'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Tuesday 6 April 2021

Review: The Werewolves Who Weren't

After Sam, half-monster/half-fairy, escapes the monsters [The Monster  Who Wasn’t: The Imp Child] following the defeat of Thunderguts, the chief ogre, he is overjoyed when his adoption into the Kavanagh family is formalised and he can begin to live like a real human. 

Of course, attending secondary school presents quite a challenge, given he has never been to school before let alone sat listening to strange lessons about something called ‘The Great War’ but his new friends – Amira, Wilfred and and Hazel - are a big help to his settling in, once they are past their initial suspicions about him. 

It is their acute sense of smell that make them wonder about Sam and he discovers that each is a shifter, twin-souled creatures who can transform into dogs, most definitely not werewolves.

Sam hasn’t been abandoned by his tribe either. His pack of gargoyles are still looking out for him, especially while Daniel, the awkward angel, has gone back to be ‘re-trained'. 

Just as Sam’s new life appears to be gaining some stability and, for the first time in his life, he feels loved and cared for, things start to go awry.

Dog-napping has become endemic and Sam’s new friends are certainly targets. Then a mysterious man, known to be involved with these crimes, appears purporting to be Sam’s real father and he must go with him for at least a ‘short time’, as he’s told by his social worker.

Sam’s troubles are far worse than trying to rescue his friends and the other stolen shifters/dogs. The Queen of the Fairies wants him for her own nefarious purposes and her henchman, the cruel and vicious pseudo-father, Woermann, begins a transformation that is both frightening and dangerous to them all.

Sam has no idea how he is going to be able to help his friends, save himself from a terrible fate and get back to his loving new family but with grit, determination, and resilience he is able to work together with his pack, his pup friends and his own inner magical powers to overcome all obstacles.

This magical series is loaded with so much action and adventure that it cannot fail to engage readers from around mid-primary upwards and the ongoing themes of loyalty, trust, acceptance of differences and true friendship are most welcome.

Title: The Werewolves Who Weren’t
Author: T C Shelley
Publisher: Bloomsbury, $14.99
Publication date: September 2020
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781526600806
For ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction