Wolf At the Door [Kindle Edition]

J. Damask (Author)

Book Description

Being an ex-teen vigilante comes with its own set of problems.

Housewife, ex-teen vigilante…and shape-shifting wolf…Jan Xu has enough problems without adding her sister's to the mix. Marianne is returning to Singapore and she's filled with strange ideas. She's also not alone. She's coming home with a new boyfriend who has a dark agenda of his own.

With sibling rivalry threatening the inevitable: a battle-to-the-death with fang and claw, Jan and Marianne must overcome their issues if they're ever going to find peace within their troubled relationship.


Content warning: Violence, fang-and-claw fighting.

Product Details

• File Size: 461 KB
• Print Length: 153 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Lyrical Press, Inc. (April 3, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004V51E0K
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,670 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Series Opener August 2, 2011

By Mary

Format:Kindle Edition

Although it was a touch slow to start, I found myself thoroughly drawn into the world of this story. It's set in Singapore, and the detail of the setting is beautifully rendered, the various cultures vivid and alive. I also liked the feel of the book. It is not your typical urban fantasy, and there was a gentleness to the story, a practical, real life feel that was refreshing and felt honest.

I also enjoyed the wolfishness of the wolf characters. Often werewolves are just humans with the ability to become a wolf, but Wolf at the Door reaches a deeper understanding of the characters' natures. They felt like wolves wearing human faces, nuanced and fleshed out, with a human understanding, but still a wolf at the core. I liked the honest geekiness of the characters as well. Being a proud geek myself, I smiled at the description of Parallel Universes, the gaming shop owned by Jan's husband and the various references within the story.

The characters were interesting in and of themselves, with nuanced relationships and histories. There's not just one story, for while the current plot is the centerpiece of the book, the histories of the characters inform their actions and are told as a secondary plot. This creates a layered storyline and requires a willingness to not always understand the significance of some events, until they're paid off later in the story. I enjoy that kind of read, but it may lose some readers if what they're looking for is a straightforward tale.

I did have some issues. I sometimes found it hard to follow as the story moves from the present to the past--sometimes will little warning--and the different storylines aren't always defined enough to fit into a mental timeline. The story is a mix of two main plot lines, one is the past and one in the present.... Both are interesting but the telling of them can be spotty in places, leaving the reader unsure how the pieces fit together. Sometimes the storylines in the past are subtitled with "past," but sometimes they aren't, and sometimes it switches back to the present without telling the reader.

The dialogue was sometimes stilted, although the character interaction is complex and layered, I didn't feel that the dialogue always did it justice. Much more, the feelings and motivations of the characters come through in their actions, their body language. Which is, perhaps, appropriate for wolves (and the Myriad folk in general), although I would have liked for the characters to have engaged more deeply with one another. There are also some grammatical and formatting issues. I didn't find them terribly jarring myself, but others may.

Overall, the story was complex and subtle, but rendered in muted tones. The setting is beautifully written, but I felt the characters needed some work. Not in their depth, because they have that in spades, but in their interaction with one another. No one discusses or talks much about the situation, and I found that made it harder to dig into the story, but at the same time the flow of it was intriguing. I would read the next book in the series, but I would hope to see the characters interact more, speak to one another more. Read more ›

3.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating story, but hard to follow March 12, 2013

By Allison E. Henle

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I loved the underlying idea of this story and the author excelled at describing Singapore in a way that was accessible to a WEstern reader without being condescending. The characters were interesting but did not have time to fully develop (this being only a novella in length). I was particularly drawn to the main character, a married-with-two-kids woman who has trouble balancing family, work, and hobbies. It's sadly rare to see a middle-aged woman hold center stage, and this one is both sympathetic and admirable.

I was less entranced by the frequent switches in time. Although some are clearly delineated, others are left vague and I'm not good at guessing which decade we were in. I was also confused by the changes in the relative ages of the characters: the main and her sister are at some points 4 years apart, and at other points only 2. I spent a while trying to figure out if this was a plot clue that I had missed, but never resolved it to my satisfaction.

I do plan on reading the sequels.

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily one of the best werewolf novels out there. November 15, 2012

By SciFiMagpie

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Normally, I am ambivalent about werewolves. I like urban fantasy but endless whiny ten romances with the same plot have spoiled my appetite. This book was a breath of fresh air. I encountered it after reading a different book by the author and I really liked this one.

The plot is structurally different from most books. Though the time line can be confusing, the dreamlike feel makes it work. I live the seeing and the family conflict and tension is absolutely stellar. Add a non traditional protagonist and surprisingly strong characters, and you have a pretty excellent recipe. It isn't perfect, especially in the way a couple of plot threads fit together, but the writing style is really interesting. Don't miss this one, and don't forget to buy its sequel, too.

3.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic atmosphere, middling plot August 20, 2012

By Rachelphoenix

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am Jan Xu. Mother, ex-teacher, daughter and wolf. My family is all Lang, Mandarin Chinese for "wolf." We live among the human population of Singapore, looking like any ethnic Singapore-born Chinese. We have adopted the culture of our human counterparts, becoming human. Yet in our chests beat the hearts of wolves, our voices the howls of distant hunters.

An urban fantasy by a Singaporean author who may be known to you by her real name, Joyce Chng. While A Wolf at the Door had some problems, it was one of the few recent urban fantasies which I've even liked enough to finish. (By "urban fantasy" I mean the modern "hot and/or wisecracking person kicks supernatural ass in modern times," not the Emma Bull/Charles de Lint "magic in the city" books.)

Most urban fantasy fails to hold my interest; it feels bland, plasticky, dull. I think part of what makes it feel that way is that the protagonists rarely have any relationships outside of romances or power dynamics with their vampire clan/werewolf pack, the landscapes tend toward generic American cities, and there's nothing going on other than magic spells, politicking among the pack, romance, and fighting: no details of life that make a world feel real.

Damask doesn't follow any of those patterns. Her Singapore feels completely real, and is a character in its own right. The characters have many relationships of different types: familial, pack, friendships. Jan Xu is happily married and has two young daughters/pups, and the best parts of the book involve daily life as a Singaporean werewolf.

Where the book falls down is plot and structure. There are two timelines running in parallel, one in the present and one in the past.... They are poorly divided, sometimes marked "past" and sometimes not (and occasionally marked "past" when they're actually in the present). The storyline in the past is underdeveloped, with way too much tell and not enough show. It's also not strongly connected to the present storyline. And the present storyline is awkwardly plotted.

Five stars for atmosphere, three for character and prose (sometimes awkward, sometimes quite good), two for structure. But like I said: this is the only urban fantasy I've read all year that I actually finished. The world and setting are very, very good. Also, it's only $1.99. Read more ›