Werewolves

All right, let me get one thing out of the way: Yes, I read this book because of the Netflix series. I have a sick compulsion to read books that movies or television shows are based on so I can understand the source material and supposedly have a greater appreciation for the adaptation. Note the use of the word “supposedly.”

Now for a second disclosure: I have not finished watching the Netflix series yet. I'm about halfway through it at the time of this writing. While the Netflix show seems relatively faithful to the source material...well, that's not necessarily a good thing. I've delayed writing this review because I've had trouble figuring out a nice way to describe how much I disliked this book (for example, I was going to mention how this book is on par with Twilight but with homosexual undertones, but saying this book has undertones would be giving it too much credit for subtlety) . I wouldn't go so far as to simply rewrite Roger Ebert's infamous review of “North,” but this book is still pretty bad.

Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy primarily follows Peter Rumancek, a Gypsy teenager who has recently moved to the town of Hemlock Grove (and the novel's resident werewolf) and meets rich kid Roman Godfrey, who Peter identifies as an upir. While there's no direct explanation what an upir is until the end, it doesn't take much work to figure it out. After some gruesome murders of local teenage girls, the two decide that it's up to them to find out who is responsible. Why them and not the police? Because we wouldn't have much of a story then, would we?

This where things begin to fall apart and fast. These two teenagers are actually stupid enough to think that it's up to them to solve these murders. Aside from the supernatural element that they detect, why them? It doesn't help that these characters are never made out to be smart in any other respect. Roman is a pompous, self-centered rich kid and the only person he cares about other than himself is his sister, Shelley, who has her own mysteries, and his cousin Letha, to a lesser extent. Peter has some street smarts. Some. But he doesn't have much else other than his werewolf sense powers.

A big problem with this novel is that it doesn't take much work to figure anything out. The references to classic monsters of horror are numerous, and pretty much slap you in the face (Shelley is a blatant reference to Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein). While I am ragging on it, this is probably the most clever part of the book. The author also drenches the prose in symbolism. You can't get away from it, but it doesn't add anything to the book. It adds no mystery, and is nothing but a distraction without any real payoff. It becomes obvious very quickly who the killer is. As for other side stories, these don't provide much mystery or payoff, either.

Now, I've seen mysteries that aren't really mysteries before, and these tend to be used as character vehicles, so while we don't get attached to the story, we still want to follow the characters. But with Hemlock Grove, I didn't want to follow the characters, either. They're just so stupid and unlikable. Roman is a spoiled rich brat, Peter is rather two-dimensional, Olivia Godfrey is just a nasty control-freak, Letha is a ditz, and Dr. Pryce (guess who he's a reference to) is a creep. The most interesting and sympathetic character is Shelley, because she's the only one that shows any real character development. And she doesn't even talk.

Overall, Hemlock Grove is a bloody mess. While there are a couple of minor elements that could be called clever, the characters and story are so dumb and predictable that I would have to say this book should be skipped. Don't fall prey to my problem. You don't need (or should even want) to read the source material if you're only interested in the Netflix series. Move along, and avoid this one.

Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy earns 1 Ouroboros out of 5. ( )

Found out about this book after reading about upcoming tvshows. It sounds...well interesting

Brian McGreevy has managed to scrape the muck and Meyer off the genre and made teenage werewolves and vampires cool again. Sorta. Never much a fan for the supernatural, I confess that I had to force myself several times to put this book down in order to work, take care of my kid, and other responsibilities. There covers are packed with literary allusions, psychological aspects, and an in depth understanding of the occult (or at least reads like it). And the Frankenstein-like subplot? What more can a reader ask for? ( )

What a mess this book was. The only thing I found interesting at all was the reluctant friendship between Peter and Roman that eventually turned into a real frienship. The idea that werewolves know about upirs and vice versa (a certain kinship exists between them) was an interesting idea that I wish had been explored more. Instead we have a dubious plot, terrible dialogue, underdeveloped characters, a rape scene, and casual slurs flung about throughout the book.

The book starts off with a young 13 year old girl named Christina Wendall who has a crush on Peter Rumancek who older and who we find out fairly early in the book is a werewolf. Christina quizzes Peter is he a werewolf since the first two fingers of his hand are equal in length which makes him a werewolf (I have never heard of this before) and from there rumors are fueled by Christina telling everyone that Peter is a werewolf after a young girl's mutilated body is found.

Roman Godfrey who has a whole mess of problems, finds himself growing more fascinated with Peter. He has heard the rumors about him and then just asks him is he behind the girl being found dead. Peter admits to being a werewolf (he seriously just tells everyone he meets it seems) but says he didn't do it, and instead thought that Roman had did it.

The not so dynamic duo then and investigate (poorly) and end up getting into more trouble.

There are other characters in this book that we don't delve into much at all.

We have Roman's mother Olivia and his sister Shelley. Shelley is 7 feet tall, has gray skin, and has her feet in cubes that have soil in them. Yeah I don't know either. The fact that she goes to school and no one blinks at her much didn't so believable to me. Also her backstory was confusing. Roman talks about Shelley being dead and then not dead and I imagine something was done to her, but it's a bunch of allusions thrown around and I got tired of it.

Olivia has the most interesting backstory of all of the characters, we don't find out much about her to the very end of the book. But, I have to say, the way she was connected to some of the other characters in this book though interesting, didn't sound very plausible. And I have to say that once I found out what Olivia was behind was terrible. And it didn't make a lot of sense either.

Roman's cousin Letha is hard to get a sense of I thought. She is pregnant by someone she calls an angel and though she initially doesn't like Peter, finds herself attracted to him, and then decides she loves him. It seriously came out of nowhere.

Peter's mother Lynda doesn't seem to do much but worry about feeding him. And she also doesn't seem to mind being around Roman or Olivia. She was not as developed as she was in the television series which was unfortunate.

The writing was problematic. I just got tired of reading someone calling another person a "faggot" or saying that they were not a "homo". There was a really disturbing rape scene and it made me despise one character for the rest of the book. I don't know why this was even included in the book. Heck I don't know why a lot of things were included in this book. Roman at one point talks about a mythical Order of Dragon that his mother told him about. And we get a look at these people in this book who just seem to be a joke. And once again it is alluded to that most of the order are homosexual and have a need for the patriarchal order. I felt like McGreevy thought everything (even breathing air) was homosexual in nature.

The dialogue between characters (the little there was) was cloaked most of the time and the only time any of it rang true was when Roman and Peter interacted because at least they acted like teenagers.

We have different writing styles (letters/email from one character to another, transcript between one character interviewing another) and flashback format/letter from one character to another. I think at one point I just said, okay then.

The flow wasn't great. I think that jumping around too much and trying to not explain things at all hampered the story. For example, both boys make mention of how weird Hemlock Grove is and that they both feel something in the ground or down below. And that's all we hear about it. I don't know if they are talking about a demon or what. It was just odd.

The setting of Hemlock Grove is a fictional small town in Pennsylvania. I really wish that the author actually included some things besides the stupid White Tower he kept mentioning and the old mill. I needed more details. Also just randomly discussing the Steelers does not equal Pennsylvania. And at once point McGreevy mentions Roman I think going to Shadyside and how it was a quick trip. That gave me a hard pause because I then wondered how small could this town be if it was that close to Shadyside. Also why in the world would the FBI not be there after the first two murders. I just had a lot of questions with no real answers to anything.

The ending was a mess. I don't even know what to say. I know that McGreevy apparently doesn't plan on writing a sequel to this book and I would have to say thank goodness. Especially if his books were going to follow seasons 2 and 3 of Hemlock Grove which actually went from bad to worse. ( )