Book Review: Motherland by Mark Jonathan Runte

Genre(s): Urban Fantasy

Book Synopsis:

Kseniya and Semyon only ever knew loyalty to their country, until the death of a policeman forced them to run, raising their children as refugees and then as English. But their pasts were never far behind them, nor was caution for being what they were. Their safety isn’t the only thing at stake, it’s the safety of their children and the lives they built together in London.

Review:

I knew pretty much nothing about this book before diving in. What the synopsis doesn’t tell you is that it’s a story about werewolves during the final years of the Cold War (this is revealed within the first 10% of the book, so I don’t feel it’s a spoiler to mention it.)

The story revolves around Kseniya (aka Rose) and Semyon (aka William) as they work undercover, flee to England, and try to raise a family. And there are some unusual challenges to the last item, given that they’re werewolves trying to blend in to a human society.

While I liked the idea of this story, I did have a one big issue with it (and it’s mostly due to personal taste.) It skips through time pretty quickly, with some chapters set several years apart. The time skips worked okay most of the time, but sometimes the gaps were a little jarring, with little to no buildup toward some of the most pivotal scenes. I wish there had been a little more meat to this story, a little more tension, and some more detail regarding the werewolves themselves.

I understand that this is a prequel to the author’s novel Eve, so I have to assume some of what is missing in Motherland is discussed there (but I don’t know for sure.) I plan to read Eve soon, so hopefully I’ll learn more then.

There were also several “deleted scenes” included at the end, but since that’s not really my thing, I didn’t read those. I know some people enjoy additional content of that nature, but it’s not for me. Because of that, it’s possible some of the details I felt were lacking were actually addressed at some point—and if that’s the case, I really wish those deleted scenes had been included in the final novella.

But anyway, I enjoyed the premise, and I do plan to read the related novel. It was an interesting story with a relatively unique take on werewolves, and a quick read.

Author website: authormarkjonathan.ca

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