Okay. I won't mince words. This story made me cry. Pat Murphy is a master of character development. She could make you sympathize with an axe murderer. Much more so someone who is merely different, wanting only to be herself, to help others, to fit in, and to live in peace....
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Okay. I won't mince words. This story made me cry. Pat Murphy is a master of character development. She could make you sympathize with an axe murderer. Much more so someone who is merely different, wanting only to be herself, to help others, to fit in, and to live in peace. Nadya is the story of a young wolf-woman, born of parents just like her. They are normal people who, when the full moon rises, Change and spend the dark hours romping and playing in the woods and fields. But many fear the wolf. And what they fear they hate. And what they hate they kill. Nadya hopes otherwise, but when her hope costs her family their lives, her fear and loneliness take her on an adventure across 1830's America.
This is not a young person's story. It's filled with sex and violence, love and hate, and reality.
Pat Murphy eases us into the story. We sympathize with these people as people first. They are wolves only as an afterthought. It's a technique I have seen Ms. Murphy use elsewhere as well. The effect is dazzling. By the end of the story, you identify so strongly with Nadya, your every reaction hangs on her fate.
I do have a few bones to pick. Various descriptions and experineces become redundant. The Change, for example. The first time it was described in detail, I found the description fascinating. By half through, I groaned through the process. By the end, I knew the ritual so well I felt like I could Change myself, and even the two or three short sentences used to describe it then were too much. The sex scenes followed a similar pattern. Nadya's first sexual experience, described in vibrant detail, kept me on the edge of my seat, because of the surrounding circumstances. Her second was more information than I needed to know. The third was boring. By the tenth or twentieth--I lost count--I just felt like wretching. Really, I didn't need that much detail.
My biggest gripe is that there's no epilogue. Yes, there's something at the end called "Epilogue," but that's not what I mean. I mean there's no ending to the story. After the climax and resolution of the story, it cuts off. Not even an "And they lived happily ever after." No closure.
But don't let any of these stop you from reading this book. Go out and beg, borrow, or steal a copy. It'll be worth it.
