By Mary Casanova
2 ½ out of 5 covers
For a book that portends to be about werewolves, there is
very little supernatural activity in the story.
Instead, the reader receives a history lesson about the culture of fear
and superstition in France in the year 1553.
Marius, the son of a blacksmith, had promised his departed
mother that he would always take care of his younger brother, Jean-Pierre. This is complicated by the fact that
Jean-Pierre’s birthday, Christmas Eve, is also viewed as a time when loup-garou
(werewolves) go on the hunt. But that is
not the only danger, as the Church is hunting heretics. Despite having an uncle who is a priest,
Marius’s family has a secret that puts them in grave danger.
I have a problem with stories that are didactic in
nature. It’s not that they are trying to
fool me into learning; rather, it’s that their primary purpose is education and
telling a story is secondary. There are
fine examples of authors who are able to do both with aplomb, and the author here
makes a valiant effort. But in trying to
show what everything like at the time, you end up with the main character at
the center of an unlikely web of connections just so that all aspects of
society can be covered. Marius ends up
mixed up with peasants, the Church, royalty, superstition, etc. With this comes a sense that the descriptions
show how things were done back then. But
instead of the story being a doorway to the past, they often become history
lessons.
Because the book is driven to be informative, the author
ends up with a protagonist who is much more reactionary than active. A great protagonist should be in charge of
their own destiny, able to make decisions but then have to deal with the
consequences. Here, Marius has consequences heaped on him through other peoples’
actions and he is unable to do anything to break free. If this was Kafka-esque, it might work; but
this is a book for children. A didactic
purpose and a passive protagonist is not a winning formula.
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