I really enjoyed Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter. It's an excellent story, or more precisely, series of short stories that tells the beginning and middle of a werewolf hunter's story. Unlike most urban fantasy stories, it's not really about just one hunt. I applaud the author for showing us a LOT of individual werewolf hunts that made the book much more worthwhile in my opinion. "Heart of Scars" so to speak, isn't just a guy who has gone on one werewolf hunt, he's a veteran hunter and we get to see how he earned his credentials as a hunter. A few of the hunts are especially noteworthy, including one which took place in a Mexican village that really surprised me in its audacity. By the end of the book, I felt that the protagonist had a long and storied career with potential for future installments down the road.
A warning for sensitive readers, Autobiography of a Werewolf Hunter is a story about a man who fights monsters. Both internal and external. The old Nietzsche quote is especially true as our hero, Sylvester, has to make countless moral compromises in order to fight the enemy. He does not come out of it entirely intact. A major theme is that hatred is a damning and self-destructive emotion, which is brought out by the horrible consequences to a lot of his actions. The book is also not entirely politically correct, being about a man who grew up in the 1960s and was a Vietnam war veteran on the decidedly Pro-War side. The use of the Vietnam War, I believe, is a parallel to the protagonist's werewolf hunting career in it takes him to dark places without ever really giving him sight of victory.
Really, I am grateful the author chose not to shy away from the damning effects of Sylvester's hunt. Not only do people get hurt because of his actions, innocent people do die and they do so because of him. Furthermore, it's questionable if he's entirely in the right to do so. Sylvester makes no attempt to determine if werewolves are evil to the core, he just takes it for a given and proceeds onward. Many times, it's driven home our hero is fighting for vengeance and his hatred is blind. It leads him to several rather anvilicious comparisons with other bigots in the book, which he is forced to acknowledge has some merit. Nevertheless, because all of the werewolves we encounter are pure monsters, we're able to root for him in his quest.
Some other enjoyable qualities I found about the book is that the hero is Canadian, which is rare enough in fiction. Also, I enjoyed the attention to detail paid to Native American culture as well as New Orleans voodoo. There's a certain element of Hollywoodism to both, but they're both positive portrayals that I enjoyed. One thing I definitely enjoyed was the "Magical Native American" element is removed. Our hero is partially Native American but there is nothing magical about it, it is simply part of his bloodline. Likewise, any training he gets from his mentor is explictly non-magical in nature.
8/10
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Topic: Just got this book on Kindle (Read 399 times)