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Revenge in the face of bloodlust is seldom sweet. . .
There's one sound a woman doesn't want to hear when she's lost and alone in the Arctic wilderness: a howl. For Cheyenne Clark, there's a bad moon on the rise. When a strange wolf's teeth slash her ankle to the bone, her old life ends, and she becomes the very monster that has haunted her nightmares for years. Worse, the only one who can understand what Chey has become is the man - and wolf - who's doomed her to this fate. He also wants her dead.
Yet, as the line between human and beast blurs, so too does the distinction between hunter and hunted...for Chey is more than just the victim she appears to be. But once she's within killing range, she may find that - even for a werewolf - it's not always easy to go for the jugular.
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A fantastic new cross-genre novel by upcoming urban fantasy and horror author, David Wellington, CURSED is a totally unputdownable novel with tons of suspense and a fantastically original take on the werewolf myth
About the Author
David Wellington was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where George Romero shot his classic zombie films. He attended Syracuse University and received an MFA in creative writing from Penn State. He lives in New York City.
Cursed is the tale of Cheyenne Clark, a twenty-something we meet while she is struggling through the Northwest Territories of the Canadian Arctic. "Most people's lives change very slowly, more slowly than the seasons. Some people are born into the life they're going to lead and nothing much ever comes along to force them to change. For Cheyenne Clark, change came about in the space of thirty very bad seconds." She is hunting for something, but it seems like something is hunting her too...
It is desperately hard to synopsise this novel without giving too much away about the plot (which is why I have kept it as sparse as possible) - and I feel as though part of the strength of Cursed comes from watching the mystery about Chey unfold. To start with, she is merely a girl in danger of her life, and I enjoyed being given little hints and tips about her back story and what she is really doing in the Canadian Arctic.
In recent times many books involving werewolves have made these creatures into soft, cuddly affairs - taking away the animal quality from them. David Wellington more than makes up for this in Cursed. In fact, his werewolves are another strong element of the novel. We are able to see the world from the perspective of the wolf - almost a separate entity from the person - and it is a fearsomely hard world to live in. In fact, the sequences with the wolf reminded me of nothing so much as books like White Fang by Jack London - it is extremely clear that Wellington has worked hard on representing a realistic picture of what it would be to turn into a wolf night after night....
Wellington presents the bleak world of the far north with great depth and passion - the details about the landscape and the moonrise/moonset are inserted perfectly, so that it never feels as though we are being handed a lesson in the natural world.
The characterisation is Spartan, but effective. Chey is a character you want to sympathise with - you know she has her secrets, but her reactions to learning about the wolf are honest and genuine. Powell is a darkly enigmatic man, who takes a very pragmatic approach to life in the frozen north. By far my favourite character though was Dzo - he is mysterious, and I'm hoping he returns in all his odd glory in the second book by Wellington. In fact, I only had a couple of minor problems with the novel. The main one was the fact that Wellington left the details of his world fairly blank: it was clear that I was dealing with a version of Earth, but in this version lycanthropes, shapeshifters and werewolves (interchangeable terms?) were known as being real. Apart from that, Wellington gave us nothing. In other novels I'm used to be handed far too many details about a world (which creates a whole other problem of boredom), and I think a balance needs to be struck between that approach and that of Wellington. I could have done with a little more background.
That aside, Cursed was a compulsive read - chilling, dark and fatalistic for much of its pages, but containing an element of hope to take onward to the second book in the series. Chey and Powell were characters that I want to journey with, and I found this ultra-realistic take on the werewolf myth a very effective addition to the canon of lycanthropy. Highly recommended.Read more ›
With many of the Werewolf titles now moving more into Urban territory here David Wellington, takes the reader to the wilds on an adventure that is not all that it seems. Definitely a different take on the Werewolf myth as our principle protagonist is about to discover when the world she thought of as black and white is more shades of grey than she could imagine.
It is well written, the character reachable by the reader and above all else it's the backstory that really makes this offering. It's got action, its got adventure but perhaps most of all its got humanity about it. Whilst this won't please very supernatural reader out there its different enough to find a firm base with a large number of readers out there that want something a little different to the norm.
'Cursed: a Werewolf's Tale', otherwise known as Frostbite, is an urban fantasy that will blow your mind with panic and horror. A very quick-paced novel with plenty of action that the reader will read in no time at all. David Wellington surely knows how to scare the pants off you and yet allow you to completely endure the ferocious attacks and animalistic behaviour no matter how chilling and raw!!!
The story begins with Cheyenne Clark lost, hungry, cold and lonely in the Arctic amid the trees and snow. Before too long she is being tracked by a pack of wolves. Knowing that she couldn't possibly run from them, and with very little energy, her only chance is to climb a tree high enough so that the pack can't reach her. However, when howling of another is heard nearby the pack of timber wolves below Cheyenne's feet soon flee, leaving her sitting on a branch of the tree. Moments later Cheyenne meets with the wolf whose howling she heard. Much larger than the timber wolves and much more ferocious this one tries to reach Cheyenne, jumping at her, lashing at her with large paws. Until he reaches her ankle and manages to claw into her flesh!
Although the beast couldn't quite attack Cheyenne completely, enough damage was done to make Cheyenne's world come crashing down. She would never be the same again. She was a werewolf, a monster, a Lycanthrope. There are many names for these species and now she herself carried the curse! For every time the moon rises, Cheyenne would transform, having to learn a different way to survive and avoiding the one element that could kill her: silver, silver, silver!
Loneliness is not natural for a wolf as they tend to live and move around in packs. As a new lone wolf, Cheyenne could really do with a companion.... This proves to be just as difficult as trying to deal with her new 'self' as the only one who could truly understand is the one that tried to kill her. Now a wolf, Cheyenne not only needs to worry about being the victim, the prey, but also has to live with being a hunter. Will she kill the one that cursed her? Will he return to kill her?
Cheyenne's character is written with a great deal of contrast from how she feels and thinks as a human and how she is in her wolf state. The natural animalistic behaviour takes over when she is transformed, her sense of smell and hearing is much greater than her sight. As a wolf she doesn't reason, she doesn't use logic she survives the only way she can. Back in human form, Cheyenne wakes frozen, naked and never fully aware of what her wolf has done.
Without trying to spoil the story one of my favourite areas of the novel was when the reader begins to understand the man of the wolf that attacked Cheyenne, Powell. The reader is educated in Powell's history as a man and how the curse affected him and we also learn a little of werewolf mythology! I found this to be very interesting and exciting but cannot elaborate more than that. This novel simply needs to be read without much explanation beforehand. It truly does speak for itself!
On a different note, David Wellington has written the setting of the scenes beautifully as one can imagine the freezing cold of the Arctic wind, the icy water of the small streams and lakes, all silent and remote from most civilisation with only the sun or moonlight to estimate time. Although not a novel of romance it most certainly is a novel of survival! But can one survive alone? Would one want to survive alone? Or is their only option to try and kill the other to eliminate a dangerous threat?
'Cursed: A Werewolf's Tale' is an absolutely fascinating read and for more fur, fangs and fear I am hoping to read the sequel, 'Ravaged', otherwise known as 'Overwinter', very soon!Read more ›
I was a tad apprehensive, hoping that it was going to be some Twilight type of poncy nonsense in werewolf form and thankfully was rewarded with anything but that! It was creepy in the right parts, had some interesting characters and was sometimes amusing, with a slightly original take on transformation. Worth buying. (I'll state exactly the same for the follow up)
Cheyenne is a dedicated woman and she has a job to do, but when she is scratched by the very thing that has haunted her since she was twelve years old, she now becomes that very monster. Her life drastically changes and her survival is at risk. The choices she has to make will determine what kind of future she will have. Nobody can help her decide; her thoughts have to battle themselves before she can make one final choice. Will she join the beast that ruined her life all those years ago, or will she lift that gun, the one with the silver bullet...
I loved this book. Unlike other urban fantasy, it centres on one woman's survival without the silly things in-between; such as random sex scenes or the boring, stupid actions of a dumb heroine. This is not a romance book, nor is there any romance in it. But it didn't matter.
Cheyenne goes through so much, physically and emotionally, but she never gives up. She is one amazing woman and I really can't say anything bad about her. She does what she needs to and never disappoints. Just if all female leads were like that...
The other characters were well written; Powell coming off as lonely and an old soul and Dzo... well Dzo peeked my curiosity. I liked him. Very mysterious indeed. I can't say I liked Bobby much, his hair actually made me cringe. Yuck.
There is quite a bit of back story, explaining both Chey's and Powell's past. I found it very interesting even though it strayed from the main story. I didn't get bored at all; in fact I wanted to read it, which surprised me. Usually back tracking over past events bores me to the point I want to skip ahead.
The setting in this book was simply beautiful.... David Wellington describes things so well and being a wannabe writer, I really appreciated the detail and it gave me motivation to try and get that standard of stunning atmosphere writing. The Arctic, while beautiful, is just as deadly, and we get to see the hell Chey has to endure. In fact, when walking my dog through the woods just the other day, I found myself thinking what it would be like to be Chey. Of course there was no snow, but nevertheless, the pine needles sent my mind racing.
I usually like the change from human to wolf as painful as possible. I preferred the get-down-on-all-fours-with-bones-shifting-and-fur-sprouting and not the easy way. I remember watching the movie Blood and Chocolate and hating the simple flash of light and BOOM, wolf. While I still prefer the horror way, I accepted the magical way in this book. It was a curse after all, tied completely to the moon.
The wolf and human as separate beings is more enjoyable than them being the same. They are two halves of a whole, the wolf hating humanity with its very core. This was a great touch.
A great adventure in my opinion. It was refreshing. I can't wait to read the next one. While this is classed primarily as 'horror', I wouldn't call it so.
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