Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf (Wereworld #1) by Curtis Jobling -- September 20, 2011 -- Hardcover, 412 pages
Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf takes place in a fantasy world full of werelords, men and women of noble breeding who have the ability to transform into a variety of animals at will, inlcuding foxes, rats, lions, and even sharks. The wolf lord has been overthrown, and all of his kin destroyed as the new king takes over all of the realms. Drew, a young farmboy who feels a little out of place in his own family, finds himself confronted by a werecreature one night, and during a scuffle his mother is slain. Drew is blamed by his father, and banished to the Dyrewoods to fend for himself. While here, he learns of his heritage as the last of the werewolves, and begins a journey to fulfill the prophecy of reclaiming the thrown of which he is the sole heir.
I really wanted to like this book. It was advertised at San Diego Comic Con 2011 where I received an ARC for review. They described the book as Game of Thrones light, and had me hooked when they mentioned the appearance of a wereshark. However, this story was far too flat and cliche to maintain my interest.
Drew is the protaganist of the novel, but he lacks any sort of personality or, how shall I say, the balls to complete any tasks set out before him. His journey is predictable, the settings have all been written before, the characters are flat and lack substance, and I just found the flow of the entire book to be slow and boring. I'm sure this might appeal to someone, maybe a younger boy who is looking for a mildly violent fantasy adventure featuring werecreatures, but as a YA novel this book is written far too young. As far as writing, the POV flips back and forth between characters, making it very frustrating when you are trying to figure out what is going on. Overall, I would say skip this one, read Game of Thrones if you are looking for a similar fantasy novel with a bit more meat to it.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
