Review: Big Bad Wolf

If this book could be summed up in a few words, they would probably be “gratuitous smut”.

Then again, this is a Christine Warren book, so instead of being a normal PWP (read: Porn Without Plot), there’s actually some character strife/development involved.

Big Bad Wolf is part of The Others verse, a world occupied by humans and shifters, a curious race of magical folk that run the gamut from wolves to various animals of the savannah (if you haven’t already been mentally scarred by Warren’s rendition of lion sex, here’s your chance). The story is pretty much a fluffier rehash of one of Warren’s previously published stories, Fur Factor.

The story centers around Melissa “Missy” Jane Roper, your run-of-the-mill kindergarten teacher who snags the interest of the Alpha of the Silverback Clan, Graham Winters. If you’ve already read Fur Factor, then you pretty much know how the plot goes from there – Graham gets challenged by Curtis, a pregnant lady runs from a pack of wolves in a lycra bodysuit (because it’s just so safe and exciting that that shit needs to be made into a national sport), yada yada yada.

Warren’s made a few changes from the older, more hardcore version of the story – basically, just tossed a bunch of euphemisms in for genitalia, cut out the parts which were too raunchy, added some bits in to pad out the middle… Basically, it’s Fur Factor Lite.

That said, Big Bad Wolf was a fairly fluffy read (as fluffy as smut goes, anyway). Recommended for fans of Warren’s works, or those hoping to venture into the raunchier realms of paranormal fiction.

Plot/originality: 2.5/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 8.5/15

Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

To put it plainly: I love The Olympians series. Rick Riordan manages to spin a vibrant and captivating story told from the eyes of 12 year old Perseus (Percy) Jackson, a boy who suddenly finds himself dragged from the relative safety of his snobbish boarding school into a world he had never before imagined – Camp Half-Blood. As it turns out, Percy is no ordinary boy. He’s part of a morbid prophecy foretelling the doom of the realm of the Greek gods. When his godly heritage is revealed, things take a turn for the worse when he gets accused of stealing Zeus’s  lightning bolt.

Together with his newly acquired friends Annabeth (mandatory potential love interest) and Grover (mandatory comic relief), Percy goes on his very first demigod quest to retrieve his missing mother and clear his name. Riordan’s writing is quick and snappy, painting a lively, entertaining vision of ancient Greek mythology colliding with the modern world. Two thumbs up!

(If you’ve watched the completely bastardized film adaptation of this book, well… at least Grover was funny. Percy was a complete Zac Efron clone and Annabeth was a complete disaster. The plus side: James Bond is a centaur!)

See also: Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse, Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian, The Demigod Files, Demigods and Monsters

Plot/originality: 4.5/5

Characters: 4.5/5

Writing style: 4.5/5

Total score: 13.5/15