This novel was published in 2016, so it’s not eligible for awards next year, but I was impressed enough that I’m going to review it anyway and encourage people to pick up a copy. It made the Locus Recommended Reading List but was passed over for SFF award nominations. Jones is a Native American of the Blackfeet tribe. This is published by William Morrow/HarperCollins and would likely be considered dark fantasy.
Grandpa tells fantastic stories about being a werewolf and running under the moon. The boy listens, rapt. He lives with his grandpa, his Aunt Libby and his Uncle Darren. His mother is dead. When grandpa dies half wolf and half man, Darren steals a backhoe to bury him. Then they have to pack up and move again. Darren normally works as a trucker and Libby at low wage night jobs of some kind. They’re always on the move, from Texas to North Carolina to Georgia to Florida, afraid to stay in one place too long, because violence, suspicion and a taste for blood will catch up with them if they do. The boy wants to be a werewolf, to be part of the tradition, but his mother never changed. Will it happen for him?
This is very much a book about the human condition, the underbelly of indigent migrant workers that exists on the fringes of society. Jones builds the picture slowly, and we start to understand how the boy idolizes Darren, with all his faults, as the only father-figure in his life, and Libby as his mother’s twin. He finds a girl he likes, but loses her when they have to move again. It’s all about the characters and the family, very different for a werewolf tale.
On the negative side, there’s not much plot here, but then, it’s not that kind of story. I also thought some of the events and lore were a bit too exaggerated and tongue-in cheek. Still, that gives it a kind of honky-tonk charm.
Four and a half stars.
Contrarius
Aug 19, 2017 @ 00:21:49
As I mentioned in the previous review, I had this on my TBR long list last year. I’m glad to hear that it appears to be a good story — I’ll have to make more effort to read it.
However, I find one of your statements curious:
“This is published by William Morrow/HarperCollins and would likely be considered dark fantasy.”
As you were very clearly told in that previous thread, it is actually widely considered to be horror. It was nominated for both the Bram Stoker Award (Horror Writers Association) and the Shirley Jackson Award (Readercon). And on Goodreads it is listed as horror by 133 users, and as fantasy by only 57 users.
Since it is widely recognized as horror, there’s no surprise that it was not at the top of the lists for a science fiction or fantasy award.
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Lela E. Buis
Aug 19, 2017 @ 01:36:24
I gather that Jones has made something of a reputation as a horror writer, but I’m just not seeing it here. There are a few yucky details, but nothing I’d consider horrific. This borders on literary.
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Contrarius
Aug 19, 2017 @ 03:03:45
@Lela —
“I gather that Jones has made something of a reputation as a horror writer, but I’m just not seeing it here. There are a few yucky details, but nothing I’d consider horrific. This borders on literary.”
Honestly, there isn’t a bright dividing line between “dark fantasy” and horror. But I don’t think that a whole lot of works in the vicinity of horror have been sff award favorites.
OTOH, I noticed that “The Ballad of Black Tom” won the Shirley Jackson award this year for novella, so there is at least a little overlap between the two. And hey, who am I to talk? I put The Devourers by Indra Das on my nominating ballot this year — and though Goodreads readers shelve it much more often as fantasy than as horror, it is plenty horrific in spots. But I’m not surprised that it didn’t make the final ballot, either.
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Doris V. Sutherland
Aug 20, 2017 @ 11:28:38
The Ballad of Black Tom is a relatuvely rare example of a horror story winning a Hugo, but then, it also fits into a vogue for Lovecraft revisionism that’s been around at the Hugos for a few years now: Equoid in 2014; The Litany of Earth in 2015; Black Tom, The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe and parts of The City Born Great this year.
Interestingly, Lovecraft is also one of the few horror authors that the Puppies have shown significant interest in.
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Lela E. Buis
Aug 20, 2017 @ 13:06:03
There have been some comments about the “grimdark” quality of The Fifth Season. Is horror a new trend in the awards?
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thephantom182
Aug 20, 2017 @ 18:00:05
I like to see Lovecraftian monsters get blown up, myself. The eldritch-horror-meets-thermonuclear-device scenario. It is busy trying to sear the hero’s mind with sheer evil, he shoots it in the face and continues on, evil or no.
Cthulhu meets Bolo. That’s horror done right.
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Lela E. Buis
Aug 19, 2017 @ 03:05:52
The Shirley Jackson award includes dark fantasy, doesn’t it? You’re right it can be hard to tell the difference.
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