Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane (Nightshade, #2)by Andrea Cremer

You're an alpha, a leader. That's what we need. It's what we've always needed. When Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemies, she's certain her days are numbered. Then the Searchers make her an offer, one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save her pack ? and the boy ? she left behind.Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? Will Shay stand by her side no matter what?Now in control of her destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials love can endure. (goodreads.com)

Release date: July 26, 2011I am going to write about what I liked about the book before I embark on a rant because all I really want to do is RANT which is sad because it's distracting me from the good parts of the book.The GoodAlthough I didn't like Wolfsbane nearly as much as I liked Nightshade, it was still an interesting world to me. This time around we find out a lot more about the Searchers since Calla and Shay have been "kidnapped" by them. Sure the history lessons were a little long winded at times and I found it sort of hard to keep focused on everything being said, but the world Cremer has created has an original mythology to it that makes this series differ from many of the paranormal ones out there right now.There is a completely different dynamic in the second book as Calla is ripped from her pack and surrounded by a whole new group of people (that I had trouble keeping track of). She's with the Searchers. The Searchers normally try to kill her. They are human, she isn't. It's new and intriguing and scary for her, but she does her best to sort out truth from the lies. I didn't like the dynamic of this book like I did in Nightshade. This new cast of characters wasn't nearly as interesting or likeable as those in the Bane and Nightshade packs. I didn't particularly care much about their causes and whatnot, but I liked the history of the battles between Searchers and Keepers with Guardians in the middle.The BadMuch of the dialogue in the story made me cringe. The hinted at animosity between Connor and Silas was very annoying. The two of them had way too many attempts at one-liners and interjections in to the dialogue that took away from what was actually being said. It was more annoying than humourous and I found myself skipping over a lot of the explanation of what Searchers, Guardians and Keepers are and do because I hated every single time either of those two opened their mouths to speak. As I mentioned above, this cast of characters really didn't do much for me. I missed the pack and I really missed Ren. I am not a Team whatever girl, but I liked him a lot in the first book. I missed all the Guardians, I don't particularly care for the Searchers.The ending to this book seemed sort of... haphazard. It feels like you're about to start another chapter and then suddenly you're in the Acknowledgements by the Author. It wasn't exactly cliffhangerish but more stopped in mid-thought. I was sort of disappointed by that. And I will be honest, I am not chomping at the bit to read the third book because I am so disgusted and turned off by Shay that the thought of reading any other book with him as a character makes me contemplate homicide. Which brings me to...The UglyOHMYGOD HOW I HATE SHAY AND WISH HE WOULD DIE A PAINFUL AND HORRIBLE DEATH!However, seeing as how he's the bloody scion and the first marketing campaign had all those stupid short videos about him (that actually kept me from reading Nightshade for a YEAR because I thought they were so bad), I don't see his death as all that imminent as I would hope.Shay is a selfish, bratty jerk. (I'd use harsher language, but I am a lady (well, on the blog, anyhow)). I cannot stand him one bit and the fact that Calla is so stupidly blind to how awful he is and still pines for him is SO CONFUSING TO ME! Calla seems like a pretty smart girl for her age. Normally I don't have problems with the choices she makes, but for the love of rocks, she is a total idiot for thinking she loves or feels anything for the jerk that is Shay. He obviously doesn't care about anything other than himself. This is proven time and time again by his conversations (aka arguments) with the Searchers (whom he really knows nothing about and yet continuously critiques their decisions), Calla (he's so awful to her and all over her with the pressure to have sex. Seriously. He's like an after school special for pressuring a girl to sleep with him.), and just his general disregard for anything anyone says to him or asks of him. He does nothing but COMPLAIN about EVERYTHING that happens. Can't let anyone finish a sentence or explanation of anything, even if he's the one who asks the question.GAH! I almost stopped reading the book because he was making me so ANGRY! I hated everything about him. HATE HATE HATE!!!You know how you might watch a show and there's always at least one character that you hate. You may hate this character so much you find yourself yelling at the tv. Sort of how you would yell at the tv while watching a scary movie and the stupid blond girl is about to go down into her basement because she hears a noise, even though there's a storm, a power failure and some sort of serial killer-slash-monster out on the loose and the MUSIC STARTS TO SWELL? And you yell "DON'T GO DOWN TO THE BASEMENT YOU MORON!!" and yet she does and she either a) gets killed or b) gets chased out into the storm, in a forest and inevitably trips on something just as you think she's going to get away and then gets killed?Yeah, well my hatred of Shay is up there with that entire sentiment. I WANT him to go down in that bloody basement. In fact, I would ENCOURAGE him to go if I was there. I'd be all, "Oh, no, I am certain it is perfectly safe and there are no monster-slash-serial-killers down there at all." When in reality I would make sure that every single monster-slash-serial killer in existence would be waiting down there as a sort of surprise party from hell all eager to tear and shred him to bits and then maybe serve him on tiny party plates while wearing pointy hats and blowing little paper horns as they devoured him like children would a birthday cake.Does all of this sound a little harsh? Well, I don't think so. I hope you now have some sort of idea of how much I cannot stand this character. I don't know if I expressed myself all that well, you know?Unfortunately my blinding hatred of Shay took much away from the story itself. I was content with any scene that didn't involve him, but as soon as he appeared I just wanted to close the stupid book. This is sad because I DO actually ENJOY the STORY.Nightshade series

1. Nightshade
2. Wolfsbane
3. Bloodrose - February 2012