The Orphan

Book of the Beast Trilogy #1

by Robert Stallman

A mysterious creature is locked within the human form of a small boy in the rural mid-West of the 1930s. Essentially good, but totally amoral, the beast is bewildered by the apparently arbitrary moral behaviour and judgements of the small farming community in which the story is set.

As the young boy matures, he develops a personality of his own and his growing moral sense puts him into increasing conflict with the cravings of the beast within.

The Orphan is a powerful fantasy novel which uses the motifs underlying the classic folk myth of Beauty and the Beast to stunning effect.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, Science Fiction, German Literature, Novels

251 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1980

Reviews

[Marvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Stallman has something in common with Stieg Larsson. Like the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stallman sold three books of what is known as The Book of the Beast trilogy but died before publication of any of them. Unfortunately, Stallman's estate didn't reap the reward the the Larsson estate did, The Orphan being the first, is largely forgotten. It's an interesting take on the shapeshifter theme featuring a boy with unusual gifts living with a mid-west rural family. Nicely written, at times it hints of Bradbury, but just not different enough to be special. Worth reading, this first book being the best of the three.

Update: Re-read in December of 2012. The above was written based on the memory of my first reading a decade ago yet what I wrote pretty much rings true now. Still a good read and one that should be more popular than it is. I'll move it up to three and a half stars.

[Jay Michaelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, one of the best books I've read in many, many years. It's so good, I feel foolish for not having read it before.

[I don't think this counts as a spoiler, given it is more of a correction: this is NOT a book about a werewolf.]

I don't often use the words "evocative prose" unless I'm referring to Nabokov, Updike, Joyce, Dylan Thomas or the like, so my use of them here should mean something: Robert Lester Stallman writes prose I'd compare to the masters of it.

The story itself is fantastic.

The style in which it is written is fantastic.

The only possible negative I can think of is I found a couple of typos which were missed. Yeah. That's my only negative.

It wasn't until I completed it I realized why it likely hasn't received the fame it sincerely deserves, and that is because -- just as it deals with everything from the separation/isolation of consciousness, love, hate, life, and death, it also, in the most chaste and tasteful way imaginable, deals with sex, and the manner in which it does so undoubtedly leaves the average reader uncomfortable.

Make no mistake: there's nothing remotely pornographic or even (at least to me) arousing about it; nor is it rife with sexuality, giving the proper amount of attention to that as it does to each and every other thing in turn.

If anything, it could be said to be possessed of a certain visceral sensuality, though it is certainly one which is so delicious I have no doubt I'll read this book more than once (just as I have with much written by Dylan Thomas, whose stories and poems I absolutely love).

To compare Stallman's style of writing to Ray Bradbury does neither of them an injustice. I found myself reading as slowly as I could just to savor it. This is something I only do with *really* outstanding books.

Having read it, I immediately acquired the two other books of the trilogy. Despite needing to focus on other things, I find the second book just as difficult to put down as I did this one. It is like optical heroin, with prose so beautiful I don't think any review I could make would ever possibly do it justice.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of finding the whole trilogy in my local bookstore. Having never heard of the author I was skeptical about the story. Everyone maintains that this book is about a 'were-wolf' but that just scratches the surface. What Robert, our protagonist, is really experiencing is a Jekyll and Hyde situation, because his duality is at odds with each other. The whole story, while not very complicated, is really easier to understand once you have read all three books. The most memorable part of the story for me was the utter loss Robert feels after a certain tragedy and the complete love a small child can feel for a parent/guardian.

[Brian Moreau · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I sat down to start reading this book, I didn’t know it was the first book in a trilogy. Having finished it, I will not continue to finish the series. Most of the book is dull and repetitive, the ending is batshit crazy. Maybe the other books break out of the patterns of the first but I’m not risking it.

[Mark Rigney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lost book, proof positive that the cream does not always rise to the top (and this despite a Nebula nomination).

I met this book (or it met me) when I was twelve. I devoured it, as it proceeded to devour me for the next thirty-five years. Having just rediscovered and reread it, I can say the following: it's subversive, poetic, violent, sensual, and chock-full of longing. Its period details feel spot on, and it exists as horror or sci-fi only at the margins, for what stays with me (then and now) are the powerful emotions, currents and eddies that Stallman handles with grace, compassion, and a diarist's clinical accuracy.

Some say it's nothing but a werewolf book.

Bah.

Let's begin at the beginning. "I am and will be. There is no time when I am not. This is the first lesson..."

[Mark Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this when I was in my twenties. I was very angry at the end of it. You see, someone told me the author had died and I figured there would be no sequels to this.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Someone had written an article on the Timescape imprint books, this being one of them. This book was mentioned, along with the other two in the series. What? Could it be? Immediately I got the books ordered and am now reading through them. The first is not what I recall, but is better/just different than my memory.

[Derek McGee · Rating 5 out of 5]

instead of the typical man turning into a beast, we have a beast that turns into man. Great book, looking forward to second in the series.

[Celina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, an interesting turn on the whole were-beast scenario, but ultimately nothing special. It's an enjoyable read at times, but fails to stand out to me. There was a lot of potential here, interesting questions that could have been asked and interesting scenarios that could have been told, but instead the author opted for the cliché thing and just turned the were-beast into a bloodthirtsy and horny monster, as so many other authors have done in the past and continue to do till this day. There are a few moments were interesting questions are being asked (is the monster a part of me? Am I part of the monster? Or are we one and the same?), but it was mostly at the very end of the narrative and felt almost shoehorned in, like an afterthought.

I'm not a big fan of erotic stories to begin with, and I felt like the erotic parts in this book were quite out of place, or at the very least very ... questionable at times (a child and an adult, 40+ year old woman? Really?) and really held the narrative back from realising it's potential. The story wants you to sympathize with the beast, but as its actions become progressively more agressive and even rape-y at some points, I really struggled to do so. The whole second half of the novel was quite uncomfortable for me to read, and I really just tried to get through the whole thing as quickly as I could to be done with it.

There really wasn't much character growth for the beast here, and while I haven't read the sequels to find out if it changes and becomes more human later on, I don't really have any desire to do so.

[Brando Saravia Obreque · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an intresting read.
I jumped in thinking I was going to dive into a werewolf story but it was much more the story of the struggle of a young boy/creature? dealing with two personalities at the same time. Almost like a Dr.Jeckyl and Mr.Hyde vibe. It was a beast vs beauty, morals vs animal instinct story that in some parts left me thinking wow that would happen if I let the animal inside me run wild. P.S. The ending was really messed up LOL.

[Cricket · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked it a lot.

[Chuckell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread this one every ten years or so. Maybe not as great as I remember it from the first time, but still an absolute delight.

[Chrystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot to unpack here...I think I liked this book and all its allegorical glory. I can't decide. That ending uhhhhhhhhhhh. Let's just say some I did not care for but it's a sorta fun, nostalgic sci-fi (dare I say it?) romp nonetheless.

[John Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was about 14 —around the same time I discovered the masterful Gene Wolfe.

Without doubt this first "book of the beast" hooked me from the very start and the entire trilogy (comprised of —this book, The Captive and The Beast) is mesmeric.

It was only years later, with the onset of the internet, that I learned more about author Robert Stallman. One wonders what genius Stallman might have produced if he were still with us today.

Mark R's comments below hit the nail on the head; "subversive, poetic, violent, sensual and chock-full of longing"

I think I need to make time to reread the trilogy.

[Antony Castellano]

The werewolf is a creature of the night, a solitary, fur-covered thing. A wild-eyed, five clawed beast with a taste for blood and the soft crunch of bone between the teeth. But as little Robert, the werewolf has been adopted by a kindly farmer and his wife. Neither Robert nor the monster could control the shifting of its form, and always, the emerged beast lurked within, ready to spring for the throat

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good first novel of a trilogy about a young, orphaned shapeshifter who is adopted by a farm family and must learn to live in a human body. The narrator is the "beast" - its consciousness is separate from that of the human boy. Interesting conceit.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn’t minding this til about a third of the way through when it started to creep me out & not in a fun horror werewolf way.