By Blood We Live

True to form, By Blood We Live is not for the faint of heart or easily disturbed. As in the other two books, the descriptions of sex and violence are extremely graphic. Mr. Duncan leaves nothing to the imagination, especially when it comes to the monthly transformation and the intense build-up to it.

Yet, for all its explicit scenes of rough sex and gory murder scenes, By Blood We Live is a love story. Love is the driving force of the novel, whether it is of lost loves, future loves, or parental love. Talulla is still suffering from Jake’s death, and his memory is the measurement she uses for all relationships. In everything she does, deliberately or subconsciously, she is always seeking to make him proud and live up to his legacy. show more Then there are her children. Aged three now, she will never forgive herself for losing her son immediately upon his birth and constantly upbraids herself for her lack of protection. There is no doubt that her love for her twins is as deep as it is fierce. Finally, there is the increasing obsession she has with Remshi. She might be a legendary creature with a penchant for evisceration and vivisection, but her heart longs for the peace and comfort a loving relationship brings to everyone.

That Talulla and Remshi are living out an ancient prophecy is just a portion of the story. The introduction of the newest human danger, the Vatican-based Christian cult bent on unmasking the creatures and disposing of them, sets the stage for an entirely new battle. While the vampires and the werewolves will always oppose each other, the world in which they skirmish is definitely changing, and it is in this new world in which Talulla must find a way to negotiate her pack to safety. Given how the story itself ends, one can only hope Mr. Duncan has at least one more novel to write to close out Talulla’s story properly.

There is something incredibly hypnotic about the entire story. Talulla’s stream-of-consciousness rants are heartbreaking in the depths of emotion they show. Her mindset when fully transformed is equally mesmerizing because of the singular focus of the Wolf. In spite of all her outward toughness, Talulla remains the lost girl she was when Jake finds her, and her self-doubt is overwhelming at times. These very human attributes help balance the violence and destruction of which she is more than capable of inflicting on anyone who may get in her way.

By Blood We Live continues to explore the meaning of being human. For all her ferocity, Talulla is incredibly fragile, and she struggles to balance her brittle feelings with the fierce killer she becomes. That she both craves and abhors her behavior on every full moon underscores her continued conscience and is proof that she has not lost her humanity entirely. Then again, her capacity for love is further proof that she is not the monster she believes herself to be. The guilt she carries around with her – guilt at surviving when Jake is gone, guilt at her son’s kidnapping, guilt at her preoccupation with something other than her pack, guilt at the people who have been bitten or killed helping and protecting her – is brutal, but it is what helps keep her tied to her humanity when the Wolf wants nothing more than for her to shed her last vestiges of her past and fully embrace what she has become. For, no matter how often she changes and kills, as long as she continues to feel guilty about it, Talulla will always be human.

The third novel in The Last Werewolf series continues Talulla’s fascinating story. Her personal battles against the Wolf, as well as the battles she fights on behalf of her loved ones, remain provocative and intense. Mr. Duncan’s writing maintains its edginess, finding beauty in the grotesque, and capturing the elegance behind the mental anguish that comes with self-doubt and self-loathing. By Blood We Live is every bit as bloody and riveting as the first two novels, and fans can only hope that we will continue to follow Talulla through her personal existential crisis and her battle for survival. show less

Glen Duncan is one of my favorite authors. This third book in a series continues the sexy, violent, and philosophically-examined lives of werewolves and vampires on modern day planet Earth. This is my favorite of the three books in the series - I hope there are more. The main characters (for the most part) are more developed, and there is less internal angst than in the 2nd book. New characters are introduced, former ones are killed off.

After a bit, the reader begins to root for the monsters and decry the humans. Except, during feeding time. Then it is easy to put oneself in the position of prey, who are selected systematically, or by chance or revenge, or spontaneously. I particularly like the planned kills of the werewolves, with show more their selection of prey based on their humane qualities, loci, ease of in and out, and the use of a motor home to "clean up." Werewolf toddlers bring a different perspective: mother werewolf won't allow her children to observe the kill, but allows them to eat, and, refrains from sex during the process (a common werewolf behavior of "killeatf**k").

Duncan continues his ability to keep the story interesting and exciting from beginning to end, without any lag or down time in the middle. He follows the traditional limits for vampires and werewolves, rather than eliminating or changing them into convenient literary devices. Any "modern" changes are explained within the context of the story from a philosophical or quasi-scientific perspective. One thing I did notice is that he doesn't get SW USA right, including a saquaro cactus in the California desert; they are only in Arizona. There was another blip, but I forget what it was. Still, it's an intelligent, exciting, smart read. Some of his sentences remind me of Charles Dickens in their word-filled convolution that leads to an Aha! moment.

Hint: A silver tray appears toward the end...is it an error, or....

Last night under a full moon I was out feeding my horses thinking, "Werewolf time. And my dogs will look to the lupine as their alpha and ask, how may we be of assistance!" Duncan is a great storyteller. I see films on the horizon. show less

Book Info: Genre: Literary horror/werewolves
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of the author, series, realistic endings
Trigger Warnings: murder, memories of child molestation and rape, killing babies, genocidal attempts

My Thoughts: First of all, I have to tell you, the hardcover copy of this book is glorious. The edge of the pages are dark brown like dried blood, and the pictures of the moon on the dust jacket are foil, so it looks shiny like fresh blood. The texture of the dust jacket is wonderful, too, sort of rough and parchment-like—all in all a very sensual delight. I almost hated to sully it by opening and reading it...

One of the reasons I hadn't liked Talulla Rising quite as much as The Last Werewolf was that I missed show more Jake's voice, the perspective his age gave to his thoughts and actions. Well, that's back, in a way, in the form of the ancient vampire Remshi, in whose head we are when the book opens, and whose chapters intertwine with Justine's and Talulla's (and occasionally Walker's—we have a lot of different perspectives in this book). Unlike the previous books, we are given multiple points of view, and to watch Duncan switch voices and personas like that is really quite impressive, because he really does completely change his writing style and voice for each character.

Duncan took a huge risk in this book by not wrapping up the ending into a tidy little bow, and I would imagine there will be some folks who will not like this at all. I found it to fit perfectly into the overall storyline, and to be entirely realistic, because nothing is ever truly wrapped up and tied off perfectly in life. While it is true I would have liked to have a better understanding of where things will go from here, at the same time that would probably require that Duncan just keep writing books in this series, because there just isn't any easy way to wrap this sort of thing up. Which, come to think of it, would not necessarily be a bad thing...

At any rate, if you are a fan of the author, or the series, or just like reading books that are willing to take that risk at realism, check this series out. I do recommend you read from the beginning just so you're familiar with all the the background and characters.

Series Information: The Last Werewolf/Bloodlines Trilogy
Book 1: The Last Werewolf, review linked here
Book 2: Talulla Rising, review linked here
Book 3: By Blood we Live

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: By Blood We Live is a stunningly erotic love story that gives us the final battle for survival between werewolves and vampires, and one last searing—and brilliantly ironic—look at what it means to be, or not to be, human.

The story opens: Talulla has settled into an uneasy equilibrium. With her twins safely at her side, and the devotion of her lover, Walker, she has what appears to be a normal family life—except for their monthly transformation into werewolves hungry for human flesh. But even this hard-won, tenuous peace is undermined for Talulla by nagging thoughts of Remshi, the twenty-thousand-year-old vampire who haunts her dreams. For his part, Remshi can’t escape the feeling that he knows Talulla from many (many, many) years before. Still, they have their distractions: Talulla is being pursued by a fanatical, Vatican-based Christian cult, and Remshi is following a trail of reckless feedings by a newly turned vampire bent on revenge. But, as the novel unfolds, Talulla and Remshi are inexorably drawn to each other—and toward the moment when an ancient prophecy may finally come to pass. show less

By Blood We Live by Glen Duncan is the third book in the series that began with The Last Werewolf and was followed by Talulla Rising. These novels are not your usual fare of werewolves and vampires and teen romance. These are visceral and bloody. The romance fast and hot and saturated in animalistic lust. In the first novel, a philosophical Jake, believing himself to be the final living werewolf struggles to survive as he is hunted by vampire and humans alike. In his final acts he brings forth a new line of wolves led by his lover Talulla. She in turn must protect her new pack, with her two twin babies in toll, as she tries to learn in a short time what Jake had known for hundreds of years.
Now, with Jake gone and a new enemy in a show more military arm of the church, Talulla must find a safe place for her pack and werewolf cubs. But also come to terms with the dreams that haunt her. Dreams of a vampire and the lost love between them. The vampire known as Remshi, thought to be the oldest vampire left alive. For Remshi, he is in search of his lost lover Vali, who he has come to believe is Talulla brought back to life.

"...I sucked hard, went wholly seduced-went wantonly into the drink. If the soul was immortal it left its memories behind in the blood, shed consciousness and passed on, naked and pure, to the realm beyond the image and word, to be wrangled over by God and the Devil, or to reach final dissolution in the void. But I didn't need the soul. Only the blood. Always and always and always the blood. I drank and felt the rhythm of the drinking in my eyelids and fingertips and nipples and feet. I drank and swam down..."

Duncan paces the novel extremely well, his cadence a poetic dance even when the beast is tearing you piece by piece and chewing on the gristle of your flesh. Yet there is a vulnerability to these immortal and cruel beasts. As they themselves struggle with what they are.

"...I was remembering something Fluff had said. He was always teasing me about not reading books, but one day he said: Reading a book is a dangerous thing, Justine. A book can make you find room in yourself for something you never thought you'd understand. Or worse, something you never wanted to understand..."

Talulla is offered a reprieve from her life. If not for her, perhaps her children. A cure. A chance to be human again if she would only do the most inhuman of acts. But would the wolf in her allow her to do so? And what of Remshi and his prophecy that only by being with Talulla would he find his way back to Vali?
Duncan weaves an intricate tale of love lost and survival in peril. The choices made and the fate of all touched by them. This is old style horror with Werewolves written the way they should be. With the wolf being the more powerful side, not the human.
An excellent addition to a very well written series. show less

With By Blood We Live, Glen Duncan’s dark and literary Bloodlines trilogy comes to a close. Although not the strongest book of the three, I felt this was a satisfactory closing to the story. Rather than being strictly from the werewolf point of view, in this story one of the narrators is Remshi, a 20,000 year old vampire who believes that Talulla is the reincarnation of his ancient werewolf lover.

The main focus of this book is on survival . The humanity of monsters is examined and the question of whether their biological need for blood and death is any worse than that of humans whose sole purpose is to systematically wipe out the supernatural. Talulla is fighting for the survival of her children and her species yet she is drawn to the show more vampire Remshi. One thing that pleased me greatly was the unresolved ending. The war has come, but the results are far from clear.

Overall I felt this book didn’t quite measure up to the two previous ones. Although I was pleased with the ending and Glen Duncan does a fantastic job of reaching into the mind of both vampires and werewolves, I felt this book had less to say than the other two. I found the similarity between the voice of Remshi to the original voice of Jake a little off-putting. I do however believe this trilogy will long be the werewolf saga that all others will be measured against. show less

Weakest of the three Last Werewolf novels. I just can't handle much more of Duncan's purple-prosed bestial erotica. The endless hand wringing by each character, vampire or were, over being a monster that loves to kill and eat but has a conscience. We all have our cross to bear. You cannot drag it out through three weakly plotted novels. It was lovely writing, just dull. We just don't care what happens to anyone.

Duncan dissatisfies in the end to leave room for yet another future werewolf/vampire/human cliff hanger Tallula just can't seem to keep her men out of fatal trouble. She's bad news to date. Give her wide berth. She doesn't know where her kids are most of the time either.

The werewolf trope is the hardest one to pull off. There was show more about one novel's worth of good stuff in all three books together. Again, just lovely writing about a difficult subject to transcend.

I keep wondering if Duncan, who didn't start out as a genre writer, just sees this as a long practical joke that he happens to be able to line his pockets with while going along. He IS a very good writer, but you cannot overcome a weak and drawn out plot and characters nobody really empathizes with. I think back to [b:Doctor Sleep|16130549|Doctor Sleep (The Shining #2)|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362415596s/16130549.jpg|17851499] by [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg] where King actually manages to create evil characters that we really sympathize for their plight. They have been used and abused and we empathize with their condition while we despise what they do because of it. Duncan doesn't pull it off. King doesn't have nearly the language or phrasing that Duncan has but by comparison he is still the better novel writer.

I won't be going back for a fourth helping if their is one. I'm full already. show less

The last of the (spoiler alert) not-quite-so-last-werewolf trilogy is also the worst. Still entertaining but it has lost some of its magic by not having a single unique voice as in the previous books. Whereas the original narrator Jake was engrossing with his world weary view, when we get several narrators who all are eternally frustrated about this, that and the other it can quickly become somewhat monotonous. Worst, however, is the fact that the world's oldest vampire Remshi who in the previous two books was a mythic figure with few appearances, in this book he is reduced to being a weak and whiny wam...., pardon, vampire with only nominal charisma and no sense of his real ancient power.