CURE

A woman discovers her shape-shifting heritage in Metis’ debut urban fantasy novel.

Luna Auber works at a bakery where her preternatural ability to sense customers’ favorite flavors is put to good use. She can sometimes sense bad things as well, like the jolt she gets right before the call letting her know her brother, Daniel, is dead. Daniel died of an apparent suicide, but he left Luna a map and two tickets to Sweden. Luna doesn’t know much about their origins—she and Daniel were adopted as children—but recently, after being diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease, Daniel started trying to find answers in their genetic lineage. “You need to do this,” reads the note Daniel left Luna. “It’s the key to who we are and it’s the cure. The only cure.” Luna follows Daniel’s trail to Sweden, where she learns that Daniel did not suffer from a degenerative disease at all. Rather, she and her brother are descendants of the Birka: ancient lycanthropes, or, as they are more commonly called, werewolves. Luna will soon begin her own process of transformation—which, of course, she wants no part of. Even more horrifying is the knowledge that there are other werewolves out there…and not all of them are nice. Metis’ prose is urgent and pulpy, capturing the animalistic energy of Luna’s new life: “She tore her shirt off in readiness for the change, eager to feel her teeth lengthen to their hungry fangs. Her hands arched into sharpened claws. Her legs began to get longer, they were ready for the pounce.” The book comes up with a fun origin for the werewolves, rooting them in the pagan mists of the Viking age. Otherwise, the novel is a fairly standard urban fantasy offering. The opening is compelling, but as it progresses, the story becomes significantly less impressive. Fans of the genre may find this a passable offering, but the general reader will not lose much by skipping it.

A sometimes original but more often derivative werewolf tale.