Claire de Lune

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Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

I really liked this book. It's YA fantasy about werewolves. It's got a lot of the typical YA and coming-of-age themes and the standard humans-don't-like-weres plotline. But, what is soooo exciting is that these are female werewolves and werewolves are a matriarchal society!

I am so sick of reading an interesting werewolf story only to turn the page and read about women or female werewolves being raped, mauled, or killed just because they are women. I really hate it. Fantasy is rife with rape as a plot twist (woman/girl is raped and suddenly finds the strength to fight, or girl gets raped so lover/father decides to fight), and I hate that too, but the "werewolves are patriarchal so misogyny is natural" bullshit drives me crazy. This has none of that! It's wonderful. I'm so happy.

The book is fairly well written too, easy to read. There are a few parts that are a little forced, but the heroine is likable and the mistakes she makes are logical for her situation. The plot unfolds naturally, though there are a couple of points that I think could have been handled more subtly. But really it is very enjoyable. Go read it or give it to someone who likes fantasy--or give it to someone stuck on Twilight (I think it's an pretty good antidote). I will most certainly read whatever Johnson publishes next.

Someone recommended this on their blog, but I don't remember who! I thought it was one the blogs I read regularly, but I can't find the post in the archives I've searched. If you recommended it on your blog, thank you.