Books: Eileen Wilks's Werewolves and Such
May. 12th, 2017 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dsrtaoAmazon helpfully informs me that people who bought Eileen Wilks' novels also purchased books by Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Faith Hunter, Seanan McGuire and a bunch of other well-known urban fantasists.
There are now 13 novels and a bunch of short stories in this series which I flippantly described to my son as "He's a werewolf and she's an FBI agent: they fight supernatural crime". The covers feature a dark haired woman wearing a black sleeveless vest and tight pants; she might, perhaps, have some Asian ancestry. The books feature Lily Yu, a short Chinese-American woman who was born and raised in San Diego and tends to wear the sort of jacket and pants combination that countless police detectives have made a virtual uniform on television. Her Grandmother becomes a major plot elephant.
Worst aspect of this series: werewolves are all polyamorous males with low fertility and major fears of commitment; but, they know as soon as they have impregnated a female human, at which point they start making plans to care for the baby and adopt it if it's male. (There appear to be no gay or bi werewolves, although there is a fair amount of representation of LGBTQ people otherwise, some of whom are major characters.)
Second worst aspect of this series: once in a while a werewolf is granted A Mate by their Goddess-whom-they-don't-worship, in which case it is Bonding At First Sight for both the werewolf and the woman. That's not the same as love, mind you. The Goddess enforces the bond by inflicting pain on both parties when they get too far away from each other; the precise distance varies a lot over time. This happens at least twice in the series.
Best aspect of this series: the world-changing events actually change the world, repeatedly and with well-thought-out consequences.
Contains multiple universes, horrors from before the beginning of time, species constructed to the specification of gods, limitations on deific powers, demons that don't really make sense, and the persistent feeling that somebody knows what's going on but won't tell you For Reasons.
There are now 13 novels and a bunch of short stories in this series which I flippantly described to my son as "He's a werewolf and she's an FBI agent: they fight supernatural crime". The covers feature a dark haired woman wearing a black sleeveless vest and tight pants; she might, perhaps, have some Asian ancestry. The books feature Lily Yu, a short Chinese-American woman who was born and raised in San Diego and tends to wear the sort of jacket and pants combination that countless police detectives have made a virtual uniform on television. Her Grandmother becomes a major plot elephant.
Worst aspect of this series: werewolves are all polyamorous males with low fertility and major fears of commitment; but, they know as soon as they have impregnated a female human, at which point they start making plans to care for the baby and adopt it if it's male. (There appear to be no gay or bi werewolves, although there is a fair amount of representation of LGBTQ people otherwise, some of whom are major characters.)
Second worst aspect of this series: once in a while a werewolf is granted A Mate by their Goddess-whom-they-don't-worship, in which case it is Bonding At First Sight for both the werewolf and the woman. That's not the same as love, mind you. The Goddess enforces the bond by inflicting pain on both parties when they get too far away from each other; the precise distance varies a lot over time. This happens at least twice in the series.
Best aspect of this series: the world-changing events actually change the world, repeatedly and with well-thought-out consequences.
Contains multiple universes, horrors from before the beginning of time, species constructed to the specification of gods, limitations on deific powers, demons that don't really make sense, and the persistent feeling that somebody knows what's going on but won't tell you For Reasons.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-15 01:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-15 04:27 pm (UTC)Patricia Briggs writes about a coyote shape-shifter whose boyfriend is the local king of the werewolves. I'm sensing a trend.
Seanan McGuire is awesome in all senses. She has a series about the fae of San Francisco which is equal parts murder mysteries and politics; the Cryptid books about various intelligent magical species and the humans who protect or hunt them; two series about taking fairy tales seriously, and then the horror/SF under the name Mira Grant.
(no subject)
Date: 2017-05-15 08:22 pm (UTC)I should have mentioned one thing about Burn for Me (which I'll probably post about separately in my copious free time). Dani (who lent me the book) said that it was being positioned in part as a romance. I'm not especially familiar with the genre, but the theme is there and some aspects of it I found a little disturbing. If the ending had been different I would have had a very different reaction to the book, I expect. There are issues of consent that needed to be dealt with a little more firmly IMO.