Review: Werewolves in SPAAAaaaace
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2013
I have really been struggling with how to review this book. The problem is that I don't want to sound crass by saying there wasn't enough sex--but there wasn't enough sex.I enjoy books that are mostly if not entirely romantic. I enjoy adventure books. I don't need a book to be pornographic to enjoy it, but the chasteness of this novel is notable because its whole premise is founded on sex.Aliens came to Earth eight years ago, you see. Humans call them Wolves. They have retractable claws and sharp teeth and they regenerate. They also go into heat, which is where the problem is. Because when a Wolf goes into heat, the smell of humans drives them in rapacious delirium. If that human is a male in his twenties, the effect is even more pronounced.I won't deny I got this book expecting a lot of sex. And maybe, as sometimes happens, my dissatisfaction comes from the book veering away from what I expect. I don't think so, though.The problem is, if you are going to put sex front and center to your story, then you had better be ready to get dirty. It's like trying to write about pirates but refusing to acknowledge to filthy conditions pirates lived in.Ian, the main character, gets caught by an alpha Wolf. This brings in the first interesting theme in the book and I think it's one a lot of people would have different thoughts on. The theme is consent. What really constitutes consent?Ian's choices are fight and die or submit to the alpha (whom he calls Craig) and get mated into the mattress. It's not exactly what he wanted, but he sure does enjoy it. So, like I said, it's a very interesting thing to toy with in an erotic novel.The problem is, after the first scorchingly hot scene, sex is only summarized. The reason this is a problem is because, as I said, sex is the core of the story. And that could still have been a very interesting book to read. The emotional and physical toll of being a Wolf's mate could have been interesting to watch. If we had seen that over the course of a few sex scenes, not even explicit ones, I think that would have served the story.There were other ways to explore this complicated scenario the author created. For instance, having Ian negotiate between the Wolves and the humans they had captured and counseling the humans on how to submit.The completely alien culture of the Wolves and the way it makes it near impossible for humans to understand them created a believable conflict. The plot allowed the reader to see that the Wolves are not as awful as humans think, that they are trying to find a way to control the impulses during heat.There is a lot of good here. The prose is tight. The plot is interesting, even if I feel it left certain things unexplored. The characters are decent; Ian is a little bitchy and Craig is kind of aloof, but their feelings are pretty clear. The themes were thought-provoking.I'd love to give this book a 4 or maybe 4.5, but the unrealized potential drags it down below a 3.5 for me, so it's getting 3 stars.