Read Recently -- July -- Book of the Year Nomination
Benighted by Kit Whitfield
When last I read Kit Whitfield, it was her second novel. This was her first, published in Britain under the title, Bareback. I guess that they just don't have so much unprotected sex in Britain. Before I read it, I encountered at least one on-line conversation between Whitfield and another person (or two) in which she argued that it was not a "werewolf novel." The point was lost on me: it's a novel, it's full of werewolves, ergo, werewolf novel. What else would you call it? Of course, once I actually read the book I was able to see her point.
Protagonist Lola Galley works for the government, in a world where most of the world's population is, in fact, werewolves. It's a perfectly normal thing; society is much like it is on our world except that once a month everyone retreats to a quiet room in their house, locks themselves in, and turns into a ravening, hunting beast. A small portion of the population, however, is incapable of changing. These unfortunates are known as 'barebacks', and Lola is one such.
The Department she works for is the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity. Only barebacks can work for it; one of the things they do is make sure that society continues to work during the full moon, since a bloodthirsty hunter cannot be relied on to make sure that, for example, the generators at the hospitals keep going. Another thing they do is hunt down rogue lunes (as werewolves in wolf form are called) who are running free during the full moon, and stopping them from hurting domestic animals, each other, or other barebacks. They also run their own courts, where they try those who are arrested for going rogue. Lola is assigned to defend such a character at the start of the book, a guy with a bad record who abandoned his car when it broke down and failed to find shelter before the moon came up (he is suspected of having done this on purpose). He then bit the hand off the bareback who tried to corral him. Lola is also acting as a defender for an alcoholic who is a serial offender; while he's never attacked anyone he has a habit of getting drunk and not getting to shelter. Dealing with the biter brings Lola into contact with the man's high-powered lawyer; dealing with the drunk brings her into contact with his disturbingly attractive social worker. And Lola's sister, whose husband left her when she got pregnant due to being wolfed and in heat in a public shelter, needs her sister's support. And then the guy who had his hand bitten off is shot to death.
Lola is not the most attractive of protagonists; she's selfish and kinda blind to how her behaviour affects others. On the other hand, she is a member of a hated and feared minority; she has been picked on all her life and she puts her life in danger every month trying to round up free-running werewolves. You can sympathise with her, at least some of the time.
All things considered, this is a very good book. Whitfield's world-building is solid (the Department began as a branch of the Inquisition, which explains all the quasi-legal powers it has. But it really took off during the plague, when a free-roaming werewolf could spread the infection quite a ways). If I were going to quibble over anything, it would be to question whether a world of predators could give rise to Christianity (I mean, what would Jesus Christ Werewolf preach, anyway? "Let he among you who is without sin tear the throat out of the prey"?), or even more likely, whether they would give rise to agricultural civilization at all. And while that line of speculation would make for an interesting book, it wouldn't be the book that Whitfield was trying to write. Which is a book about the pain and fear of isolation in a society that hates you for something you can't control. With werewolves.
I know I haven't done this book justice--I don't really think I could, to be honest--so look, bottom line: if you're only going to read one book this year on my recommendation, I--well, I'm disappointed, of course, I hoped I'd done better--but if it is only going to be one, make it this one. It's just that good.
Highly recommended.
When last I read Kit Whitfield, it was her second novel. This was her first, published in Britain under the title, Bareback. I guess that they just don't have so much unprotected sex in Britain. Before I read it, I encountered at least one on-line conversation between Whitfield and another person (or two) in which she argued that it was not a "werewolf novel." The point was lost on me: it's a novel, it's full of werewolves, ergo, werewolf novel. What else would you call it? Of course, once I actually read the book I was able to see her point.
Protagonist Lola Galley works for the government, in a world where most of the world's population is, in fact, werewolves. It's a perfectly normal thing; society is much like it is on our world except that once a month everyone retreats to a quiet room in their house, locks themselves in, and turns into a ravening, hunting beast. A small portion of the population, however, is incapable of changing. These unfortunates are known as 'barebacks', and Lola is one such.
The Department she works for is the Department for the Ongoing Regulation of Lycanthropic Activity. Only barebacks can work for it; one of the things they do is make sure that society continues to work during the full moon, since a bloodthirsty hunter cannot be relied on to make sure that, for example, the generators at the hospitals keep going. Another thing they do is hunt down rogue lunes (as werewolves in wolf form are called) who are running free during the full moon, and stopping them from hurting domestic animals, each other, or other barebacks. They also run their own courts, where they try those who are arrested for going rogue. Lola is assigned to defend such a character at the start of the book, a guy with a bad record who abandoned his car when it broke down and failed to find shelter before the moon came up (he is suspected of having done this on purpose). He then bit the hand off the bareback who tried to corral him. Lola is also acting as a defender for an alcoholic who is a serial offender; while he's never attacked anyone he has a habit of getting drunk and not getting to shelter. Dealing with the biter brings Lola into contact with the man's high-powered lawyer; dealing with the drunk brings her into contact with his disturbingly attractive social worker. And Lola's sister, whose husband left her when she got pregnant due to being wolfed and in heat in a public shelter, needs her sister's support. And then the guy who had his hand bitten off is shot to death.
Lola is not the most attractive of protagonists; she's selfish and kinda blind to how her behaviour affects others. On the other hand, she is a member of a hated and feared minority; she has been picked on all her life and she puts her life in danger every month trying to round up free-running werewolves. You can sympathise with her, at least some of the time.
All things considered, this is a very good book. Whitfield's world-building is solid (the Department began as a branch of the Inquisition, which explains all the quasi-legal powers it has. But it really took off during the plague, when a free-roaming werewolf could spread the infection quite a ways). If I were going to quibble over anything, it would be to question whether a world of predators could give rise to Christianity (I mean, what would Jesus Christ Werewolf preach, anyway? "Let he among you who is without sin tear the throat out of the prey"?), or even more likely, whether they would give rise to agricultural civilization at all. And while that line of speculation would make for an interesting book, it wouldn't be the book that Whitfield was trying to write. Which is a book about the pain and fear of isolation in a society that hates you for something you can't control. With werewolves.
I know I haven't done this book justice--I don't really think I could, to be honest--so look, bottom line: if you're only going to read one book this year on my recommendation, I--well, I'm disappointed, of course, I hoped I'd done better--but if it is only going to be one, make it this one. It's just that good.
Highly recommended.