Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: The Half Wolf
AUTHOR: Jay Northcote
NARRATOR: Hamish Long
PUBLISHER: Jaybird Press
LENGTH: 6 hours and 38 minutes
RELEASE DATE: June 24th 2021
BLURB:
Mate, family, pack, home… Can Quinn and Kellan have it all?
Quinn grew up feeling out of place in the small town he calls home. Yearning for something he can’t name, he’s always felt different but never known why.
Kellan is part of a nomadic shifter pack. When they set up camp in the woods near Quinn’s town, the humans are unwelcoming and suspicious of the newcomers. The moment Kellan catches sight – and scent – of Quinn, he knows Quinn is special. But for the first time in his life, Kellan can’t trust his instincts. Quinn is human, and Kellan is a wolf shifter, so how can they ever be mates?
Their bond is instant and exhilarating. It breaks Quinn’s heart to know their relationship can only be temporary. Love isn’t enough when pack law forbids shifters to mate with humans. Tension explodes between pack and humans, and when Quinn discovers a shocking truth about himself that changes everything, he fears he’ll have to choose between the only life he’s ever known and the man he loves.
REVIEW:
Welsh werewolves? A decades ago conflict between “shifters” and Humans has settled into an uneasy truce. Due to their genetics, shifters are humans-plus, but given their attitudes, tend to be secretive, insular, migratory and unwelcome in most “human” towns and villages. In this tale werewolf shifters are the modern day equivalent of gypsies.
Quinn, one of our main characters lives with his human aunt in a small Welsh village where he helps her run a news agent shop/convenience store. Quinn’s mom and dad both died long ago. He knows little about them, but he and his aunt Ruth get along quite happily – despite Quinn’s being the only out gay lad in the village. Quinn was outed as gay a few years back when caught “experimenting” with a school-mate.
But then a group of shifters arrive in the area. Quinn has always been a bit fascinated by the idea of shifters. He’s powerfully drawn to Kellan, a young shifter male, that he first spots skinny-dipping in the local quarry.
When Quinn forgets to take his “epilepsy meds” one day, and notices his senses seem to have improved. The story, and his fascination with Kellan, take a wild turn.
I Grew up with a mom who was bi-polar, so this story spoke to me on a different level as well. When I was young Mom had some episodes where she went off her meds, snared by the euphoria that the onset of a manic phase engenders. But things can quickly get out of control. Most of the time she felt that emotional stability was worth missing some of the elation that that impending mania engenders. Seeing the disruption that “slips” like this caused first hand, I could really sympathize with Quinn’s Aunt Ruth and her decision. And yet, seeing how Quinn was deprived of making that decision for himself, for as long as he was, did indeed feel unfair.
Ultimately this is just a book that tells a good story. Enough drama to keep it interesting, with a literal “big bad wolf” posing a real threat, and some small-town, small-minded, “shifterphobic” bigotry that made matters worse. But we’re dealing with basically good-hearted, if somewhat naive people. This has a happy ending that suggests that if we can come together and work toward the community good, things can get better.
As with so many other Jay Northcote books, Hamish Long does the narration. He gives us great pacing and ably acted male and female voices. The distinctive Welsh accents were well done. There was just enough of that English verbal class distinction present as well.
Given that bigotry (and racism?) is such a factor in this story, the one accent that seemed just a bit off was the one “American southern” accent. That accent was attributed to Sam, a building contractor. It’s pretty clear from the text that he’s African-American. While his accent clearly sounded “American,” it had more of a creasotey “cowboy twang” of the west, rather than a molasses coated “southern” feel as suggested in the text. And while race isn’t always evident in an accent, it generally is a component. So much so that this mid-western born-and-raised “yank” has been surprised a few times to learn that a particular voice actor is black after hearing no clue in their vocals.
This low angst tale of first love is definitely a title that will make it into my frequent re-listen queue.
RATING: 
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