By Blood We Live

December 23, 2013
British author Duncan's conclusion to his complex supernatural suspense trilogy (after 2012's Talulla Rising) opens with an arresting sentence: "It's better to kill people at the end of their psychology." In the near future, a population explosion among werewolves has led to immense changes across the world. There are now Web sites devoted to werewolf porn, and the Catholic Church has accepted the reality of werewolves and revealed the existence of an army trained to destroy them. That shift poses an existential threat to lycanthrope Talulla Demetriou, the mother of twins who are also werewolves, but her species' battle to survive the New Inquisition doesn't generate a lot of thrills. In addition, the intricate backstory involving blood feuds between werewolves and vampires will confound many newcomers. Fans of the first two books who have become attached to Tallula and her kin will be satisfied, but others may wonder what the fuss is all about. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency.

December 15, 2013
Vampires and werewolves are at it again...and for the most part, they still don't like each other. In this book, Duncan continues the saga of Tallula (the werewolf, also known as Vali) and Remshi (the vampire), one of the stranger love stories of modern times--and of ancient times as well, since their relationship goes back some 17,000 years. Although Tallula knows about "[s]pecies enmity..., Mutually Assured Detestation at the cellular level," she still has a thing for her vampire lover. The novel opens with Remshi in a relationship with Justine Cavell. He's bewildered when he shows up one night expecting to be received with open arms, though Justine is even more bewildered to see him because he's actually been gone for almost two years. Remshi has almost no memory of his time away, though, given his nature, he realizes he's probably been up to some naughtiness. Meanwhile, a vampire named Olek sends a mysterious diary to Tallula purporting to explain how to get rid of the curse of "turning"--the process of becoming a werewolf. In a flashback to prehistoric times, we learn of the budding relationship and sexual ferocity of Remshi and Vali; meanwhile, back in the contemporary world, Remshi has become convinced that Tallula is a "reborn" version of Vali. Talulla and her band of werewolves are attacked, and she, along with her daughter, Zoe, is kidnapped, but her son, Lorcan, escapes. Tallula is questioned--Inquisition style--by Cardinal Salvatore di Campanetti, but in an extraordinarily violent scene, she is eventually liberated when a gang of vampires comes to her rescue. Duncan's style is animated, and he recounts the imperatives of vampire and werewolf brutality and sexual aggressiveness with particular gusto.

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February 1, 2014
Talulla should be pleased with her fairy-tale ending from Talulla Rising (2012), and yet she grapples with the nagging tie she feels to Remshi, the 20,000-year-old vampire resurrected in the last installment. The feeling is mutual, with Remshi believing she is the returned spirit of his beloved, Vali. This round, the narrative is divvied up by three: Talulla shares it with Remshi and his human familiar and recently turned vampire companion, Justine. This trio of voices works in sync to craft a tale about the crux of humanity, the role of prophecy, and the eternal question of death. Sure, yes, they are being hunted by various occult organizations; there are plenty of battles, blood, and sexy escapades; but the real treats continues to be Duncan's beautifully twisted way with language and the profound thesis he poses about humanity. Defiant and dramatic to the last, Duncan wraps up his finale with a flourish akin to a film actor staring directly into the camera. Once more, Duncan's elegant, striking prose is the star in his enthralling conclusion to the Last Werewolf trilogy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2013

First, there was The Last Werewolf, British novelist Duncan's deliciously edgy foray into horror and a national best seller. Then, in the regional best seller Talulla Rising, newly sprung werewolf Talulla mourns Jake--not, as it turned out, the last of their species--as she raises their son. Here, Talulla finds herself inexplicably drawn to 20,000-year-old vampire Remshi, who believes he's met her sometime in the last many millennia--all of which may signal a werewolf-vampire showdown. Duncan's a gorgeous, daring writer even those horrified of horror can love.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2014

Vampires are hot and werewolves perhaps less so, but this book has lots of both. It's not for the Twilight set--not even close. There is much feeding replete with gore, as well as explicit sex--and if you'd thought werewolf sex might be bestial, well, okay. Two primary narrators among several are Remshi, a 20,000-year-old vampire, and the werewolf Talulla (once known as Vali); they'd had a relationship (and, of course, lots of sex) hundreds of years in the past, before the two species became mutually repugnant. Now, when Remshi reencounters his once beloved, it's time to see if an ancient prophecy about the mixtures of the bloods plays out, ending "the curse." Third in a trilogy (after The Last Werewolf and Tallula Rising) that British novelist Duncan wryly describes as having "lots of sex and violence and philosophy and jokes and love and death. Just the thing for the beach," this title is genre fiction that defies genre, and the eclecticism can be both an incentive to read and an obstacle to reading. VERDICT Horror morphs werewolf-like into literary fiction, and the result manages to be sensational, exciting, and tedious all at the same time. [See Prepub Alert, 8/26/13.]--Robert E. Brown, Oswego, NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.