Marlena Frank

The She-Wolf of Kanta

Montgomery Pierce

It's been a while since I've read a paranormal story that's felt fresh and interesting, and The She-Wolf of Kanta was definitely both of those things for me. 

Mercy Pinkerton is a 13-year-old girl living on the outskirts of Kanta, trapping werewolves with her father. The beginning of the novella opens with this, in fact, and levels us with an ominous hint that Mercy serves as poor werewolf bait because she's still but a girl, and not a mature woman as the prized male werewolves they seek to trap would prefer. This idea, that she's still an innocent, unwanted girl even to beasts like werewolves, is juxtaposed early with the contradictory, predatory nature of the men in Kanta, who hardly view Mercy (or other girls that have lived in Kanta) so innocently. 

Though this is listed as children's literature on NetGalley, I definitely agree with Amazon's listing this book as a teen novella. The immediate tone set within the story--the danger of monsters versus the danger of men and how Mercy's view of the werewolves specifically changes over the course of the story--speaks a lot to the changes of worldview that a lot of new teens have where they're beginning to leave behind their childhood and the fears and worries of a child, and beginning to step into more mature and realistically dangerous encounters. This is what I appreciated the most in this short story, and the fact that Marlena Frank was able to do so using what is arguably very mature subject matter without 'crossing a line,' so to speak with the way she delivers both the dangers of the werewolves in Kanta and the dangers of the 'trappers' that pursue Mercy was brilliant. 

The only thing(s) that were somewhat distracting to the overall enjoyment of this novella was that the length did not service the story well. It was hard to discern the setting and time period intended by Frank, or even the level of technology and science knowledge/capability as there were a lot of inconsistencies in hinting at larger world building within the story. For example, the beginning felt like I was gearing up for fantasy horror set back a few hundred years with nobles still ruling the lands, before we're introduced to guns, trucks, gasoline--quite modern concepts--and then given way to what could constitute magic or fantasy science in the application of the 'Liquid Lead' that's used to take down werewolves, essentially drugging them. At one point, even cyberpunk elements found their way into this story, where one of the characters has functioning cybernetic limbs despite living in a relatively dystopic world. 

These incongruent loose ends, and others, I think could have been tightened up better and explored in a full-length novel, as well as the novella's arcs as a whole, much better than a 94-page print could ever hope to achieve. I was left wanting more meat as opposed to being content with the meal given. 

That said... I was still overall impressed. The plot, as quickly as Frank gets through it, surprised me in places I didn't expect to be surprised in--and I never once had to question how a particular plot thread was woven in. 

This was a smart story. I'd be interested in seeing what Marlena Frank could do with a full-length novel after reading this novella.

The She-Wolf of Kanta

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