Lonely Werewolf Girl

Title: Lonely Werewolf Girl
Author: Martin Millar
Published: 2007. This one's by Soft Skull Press
Genre: Urban fantasyyyyyy!
Pages: 558


I started reading this on my trip to London last July, but then got distracted by A Song of Ice and Fire. Now I decided to pick it up again, and finish it! Yay! So I did just that.

Like all Mr. Millar's books (at least the ones I've read so far), Lonely Werewolf Girl is written in shortish chapters which alternate between the many characters filling the book. Our title character is the laudanum-addicted teenage werewolf Kalix MacRinnalch, a member of the ruling family of the Scottish clan of MacRinnalch werewolves, born in wolf-form on a full moon. She's living on the streets of London after she attempted to kill her father, the Thane, and is being pursued by not only the werewolves who are just a tad upset over this, but also werewolf hunters.

Once the Thane dies, the whole clan is pushed on the brink of war: Kalix's brothers Sarapen and Markus want the title, while their sister Thrix would rather just concentrate on the clothes she's designing for the Fire Queen Malveria and have this family business sorted out as soon as possible. There are many other members of the clan in the book -the cousins which the family does not talk about probably my personal favourites- and also two human students, Daniel and Moonglow, who end up rescuing Kalix from the streets and protecting her. Well, as far as two humans can, from powerful werewolves and a guild of werewolf hunters. They succeed quite admirably!

Oh, and there's a sequel! Curse of the Wolf Girl, if I remember correctly, which I just bought yesterday from that big internets bookshop.

It's most likely due to the fact that I started the book in July, and just glanced through the first 90 or so pages when I picked it up again, but I got to a bit of a slow start with this one. But soon enough I was swept up with werewolf politics though, and the lovely Millarish characters. Looking forward to the sequel, though I guess I have to find something else to read until it arrives...


"Kalix felt that she really should be moving on. She wasn't safe here. But she wasn't safe anywhere. She gazed longingly at the bath, white and clean, then nodded. While Moonglow ran the water Kalix slipped out of her rags and for the first time since Moonglow had met her, something resembling a smile appeared on her face. Moonglow went to hunt through her boxes for her shampoo and bath oils. Downstairs Daniel was finally bringing in the last of their possessions. He was very red in the face. As a first year English student he wasn't used to a lot of exercise. Two days a week his lectures started at nine in the morning and he always felt that this deprived him of a lot of sleep."

Sky Coyote

Title: Sky Coyote
Author: Kage Baker
Published: Originally in 1999, this ed. 2007 by Tor
Genre: Historical science fiction!
Pages: 310


Remember when I said I'd take it slow with this series? Yeah...

Sky Coyote is the second book in Kage Baker's Company-series, and I picked it up as soon as I'd finished A World without End. Read it in a week or two, buuuuut didn't get around to updating. So I'm doing it now. Yeah.

The lead of this book is Joseph, who had a small role in the first book (an important one, though). The Company has decided to save a whole Chumash tribe with most of their belongings before ze Europeans get there, and Joseph, masked as one of their gods, the trickster Sky Coyote, is sent in to prepare the snarky tribe for their fate.

The book is light and pretty humorous, a joy to read, even though there are undercurrents of immortals becoming increasingly concerned over what exactly is going to happen in the year 2355, and the fact that some old immortal operatives have gone inexplicalby missing. And then there's the penis puppet show. It's very hard trying to keep a straight face when riding a full, traffic hour bus and reading about the penis puppet show.


"So here I am, Mr. Sky Coyote.
" I like this role. Trot trot trot on my new feet, leaving strange prints along the creek bed. A seagull floating inland gives a high far-off cry, and I cock my ear most comically. Up the winding canyon, and any real beast meeting me here in the gloom under teh oak trees will have the fright of its life. If I wanted to give chase, I wonder how I'd do? The muzzle points, the sharp teeth bare, and they snap and slash. We had to compromise on the tongue so I could speak, but I've practised panting in the mirror. I'm confident I'll make a good impression."