Review of Lupus

[Mariah Taylor H]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Lupus" by Jessica Rienzi.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Lupus by Jessica Rienzi was a fast-paced but decent book to read. I recommend this book to adults who like reading stories about the supernatural and are prepared for it to get violent.

The book centers on Owl, a young adult attempting to survive in what seems to be a world overrun with werewolves and starts when she rescues a young man by the name of Jay. The author does well with each of its main characters, showing us different perspectives and how these characters react in the situations they are put in. The plot is new and does keep the attention of the reader as well as lets the reader get invested in the characters, whether they’re the central characters of the book or not.

Owl’s perspective feels refreshingly authentic for a modern-day character, though on occasion Owl does seem to break the fourth wall. Owl genuinely feels like an unreliable narrator, which is rare to see done as well as it is with Owl. Even rarer still, Owl does not feel like a character whose nature changes all that much throughout the book despite everything she’s going through and it doesn’t feel like she’s forced to remain this way. It feels authentic to the character.

Jay is a likable enough character, even if nothing really seems to stick out to me about him. Whatever happens to him seems to be because he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, forcing the reader to question his motivations, which aren’t entirely clear. His relationship with Owl feels forced, as there are very few context clues to even suggest Owl likes Jay or vice versa until we are told that one likes the other.

Anthony, another character in the book, seems to switch between likeable and dislikeable at different times in the story and whose motivations don’t seem to be clear until much later on in the story. I did enjoy his complexity and the relationship-antagonistic and otherwise-with Owl as it occurred.

I gave this book three out of five stars because while it is a good book, it is very quick to jump into the action, rushing through the more mundane parts and going straight for the fighting scenes. The fighting scenes are done well, but the ends of the fights seem to be the exact same thing. Magic also seems to exist in this world, but it is not given anything more than a passing mention. Whatever happened to set this world into its current state is also never mentioned throughout the book, only that whatever happened did so several years previously.

Parts of the story almost immediately contradict other parts of the story. Several word choices are the wrong word choices for the given situation, and the editing feels like it needs a little work, but overall, Lupus was a good book to read.

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Lupus
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[Neto Onuoha]

“Lupus" by Jessica Rienzi is a book for fantasy readers. If you love vampire and werewolves kind of stories, this is a definitely a good read for you. I was caught by your review and I’d look at the book soon. Good job on your amazing review.

[Benita Ogarekpe]

It’s definitely a book that would catch the eye of fellow fantasy readers like myself. Can’t wait to check it out!