erin_oriordan_is_reading_again's review against another edition
4.0
I haven't read Catherine Jinks' previous book in the series, The Reformed Vampire Support Group, so I came to this series fresh. I don't think it made much of a difference. The 13-year-old narrator, Toby, doesn't know what's going on when he wakes up in the hospital after having been found in the dingo pen on a wildlife preserve. Not knowing what happened in the first book allowed me to figure things out at about the same time Toby did, though Jinks does drop lots of hints that Toby's new friends, especially Nina, might be vampires.
The title tells us two things: there will be a werewolf, and the werewolf will be abused. The book starts out in a somewhat light-hearted tone, with many references to Toby's perfectly ordinary suburban Australian life and the pranks he and his friends like to pull. Then, about 170 pages in, Toby gets kidnapped, and the story starts to get very bleak. If Toby were a little younger, more sensitive or more vulnerable, some of the things that happen to him might be horrible. But, with his maybe-werewolf DNA, Toby is just tough and resilient enough to emerge triumphant.
The middle section of the book is of the dark action-adventure variety, and there's a hefty dose of paranormal intervention towards the end. The last chapters imply that if there is a third book in the series, it's likely to involve zombies. The more menacing tone makes it a different class of YA paranormal from the breeze paranormals of Marlene Perez's Dead Is series, but it should appeal to young horror fans.
The title tells us two things: there will be a werewolf, and the werewolf will be abused. The book starts out in a somewhat light-hearted tone, with many references to Toby's perfectly ordinary suburban Australian life and the pranks he and his friends like to pull. Then, about 170 pages in, Toby gets kidnapped, and the story starts to get very bleak. If Toby were a little younger, more sensitive or more vulnerable, some of the things that happen to him might be horrible. But, with his maybe-werewolf DNA, Toby is just tough and resilient enough to emerge triumphant.
The middle section of the book is of the dark action-adventure variety, and there's a hefty dose of paranormal intervention towards the end. The last chapters imply that if there is a third book in the series, it's likely to involve zombies. The more menacing tone makes it a different class of YA paranormal from the breeze paranormals of Marlene Perez's Dead Is series, but it should appeal to young horror fans.
afro8921's review against another edition
4.0
Toby is your regular 14 year old boy. He likes pulling practical jokes and pranks with his two best friends fergus and amin. When he wakes up in a dingo pen completely starkers, he thinks it just another one of his friends practical jokes gone wrong. This take an interesting turn when a priest and a scruffy, bruiser named Ruben visit Toby in the hospital. These strangers tell Toby that he's part of a special group of people who need help managing their abilities as they age. This was a really interesting commentary on pack like behavior and true friendship. Great for fans of paranormal fiction.
erikawastaken's review against another edition
2.0
Pros:
* I'm done!
* Action-packed ending
* Great use of new characters in an established setting, who interact with old characters
Cons:
* Unbelievable slow
* Unbelievable slooooooow
* Annoying main character
I feel like the issues I had with the last half of the Vampire book, I had with this entire book. I had to force myself to finish because nothing happened for pages.
Additionally, there is so little character development that none of Toby's actions make sense.
* I'm done!
* Action-packed ending
* Great use of new characters in an established setting, who interact with old characters
Cons:
* Unbelievable slow
* Unbelievable slooooooow
* Annoying main character
I feel like the issues I had with the last half of the Vampire book, I had with this entire book. I had to force myself to finish because nothing happened for pages.
Additionally, there is so little character development that none of Toby's actions make sense.
science_dragon's review against another edition
2.0
ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. funny premise, so so characters, messy character "development". maybe I'm judging too harshly for a ya lit novel
adeperi's review against another edition
3.0
It wasn't quite as good as The Reformed Vampire Support Group, but it was still good.
jasmyn9's review
3.0
Tobias Vandeveld is in a bit of a bind. He's woken up in the hospital with no idea how he got there or what happened the night before. His mother is furious, the doctors are confused, and the police are involved. Apparently he spent the night in a dingo pen.....naked. Now his friends find this to be the best story of the year (they don't know about the naked part), but Toby and his family are getting concerned. They have been visited by a priest and a rather surly looking man, who claim that the reason for Toby's strange night is because he's a werewolf. Toby's mother flips out, what good mother wouldn't, and tells them both to leave before she calls the police. Of course no one really believes that Toby is a werewolf. But then the story continues and for once, Toby's mother is proven wrong.
Toby is your typical almost delinquent young teenager. He hangs out with the local boys and occasionally gets into trouble, but for the most part he's not too bad. But this whole werewolf thing really throws him for a loop. As much as he doesn't want to believe it, it all starts to make sense. His life takes a turn for the worse, when Toby is abducted by werewolf hunters and held in a secure underground cell. His friendships are tested and his mother is highly upset when it all comes out in the end.
The story was a great read with a "realistic" twist. If you were a werewolf in real life, there's a good chance this is how you would have to life. I enjoyed that part very much, it wasn't too fantastical. The story is told from Toby's point of view which has its pros and cons. It's great getting inside his had and watching the pieces fall into place, but at the same time I felt like I was missing out on a lot of the other characters. They just seemed a little flat to me.
3/5
Toby is your typical almost delinquent young teenager. He hangs out with the local boys and occasionally gets into trouble, but for the most part he's not too bad. But this whole werewolf thing really throws him for a loop. As much as he doesn't want to believe it, it all starts to make sense. His life takes a turn for the worse, when Toby is abducted by werewolf hunters and held in a secure underground cell. His friendships are tested and his mother is highly upset when it all comes out in the end.
The story was a great read with a "realistic" twist. If you were a werewolf in real life, there's a good chance this is how you would have to life. I enjoyed that part very much, it wasn't too fantastical. The story is told from Toby's point of view which has its pros and cons. It's great getting inside his had and watching the pieces fall into place, but at the same time I felt like I was missing out on a lot of the other characters. They just seemed a little flat to me.
3/5
bluedevil's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
blaarrosir's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up this book because it's by the same author who wrote The Reformed Vampire Support Group and I loved that book. There are a few crossover characters from the previous book, like Father Alvarez, Reuben, and a few of the members of the Vampire Support Group, but the book focuses mainly on Toby and can be read entirely by itself without any need to read the previous book. The beginning gets off to a slow start as Toby figures out what's going on and what might have happened that night when he ended up at the zoo. It takes reading through about the first 1/3 of the book before the action picks up and when it does pick up it takes off running and doesn't stop. During the course of the book we get to meet two other werewolves and an entirely new species which keeps things very interesting. Though the book was slow to start I still enjoyed it immensely and would definitely read it again.
jpear1977's review against another edition
3.0
check out my review on paranormal-romancejunkies.webs.com or type in nocturen reads!!!