Claire de Lune (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Claire de Lune April Spisak Johnson, Christine . Claire de Lune. Simon Pulse, 2010. [352p]. ISBN 978-1-4169-9182-3 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 8-10. Claire wanted nothing more than a successful pool party and a chance to flirt with her crush Matthew for her sweet sixteen, but her discovery that she is actually a werewolf changes her birthday considerably. Suddenly, Claire finds the hunting of werewolves a very personal matter indeed, and her crush has become much more dangerous (Matthew's father is head of the force against werewolves). Romance, werewolf hunts, family drama (her mother is also a werewolf, forced to keep this aspect of their lives secret until Claire came of age), and transformations abound as Claire tries to make sense of her altered world. The protagonist is carefully developed: she is both realistically cranky about her loss of a normal life and intrigued and thoughtful about the new possibilities offered. Thrilling scenes where the [End Page 485] all-female pack of werewolves hunt prey, race through forests, and communicate as animals rather than women are powerful and primal, and they contrast nicely with scenes where Claire desperately tries to find the sense of meaning she used to find in her friends, summer plans, and typical teen woes. Fans of Klause's Blood and Chocolate (BCCB 7/97) will be quite pleased to see another tough, sexually aware, conflicted but resilient heroine added to the typically male-dominated werewolf subgenre. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois