Every now and then I go through major book addictions and become completely and totally obsessed with a particular book or series of books. My most recent love is for the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman. Seriously, I went into a depression after finishing the most recent book all because I didn’t have a new one to fall into. Yes, it’s sad. But this love of mine has brought you a new werewolf series you may have never heard of before.
The Cal Leandros series tells the tale of Cal, a cocky gun-loving badass, and his brother Niko, a perfectly controlled warrior, as they try to save Cal from his wicked father’s side of the family. Cal, who appears to be entirely human, is actually half monster, and his evil monster side of the family wants him for themselves. During their quest to save Cal from unknown horrors, the brothers cross paths with a horrendous troll living under a bridge, bizarre werewolves, a mischievous puck, boggles in the park, zombie-like revenants and so much more.
Yes, this series is a wide combination of supernatural beasties, not just werewolves. But in spite of that, it’s still a series I recommend. As I said above, the werewolves are bizarre, they are surprisingly unique to other werewolves I have read in books. They may have the shifting, the strength and other abilities average werewolves have, but there is more to them. Like their genetic ranking system – there are high breeds and low breeds. A high breed appears as a fully human in human form or a full wolf in wolf form. A low breed appears as a disturbing mixture of human and wolf. The combination can be so warped that these types of werewolves can’t even pass unnoticed among humans and must live in hiding. They are also stuck like this, they can’t fully transform into a human or a wolf, they are stuck in between. Low breed wolves are usually members of the All Wolf Cult, a group of werewolves who believe that the ideal form is that of a wolf – all wolf and no human. They want to be pure wolves, and they breed and breed in hopes of accomplishing that, but instead the result is a humanoid form with a wolf muzzle and wolf ears (or something along those lines). I find it all very interesting.
That’s what I love about the world Thurman has created, there are many classic supernatural beings that we know and love, but the author put her own twist on them. The world this series is set in is amazingly innovative and captivating. While the storytelling is shaky in the first book, the story itself is beyond excellent, as is the story in every book so far. I am highly impressed by this author.
Even if you don’t like books that aren’t 100% werewolves, I still suggest giving this series a try. The werewolves may not be the stars of the series, but there are many big werewolf characters throughout.
The first book in the series is Nightlife. For more info, check out the author’s official website.
Have any of you read this series? Do you love it as much as I do?
– Moonlight
About the Author
Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to werewolves and other supernatural beasties. She writes for top genre sites like Vampires.com and Werewolves.com. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and you may lose a limb. You can stalk her via her Twitter.
