WOLF BOUND
by Theo Fenraven
Pages:
154
Date:
25/05/2014
Grade:
5
Details:
ARC received from the author
Own
/ Kindle
The
blurb:
“A year
after suffering a disastrous end to his relationship with his partner, teacher
Jon Anderson trades his apartment in the city for a lake house in the country.
Told there is an author living nearby, Jon, who dreams of being a writer, goes
in search of him and finds the attractive older man in a small, rustic cabin on
a tiny island on a neighboring lake. Harrison Kalmes shows Jon around, but
makes it clear he’d rather be left alone. Jon respects that wish until the
night he and his friend, Suzie, drink a little too much scotch and impulsively
decide to visit the island.
What
happens then is the start of an incredible journey that will eventually take
Jon all the way to mysterious and seductive Transylvania in Romania, where he
searches for the answers that will save someone’s life while setting him on the
road to rediscovering his own.
Beware the woods.
Transylvania isn’t only about vampires.”
----------------------------------------------------------
My
thoughts:
There’s
so much I would love to say about this story, so many details I would like to
describe and then rave about. I’ll restrain myself though. This story should
not be spoiled for any reader. Every person picking up this book should have
the same opportunity I had; to fall into Wolf Bound and discover all the
delights it holds without (any) expectations beyond those the blurb provides.
Paranormal
is a mostly unexplored genre for me. I may have read books and stories
featuring werewolves or other shifters but they are few and far between. So I may
be wrong when I say Wolf Bound didn’t read like a typical paranormal/shifter
story. This, for me, was more a story about how characters deal with an
unexpected, and on many levels, horrific change in their lives.
I
liked this different approach. I was fascinated by the rawness of the emotions
the characters go through because I
could relate to those feelings even if I’ve never found myself in a similar
situation and never will.
Theo
Fenraven is a magician with words. He paints the clearest pictures with only a
few, carefully chosen and evocative words. Characters, their surroundings and
the turmoil they go through are tangible without long descriptions or
repetition. The reader is in Wolf Bound’s world with Jon and Harrison to such
an extent that the smallest gesture or half a word is enough to feel what they
are experiencing.
While
this story, by its very nature, is a fantasy I was impressed by how realistic it
felt while I was reading it. There was no need to suspend disbelief. The
characters reactions to the situations they are facing may not always be
beautiful or charming but they are exactly what I imagine they might be should
I find myself up against what they have to deal with.
Regular
readers of M/M romances may be surprised at how little ‘graphic’ sex they
encounter in these pages. And, if I’m perfectly honest, I have to admit that I
was surprised that I didn’t miss it; I enjoy a hot scene or two as much as the
next person. I didn’t need them in this book though. The glimpses we got
combined with the overall interaction between the characters gave me enough
detail to imagine exactly what these two men would be like together without the
author having to spell it out for me.
Once
again Theo Fenraven has managed to take me by surprise and impress me. He is a
masterful storyteller with an imaginative and versatile mind. I count myself
lucky that I haven’t read all his previous books yet. I’m sure there are a few
more ‘Fenraven’ gems patiently waiting for my attention.
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