Canyons [Paperback]

P. D. Cacek (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Tor Books (2000)
• ASIN: B000OTQIWG
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent horror novel, November 14, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canyons (Hardcover)

If it looks and acts like a wolf pack hunting humans, it can only be a werewolf brood settling near Denver. Already residing in the Mile High City is the leader of another werewolf pack Lucius. He tries to act as human as possible. He lives in an apartment, works as a bartender, and dates female Homo Sapiens. He hides his heritage in order to protect his pack. However, his identity is in danger of exposure when he saves a woman's life from a gangbanger.

He picks the worst person to save, at least from a werewolf perspective as Cathy "Cat" Mosell works for the Quest, a tabloid so sleazy that its peers avoid it. She saw his transformation from man to wolf and reports her up close and personal observation to her editor. He runs a front-page expose claiming a dangerous werewolf runs loose in the city. The newly arrived werewolves are vermin challenging Lucius' more civilized crowd. With half the city already after them and now a deadly rival wanting supremacy, Lucius seems to have too much to deal with yet still wants Cat as his own.

This horror story looks deeply inside the heart, mind, and soul of a werewolf in such an in depth manner that readers will believe that this novel is a character study. The audience learns how the lycanthrope think and feel especially about their own species and their natural enemy humanity. In this wonderfully written work of fiction, P.D Cacek brings credence to the existence of lycanthropic creatures by making CANYONS a howling successful look at "reality."

Harriet Klausner

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars canyons, January 28, 2001

By 

trina king (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canyons (Hardcover)

This is not your ordinary werewolf book. Using the tabloid papers as focal point for the heroine, the author presents a number of twists and turns that are quite believable. Her characters are well-developed, especially Cat Moselle. Though I found parts of the book a little too graphic for my taste, overall it delivered a satisfying read. From the ending I assume there will be more books about Cat to come.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Who Needs Character development?, December 31, 2001

By 

John Burris (Milford, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canyons (Hardcover)

Can anyone explain to me what the motivation of the central character was? For some reason we are supposed to believe that some kind of bond exists between Cat and Lucius but the nature of this bond is never explained. Why are they drawn to each other?
Supposedly suprising plot developments are seen coming a mile away. (Guess who else is a werewolf?) And the attempts at humor in the tabloid headlines interspersed throughout the book are groaningly awful. Lastly, the climax degenerates into a gory, splatterpunk-wannabe bloodfest. The reviews for this one led to me expect so much more.

On the plus side, the story moves along at a swift pace and the dialogue is well written and witty (the thudding attempts at humor aside.). I would just like to have seen the characters fleshed out a little more and the plot strengthened.

I know that creating a novel is hard work. I'll give Cacek credit there. But I'd really like to know what makes the central character in any novel tick. No explanation is given here and I suppose we are just expected to ignore that and get lost in all the bloodletting. If you want to read the real thing, try S.P. Somtow's "Moon Dance." (Curiously enough, Cacek cites that vastly superior novel on the Acknowledgement page.)

To sum it up, I just couldn't connect with this novel. There is an obvious setup for a sequel and I'll hope for better things. It does appear that Cacek has the chops. It just didn't come together on this one.