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This is the second book of the Nightshade series. For the first book’s review, click here.
Summary:
Everything has changed for Calla. She’s far away from those who want to control her and safe in the hands of her former enemies, but is she free? For Calla, freedom will only be attained once her pack is safe. The others on her team have their own reasons for helping Calla get her pack back, and together they plan a rescue attempt. But things have changed back in Vail, too, and Calla is in for a few surprises upon her return home.
Comments:
I was on the fence about Nightshade, the first novel in this series. And about halfway through Wolfsbane, I was thinking this would be the last novel I read by Cremer. To me, her style of writing borders on condescending and the way she makes dialogue progress is too repetitive. For example, more than several times throughout the novel one character must explain something to another, and it goes something like this:
“Blah blah blah but we never would have suspected what we were up against”
“What were you up against?”
“Blah blah blah and he lost something that he could never get back”
“What did he lose?”
Etc. In other words, one character explains something to another but routinely inserts an ambiguous phrase and then pauses, allowing the other character to ask the predictable follow-up question that leads to further explanation. And that’s another problem I had: the story is really predictable. As a reader, I typically know more than the main character. Calla doesn’t figure out the obvious until the story is almost over. It made me think she’s supposed to be kind of dense, but I know she isn’t.
But despite these little peeves, I started liking the book once I got about halfway through it. And towards the end, I was hooked. The action really picks up; I admit Cremer has a gift for suspense. The dynamics between characters are also nicely conveyed and I appreciated some of the concepts of magic that Cremer created. Now, in hindsight, I’d have to admit the book is good. Better than Nightshade. And so yes, I’m on my way to read the first chapter of the third book, Bloodrose, which can be found online here.
The Point:
It’s slowly becoming a story with real depth. I think the series has a lot of potential, but it could just end up a trilogy (that’s what it looks like.) I’m looking forward to the third, but Bloodrose won’t be out until next February.
Related articles
- Wolfsbane (Nightshade #2) by Andrea Cremer (acasualreader.com)
- book-a-palooza #wolfsbane #spellbound (scarlettspace.wordpress.com)
- Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (blackbirdbookreviews.wordpress.com)
I dislike that kind of dialogue, too. The example you gave reminded of some of the annoying dialogue in one of the Matrix movies.
“The Oracle told me something.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That I would have to make a choice.”
“What choice?”
It runs in the same vein as TV shows where the audience is only shown one side of a phone conversation, and the speaker will answer questions by repeating them so we know what’s going on. Makes it seem unrealistic.
Perfect example. I remember that from the Matrix. But at least there it sounded foreboding. In this book it just sounded like the characters were a little slow to grasp things.
I agree that it makes conversations unrealistic. That’s part of the reason why I felt like the writing was condescending. I could believe that the characters shifted into wolves but somehow could not believe that they engaged in such ridiculous dialogue.
Thanks for your comment!