The Wolfen

The Wolfen is a bit of a victim of its time. The concept is brilliant, taking a fantastically convincing approach to the myth of Werewolves. Everything on the mythology side is amazingly done. However, I don't find the actual prose particularly good. This is definitely a book which tells, rather than shows. The characters almost feel like caricatures at times. Whitley writes a brilliant monster, but his humans struggle to convince. It definitely lays into some of the social mores of its era - the attitudes towards female policing, whilst undoubtedly true to when he wrote it, feel troubling to a modern reader. Based on this example I am not sure he knows how to write women. But beyond this, there is at the core a fun story. The Wolfen are an intriguing monster playing on some interesting fears. If you can get passed the very 80s writing there is quite a bit of enjoyment to be had