Whitfield, Kit: Benighted
Benighted (2006)
Written by: Kit Whitfield
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Dark Fantasy
Pages: 532
I can remember the circumstances of this recommendation perfectly. I cannot, however, remember the specific person who recommended it. I think it was juushika. The circumstances were these: I was posting a blurb for a recent review in one of the LJ book review communities I pay attention to and noticed that someone had put up a plea for werewolf books. I, of course, had to respond, and once I did so, I glanced over some of the other recommendations to see what others were saying.
juushika, or someone, listed three books, two of the three I'd read and adored, the other I'd never heard of and figured, hey, if we both agree on the other two books, then I've GOT to read this one by Whitfield!
You know, because the werewolf fetish demands it.
So off to Amazon I went and ordered away I did. I was a little surprised by the length of the book, as I'm getting far too used to urban fantasies that don't get too far over 350, so I didn't read it right away. But I'm glad I didn't wait too long, because I feel this book is really useful: both as an urban fantasy reader and as a hopeful urban fantasy writer.
The premise: it's world that's almost exactly like our own, with one major difference: ninety-nine percent of the population is lycanthropic, which means on full moon nights, they fur up, go beastly, and cannot be reasoned with or tamed. The other one percent, who can't fur up and therefore are considered disabled, are called barebacks, and when the moon's full, it's the barebacks who are responsible for keeping the peace when certain lunes decide they don't want to spend the full moon nights cooped up in their own homes and go roaming.
Lola Galley is a bareback, and even though she's not even in her thirties yet, she's a veteran of the Department for the Ongoing regulation of Lycanthropic Activity. She's got the scars to prove it. Some of her co-workers have much worse. When one of them is mauled and loses his hand, Lola starts an investigation that takes her places she'd never imagined, especially when that friend ends up murdered. This isn't your typical werewolf story. Heck, it's not even your typical UF.
Spoilers galore.
Whitfield writes at a careful and deliberate pace. Written in the first person, present tense of Lola, the reader is completely immersed in her life at DORLA as well as her role in society, which is often as a victim of oppression. I didn't notice the present tense of the narrative right away, which is a credit to Whitfield's writing. Present tense usually stands out like a sore thumb, even when well done, and this time it didn't.
There's so much about this novel that you absorb and experience rather than simply watch. It's not one of those fast, quick reads with action that unrolls like a movie, and that's a good thing. Often we're given snippets of moments, and those snippets build and build and build until the reader wonders when the plot will actually kick into gear and pull everything together. Hell, I was wondering IF any of it would be pulled together, even though I suspected it would. I knew that, for example, Albin and Sarah would have a bigger role in the story, and I was just waiting for the ball to drop on Paul because he seemed too good to be true. I did like the fight Paul and Lola had though, when she first had to go into hiding. He'd been so good and so perfect (though really, really quirky) for so long that it was good to see him lose his temper. He never cross any boundaries, so to speak, but he did speak his mind and turn a rather ugly mirror right back on Lola's face, and she needed that.
Lola is a tough character to love, to even like. Her one redeeming and consistent characteristic through-out her sarcasm, cynicism, and anger is her love for her baby nephew Leo. The scenes with him are touching and necessary, because it's hard to picture Lola actually being kind and gentle with anyone, so seeing her with a baby is a surprise and a delight and it paves the way for when she tries to put aside her darker nature and be nice to Paul, even though he's a lyco.
But her prejudice and her hate really shine through, especially when she makes the weak intuitive leap that Albin, Sarah, and Carla must be the killers, and when Paul is revealed to be one of their number, that he must be to, and oh, he must've been using Lola all along. Those chapters were SO frustrating, because the reader is objective and recognizes what's really going on even though Lola doesn't and really can't. Personally, as someone who's never experience true prejudice or oppression, it was hard to empathize with Lola's leaps in logic even though intellectually, I knew where she was coming from. Intellectually, though, I wanted her to snap out of it and pay attention to the facts, but those chapters illustrated the harsh truth about DORLA: the prejudice and hate isn't one-sided. The lycos have grown to hate and resent DORLA so they attack, and DORLA hates the lycos because of the many attacks so they interrogate all arrested lycos no matter what they are or are not guilty of, which of course, makes the lycos hate DORLA more. It's a cycle, and it's a bad one, and Lola's caught right in the middle.
It's a tough story with a tough and somewhat ambiguous ending. The book is focused on Lola: it HAS to. There was a time that I wondered if maybe, just maybe, the book would end with DORLA getting dismantled (I reached a point where I didn't believe that the lycos wouldn't just band together and tell the nons just to lock themselves up at home on full moon nights and hope for the best, you know?). This suspicion that it SHOULD happen was verified when we learned that DORLA basically authorized doctors to ensure that certain babies were born with the disability, and that was chilling, especially given the kind of life nons have to lead once they're born.
That's another thing that irks me. I get that non-children have to be taken away to be kept safe from their parents who transform, but there's something about the whole division that's frustrating, though intuitively I understand it's necessary. It's no wonder Lola grew into the woman she is in the story, and it's a credit that the resolution focuses on her and her need for salvation and understanding rather than neatly tying up basic plot elements and giving the book a happy ending. Oh, plot elements are tied up nicely, though we never learn why those three bad lunes took it upon themselves to attack DORLA agents so savagely. The only clue we get is that those lunes believed nons to be soulless. But that's a mystery that's true to life. Police capture and lawyers prosecute bad guys all the time, but we don't always know or understand the motivations for the crime.
We also are never given a clear indication of how Paul's and Lola's relationship will progress in the future, or if it'll progress at all. We have reasons to believe either is possible, and that too is realistic. Let's face it, after Lola put Paul through what she did, I'm not sure any relationship could survive that. But their story "ends" with them being honest with each other, and he shows up to see Ellaway tried. They might have a chance, though if this were part of a series (and it could be, given the complexity of the world and the things that I, as a reader, would love to see "fixed"), I would bet money that Lola and Paul wouldn't make it, but he'd end up with her sister instead. But maybe that's my soap-opera background coming to play, rather than a real speculation based on the text.
But the resolution we do get is that of Lola accepting who she is and what her limitations are. She wins but she loses. She accepts her demons and battles them appropriately, which brings her some measure of peace even at the cost of some friends and pride. Overall, it's a bittersweet book with a bittersweet ending, but we don't have to see Lola's life story wrapped up in a bow. We just need to see her at some kind of peace, and we get that.
Whitfield never uses the term "werewolf" in the book, which I find interesting and in the end, necessary. It subtly separates itself from being "just another werewolf book" into something much more, which is a snapshot of human society and oppression. I did, however, enjoy her treatment of werewolves, perplexing though it was, especially when I realized that down in the cells, what Albin was essentially creating was a kind of pack, with himself as the Alpha. It worked, and it worked well.
But one question I had in this book, especially with all of the focus on pregnancy and miscarriage, was how the lyco population managed to thrive when the women transform once a month? Other werewolf books treat this with the basic logic of "were women can't bear children" and at least Whitfield does indicate that in Lola's family, there's a high rate of miscarriage. But wouldn't that be true for any lyco family? I wish that had been explored with a little more detail, but I think the logical answers would've made this book a little too much like other werewolf books, because the one logical answer I can come up with is that lyco men would seek out bareback women just so the children would carry to term. But that's not Whitfield's world, and however it works, I have to roll with it, even though a few more details would've been nice. :)
My Rating
Must Have: especially for those of you who love werewolf stories of any kind and/or who really want something DIFFERENT out of a werewolf book. It's not something I fell head-over-heels in love with, but the writing, the characterization, and the world-building, all of it is solid and the book gives you so much to think about in terms of larger issues. This isn't the kind of urban/dark fantasy that's meant to be addictive. In the end, it's going to make you think, whether you want it to or not. It'll surprise you, anger you, break your heart, and make you laugh. Whitfield takes the real world and splashes it all over these pages in all of its very ugly glory: she just makes the majority of humans lycos, and that creates an interesting and poignant tale. There's a part of me that hopes she might write another book in this world, maybe even featuring the main character as well, but then there's a part of me that hopes she does. This book is more than enough, even though I'm so invested I just want more and more details. No doubt, Whitfield is an author I'll keep an eye on in the future, no matter what she writes. I'm just glad I stumbled upon this one.
Cover Commentary: I think it's lovely. I love the teal coloring, the fullness of the moon, and the general atmosphere of it. It captures the story so well, especially showing the silhouette of the lone woman in the dark. It's not meant to be creepy, and it's not. The cover is pitch-perfect for the book, so bravo.
Next up:
Drood by Dan Simmons
I'll also be reading other stuff, because the Simmons is a 700+ page door-stopper and not easy to carry around. But what that other stuff will be, I have no idea.