Lonely Werewolf Girl (Paperback)

by Martin Millar (Author) "Kalix was lost..." (more)
Key Phrases: fairy queen, dismal niece, werewolf shape, Fire Queen, Mistress of the Werewolves, Princess Kabachetka (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Complex family and social conflicts clutter the pages of this scattershot romp from World Fantasy Award–winner Millar (The Good Fairies of New York). Kalix MacRinnalch, a poorly socialized, laudanum-addicted teenage werewolf, has violently assaulted her father, thereby adding outcast to her list of defining traits. Suddenly and inexplicably supported by two preternaturally patient new friends, Daniel and Moonglow, the young werewolf skulks around London and struggles with anxiety and eating disorders while scores of subplots merrily explode around her. As Kalix's relatives bicker and backstab to establish a new leader, a cast of thousands shoehorns its way into the narrative, stealing story space for a sorcerous fashion designer with spy problems, werewolf twins with a terrible punk band that can't get a gig and a romantically mercenary transvestite. Overly reliant on luck and coincidence and populated by unsympathetic characters with unconvincing motives, Millar's urban fantasy epic swiftly dissolves into a tragedy of contrived errors. (Apr.)
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* The MacRinnalch clan of Scottish werewolves is at war with itself. Attacked by his 17-year-old daughter, Kalix, the thane has succumbed, leaving the succession in question. Neither eldest son Sarapen nor younger, cross-dressing scion Markus have enough votes in the werewolves’ Great Council to become thane, and the late thane’s mother offers her vote to whomever brings her Kalix’s heart. Kalix, despondent over losing her lover to exile, is on the verge of suicide before either bounty hunters or the secret society that hunts werewolves finds her. After she’s rescued by college students Moonglow and Daniel, things take a curious turn to, among other things, her sister Thrix, a werewolf enchantress and couturier for fashion-obsessed fire-elemental warrior queen Malveria. This complex romp features scores of characters, multiple races, enchanting fashion trappings, business, family dynamics, music, sex, enduring love, romance, business, eating disorders, drug addiction, back-alley fights, epic battles, politics, and, most prominently, the contrary nature of werewolves, not to mention 236 (!) chapters. And it’s so compelling you don’t want to it end. The grungy, gory, glorious world that World Fantasy Award winner Millar has created is unforgettable. --Diana Tixier Herald

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (April 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979663660
• ISBN-13: 978-0979663666
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #238,756 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Writing, Bad Editing, September 29, 2008

By	Una (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This is one of the best books I've read this year. It's also the book with the worst editing I have ever seen.

The plot is wild and funny. The daughter of a werewolf Thane is being hunted by both her family (she tried to kill her father and quite nearly succeeded) and a guild of werewolf hunters. Worse, she battles her anxiety. Lonely Werewolf Girl has many, many characters. Sometimes it's difficult to keep track of them all. I enjoyed this book on many levels. I didn't finish this book quickly, not because it wasn't good, but the short chapters which jumped from character and place and did all sorts of funny acrobats which taxed my poor concentration. This was a good thing. I dragged the pleasure on for three days as opposed to finishing it in one swallow.

Millar, being at least as talented as Gaiman and Pratchett, would do himself well to find another editor. Or maybe the editor would do him or herself well by hiring a high school student to proof read the final draft before sending it to print. Obviously no human read the final draft, and any reasonably literary high schooler could do better than Microsoft Word at spelling and grammar. The sloppy editing did this writing wrong.

Regardless, I give this book a five. Reviews are generally seen as a reflection of the writer and not the editor. The writing was excellent.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READ THIS BOOK!!!!, September 28, 2008

By	Movie Dude "Derek" (United States) - See all my reviews

I bought this book at my local bookstore.I was looking for a new book and the cover jumped out at me.It turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read.While it is not a dark horor story,there are great battles,fantastic characterization,and rivalry and back stabbing among werewolf clans.
Kalix is the main character of the story.She is an outcast from her werewolf clan for past crimes against her king.Now she is a skinny,homeless,malnourished werewolf girl living on the streets.She is being hunted by her clan who have orders to bring her back to face trial.She is both hated and feared by her clan because she is a fierce fighter when she is overcome by her battle lust.She trusts no one but her self,but grudgingly is befriended by a couple of roommates who take her in and help her.
One of her sisters is a werewolf fashion designer who has a friend that is an other-worldly-fire-elemental-warrior queen with a fashion fetish.

There are twin werewolf sisters who aspire to be rock stars,but in reality are slackers who lie around and just get drunk all the time,living off the clans money.

There is so much more to this book than what is written above.You will truely not want to put it down once you start reading it.This book ended up making the rounds at work and everyone who read it loved it.Some kept it awhile,so their family members could read it.

My review title says it all...READ THIS BOOK!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars *chomp*, February 8, 2009

By	Serena Witzke "dizzyweasel" (Chapel Hill) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is such a bizarre book. I kind of expected to hate it for all its silly quirkiness. After a few chapters, though, I was completely drawn in. The characterization is great, and there are so many oddball players in this supernatural drama. I made a family tree on my bookmark as a cheat sheet for all the crazy pack politics. Every hero and villain is equally screwed up and flawed, which made some of them more lovable. If you enjoyed Kelly Armstrong's Broken or Annette Curtis Klause's Blood and Chocolate, or even the movie American Werewolf in Paris, this crazy, goofy, drugged out, and comically violent book is for you.

The plot basically follows the various factions of this completely dysfunctional werewolf clan as they bandy for power, prestige, or the right to just be left alone by the other members of their family. The werewolf king is dead, the brothers fight to succeed. Everyone in the 'royal' family gets a vote, and one of the brothers is making certain they make the right choice...or die. The 'lonely werewolf girl', Kalix, is an exile from her family (and on its hit list) who wanders the streets of London until she hooks up with some dippy hippies with their own group dynamic and soap opera politics. Kalix is a misanthropic, strung-out, semi-literate, petulant, and perpetually angry werewolf...who happens to look like a waif-y, blow-your-mind, hobo-core, indie-model type. Her constant displays of attitude are more endearing than obnoxious, but occasionally you wish the constant battles she gets into would knock a little sense into her.

The books meanders from subplot to subplot with no real urgency, but the fun is in the journey, not the destination...which is a good thing, because not all of the plots are actually tied up by the end. But by the time you get there, you'll have had such a good time, I doubt you'll care. When I finished, I was tempted to flip right back to the beginning and chase the enjoyment of reading it again.