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Book description:

"Loup Garron was born and raised in Santa Olivia, an isolated, disenfranchised town next to a US military base inside a DMZ buffer zone between Texas and Mexico. A fugitive "Wolf-Man" who had a love affair with a local woman, Loup's father was one of a group of men genetically-manipulated and used by the US government as a weapon. The "Wolf-Men" were engineered to have superhuman strength, speed, sensory capability, stamina, and a total lack of fear, and Loup, named for and sharing her father's wolf-like qualities, is marked as an outsider.

After her mother dies, Loup goes to live among the misfit orphans at the parish church, where they seethe from the injustices visited upon the locals by the soldiers. Eventually, the orphans find an outlet for their frustrations: They form a vigilante group to support Loup Garron who, costumed as their patron saint, Santa Olivia, uses her special abilities to avenge the town.

Aware that she could lose her freedom, and possibly her life, Loup is determined to fight to redress the wrongs her community has suffered. And like the reincarnation of their patron saint, she will bring hope to all of Santa Olivia."

Carey's first chapter for this novel is available at her website. at http://www.jacquelinecarey.com/books.htm

It has been described as Ms. Carey's take on superheroes and the werewolf myth. For long time readers of her popular  epic fantasy Kushiel series, you will find this story VERY different in both writing style and story. It is an alternate earth set in the near future. And unlike her Kushiel series, she has set it not in an alternate-Earth's Europe, but more closer to our time (sometime in the near future I think) at Outpost 12, a small town trapped in a buffer zone shielding Texas from pandemic-stricken Mexico.
(can I say I love the cover? I do. Very eye-catching and superhero moody.)

The book is sort of labeled as "urban fantasy". It could also qualify for sci-fi as it deals with man-created "creatures" that are engineered. I was quite curious to see what Ms. Carey was going to do with this genre. The first few chapters deal with background on the situation with the town and how Loup came to be born there. This may sound weird, but I actually enjoyed this part the most out of the whole book. The world set up was interesting to see how the governments reacted to the situation and I enjoyed Loup's father and mothers' reaction to each other. It isn't the typical "romance" type either so if you are after warm and fuzzy, it won't be here as the book tries to keep a more gritty feel to its tone and makes their interactions more subtle or vague. Kind of sad as I liked both characters and wanted to see what could've grown out of it, but the book then focuses abruptly on the two half-siblings, Loup and her brother, Tom as certain events occur
that leaves them trying to survive without the General or anyone noticing Loup's difference which is aggravated by her not feeling fear of discovery.

A lot of the story describes the people of Outpost 12's desperate hope of having something to live for other than surviving. Something to believe in to make each day worth living. Justice, freedom and hope. Things that most of us today take for granted are things that these townspeople no longer have. Some of this is shown by their prayers to Santa Olivia to help them with the injustice that is going on. Others focus on the promise of the general who is in command of the town to allow the winner of the boxing fights freedom to the U.S. The idea of someone being able to leave Outpost 12 inspires many to enter the fights. One being Tom, Loup's half-brother, who begins to train with the hopes of winning his and his half-sister's freedom. Especially important to get his sister out of there due to her "differences".

I loved Tom. Just have to admit to this. I enjoyed his part in the story and was rooting for him just as much as the towns people do. He is just awesome. He starts off simple, but you can tell there is more layers to his character as he grows older. I think I would've liked the book better if it focused on him as I could relate to him on so many levels including his love and protectiveness towards his family.

As for Loup herself, I wasn't as able to connect with her. I think part of this is the fact that Loup is unable to feel fear. Actually, it seems like she is unable to feel anything except a sort of empty numbness and lust. That's it. No fear of anything or any one person or any situation. I never felt like I got into her head really to understand her. Only in a very shallow way if that. In some ways her character fell flat for me as the only true personality I seen out of her was in response to her romantical relationship with another character which I hate to admit bored me by the time it became obvious as that is the only feeling she really had is desire. I need more than just descriptions of desire or emptiness to understand a character. Her character improved a bit for me by the end of the book after the big climax, but that was at the end of the book! I think it didn't help that a lot of supporting characters, while not very strong, still were
stronger than Loup on character development.

I will give kudos to Ms. Carey on her choice of lover as most won't expect it who are not familiar with her previous work. Very rare to find leads romantically involved like this person in mainstream books. Supporting characters? Yes. A dime a dozen lately so it is a nice switch to see this type of relationship as a focus. Can you tell I am trying not to give too much away, but praise her for this decision anyway?

The book overall had a lot of promise, but instead of focusing on the promise of Loup becoming a "savior" of a sort to the town by taking on the "mantle" of their Santa Olivia, it is instead focused more on her relationship, boxing and more boxing. It is like the story cut off in the middle without really finishing up all the loose ends of what her original goals were supposed to be by the description. Whoever wrote the book blurb makes it sound more like a superhero story than it is.  If there is a sequel to this, maybe I won't be so upset, but overall, I didn't feel like Loup was a superhero or savior or even should be labeled as such. Yes, she had powers, but nothing really came of it in my opinion. Most of the time, you could forget she had any. The climax was very anti-climatic and I never felt like Loup lived up to her promise of what she could be. Her character never became anything or really grew. She still seemed to be the same as when she was

in the Orphange in the end. And the big deal with her powers were never really explored or focused on. It was just something to make her different from everyone else like a person's hair color or skin or language could've done. At the same time, the author came across as confused on where she wanted to take the character with such a difference. I left the story feeling overall like everything was just so vague.

Overall, I liked the book. It was okay. Nice to pass the time with if you don't mind a lot of boxing talk and descriptions. The beginning is the strongest part of the book and it just sort of loses focus on what its aim is by the end. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting and it is different from the Kushiel series. I did enjoy it enough that if she does a sequel I will read it as I am hoping for one that focuses more on what Loup truly is and what she does with it in a time where fear is prevalent.
 

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