Curtis Jobling

Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf tells the story of Drew and the world that he suddenly finds himself inhabiting. Drew was an ordinary boy on an ordinary farm living with the people that he believed were his family. But what happens one night shakes his belief of his existence to the core. His mother is mauled to death and his father and brother both believe that he was responsible for the actions of that night. Confused, Drew flees the life that he knows into the darkness of the Dyrewood. As show more suddenly as he left the world of his people, Drew is just as quickly catapulted back into the land of the living after months of living on his own. He in embroiled into politics that he was never aware of and into people that he can neither trust or understand. As the story progresses, Drew becomes a rallying cry for the people against a powerful rotten king.

At the first beginnings of the story, I was a little concerned that it was following the normal train of events that some fantasy stories tend to do. And, to be honest, several elements are there: the boy who has a hidden destiny and parentage, the quest for understanding, the move from a lonely existence to one of prominence, and rejecting a rotten king. But what Jobling does with the elements makes it turn into a darker, more realistic story. First of all, the story moves along at a realistic rate, with months and events all happening that seem not to be related to the central storyline but allows both the reader and Drew to be enlightened as to the situation that is going on around him. Drew also meets some truly interesting characters and enhances the story in ways that make it a much more interesting plot. The hesitation that Drew has as he is propelled from event to event that is often not of his own doing adds a nice level of realism. The book is, also admittedly darker than you would first guess, especially as to what Drew experiences in the hands of the enemy. But, it is nice to see that side of it as well, many authors would not have put that in, and it really adds to the story.

Overall, this is an excellent novel, and is one that I will enjoy re-reading and I cannot wait until the next installment. show less

I absolutely loved the first book in Curtis Jobling’s Wereworld series so I was really excited to start reading this second book. It opens with an all action prologue and you straight away get the feel that this is going to be one hell of a read.

The book continues with Drew trying to come to terms with his role and what it means for him. Between training to help him develop his skills and meetings with the Wolf’s Council his life is certainly very different now. When Gretchen is show more kidnapped he is told that he must not go after her, but of course he ignores these orders and goes off in pursuit of her and her kidnappers. Whilst he is on his quest his friends are not quiet either, Hector in particular gets a great story.

I continue to love so many of the characters that feature in these books, I was so pleased to see Count Vega back in action – he’s a real favourite of mine. I also love Whitley, she’s so brave and resourceful – I don’t think I could do half the things she does even in the most dire of situations!

This book absolutely whips through, I only put it down long enough to make a cup of tea! The blend of politics and action makes it a captivating read, the addition of some lovely quieter character moments is just the icing on the cake. I feel like I’m really getting to know the characters well which means I’m really invested in what happens to them and the people that mean a lot to them.

I love the way the book keeps you on your toes, there are a couple of pretty major plot points later in the book that made my jaw drop open. I have absolutely no idea how the author is going to carry on from one of them in particular, but I can’t wait to read the third book and find out. This series of books is now a real favourite of mine, I really can’t recommend them enough. show less

I absolutely loved the first book in Curtis Jobling’s Wereworld series so I was really excited to start reading this second book. It opens with an all action prologue and you straight away get the feel that this is going to be one hell of a read.

The book continues with Drew trying to come to terms with his role and what it means for him. Between training to help him develop his skills and meetings with the Wolf’s Council his life is certainly very different now. When Gretchen is show more kidnapped he is told that he must not go after her, but of course he ignores these orders and goes off in pursuit of her and her kidnappers. Whilst he is on his quest his friends are not quiet either, Hector in particular gets a great story.

I continue to love so many of the characters that feature in these books, I was so pleased to see Count Vega back in action – he’s a real favourite of mine. I also love Whitley, she’s so brave and resourceful – I don’t think I could do half the things she does even in the most dire of situations!

This book absolutely whips through, I only put it down long enough to make a cup of tea! The blend of politics and action makes it a captivating read, the addition of some lovely quieter character moments is just the icing on the cake. I feel like I’m really getting to know the characters well which means I’m really invested in what happens to them and the people that mean a lot to them.

I love the way the book keeps you on your toes, there are a couple of pretty major plot points later in the book that made my jaw drop open. I have absolutely no idea how the author is going to carry on from one of them in particular, but I can’t wait to read the third book and find out. This series of books is now a real favourite of mine, I really can’t recommend them enough. show less

Imagine a fantasy world on par with that created by Tolkien for his Lord of the Rings books, and then take away the orcs, elves, dwarves, etc. and throw in a werewolf. And some werelions. Oh yes, and whilst you're at it wererats, werefoxes, wereboar and even a wereshark. Add to this a huge amount of writing talent and the end product is Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling, the most exciting fantasy story I have read for years.

I imagine that many readers will make the same incorrect show more assumption about this book that I made: i.e. it is about a werewolf so therefore it must be a horror story. I couldn't have been more wrong - yes, there are some pretty nasty moments throughout the book, but this is truly a traditional fantasy story, although the kind I feel would still have great appeal to horror fans who claim that they "don't do fantasy". The main title, Wereworld, is the big clue to this books genre, for that is exactly what Curtis Jobling as created - a whole new world where the ruling elite are the werelords, all of them shapeshifters, and all able to turn into their own particular animal. Some of these werelords belong to long and magnificent dynasties, others have fallen from grace and now serve the more powerful shapeshifters in some way or another.

Like all great fantasy writers Curtis Jobling has not just created a world for his story, but in Rise of the Wolf has has also created a back history, elements of which he reveals teasingly as the story progresses. This left me completely torn in two as a reader - dying to know how the events of the story would unfold, but also desperate for the action to be put on hold so that I could find out more about this incredibly original fantasy world. This made for perfect reading in my opinion - the pages kept turning and the chapters flew by long into the night as I became totally immersed in the story. This man really knows how to tell a story!

As you can probably guess from my praise so far, the world building is one of the huge strengths of this book, but a well-built fantasy world does not on its own make a great story - for that you need believable characters who readers will grow to love and hate, and Rise of the Wolf is certainly not short of these. First up, there is Drew, a farm boy who lives a simple life with his parents and brother. He is most definitely a mummy's boy, his father very obviously favouring his brother, with whom Drew has very little in common. But he is happy. However, one night something happens that finds Drew on the run, wrongly suspected of a heinous crime committed by a hideous beast, the like of which Drew has never before seen, and so begins Drew's epic journey of discovery. For he is the only remaining werewolf, last in a long line of an ancient royal line, but also a threat to the power of the land's ruler - the evil and merciless werelion King Leopold.

For many authors it can be quite a challenge just to create one or main characters that will pull the reader into their world. However, along with world-building the other gift that Curtis Jobling has as a writer is that of character creation as his fictional world of Lyssia is populated with myriad colourful characters that somehow all manage to stick in the memory of the reader, whether they have appeared in chapter after chapter, or have only made a fleeting appearance in a couple of key scenes. Some of them will make your laugh, some of them may make you cry. Some of them will most definitely pop up in a nightmare at some point in the future, I am sure. The beautiful thing about the whole werelord concept is that as readers we have pre-conceived notions of the personalities that various animals might have, and then when reading about the werelords in their human forms we automatically associate those traits with them. This helped me create very vivid pictures in my mind of what these various characters looked like, thus making them all the more memorable. Sometimes when reading large scale fantasy stories populated with vast numbers of characters I find myself having to stop and remind myself who some of the main characters are; in Wereworld this did not happen even once.

This really is the kind of story that could get reluctant readers hooked on books, although a degree of confidence when reading is needed. I know a good number of academically able boys whose parents despair because they supposedly find book boring, and would rather be playing on their X-Boxes, PS3s, and so on. Having just equipped myself with an iphone 4, and wasted a great deal of time playing with games and apps, I wonder whether I would have read as much if all these fab gadgets had been around back then. What I do know is that Wereworld is one of those books that would have pulled me away from those other distractions and had me enthralled from the first page until the very last, leaving me hungry for the next instalment. show less