I reviewed this novel on 26/06/20 in a previous blog that I had, now defunct.
My name is Helena Basque. I’m sixteen years old. As a child, I was attacked by a savage wolf that killed my Grand’Mere and left me with triple scars across my face. That wolf belonged to the Lycanthru, a secret cult of men who transform into wolves to attack the innocent here in La Rue Sauvage. No one will stand up to them, so I now hunt the wolves myself with weapons that destroy them, wearing my red hood and cloak that the wolves have come to fear.
Except for one, a new Lycanthru named Grenault. Bigger, stronger, more cunning than the other wolves, and not the least bit afraid of me. I need to stop him fast, before he takes over the Lycanthru to kill me and everyone I love.
But he’s too smart and too strong, He sees me for the little girl I am, scared and defenseless without my special weapons.
And I have no idea how to stop him.
Get ready to battle the beast.
Perspective by Peter:
I was asked by the author to review this novel before its release. I am glad I did. I find that with fairy tale retellings it can either be a hit or miss. With this new offering by Randall, it is a hit!
Randall writes well and has constructed a world that is believable and imaginative. You know the storyline is set in France and rural France at that. He has depicted the small-town mentality of the people and of the era. They know each other, rely on each other, a close community and their civility is a strong part of this. I can just hear the French accent as I read the French names of Helena's town, La Rue Sauvage, the Inn, La Maison de Touraine, the iron forge, L’atelier de Forgeron de Leone and the villager's names with the titles Madame, Monsieur, Mademoiselle, first names, Pierre (my namesake!) and Lisette, Thayer, Grenault, Luc, Frayne, surnames such as Grenault, Deveraeux, Verona and Leone, to name a few.
This fitted in well with my love of the French language, having learnt this in secondary school (high school for my American readers). My name can be said in any language and in French it is Pierre Jeunemari! (Jeune = Young and Mari= Husband). Randall could use this for any new names in this series!
Randall starts the novel off with action and suspense. This sets the pace for this novel. It does not let up. Helena is in the thick of it, albeit a victim of physical abuse and bullying in the opening scenes but then we discover she is a victim of a wolf attack as the backdrop to the fairy tale that most of us grew up with. It is here that Randall comes into his own.
The rest of the novella is about how she had grown up seeking the skills to exact revenge on the wolf pack that attacked her and killed her grandmere (grandmother). And this lends itself to the character of Helena and enables us to get to know her, sympathise with her and her reality and commit our support to her. You instantly take sides of the protagonist here. Maybe we are already biased and have given her our support from reading the fairy tale as an impressionable child?
Randall not only keeps the wolf species of the fairy tale, but gives it a supernatural twist. This is just not the natural wolf as we know them, but has depicted them as Lycanthru (literally wolfman), a secret cult of men who transform into wolves to attack the innocent. This is the supernatural element but also that they can do this by dabbling into dark magic that enables them to still talk, think and fight like men. They need a sulphurous potion (in vials) to ingest that enables them to do so.
For added suspense, mystery, action and adventure, Randall has depicted Grenault as an invincible lycanthru, bigger, stronger, smarter than the rest of them and whose sole purpose is to be the next Prime (alpha male and wolf) to rule over the town and his pack. Total control and total submission with fear and trembling!
The main thrust of this novella is a battle for Helena to overcome her fear and intimidation of her past and to be free of this scourge and to defeat the lycanthru. She is successful in killing all the members of Grenault's pack, except for him. He is her ultimate challenge and a formidable opponent. After identifying her weaknesses as immaturity of age (16 years) and her gender being no challenge to his reign of terror, he plays on these in his fight against her. It is a war of words and physical strength. He demeans and wears her down by intimidation in words, behaviour, physical strength, and size. But her defence is not of this, but other tactics such as her faith and the use of other weapons that Pierre and Francois provide and spiritual input from Father Vestille. She uses them all effectively in the end. Now she is the formidable opponent!
Randall has depicted Helena as one determined, high spirited, feisty adolescent and a very motivated one who does not see her gender as physical weakness or as socially inferior. She is the only one who has taken the responsibility to rid the town of this lycanthru scourge and threat. This is contrasted by Grenault being overconfident, arrogant, and with a distorted image of himself that he can only the one to be alpha male and lycanthru and tyrannical despot. There is also a hint of the demonic influence in him.
Despite this being a novella of 101 pages (kindle version), Randall packs a lot into this space. It works as an effective tool for the remainder of this series. I would recommend readers to subscribe to Randall's newsletter to get Book 2 as a free download, Red Rider Rising, to give the background to this first instalment. This should then tie in with Book 3 which I understand is not too far away.
This is an addictive series and I am sure one will remember this with fondness. This series could be very therapeutic in helping someone resolve any long-lasting distress from reading this as a child!
Highly Recommended.
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