Never Cry Werewolf (Crimson Moon, #5) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Feb 11, 2017 Rishika Aggarwal rated it it was ok

Shelves: paranormal-hunter, paranormal-romance, urban-fantasy, werewolves

NOTE: I started this book without any realisation that I was starting mid-series, and I'm going to be reviewing it that way.

I have no doubt that there are nuances that I missed while reading the book because I didn't realise I was starting mid-series until I was about half done with the book, but even then, the plot of this novel seemed to drag itself out, especially in the middle. I rarely say this, but this is one book that I feel could have been shorter - about 50 pages right in the middle of NOTE: I started this book without any realisation that I was starting mid-series, and I'm going to be reviewing it that way.

I have no doubt that there are nuances that I missed while reading the book because I didn't realise I was starting mid-series until I was about half done with the book, but even then, the plot of this novel seemed to drag itself out, especially in the middle. I rarely say this, but this is one book that I feel could have been shorter - about 50 pages right in the middle of things would have done the trick nicely.

That said, I enjoyed sections of it. The concepts that the book introduces were interesting, and I'm intrigued enough that I want to know more about the wolves and their different variations, as well as the back story to Sir Rodney and Cerridwen.

One of the strongest assets Banks brings to this is her ability to write characters. Despite having a constrained view of things and no actual knowledge of the earlier books in the series, I found myself believing in the people and beings she'd created. Over here, I think her secondary and background characters benefit the most - Shogun, Amy, and Russell specifically, as well as Sir Rodney and Cerridwen. While Sasha and Hunter are intriguing, I'm missing too much context with their relationship to truly be drawn into them, which is not something that constrains my enjoyment of the other characters.

One thing that I did find rather jarring in the novel is the way that Banks shifts POV - while the constant shift allows the readers a more holistic view of the happenings, it also makes for awkward reading at times, when the shift is significant, because it jars you out of a well-established setting. Furthermore, there are occasions where the POV shift takes time to clarify the character that's being focused on, which again is quite jarring.

2/5 stars on this one for me - I would have given it 3 if it weren't for my biggest peeve with this book: the lack of indication that it's a book in the middle of series. Where other series make the fact that they're not standalone very prominent, this one doesn't - though there is a subtitle calling it 'S Crimson Moon Novel,' no where is it indicated that it's not book 1 of a series, but book 5. It assumes the reader knows that rest of the series exists, which spoils things for a new reader who picks up the book - and then realises that they're missing a lot of important context, which, robs the book of what I assume to important nuance, though it's still readable and enjoyable without that knowledge. Had I known, I would have looked for the first book in the series instead of getting the fifth, and future editions should make this status very clear at first glimpse. ...more

Like · see review