Who's Afraid by Maria Lewis

Maria Lewis has a new book out, which makes it a good time to go back to her first urban fantasy novel Who's Afraid.

The protagonist Tommi is a young woman seeking out her birth family in New Zealand, only to stumble across a world-shattering secret. (Spoiler alert: she's a werewolf). Said family reunion does not go well and now she must fight to defend herself and her loved ones.

There's a lot that's good about this book. Its premise is similar to Kelly Armstrong's Otherworld series - young woman undergoes traumatic initiation to the supernatural community - but it approaches the subject matter in its own unique way. Sometimes I'd argue a better way. For example, when your family knocks you out and locks you in a cage, it's not for your own good. They're just assholes.

However the book is undermined by its jarring tones. Tommi's light breezy narrative clashes with the trauma she undergoes, and not in a 'bad things happen to good people' kind of way. More as if it can't decide what kind of story it wants to tell. Halfway through a riveting tale of abduction and escape, the book takes a sharp  turn into paranormal romance.

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with paranormal romance. Nor is there anything wrong with dark and deconstructive. In this instance, the combination just doesn't work well together.

It's hard to care about Tommi's forbidden relationship with the mysterious Lorcan when the first half of the book worked so hard to set up her conflict with her family. Lorcan works perfectly well as a mentor figure and exposition-giver. But as a love interest, he offers nothing I haven't see a hundred times already and - if I'm being completely honest - comes off as kind of skeevy, given what Tommi just went through.

Finally, I found the presentation of Maori culture problematic, similar to Stephanie Meyer's appropriation of Quileute beliefs. For a more indepth outline, see this article which articulates it far better than I ever could.

There's a good story in Who's Afraid, about a vicious fight for survival and families of choice versus blood. Unfortunately it focuses on the least interesting aspect, making it a rather frustrating read. I may get round to the sequel eventually, but I'm not exactly panting for it.

Final Verdict: Okay. Has good stuff, but I'd like it better if it could follow through on the grittiness of its premise.

"I screamed, and not with fear this time, with pure exhileration. It took me a second to realise I wasn't screaming at all. Following me down into the unknown was a piercing howl."

The Changeling Detective by Phillip Berrie

If you're looking for something short and sweet in urban fantasy, The Changeling Detective by Phillip Berrie might be just up your alley.

It starts off seemingly grounded in science fiction, with a private detective John who is a shapeshifter and - as far as he knows - the only one of his kind. When a seemingly harmless job takes a murderous turn, he must use all his abilities to survive.

This novella bolts out of the gate and never slows down. Whether it's an overzealous bodyguard or corrupt cops, there always seems to be someone in John's face. It reminded me of Harry Dresden how the character keeps ricocheting from disaster to disaster, accumulating a truly astounding number of damage points. This kept the pages turning even when the characters weren't particularly deep or complex.

Which, unfortunately, leads into the story's biggest weakness for me. Despite being an interesting premise, John is a rather blandly heroic character, never giving the reader any real sense of what he wants beyond the short-term. Events happen, he responds, and by the end of the book he hasn't grown or changed in any significant way. Even his female love interest/sidekick Ruth is more developed because she at least has a goal she works toward.

It's a shame, because there's several interesting directions he could have gone. Had his amoral traits been more emphasized and his goal been to return to his life as he likes it (drinking, spying on people, sleeping with hot bartenders...) that would have given him a place to grow from. In fact, the horror of his potential future could have been a real wake-up call as he was confronted what he could become.

Or if the entire point is that his moral code is not changed by his origins, Berrie could have pushed the tragedy and isolation of John's life a lot more. The material is there already. There's no one John can be truly honest with and his identification with X-Men comics suggests that he too feels like an outcast. And that in turn would have given more weight to his attachment to Ruth.

On a more positive note, the villain was excellent. Newman is a disturbingly unpredictable antagonist. Swinging between wanton cruelty and cold practicality, his goals remain opaquely inhuman for most of the book. I was utterly invested in the characters' efforts to escape him, as I'd be running like hell if he were after me too.

There wasn't much in the way of world-building, but that worked in this instance as half the tension comes from not understanding is going on. The book ends on a cautiously optimistic note, leaving just enough threads dangling for a sequel.

Final Score: Good. I'd have liked it to be longer, but as a tasty introduction to a series it does exactly what it's supposed to. You can also check out the author's website here for free samples of his other work.

"I felt like an actor who'd missed an important rehearsal; 

someone had definitely changed the script on me."