A team-building corporate retreat leads to significant—and toothily violent—change in Claiborne’s debut, which finds young Anthony Montgomery enjoying a nigh-perfect life until he’s dragged to a work event in a remote cabin, “forced to engage in meaningless social banter” and a creepy ceremony, and then attacked by an unknown assailant in the woods. Doctors marvel as he heals quicker than usual, and soon the truth is revealed: Anthony has been bitten by a werewolf, and now he’s one, too. High on the thrill of his transformation, he kills a woman in cold blood and soon is fully caught up in the world of Lycan politics as he strives to learn to control his new abilities—and hungers.Moonrise stands out from the pack of contemporary werewolf fiction thanks to Claiborne’s refusal to romanticize the transformation of human to wolf-beast or find beauty in brutality. Anthony’s initial transformation is raw and unforgiving, and he faces wrenching physical therapy afterward. As his bones clench and grind—a process described with vicious zest—Anthony craves blood and prey, and his body, while enhanced, is more beast than sexy. Claiborne also never shies away from the consequences of lycanthropy, as Anthony is often overwhelmed with guilt about his bloody deeds and is almost immediately caught for his recklessness.
All that means readers will both empathize with Anthony and fear him, especially as his relationships with family and his girlfriend wilt—Anthony is scared, justifiably, that he might hurt her. Complicating Anthony’s struggles are the rules, factions, and bloodlines of werewolves, which are contrasted wittily with the corporate world and Anthony’s position (possibly a board member!) at MGE, the company he works for. Dialogue is sharp and occasionally satiric, but Claiborne never undercuts the horror and suspense. Sometimes, as Anthony tries to make sense of his new life of Pure Bloods, Half-Breeds, and Ultimas, some transitions will leave readers with questions of logistics, but lovers of urban fantasy with bite will find much here to relish.
Takeaway: Action-packed werewolf thriller with dark emotions and vivid detail.
Comparable Titles: Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt series, Glen Duncan’s Last Werewolf Trilogy.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
"You have been blessed to have evolved into something much greater and more ancient than any type of being on this planet."
I'll start saying that I love werewolves and I knew I had to read this as soon as I saw the cover. I didn't expect to hate the main character this much, but he was definitely not likeable and every time I thought he was showing some decent human emotions and thinking kinder thoughts he just ruined it all by saying or thinking something misogynistic. He did have some good qualities too, but not that many for me to root for him in any situation. His friend on the other hand, Rey was easily lovable and his whole personality made me want to know more about his life. And Luna, from the very beginning I liked her and couldn't get enough of her everytime she was around. We should have gotten more about her and less about all those rich men from wolf street.
The art preceding the chapters was a nice touch, I loved seeing all the illustrations and piecing story together with their help.
There's a lot of blood and gore, there are no cute werewolves, they all are brutal and murderous, always ready to fight for territory and for bloodline and stuff. I wanted more from the ancient werewolves and less from the materialistic and manipulative modern ones. Also experimenting and torturing werewolves and creating different kinds of them was so not cool.
I enjoyed all the bloodshed when it was all men, but I won't forgive them for the cat. That scene was horrible, and there's guts and heart eating in every 20 pages or so, but still my heart died when the cat was involved. It's a tiny scene so it might not be that big of a deal for others, but just in case you needed a warning for that, this is me warning you.
"The world was different. The blackness of the witching hour had no bearing on his sight. He could smell and taste his surroundings past and present."
The ending though! I loved it so much! Even more than the whole book. The twist was so good! And then I thought we were done and we were hit by another twist that I think I suspected was coming and got so excited about it I couldn't stop smiling. The ending was worth enduring MC's inner monologue and his treatment of women throughout the whole book.
Definitely not for the squeamish readers, there's a lot of killing, mangling and eating of flesh happening but if you like brutal werewolf stories with an interesting ancient lore that may or may not be told in a werewolf bible, you'll enjoy Moonrise.
Myrin City has a pest problem, and I'm not talking about rats or feral pets. Instead, there are different clans of werewolves engaged in a battle, with blood shed in buckets on every full moon.
Moonrise follows the story of Anthony, who is turned into a werewolf after an attack at a company gathering. He quickly learns that the company he works for is in fact a haven for werewolves. Anthony is a hybrid and may just be the secret weapon to help win the wolf war.
The story moves along at a nice pace and has some nice twists and turns, as well as some gory action set pieces along the way. The only real issue that I has was that Anthony was a wholly unlikeable main character, mostly revealed through his thoughts and inner dialogue.
Still, this was a fun read and I would love to know more about the history and lore of each of the werewolf groups, The ending suggests we might just get more of that.
I was never a werewolf fan until I read a book about werewolves last year (I still need to read and review the sequel to it! Life has been a bitch, but I promise I’ll get it done!) and it made me fall in love with horror movies and books with werewolves! So when the mysterious author of this amazing book asked if I’d be interested in reading it… ABSOFREAKINGLUTELY!!
Moonrise had me hooked from page one! I didn’t want to put it down. I read it at the house, in the car, at the park. It went with me everywhere just in case I got the chance to read it! One day I was at the park with my son and we were sitting at a picnic table snuggled up against the woods and we heard sticks breaking and leaves crunching. He always says, “Mom, Bigfoot is coming for you.” But this time he said, “Do you think it’s werewolves?” 😆
🌘🌗🌖🌕
Anthony is a hard working guy trying to make his way to the top of the corporate ladder. He has an amazing girlfriend who is ready to take their relationship to the next level… however Anthony is not quite there yet. He is busy concentrating on his career and doesn’t have time for what she wants or needs.
Anthony’s boss throws a retreat at his home for his employees. Anthony wasn’t interested in going because he already knew how obnoxious it was going to be. And boy was it! Anthony could only take so much of the nonsense before he ducked outside to get away from the craziness. And that’s where he discovers a whole new wild world he didn’t even know existed. Does he embrace this new world or fight for his freedom? You’re going to have to read it to find out!
There were so many twists and turns and I would gasp saying, “OH NO!!” so many times 😂🤣 I loved it… LOVED IT!! Thank you so much @moonrisebook for giving me the opportunity to read this fabulous book!! M.J Claiborne is an absolutely amazing writer and I will be watching for more of their work! They’re definitely an author to keep your eye on!!
