DARKWITCH - DRYWOLF #02 (Kat Kinney)

While this second book regales me with the conclusion of the whole story, I don't enjoy it as much as the first one. 

Possibly spoiler

Personally, I think it doesn't hold the same magic and has become quite predictable. The Chosen One trope is too foreseeable, and it has double dose. I have lost count of how many times the main character wanders into the woods or roams around, gets into life-threatening situations, makes it back/recovered/rescued, and repeats as the main plot points for the story to move forward. It's repetitive and becomes apparent when you binge the book. It's also a bit tiresome that the character is thinking and whining about the same thing repeatedly, sometimes being overly dramatic about things that shouldn't have that much foundation to be upset with based on the personality of the character I read from book one.

Unlike the first book, which introduces us more to the world, cultures, and little things that matter, this one relies more on actions that build up the whole book with a reward of a predictable payout while leaving some critical plot points behind. Monkshood is well underplayed and shoved aside after all the importance in the first book. It almost seems like it's too deadly/powerful that the story chooses to ignore it.

Having written all that off my chest, there are still some gems. I enjoy the Gunnar character; although he is the only one who shines in this book, compared to many in the previous. I like that, as in real life, there is something after happily ever after in the first ending, that things are far from rosy, although I don't think it's explored to its potential. The final battle feels like it's coming out of nowhere, not built enough, and some questions are not really answered, especially tallying from how it has evolved from the first book's ending and events/skills/strategy/strength of each side throughout the two books.

Although it's not as strong, or perhaps I compare it too much to the previous book, it's still an entertaining read and provides the story's closure so that I will round the stars up.

3.5 cats tangled in 5 strands of arrogant Nils' hair

Another thing that I like is that despite the book being in YA Paranormal Werewolf, it touches and handles mature subjects well, and there is no point where I think this is mushy and I'm too old to read it. The problems told are relatable to the real world, and there are many respectable and rootable characters.

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Lord of the Flies (William Golding)

 

I had wanted to read this book for a long time, and I wanted to like it. But I don't. It was such a task to read; I think I hate it.

Warning: possibly spoiler

Let me sum it up:

- I have the conch

- You are the hunter

- We need the fire 

- The beast

- Two characters fighting over the chief position

Repeat as necessary.

I get what the book is trying to convey, but I find it hard to root for almost all one-dimensional characters. I don't know them except for a tiny glimpse of their backgrounds. Tiny is not an exaggeration but a generous remark based on a couple of sentences.

But that is not the point, the point is survival.

Yeah? Survival from the everlasting fruit trees and easily hunted pigs. Minimal shelters for what I assume is tropical weather with ocean water being warmer than the air (is it near a volcano?). What kind of fruit trees provide that kind of nourishment for that many kids continuously? I could be wrong, but as far as I know, tropical fruit trees like papaya, coconut, or banana need months or more to bear fruit. Some roots and tubers are faster, but they are not trees and still need months. See how they fare from a swarm of hungry kids who don't know how to replant them.

I joined several survival expeditions when I was younger; we had nothing but had to make use of what nature gave us. There was a lake and forest in the area. For a week or more, we had almost nothing to eat despite roaming a great area. The delicious banana we have in the stores are clones, genetically modified bananas. What we found in the wild—after happily imagining roasted or fresh bananas—were full of seeds. There was barely any flesh on them, and they were almost inedible. We could probably munch on ferns or leaves (mentioned in the book but not as food sources), but most of those we tried were bitter. We tried to fish and only yielded a pitiful tiny one. We dug for roots, but most that were sufficient for food sources were planted, not wildly grown, and mostly near human settlements. Snakes and small animals prefer to stay away from us, and medium-sized animals watched from far and decided we were not tasty. Have you tried to corner your dog to get something from it? Imagine trying to corner a wild pig in an open space. Maybe we suck, but we were a small group of young adults with some survival knowledge. Maybe we were at the wrong place, but the point is survival in the wild is damn hard, and the natural elements are no joke. And is there any mention of freshwater sources in the book? That should be the number one thing to worry about.

But the survival detail is not the main point; it is what they become.

Yeah, it's fun when they FINALLY stop bickering and do something (or not, they actually never stop bickering). No, I don't at all condone the animalistic behavior that finally takes place, but at this point, it was almost too late for me. Do something FFS I don't care. Heads should roll for my amusement at this point. I had almost stopped reading and had fallen asleep way too many nights. Yeah, this should show a chilling fact about human nature, and that would be good. But do we see the development of the characters that lead to that? Nope, not internally, besides war paint and bickerings. Cult-like? It was never consistent. On and off, and suddenly, it was a full-blown cult. Is there something supernatural? Hallucination? Probably. But I'm not aware of any hint about it until the titular character shows up in a paragraph, and for the life of me, I'm not even sure what it was. Then it was never mentioned again. GAH. Maybe I'm not sophisticated enough to understand, but I want something more than a pig head with flies that may or may not talk.

And the collective chants and conversations drive me nuts the longer it is in the book. Double name calling, repeat after the others. I get that it's difficult to involve that many characters, but they shouldn't just be a group of talking robots who imitate everything the named characters say.

And the big picture. Nothing? The plane crash is implied, a dead body is finally found, but what?? Why are the boys scattered all over the island without any serious injuries? Where is the wreckage, the adult, whatever hints of memory and recollection? No!

Just repeat after me

- I have the conch

- You are the hunter

- We need the fire 

- The beast

- Two characters fighting over the chief position

I thought of 3 stars, but only because it's a classic.

Then, I wrote this, and I hate it again.

2 talking pig heads out of 5 magical fruit trees.

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DRYWOLF (Kat Kinney)

First of all, I was nervous picking up this book. I knew nothing, literary nothing about werewolves except the eighties TV series, which I only watched for a few minutes. I remember the hideous effect that made it scarier, imprinted in my core memory with running away from a carnival where they pretended to unleash a werewolf. I swear everyone else ran too.

Well, I guess it'd be fair to say that no one actually knows anything about werewolves, but there are at least common ideas about them, right? 

So, it's not my cup of tea in the first place, so are Fantasy/Paranormal/Young Adult/Romance/genres. There are a lot of odds against me liking the book.

When I started, I didn't initially warm up to it and was wary about many torturous nights ahead. It was confusing to me, at first, with many names thrown around with their unfamiliar terms and settings. I didn't know what Proving, Alder, or Dyr are, and a ridiculous image of a wolf carrying a spear in its paw sent a knobby knot on my forehead.

Besides those and the initial alarming sign of what I thought would be a mushy teenager romance-erotica, I persevered through; it was not hard because I found many things that I enjoyed going on reading.

The pace is good. At times it goes very fast, but unless I was dead tired of too many other useless things in my life, I wanted to continue. One of the things that floats my boat is that, even though this is a fantasy, it doesn't use flowery-mundane language or unreasonable names for its genre. I loved the creative descriptions of everything: the scenes, settings, foods, senses, and expressions without overdoing them.

The characters are rootable and believable, I started investing in them around one-third of the book, and besides the initial alarm, the connections of the main protags are earned. There are distinctive enough personalities of important supporting characters, especially the father, which I learned a lot about without having many actual scenes with him in it. I felt Lea's pain, hope, and disappointment. I liked her thinking; it's not always right or good, but it shouldn't have to be.

Several funny moments made me chuckle. I enjoyed how everything unfolds, layer by layer, and thankful that the story and characters are deeper and more realistic. I wish Astrid is revealed more but the little scenes she has are impactful. Too many characters clean under their nails with the point of their knives, but I can't expect them to scratch their backsides while trying to act cool.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It's a 4.5 round-up because again, it has the recipe with all ingredients that I don't like but turns me around just for this, for now. This teaches me that there is no reason to shy away from any genre, as again, paranormal young adult fantasy is not something I normally touch with a loooong pole, but I am glad I did. I appreciate the storytelling, the message the story tries to convey using rootable characters. I can almost smell and see the world. I can relate it to problematic human nature through an unusual way to tell it. Maybe not to others, but uncommon for me, a virgin in this genre.

4.5 overgrown dandelion out of 5 furry white rugs

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