Radical Rising

Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore

*I received this book via Different Area Codes tours

This book gets 4 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes for a great alternate world where wulfs and vampyres are out in the open and a part of society.  I like that it reads just like a normal coming of age story but with wulfs and vampyres thrown into the mix.  This story reminds me a bit of the whole Sookie Stackhouse series with the whole synthetic blood aspect.

Dante aka Danny Gray, the main character, is trying to get through high school and going through some changes.  He is part vamp and part wulf, his mom's a vampyre and dad is a wulf.  Being part wulf and part vampyre may sound awesome but wulfs are the minority in this world and marginalized by everyone.  Wulfs are sent to compounds every month during the full moon and it's a felony not to go.  If they don't register or show up at the compound they are labeled a moon runner and usually killed.

Danny and his sister had treatments to repress their wulf genes.  His sister had all the treatments and looks like a full vampyre.  He had over half of the treatments but had a reaction that didn't let the treatments finish.  Because of that he has vampyre like blue eyes but the complexion and body type of a wulf.  Most think that Danny is half human and he usually doesn't correct them in their misperception.

I like that his friend Claire also has secrets to hide.  She's a great friend and also knows what bullying and other ostracizing can happen when you're different.

There are complications aplenty for Danny.  Vampyres in this world unlike some young adult literature, can't go out in the sun so they have things like Sol-Blok suits.

The arguments in the book about whether celebrities and people from history are wulf, vampyre or human is great.  For example David Bowie is a vampyre.  Also interesting that there's speculation that Hemingway was a wulf but the family won't let DNA tests be done to determine whether that's true.

Danny has to talk to his wulf father again after pretty much abandoning him after his mom got remarried to a vampyre.  That means there is plenty of family turmoil too.

You can tell where the story is going but there are a lot of fun twists along the way.  It's great that the book wasn't all about him getting a girlfriend, that part's just a small aspect of the book and not really his biggest problem.  Danny likes Juliet, the only human at Carpathia Night (the night high school he goes to.)

The bully/big bad of the book is well done too because you never know what he's going to do especially towards the end of this book.  The bully's hate is made easier because most people don't have a problem when someone is bullying a wulf.

The tension builds throughout with you always wondering will he be caught and what decision will ultimately be made.

I love the ending because things are still very unsure about whether the solution will work but it still ends on a hopeful note.  Hope theirs a sequel because I'd love to read more about this world.