2005 urban fantasy, first in a series. Kitty Norville is a late-night
DJ; one night she gets a call from someone who claims vampires are
real, someone else says that werewolves are too, and lots of other
people seem to want to talk about them. Which is tricky, because she's
been a werewolf herself for three years.
This is an antidote to the sort of werewolf fantasy (not looking
at any Kelley Armstrong in particular) where The Pack is all and
perfect, and the big macho guy in charge of it is the ideal
lust-object. That's what Kitty's wolf instincts are telling her, and
where she is mentally at the start of the book; but as she develops
some independence thanks to the success of the radio show, she comes
to realise that the human side of her is simply better equipped for
living in a world where she's actually people, not just a particularly
smart animal. And sometimes a big macho guy is just a bully.
That transition does mean that for much of the first half she's a very
damaged individual in an abusive relationship, and doesn't realise it.
While there's a substantial series of Kitty books after this one, here
at least she's definitely undergoing a transformation from
bottom-of-the-hierarchy doormat into something more interesting.
There are other things happening – a rogue werewolf killing people, an
assassin who specialises in supernatural creatures, a dodgy-looking
cult that promises to cure vampirism and lycanthropy, a bureaucrat
from the federal government who's trying to get some attention for his
report on supernatural creatures that's been quietly buried by people
who don't want to talk about them – but the main story here is of
Kitty's growth.
"I'm a vampire. I was attacked and turned involuntarily about five
years ago. I'm also—at least I used to be—a devout Catholic. It's
been really… hard. All the jokes about blood and the Eucharist
aside—I can't walk into a church anymore. I can't go to Mass. And I
can't kill myself because that's wrong. Catholic doctrine teaches
that my soul is lost, that I'm a blot on God's creation. But
Kitty—that's not what I feel. Just because my heart has stopped
beating doesn't mean I've lost my soul, does it?"
The book is well-paced and not over-long, and even when she's being a
doormat Kitty seems to retain some sense of humour. Recommended.
Followed by Kitty Goes to Washington.
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