Review written by staff member Katie
The Werewolf Handbook: An Essential Guide To Werewolves And, More Importantly, How To Avoid Them
Robert Curran
Summary:
Werewolves are more popular than ever–thanks largely to recent film hits–and this highly entertaining new title tells readers everything they’ve ever wanted to know about those terrifying preternatural members of the canis lupus family. Newcomers to werewolf lore will be surprised to learn that there are many different werewolf varieties. Alphas are the leaders, and Betas are unwilling but deadly members of a werewolf pack. But there are also Benandanti, holy men who change into wolves in order to do battle with witches . . . and Loup-garoux, werewolves who can change from man to wolf even during daylight hours. The more ordinary werewolves achieve their terrible transformations from man to beast only by the light of the Moon. Author Robert Curran also notes that Christopher, the mysterious saint venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, has many werewolf characteristics. In addition, this book tells readers where werewolves live, describes their telltale traits, such as hairy palms, advises on how to avoid becoming a werewolf, and gives tips on what werewolf victims should do when they are attacked. More than 100 moody and atmospheric color illustrations accompany this intensely readable text. Source: Amazon
Review:
I’ve never been much of a big werewolf kind of gal (Can’t help it I like vampires better.) but reading this ‘handbook’ made learning about werewolves very interesting and insightful.
Finding out that most werewolf facts we learn from watching movies are false was a bit of a shock to men. I mean I know TV and movies are mostly fake, but normally that are at least some part true. Something else I never knew is that you can still be called a ‘were’ even if you aren’t a wolf. Like if you change in to a jaguar or even a bear.
You know personally I don’t think you can have a handbook with out telling the tale of the original story of that certain species. So Curran really hit it on the mark when he told the story of the Lycaon. I have never heard about the origin of werewolves before, learning about it from this book was great. Especially because of the vivid pictures on each page. Another story that I had never heard before and that was absolutely heart wrenching was the tale of The GahDillian Family. That poor little girl just got torn to pieces by the towns people because she was bloody and had some scratches on her. Hello did they ever think that maybe she also got attached by the wolf?
Over all another great handbook has been produced by Robert Curran and the publishers over at Barron’s. It’s a great knowledgeable quick read. I actually wish it was longer. Just like Biblio Vampire, it was very well put together and the pages where done so professional. Curran did a fantastic job collecting all of this information and displaying it to us readers in a understandable way. I know I have tried to look for information on werewolves before and couldn’t come up with anything really substantial, so it’s great to have it all in front of me now.
The one thing I would like to know is how Robert Curran knows how to spot a werewolf? Who knew they had a longer ring finger!
