Arthur is a repressed twenty-two-year-old man with a useless degree and a student loan keeping him on the edge of poverty, but his life turns turtle when he meets a homeless werewolf at a bus stop.
When Life Gives You Werewolves, by Aeron Dusk
Rating: 5 out of 5!
This is a bit of change of pace. Most of what I review is published work (most often self-published), and I rarely get caught up in the many, many, MANY free stories that can be found across the web if only because it’s hard to find ones that are to my liking, and even harder to find good ones. I came across Aeron Dusk’s website after finishing their book The Mark of Amulii, a somewhat flawed but fun story with a very unique take on werewolf mythology. When I saw that they offered the novel-length story When Life Gives You Werewolves for free on their website I thought I’d read the first chapter to see what it was about. I was immediately hooked. Before I go further I want to note that there is kind of a lot of gay werewolf sex. If you find the phrase “gay werewolf sex” upsetting…sorry? Bye? Back to the rest of you perverts, though – there is way more plot and character development than sex scenes, so I was just fine with it. Also, gay werewolf sex is kinda hot, duh.
The world-building here is an interesting new take on werewolves: Werewolves exist in modern society, but they are considered less than by humans. They inhabit the outskirts of society, living on the dregs that humans leave behind, often homeless, drunk, or stoned. In late puberty, some humans begin the slow process of turning into werewolves, spending possibly many years as “half-turned”, straddling between humanity and werewolves in an delicate state, prone to violent emotional outbursts, and hypersexual to the extreme. They are usually paired with werewolves to keep them in check. Since half-turns get the equivalent of a disability stipend and housing from the government, many werewolves see half-turns as an easy meal ticket. Thus begins the story…
One of the things that I focus on when I read is the characters – Who are they? What is their history? What motivates them? In this book Dusk does a great job of weaving a tapestry of multiple characters intersecting at different times in their lives caring for each other, being terrible to each other, and sometimes hitting rock bottom. We have Art, whose orderly and neat life is upended as he becomes a half-turn in his early 20s. Art pairs with Simon, a conniving, lazy, drunk werewolf who is a hot mess, but somehow lovable anyway. Add in Adam, a spoiled brat of a half-turn and Austin, his abusive, antisocial werewolf, and the stage is set for quite a story. I wouldn’t have said it at the beginning, but I adored all of these characters by the end of the book.
Overall, the pacing can be a bit odd, particularly midway through where the story takes an abrupt left turn, but even that was explained to my satisfaction later. I teared up several times in the final chapters, which is always a sign of a great book for me. This was a marvelous find, and I highly recommend it!
(Featured image from Aeron Dusk’s website is an illustration from When Life Gives You Werewolves by Forge)
