Reviews

Breeds by Keith C. Blackmore

mudmule's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

 If you are looking for something a bit different than the usual werewolf story this is the book for you. The characters are very good and described very well. I love the concept of the werewolf curse working backwards. The pages fly by once you get started on this book and it's near impossible to put down. I look forward to reading more from this author. I think it would be great if he wrote another werewolf story to accompany this one 

defaultnamespace's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

petealdin's review against another edition

5.0

Vulgar, violent, vivid, visceral. And a helluva lotta fun.
Blackmore writes with a joy that’s infectious, an author who’s enjoying himself so much that you can’t help but join in and enjoy it with them.
BREEDS is a great twist on werewolf lore, with an idea so simple it’s hard to believe no one thought of it before, and delivered perfectly.
Not for the squeamish, this is high octane horror: tooth and nail and shotgun horror that’s in your face from start to finish.
Loved it.

bosermoki's review

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A different sort of werewolf novel. Blackmore doesn't get enough credit for how efficient his prose is. He manages to convey a lot of descriptiveness, world building and fantastic characterization in a small amount of text. This was a fairly short novel ~300 pages, but I feel like Stephen King or enough other authors would struggle to convey the same story without 200 more pages of fluff. 

The base premise is what if a remote Canadian village mostly populated by tea and toasting pensioners were overrun by dogs turned werewolf in a town now snowed in by a major storm. It's brutal, harsh, but excellently written. Some interactions became repetitive, and while it's different than enough werewolf stories, not's not all that different than 30-days of night but with werewolves.

It's the excellent characterization that makes it excel.   

mzzmia's review

5.0

Every now and again, I'm lucky enough to come across a book that reminds me of the pure gore of the 80s horror genre. This is that book. I loved it. But fair warning, if you love dogs and believe all animals should be treated humanely, don't read this one. There are no gratuitous violent scenes of animal cruelty but the nature of the plot calls for some disturbing situations. If the commercials for support of the ASPCA upset you, do NOT read this book.

rogue007's review

4.0

This story surprised me as I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. The first thing I came across when starting this book was a warning to avoid if I was an animal lover. Though I'm crazy about dogs, the warning made me grin in anticipation. Maybe I have messed up reading tastes but I just love when an author has the guts to go there. I enjoy indiscriminate killing in my stories. It raises the stakes to know that no one's safe. Apart from Kyle, Max was my favorite character. I longed to reach into the book and give him a hug. There was a lot of death and gore(hope you have a strong stomach). You'll get frostbite reading the descriptions of the snow storm. At a few points the prose seemed a little awkward. Some paragraphs could've been broken up into smaller parts but nothing too serious. At the end, I felt a bit like the story wasn't quite done yet. (Sequel**hint, hint, nudge, nudge**)I don't regret buying this book at all. Look forward to checking out more works from this author.

markclarno's review

5.0

Why is this not a kick ass action horror movie?

samary's review

while werewolves are my favorite creatures of darkness, and I get where the author is trying to go with this, but I don't like certain depictions around dogs.  I'll stick to his zombie stuff instead!