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The Magdeburg Trilogy, Book Two: The Night Has Claws

by Kat Kruger

Since launching last fall, Fierce Ink Press, a publishing co-operative in Atlantic Canada, has primarily released YA titles in ebook or print-on-demand formats. The exception is Kat Kruger’s Magdeburg trilogy, about an unsuspecting American werewolf in Paris.

The Night Has Claws picks up the story roughly where the series’ first instalment left off, and, indeed, this is not a sequel that can be read as a standalone novel. Connor Lewis is a slightly geeky 17-year-old who has left his home in New York City to attend a prestigious private school in the City of Light. There he meets two Canadian army brats, Josh and Madison, who obviously share a complicated history.

Life away from school is also complex: Connor’s host “mother,” Amara, is a mysterious young tattoo artist whose fridge is always empty. Her dog takes an immediate dislike to Connor, its antipathy rivaled in intensity only by that of Amara’s live-in boyfriend, Arden. After he is bitten by a werewolf during a fight at a nightclub, Connor’s latent lupine DNA kicks into gear and his life is changed forever.

Kruger’s intricate plot weaves together narrative threads involving werewolves born pitted against werewolves bitten, a biotechnology corporation that is working on a “cure” for lycanthropy, a pseudo-
religious organization that dictates the laws by which all the wolves must live, and a top-secret intergovernmental European task force – the Luparii – with nefarious intents.

There is a lot to process, but the author deftly keeps all the furballs in the air. Incorporating elements of myth and religion, history and modern science, Kruger’s action-packed thriller is a smart examination of teenaged alienation and rebellion, with fully fleshed out characters and just enough kitsch to appeal to a wide variety of readers.

 

Reviewer: Dory Cerny

Publisher: Fierce Ink Press

DETAILS

Price: $12

Page Count: 270 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 978-0-99179-375-4

Released: Sept

Issue Date: 2013-12

Categories: Children and YA Fiction

Age Range: 12+

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