a habit of sneaking away into the night.
  
  Ettienne discovers that Geraint is Bisclavret - one who is born to be a werewolf. These shape-shifters are more or less tolerated by normal folk as long as they dont kill the livestock. But when the local Lord is a werewolf, he wants to keep such knowledge private, and when he goes missing, his people are leaderless. Could his wife and her new suitor be plotting to overthrow Geraint?
  
  I thought this was a well-written book, with enough action and romance to appeal to any younger reader.
  
  Great to hear "Wolfborn" is soon to be published in the USA too!
  
  
• 
  Lan Chan

  It's been a long time since I've read a book by a female author written from a male perspective. My brain is telling me the last one was The Outsiders by S.E Hinton but that can't be right, and if it is, it means I'm old because that was in high school. Anyway, the reason I mention the female author/male character dynamic is because I often find it puts me off an entire book if it's not done well. Thankfully, Wolfborn doesn't fall into that category. Etienne's voice was both believable and likeable and I found the premise behind the novel fascinating.
  Wolfborn works on the assumption that being a werewolf is a gift from the gods and if you stay in your wolf shape for too long, you will lose your humanity. Its one of the rare werewolf books I've read that features the idea that werewolves need an article of their human clothing in order to revert back to their human form. Sue Bursztynski weaves this aspect into an interesting novel that deals with complex ideas but is also easy to read.
  I think my favourite part about Wolfborn was that it was in effect a retelling of a twelfth century story that has it's basis in Irish and Arthurian folklore. This made me imagine that once upon a time the story could have been based on a true account and I did a little dance. Yes it makes me happy thinking that werewolves could be real.
  Sadly, the novels ending kind of let the book down in my opinion. The last few chapters focused mainly on Etienne's romance with Jeanne, the wise-woman's daughter, and I thought it was a bit unnecessary. The climax and struggle had already ended by that point and I wasn't sure why the novel was still continuing. Possibly to highlight that even love might not be strong enough sometimes to override a wolf's innate urge to be wild and run free.
  Overall, I enjoyed Wolfborn and recommend it to anyone who's looking for an interesting but more traditional werewolf tale without the teen drama.
• 
  Michelle

  4.25-4.5 stars
  
  I really enjoyed this. Loved the fey and the werewolves and came to really care about the characters.
  
  It's set in a fascinating secondary world (much of which is based off Brittany) and despite the medieval setting incorporates progressive gender roles and features strong, smart and competent characters of both sexes.
  
  I think I'd also like a longer, slightly darker and more complex adult take on this story as well. (Sue, please write that for me :P) However, it works well as is and has a different style than most of the other YA first person fantasy books I've read, likely due to its medieval romance origins.
  
  More detailed review to come sometime in the future.
• 
  Rebecca

  Sue Bursztynski has crafted an action-filled, modern take on the courtly romances that manages to marry Arthurian-style mythology with aspects of sci fi, werewolf lore and a thoroughly modern view of gender roles in a proto-medieval world (Go Sue!). I enjoyed this a lot and recommend it highly to fans of chivalric literature. Werewolf YA has never looked like this.
• 
  The Bookshop Umina

  Wolfborn takes it's central story from a twelfth century book of tales including one about the bisclavret, werewolves. This novel has engaging characters and is one that I will be recommending to teen readers who like a little historical background to their paranormal reads :)
• 
  Romy

  I loved getting lost in the whole medieval world Sue created, overall a really suspenseful and entertaining read. Full review to come soon ...
• 
  Belinda. Hamilton

  
  Review at Burn Bright.com.au
• 
  Beck Tomkinson

  I enjoyed it enough to not stop reading until it was finished in one sitting.
  I enjoyed the break from the normal tales of werewolves! I will recommend my friends read this!
• 
  Virna

  I like this book ,the story is good and easy to read
• 
  Claire

  Really good! :)
• 
  Belinda

  Overwritten to the point of dull. Should've had a good editor or not been published.
• 
  Sharon Marie Himsl

  A delightful coming of age fantasy based on folklore, set in the time of King Arthur, when boys trained and dreamed of becoming knights. The story opens with Etienne, a young teen eager to begin his training as a page toward knighthood under the tutelage of Lord Geraint. Castle life is fun at first but takes a strange turn when it's revealed that Geraint is a werewolf. When Geraint turns, his only way to return to human form is to find his human clothing, so placement of such is extremely important. Etienne is secretly intrigued because a kinsman of his also had been a werewolf. Events move ahead and Etienne soon learns that unlike Geraint, there are dark, evil werewolves as well. A fight brews between the two realms, and when Geraint's clothing is stolen (which means he could lose his humanity), Etienne sets off on a journey to help his master. In the process, he meets more werewolves, good ones like Geraint, and falls in love with one in particular. Meanwhile, Etienne experiences dark forces and the Otherworld, complete with unicorns, faeries, trees that listen, and more. Ultimately, Etienne must decide his own fate. Is he a werewolf and what sacrifices must he make? The girl he loves becomes a deciding factor. This is a different story. Etienne is kind of a quirky guy with humorous qualities. His telling of the story in first person comes off a bit odd at first, as in a journal, but it fits the period well. The author goes into great detail describing the world and people.
• 
  Miki

  This Review was first published on my blog
  Lecture toute une Aventure
  
  
  My opinion:
  Oh why I didn’t read this before?! Yes I wanted to read this when shifters were the topic to help it promote better but It’s so good I can’t wait I managed to wait so long. Really one started I couldn’t put it done and a few hours later I was babbling about it to my mother, explaining with such enthusiasm she made me sit…. Now I must write what I felt and thought and it’s more difficult because I do want to do justice to the story without any spoiler if I can manage.
  
  First, I must precise it’s a retelling of a really old tale with of course the author‘s ideas original and wonderfully written. In fact, if you just pick the book without any prior research you don’t even feel it’s a retelling since Sue offer us a complex universe she made her own. Now after thinking about it, after learning how she came to write this and some info on the “original” tale she was inspired by, I think writing a retelling must be even harder than writing a book. Why? Because when you create your own universe you are free to set the rules you want, you want magic or not, speaking werewolves or not it’s nearly complete liberty. If you are doing a retelling, you got some free license of course, to make it entertaining you must capture the feel of the story and make it your own all the while staying true and not betraying the original tales…. That’s a hard work to find that balance, in my opinion. Really in this case the result is splendid.
  
  They are werewolves like the title and cover let you guess but here there is some specificity I enjoyed a lot. You get 2 or even 3 kind of shifters to be precise. You have the “Bisclavret”, who are the true werewolves, those who are born like and are considered like the children of Kernun, a male God of the hunt and other things. The history said they were wolves who won the right or gift to shift in human form and lives between normal people. They can shift when they want, the moon has nothing to do with that (by the way they got 3 moons in that universe^^) but they must do it regularly because it’s something they enjoy.( in a sense they revert to their original form which must feel good). To shift back to human form they must have their own clothes.
  Bisclavret have become rare, only a few of them is left.
  
  Now I guess I should precise that werewolves there isn’t something bad in itself, lot of countries in this world accept them as long as they behave, only some part hunt them but only because of fear and religious beliefs. Why religion? Because of the second kind of werewolves those who are called werewolves…they became like that for making a pact with black magic, bad deities thus are a little see as demons and those religious ones don’t make the difference. For them all man becoming a wolf is a bad one. However in the part were the pagan beliefs stay strong it’s not the same because they know there is also a third kind…if a werewolf has children they will be like him even if they never made any pact with the devil and thus they judge on the acts not on the fact they change into a wolf…..sadly if one misbehave he is killed.
  
  It’s a world a little like our medieval one, but with magic really alive. Fae are wondering among people sometimes, the traditional celebrations are still alive while the religious ( the Nozrians) would like to see it gone but it survived, in a lighter version that they were perhaps but people still believe. It was really easy to get immersed in it and the way the paranormal, fantasy is used to convey message is something I really enjoy , if a younger one could read this book and understand how you must accept other not judge them on their looks or on what he was told he would be fabulous.
  
  In this story we discover a knight Sir Geraint, a well loved one, respected by his people; the only detail is that he is a bisclavret and kept that secret even from his wife. Etienne is a young boy and like it’s was the use in medieval time young lads from nobility were sent away to complete their education as a knight….Etienne is terrified to become a wolf after his mother told him some of his ancestor was one. He gets fostered at Geraint household start as a page. It doesn’t take him long to see the strange behaviour of his master and how is wife is attracted to another visiting noble however when he learns the truth he won’t fear it and he is attracted to Jeanne, another bisclavret even before knowing who and what she is. When Geraint is lost, prisoner of his wolf form, Etienne stays loyal to him and he will do all he can to help saving him. This is a story of acceptance and courage, how Etienne discovers more about himself and the world, with a sweet romance and a lot of magic and adventure. We see how fear can lead to disastrous decision, how envy and greed can destroy more than it looks…. And so much more
  
  It’s definitively I book I recommend and as soon as it gets translated in French I would definitively ask teacher to use it because it really a fabulous story and still instil some moral and teenagers often learn more in indirect ways^^. You love fantasy, fae, legend action and romance TRY THIS BOOK! You won’t regret it
  
• 
  Imo ~High Lady Of The Night Court~Feyre Darling~

  3*
  I really liked this book and the concept, but it was really REALLY boring at some times. Like the ending for instance, an ending of a book is supposed to be fulfilling (if it’s a stand alone) but this nearly made me fall asleep during DEAR (drop everything and read) at school. So yeah, mixed emotions about this one...
• 
  Jasna Kuprys

  Great world building, Armorique puts me in mind of Asterix, but I digress.
  Full of humour, I especially liked the part about the unicorn. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it!
  Great and likeable characters, romance and magic. It’s about werewolves. The sort that are quite nice for the most part. And did I mention budding romance?
  It can be found on Amazon and iTunes. A highly enjoyable read.
• 
  Hollie

  This review was first posted on
  Music, Books and Tea
  
  I was incredibly excited to dive into Wolfborn. It didn’t seem to be your typical werewolf story, and effortlessly blended fantasy, paranormal and historical fiction into one highly enjoyable read.
  
  Etienne was an excellent main character. At first, I worried I wouldn’t be able to connect to him, but I found him to be a brilliant character who made very few (if any) rash decisions. He took his duty very seriously, and his loyalty to Sire Geraint was admirable. I can imagine that most people in his situation wouldn’t have been as loyal as Etienne was, admittedly, Etienne had a reason to be loyal to his Lord, but I can imagine that even if he had come from a different heritage, his loyalty would have remained. He also connected with Jeanne, the wise-woman’s daughter with a connection to Sire Geraint, and I loved seeing the dynamics of their relationship, particularly towards the end of the book. What Etienne does at the end of Wolfborn shows how his character grew from being a boy into a man without losing the voice that he started Wolfborn with.
  
  The characters in Wolfborn were all diverse and well fleshed out. Sire Geraint was Lord of Lucanne, and extremely loved by his people. One of my favourite scenes in Wolfborn was between Etienne, Armand and Geraint where he teaches Etienne how to fight better. Whilst he was a Lord, he didn’t abuse the power he had been given, and I think that was what made me like him so much. Sylvie and Jeanne were two characters cleverly woven with Geraint’s story, and whilst their connection to Geraint was a little predictable, it really worked well with the entire plot. And the Baron was the villain that every good fantasy needed, and he was definitely evil and had to be defeated!
  
  I think my favourite think about Wolfborn was the way the werewolves were presented. These weren’t the typical werewolves I’ve read about in the past, which I definitely appreciated. Their roots were deeply set in folklore, and the novel itself it based on Lai Le Bisclavret, which I will definitely be checking out myself in the future. The story of Wolfborn is still very much Sue Bursztynski’s, and it was a very good story indeed! She has a great knack of being able to bring each of her characters to life, from Etienne and Geraint to Joyeuse, Geraint’s loyal hound.
  
  Wolfborn was an entertaining historical fantasy that I would recommend to both fantasy and paranormal fans alike. There’s something to please everyone in this book, and it most definitely was a winner for me!
• 
  Sherre Copeland

  Based upon a twelfth century story, Wolfborn is one unlike any other I had ever read. Though it is about werewolves, a common topic in today's stories, it's not your ordinary werewolf read, and due to it's folklore beginnings, the reader must wonder how much of the tale could possibly be true.
  
  We follow Etienne, a young boy who's training to be a knight under his master Geraint. Soon though, he realizes somethings not quite normal about Geraint and his mysterious voyages into the forest at night. He later learns that Geraint is a bisclavret, a born werewolf. He also learns that there are other werewolves, those not born with the curse who have pledged themselves to the Dark One. He learns that a war is brewing between his master and one of the dark werewolves, and after a sequence of events and some poorly placed clothes, Etienne must fight to help his master back to his humanity. You see, in this tale, werewolves can't turn back to human without their human clothes, and the longer they stay in werewolf form, the easier it is for them to never turn back human. It's for this reason, and for the future of Lucanne that Etienne must help return Geraint to his humanity, possibly at the expense of his own.
  
  Beneath the bigger werewolf story was a love story between Etienne and Jeanne, a bisclavret. It wasn't a huge part of the book that swamped the readers into a big deep love but it did add a bit of something extra to the story, something that made Etienne's decisions a bit easier and more imperative.
  
  I really enjoyed reading Wolfborn. It was a nice change to the typical werewolf story and I liked reading a book told from a males perspective but still written by a woman. Initially, the story didn't hold my attention much, but I'm not sure if that was because I was reading it while facing the loss of a family member, or because it was just too much of a change from the normal books I read. Regardless, the more I read, the more it grew on me. The ending was a bit too romantic to fit with the rest of the story in my opinion, but I still see the point of adding it. It also wasnt as fast paced and intense as I would have hoped, but I still enjoyed it. This book focuses on the ideas of losing/gaining humanity, mating for life, and honor and duty. If you like books that focus on those things, then I suggest you give Wolfborn a try. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
• 
  Samantha-Ellen Bound

  It's great to see an Australian author having a decent go at a popular genre (paranormal romance, werewolves etc) and even shaking it up - drawing on her own myths and folktales to create a werewolf lore that isn't just a rehash of what we've read and seen before. Myth, reality and adventure blend well and there is some great medieval-type scene-setting. Not such a fan of Etienne's and Jeanne's romance, but otherwise I found Wolfborn quite an exciting little world to spend a few days in. Rich detail and a creative interpretation of well-known lore. Good effort.
  
  Full review at:
  
  
  http://bookgrotto.blogspot.com/2011/0...
  
  
• 
  Audrey

  This was just so-so for me. The concept and bones of the story were good -- I recognized a lot of the source material. It's in the execution where this falls short for me. There's way too much reliance on dialogue, and the voices don't ring true (author's style doesn't match subject matter/time period). There's also a really jarring part where, for the space of a few pages, we completely jump into another character's point of view. The break could've been effective, but it's not in this instance.
  
  Thanks to the girls at
  http://www.foreveryoungadult.com for my copy.
• 
  Beth Kakuma-Depew

  The mellow historical mood drew me into this book, but I'm sorry to say the story did not live up to my expectations. The romance was forced, the fantasy-mystery elements were solved too soon, and 2/3 into the story the Faerie got involved. I kept waiting for the main character to have a tragic transformation into a werewolf, but I don't think it happened. Lots of info-dumps, but no real moments of character growth.
  
  The real question is why did i bother to finish this? (answer: I really love werewolves and medieval historical fiction)
• 
  Tamara

  I couldn't, and probably will never, finish reading this book. After reaching about the 8th page I had to stop. It was just... written so terribly. The once or twice a character had the chance to speak they did so for a whole page each (Seriously). If this isn't extreme info-dumping then I don't know what! The only thing that makes me happy about this book is that I was lucky enough to buy it for less than half price at a book sale.
• 
  Forever Young Adult

  Graded By: Megan no h
  Cover Story: Orange You a Fan
  BFF Charm: Sure
  Swoonworthy Scale: 2
  Talky Talk: In the Middle
  Bonus Factor: Retelling
  Relationship Status: For When I Get Tired of High School Boys
  
  Read the full book report
  here.
• 
  Marj Osborne

  Based on an historical story, Wolfborn takes a different journey into the werewolf genre. This is a 3 1/2 star book for me. I really wanted to love it, but missed an intimacy I usually associate with 1st person narratives.
  A good yarn for established readers.
• 
  Lisa

  This book is based on the lais of Marie de France about the bisclavret or were-wolf. It's set in an alternate world, not unlike early Medieval Europe.
  
  It's a fantasy-romance-adventure, and a nice read for younger readers, I would think.
  
• 
  Megan

  A nice break from the typical high school setting were-paranormal romances out there. My longer review here:
  
  
  http://www.foreveryoungadult.com/2011...