Book Review: “Kane”, first book of the series “Wolfwere” by Dick Wybrow

Reading time: 3 mins

I am wolf.

★★★★★

I know I just wrote My Top 5 Books of 2023 list, but Kane by Dick Wybrow must be the best book I read in 2023 so far!!

I was browsing on NetGalley, when this title and cover caught my attention. I have to admit I’ve never read anything from the author before, although now his books made it into my asap tbr.

So I read the synopsis to see what it was about, and:

Kane was a wolf until he was bitten by a man. He’s now a six-foot-seven French-Canadian searching for the guy who infected him, so he can return to his pack.

How was I supposed to resist? I loved the fact that the author thought of swapping the roles in the werewolf legend. As he put it at the end of the book, this is something that stuck with him from the aphorism in journalism: man bites a dog, a shortened version of “When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news.”, a quote of uncertain origins.

So yeah, I was already invested in Kane and his quest to find his pack again.

Oh, but it gets better:

But nothing could have prepared Emelda Throne for what happens when Kane steps into the moonlight. Despite what the legends say, he doesn’t become some snarling werewolf. She’s only seen him turn into dogs. Usually tiny dogs.

Kane, not knowing how to drive and read properly, will receive help from Emelda, or Sad Girl as he calls her, a girl with a difficult past. I should point out that this book has more than one trigger warning: suicide and animal abuse being the main ones, but… well, if you don’t like gory horror, maybe skip some paragraphs. If you do like it, you’re in for a treat.

This book was so unusual, and not just because Dick Wybrow played and messed around with the Lycan trope (pun not intended). That was actually so refreshing! No – I’m also talking about the style in which it is written.

I’m glad I gave this book a fair shot, because it took me some pages before getting used to it. The style didn’t convince me, and I was really afraid I had to give up and mark as a DNF, while still burning with curiosity. Luckily it was easy to slip into the author’s narrative, and even easier to love it from the first chapters (yes, style included!).

The story is fast paced, so even if there is no info-dumping, we’re thrown right in the middle of it.

It starts at a gas station: first the story is told from a third perspective, then from Emelda’s point of view, revealing also something from her past, and finally from Kane’s. What a way to introduce the uniqueness of Kane! Already then I started to fall in love with him, but by the end of the book, I was absolutely smitten. That wouldn’t surprise him one bit, but he would remind me that he already has a wolf wife.

That being said, it’s not the only character with which you’ll form a bond – Dick Wybrow has a charismatic way of describing and outlining not just the main characters, but sidekicks too. The characters come to life, and you really wish they could.

Final Thoughts

Between mystery, creepy creatures lurking in the shadows, and a mix of witty and naive humor, the pages are fast turned. Kane was a great discovery, one of those very few books, which I can count on the fingers of one hand, that made me want to start reading it all over again before I even put it down after the last page. I know it’s supposed to be an sci-fi/horror book, but… the relationship between Kane and Sad Girl! I got watery eyes, and I’m completely invested in this story. Usually I prefer to read series all at once without having to wait years, so I was taken aback when I discovered Kane was the first book of the series Wolfwere (brilliant!). Now I couldn’t be happier, being this a book worth the wait, and of which I wouldn’t be able to get enough of.

“You and me are doing this,” I said. “You have lost your pack for now. I get that. But I’m the one helping you get back to them. So for now, we are a pack.”
Under his thick brow, Kane’s eyes widened.
“We are a pack, you and me,” I said. “We do this together.”

**Thanks to NetGalley, Dick Wybrow, and Dee Dub Publishing for an ARC of this book.**