you've got mysteries you can't hide

Sharp Teeth, by Toby Barlow
So I either want my werewolf books to move fast and have a gripping plot, or to have compelling characterization, or to be lyrically & powerfully written. Sometimes I get lucky and get all three (cf. A Companion to Wolves), but mostly I'm happy to settle for one of those. The problem I had with this book is that I get splashes of all three things I want, but not any one of them all the way through. This is not to say it's a bad book; it's not, I rather enjoyed it. But I ...

I think it's because it's written as blank verse, and thus bumps up against my Extremely Demanding Poetry Standards. If you want me to read your poem, it damn well better be polished and repolished and every damn word better be exactly the right word and you better have agonized over euphonic word choice vs. clarity of meaning for every. single. word. you. put. down. Or something close to that. I really don't think a novel about werewolves in modern L.A. should have to stand up to that kind of scrutiny, but the choice of format triggers my most precise attention. And that's an awfully high bar to clear, over the course of 308 pages. Still and all, the tasty bits were more than worth the bits where I wanted wanted wanted it to live up to its potential a little bit more. And the plot/story/characters were interesting enough that I'll keep reading Barlow's stuff, should he make more of it.
( Here are some random tasty bits, so you can see what I mean. The book had lots more than these though. Loved the Coyote/prime mover thread, frex. )

(74/300)