"Waiting On" Wednesday: Hounded

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's "Waiting On" Wednesday selection is:

Hounded

By Kevin Hearne

Publish Date: May 3, 2011 by Del Rey

From Publishers Weekly~

Hearne, a self-professed comic-book nerd, has turned his love of awesome dudes whacking mightily at evil villains into a superb urban fantasy debut.  Staying alive for 2,000 years takes a great deal of cunning, and sexy super-druid Atticus O'Sullivan, currently holed up in the Ariona deser, has vexed a few VIPs along the way.  High up on that list is Aenghus Og, the Celtic god of love.  It's not just that Aenghus wants his sword back--though it is a very nice magical sword--but that Atticus didn't exactly ask permission to take it.  Atticus and his trusty sidekick, Irish wolfhound Oberon, make an eminently readable daring duo as they thwart his schemes with plenty of quips and zap-pow-bang fighting.

I don't know if it's the fact that the main character is named Atticus, that he is a druid, or that he has an Irish wolfhound named Oberon.  But this book sounds awesome and mysterious, and it makes me think of The Dresden Files.  Here's hoping that's true. ^_^

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?

Talk is Cheap to a Werewolf

Title:  Kitty and the Midnight Hour

Author:  Carrie Vaughn

Summary:  Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station—and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts "The Midnight Hour," a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it’s Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew…

The Dish:  The overall story was likable for the most part until the very end when the "big reveal" occurred and Kitty had to face down those that were supposed to be her protectors.  Vaughn has a unique writing style as well as a different take on the overall structure of the werewolf pack dynamic.  While I do not fault her for this, I have to say I prefer a more positive structure that has less...potential negative effects on the lower-ranking members. 

The alphas were perhaps the least likable characters, if you could find any reason to like them at all.  I realize that in normal wolf packs, alphas must show and reinstate their dominance over the other members of the pack on a regular basis, but I would not call it "bullying" as Kitty even points out in the story.  When I think of the alpha male and female of a werewolf pack, I would like to believe they are more fair judges than "it's my way or the highway" because of the air of humanity that is still present within them.  In Kitty and the Midnight Hour, the alphas are pretty much all bullies, especially the alpha male, Carl, who likes to throw his weight around as well as have any of the females in the pack whenever he wants.  Meg, the alpha female, is probably the biggest witch you will meet when it comes to werewolf packs with the exception of Reina, the original alpha of the St. Louis pack  in Laurel K. Hamilton's Vampire Huntress series. 

Kitty is an excellent character to watch grow from the omega of the pack to something more and able to depend on herself more than the pack.  Given her circumstances, I can understand her choice in doing so, but somehow I don't feel it's easy to live as a solitary wolf.  However, due to the disappointment of the ending of Midnight Hour I don't think I'll continue on with the rest of the books in the series.  I had hoped to find a werewolf series I could really sink my teeth into, pardon the pun, but I'd rather stick with Vaughn's short stories instead of the novels. 

Have you ever read a book with a good start only to be disappointed by the ending?

Howlin' Good Times in the City

Title:  Full Moon City

Editor:  Darrell Schweitzer and Martin H. Greenberg

The Dish:  These are not your dreamy werewolves that are driven to protect what is theirs whether it's a mate, pack, or territory.  If you devour stories that depict werewolves as the snarling, hungry, and tortured creatures of the lunar cycle, then you're in good company.  Full Moon City is a collection of short stories by such authors as Holly Black, Peter S. Beagle, Carrie Vaughn and others.  I had heard about the book through Peter Beagle's newsletter, and with it being that time of year, I believe it was appropriate reading material. 

The first story, Lisa Tuttle's "The Truth About Werewolves", is close to my heart as it takes place in the southwest area of Houston.  Mel is a young woman that has had nothing but trouble with all of the men that she's dated in the past and has determined that this is because of her needing someone more than human.  However, this proves more difficult as Mel discovers she knows very little about werewolves and the disease of lycanthropy.  Tuttle definitely showed a means of transformation that is both believable and unique. 

In Carrie Vaughn's "Kitty Learns the Ropes", Kitty Norville enters the world of boxing when it seems that a contender of supernatural abilities has entered the ring.  This is the second short story I've read of Vaughn's, and I can't help but like Kitty as one of the first celebrity werewolves to come out in the open.  Vaughn has a way of setting up conflict without there necessarily being direct physical confrontation, and it inspires me to check out her Kitty Norville novels. 

One of the most different stories is Esther M. Friesner's "No Children, No Pets" mostly because of the point of view.  It isn't often that readers find a werewolf story told through the eyes of a six-year-old werewolf, but Friesner manages to establish that mindset through her narrator, Emmeline.  The language definitely reflects Emmeline's age especially when she spells out words as they sound as a child would.  However, the lore in the story is a bit farfetched, but for a six-year-old to be telling the story, one must keep an open mind, or at least take it with good humor. 3 is the magic number for anthology dishes, so check out the book to see more stories.

What books with bite give you the shivers?