Silver Moon by Catherine Lundoff: Book Review

Silver Moon by Catherine Lundoff is not your typical contemporary werewolf story.

This is a funny, thoughtful, suspenseful look at an older woman facing The Change. Except for most women, “the change” doesn’t include becoming a werewolf.

Becca Thornton figured that the quiet rural town of Wolf’s Point was a good place to sort her life out with only the occasional annoying contact from her ex-husband.

Then her world shifts on its axis due to three experiences: the first stirrings of menopause, an unexpected attraction to the woman next door, and turning into a werewolf. It turns out she’s only the latest recruit in a long local tradition for women of a certain age to be recuited as supernatural protectors of the town.

Fortunately, the local women’s club is there to help her through the changes. All of them.

The Characters

Becca Thornton is a wonderfully down-to-earth protagonist, even when she’s running through the woods on all fours. She’s confused, irritated, frustrated, angry, and sometimes terrified but always coming across in a believable fashion. You’ll recognize people you know in the lycanthropic women’s club of Wolf’s Point.

The Writing Style

The prose is smooth, transparent, and immersive, letting the action take the wheel. Although the story is woven through with allegory and metaphor, those features act to make the plot more immediate, not to make the style stand out. Becca’s experience as the newcomer in a small town is reflected in both her ordinary social interactions and her struggle with the supernatural change that’s been thrust upon her and the unfamiliar dynamics of a werewolf pack. There is a suspenseful plot around a gang promoting “lyncanthropic conversion therapy” and Becca’s ambivalence around the possibility of “being normal again” is contrasted with the romantic subplot which raises only ordinary anxieties about discovering her bisexuality.

The Pros

I loved the braiding of all the various plot strands: dramatic and humorous, romantic and dangerous. This is a very different sort of werewolf story–not the usual “sexy shapeshifter soulmates” tropes that lean heavily on the erotics of dominance and submission. Just a complex personal story of a woman going through Changes.

The Cons

No cons except that the sequel isn’t out yet as of this writing. Be aware that the story has enough thriller elements to have moments of peril.

The Conclusion

Buy this book for a complex, beautifully written story featuring an older woman who’s been around the block and is ready to tackle a new stage of life. With werewolves.

Excerpt from Silver Moon by Catherine Lundoff

Becca Thornton’s first hot flash came on suddenly and unexpectedly, superheating her body from head to toe until she was drenched with sweat. It propelled her off the couch and into the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. As the water dripped down her cheeks, she glanced at her tomato-like complexion and bit off a shriek.

There had been something new in her reflection, a flickering of golden eyes and fur, visible for the blink of an eye. Something feral and wild strained its way toward the surface behind her otherwise utterly normal features. What the hell? She closed her eyes, shutting out the hallucination or whatever it was.

Everything slowed down for a minute, as if this new wildness that lurked inside her was being locked back in its cage. When she looked again, there was nothing new and terrifying to be seen. Her own face, round and furless, stared back at her, brown eyes startled but perfectly ordinary. It was a face like that of any other woman of a certain age in a one-horse town like Wolf’s Point. For a moment, she wondered if this gradual softening and rounding of features, this planing away of the sharp edges, was what they all had in common.”

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