Who’s Afraid? by Maria Lewis: Book Review

Stars: 4/5

What is this about?: Tommi Grayson goes looking for her father and discovers she’s a werewolf. What follows is her introduction into the world, and Lorcan, her guardian.

Is there anything else you should know?: Tommi is a complicated character away from her supernatural life. She’s gone through an emotional upheaval in her life and is trying to make sense of herself when the werewolf revelation happens. She’s an only child, and does make attachments easily, I think, which means she’s used to being alone; to dealing with things on her own.

Should you read this: Oh yes, definitely! And leave your urban fantasy expectations at the door.

Blurb: This is the story of Tommi, a young Scottish woman living an ordinary life, who stumbles violently into her birthright as the world’s most powerful werewolf. The sudden appearance of a dark, mysterious (and very attractive) guardian further confuses her as her powers begin to develop and she begins to understand that her life can never be the same again. The reader will be swept up in Tommi’s journey as she’s thrown into the middle of a centuries-old battle and a world peopled with expert warriors and vicious enemies – this is the start of a series – and a world – you will fall in love with.

You know you’ve been reading the same kind of urban fantasy for far too long when your mind starts leaping to conclusions of events in a new book you’re reading, even before you’ve turned the page to actually find out what’s going to happen. … Actually, that’s probably an indication that urban fantasy is getting way too comfortable and familiar in some ways, no matter what you’re reading.

Who’s Afraid? kept me on my toes. And that’s because of Tommi.

The thing that caught my attention about Who’s Afraid? was the cover: first up, Tommi is fully clothed, which in the genre that is fond of leather-clad heroines, with knives and cropped tops, showing off as much skin as possible, such a difference matters to me. Second, it’s the blue hair and the title: it’s a question and a challenge, and it made me wonder for whom it was intended.

But, now to the story: like I mentioned above, Tommi is going through a huge upheaval in her life when the book opens and understandably, she goes looking for answers about who she is. That takes her to New Zealand in search of her father and a family she has never known anything about. She gets her answers, ones she doesn’t really want in fact, before she realises she’s a werewolf and part of a bigger world completely.

Tommi is going to pull you in; she’s the fun, sharp and witty friend you’ll always wish you were more like, even as you realised she’s got depths she isn’t sharing — that’s who Tommi reminds me of, and I think we all know someone like that.

One of the strongest parts of this book is that the author pulls no punches in Tommi’s story — she deals with ugly revelations, and actions and doesn’t come out of it unscathed. For me, this showed how Tommi was as an only child: used to hiding her emotions if they hurt those she loved, but those sorts of things always come bubbling up when you least expect them. That’s an important part of Tommi, I think, and will probably land her in more trouble in the future, but that’s why characters grow, heh.

Along with an introduction to her father’s side of the family, the book is about Tommi’s introduction to the supernatural world. Lorcan is her guide in the latter, making Tommi’s learning experience the reader’s learning experience at the same time. Her father’s side of the family isn’t as quick to let Tommi go and that part of the story simmers in the background through the book until its conclusion, and I suspect will continue to be there in the next books.

Lewis has taken a different tack, I think, with Tommi’s story. Sure, she’s learning to control and understand her werewolf side with Lorcan’s guidance, but Lewis has built a background for Tommi that includes character traits that weave themselves into her werewolf nature, so that in the end, Tommi already has the tools to deal with much of what her werewolf nature brings because she’s been dealing with aspects of them her whole life.

That’s rather long-winded isn’t it? Think of it this way: Tommi isn’t going to spontaneously learn how to control anything, but she’s got the tools and training in her background already to make what training she does go through  different to the norm in urban fantasy. And all this is a relief in a genre that tends to have heroines either learn too quickly or not quickly enough about the powers they come into.

Lewis, an Australian author, has surrounded Tommi with a very small cast of characters — you get the sense that Tommi doesn’t make friends easily, but when she does they’re kind of it for her, which will tell you a lot about who Tommi is. Lorcan, her guardian, is included in this cast of characters by necessity before they learn about each other in their training sessions together, signalling the evolution of their relationship. He’s an enigma, a confusing one for her, and it’s clear that Tommi can deal with the casual nature of a relationship, but when things get complicated, she’s at a loss as to what to do. I don’t know if that means the will-they-or-won’t-they will be resolved soon, but the journey there should be … tempestuous to say the least.

Another highlight of the story is the locations — Scotland and New Zealand and somewhere entirely different is promised by the book’s ending. Lewis is from New Zealand and has travelled to Scotland to ensure the accuracy of her writing, which makes me want Tommi to hurry up and get to her next destination! I might be a wee too used to books set in the US, I think. The locations also help weave Tommi’s biracial heritage into the story. It’s a fundamental part of who she is, and shouldn’t be ignored by readers — or publishers. Diversity like this should be welcomed.

So, welcome to a new world in urban fantasy! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!