Learn to Howl series
by Jennifer R. Donohue
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted March 7, 2024
Edits and Addendum on July 21
1. Learn to Howl / 2. Baying the Moon / 3. The Company of Wolves (due September 10)
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Learn to Howl is the seventh of Donohue's books I have read within the past five months. Five were novellas, this being the second novel, and also the beginning of a trilogy. In some ways it is similar to her Run with the Hunted series, but with one major twist. All of the main characters are werewolves, but again, with a twist. Forget Lawrence Talbot, or those American guys in London and Paris. These werewolves are not created from the bite or scratch from another werewolf. It is all genetic, although there are differences between various families. They are not limited to transforming under a full moon. They can change at will, day or night, any time of year, and they become indistinguishable from normal wolves. No intermediary steps; no bipedal human/wolf hybrid. In the Culver family all children are girls, and almost all are werewolves, even though they may not exhibit that nature until their teen years. It is not necessarily related to puberty, or if it is it might be inhibited by certain drugs or herbal concoctions. For the main character, Allie (full name Alleluia), her first transformation didn't occur until she was seventeen. It happened as a result of trauma, when she was attacked by a boy after a party. She doesn't recall all the details of that encounter until later, when she is relieved to find out she had not killed the boy.
The werewolf gene skipped Allie's mother, perhaps because she was one of a set of twins. Her twin, Dulcie, and her other siblings Rachel and Sela, are werewolves. Allie lived with her parents and two young brothers in Alabama. After the attack, when her mother realized Allie had transformed, she packs her up and takes her to her sisters in New Jersey, dropping Allie off unceremoniously, not bothering to talk to her sisters. It is the first time Allie knew she had aunts other than her father's sisters. She has a rough time adjusting, since her mother had not told her anything about the family situation, what she might expect, hoping of course that it wouldn't happen. Rachel is the oldest, very abrupt and domineering. Dulcie is more reassuring and supportive. Sela is shy, and mostly incommunicative. Things continue in a hapazard fashion for a few weeks or months, Allie frustrated because the others think she should know what they expect of her. The only thing she had managed, other than knowing how to transform at will, is developing her heightened senses of smell and hearing, along with a little more strength. Then Rachel asks her to perform a task, to bail out her daughter Morgan from jail. Yet another new thing for her to accept, a werewolf cousin.
The major action begins when Allie and Morgan return to find their house on fire, the other women missing, and quite a bit of blood. They manage to retrieve a few things before they run, and after Morgan had searched in the woods, where she saw a departing truck she is sure she could identify. The Culvers had had conflicts with the Ward family over the years, but nothing this serious. All of the Ward werewolves were men. Bill Ward is able to convince Morgan that truck had been stolen, and he has a suspicion of who may have taken the Culver women, so they join forces to go after them. This is the part that reminded me a bit of Run with the Hunted, particularly the second story, where they had to rescue one of their team from government agents. In this case it is a secretive medical experimentation group known as Silvernail. The Wards had been surveilling them for quite a while, so they go to one of their facilities in Pennsylvania, but only Sela is there. Rachel and Dulcie may be somewhere in Georgia, so they head south.
Allie is telling her own story, so it makes sense there is little information about her situation in the beginning, and by the end of this book she is still learning. I expected some betrayal by the Wards, and there may have been a little in Georgia, since they were more interested in what information Silvernail had on them, less interested in the Culvers. Morgan had forced their hand into taking action, and there was noticeable tension between them. Only a couple of the Wards were sympathetic to them, one a computer tech who provided them with intel from stolen computer drives. I expected Joe Ward might be inclined to join up with the Culvers full time, since his family was very condescending to him. I won't reveal why that might be though. Something that might surprise, even disappoint some readers; most of the story has the characters as their human selves. They had to be cautious not to reveal themselves to others, especially when they might be on security cameras. On more than one occasion I though Allie might accidentally transform due to stress and worry, but that didn't happen. This is a combination of werewolf coming-of-age tale, and high action and suspense. Several sympathetic characters, others that will irritate you, some that will fill you with suspicious dread. Recommended. I will follow up on the series soon, the second book due in July..
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Posted July 21, 2024
My review will be brief to avoid spoilers. The cover image to the left looks more like a bear, but I assume it is supposed to be John Doe, a real wolf (not werewolf) that Allie rescued from the Silvernail labs in Georgia. She is the one who gave him that name, not Silvernail, when she bought a collar and name tag later. She also constructed an enclosure for him, but occasionally takes him out for walks in the woods, but she knows it is in his best interests to find a sanctuary. Both the Culvers and the Wards have several different sanctuaries of their own, and they are forced to move after conflicts with Silvernail.
It is not clear how long the Wards had known about Silvernail, but that was new information for the Culvers in the first book. They had been content to remain isolated in the Pine Barrens, then Silvernail found them. Rachel resented Morgan's impestuosness, her insistence on taking action. The older Wards may have felt the same, wanting to remain undercover for as long as possible. But it is no longer possible, and Morgan wants to take the fight to Silvernail, no matter how uneven the odds. Allie is still learning how to be a werewolf, how to integrate with another family, made more stressful when she learns disturbing news about her mother. She isn't sure she likes Morgan, but she does trust her, so goes along with her schemes, one of which ends with Allie being shot in the shoulder. With a silver bullet.
Again, some readers may be disappointed with so few scenes of them in their werewolf personas. Only once with Morgan and Allie, but it is possible some of the others did on other occasions but not depicted. They only did it in isolated situations. Silvernail knew about them, but they needed to keep that nature hidden from the general public. There are several scenes of intense action, of chase and pursuit, feint and attack, but this book ends on a much gentler note than I expected. I thought they were headed into another trap, but of course that trap might be about to close, but we won't know until the third book, which is due in September. I will pre-order as soon as it's available, and I recommend you catch up on the story before then.
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