Comments on: Immortal Lycanthropes: Required reading for budding happy mutants and their grownups

By: rrn1

rrn1 — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:13:00 +0000

read the book…it references this. Believe me, the author knows his Greek and his Latin.

By: rrn1

rrn1 — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:10:00 +0000

As a college professor who teaches children literature and who has actually read the book, I would agree it is unlike any other book. The vocabulary alone lets it stand out. This is no “watered-down” book.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Let me guess: he can turn into… a human.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:11:00 +0000

Therion and anthropos are Greek.

By: Theranthrope

Theranthrope — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:53:00 +0000

My kingdom for a student of Latin who can combine:
“Therian” (beast) and “-anthrope” (man)

By: Theranthrope

Theranthrope — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:37:00 +0000

MANIMAL! That’s it!

…no wait, that’s TERRIBLE. It sounds like something you’ll find in your grocer’s dairy-section.

By: Theranthrope

Theranthrope — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:12:00 +0000

So…
I’m assuming the main character of this story has the ability to shapechange into animals… which may include, but does not exclusively mean turning into a wolf, and only a wolf.
Since “lycanthrope”, derived from Latin “Lycos” (wolf) and “-thrope” (the suffix for ‘man’ or ‘human’, root-word for things like: “Anthroplogy”), which is used exclusively, to refer to one who can change back-and-forth from wolf to human.
That being the case, too bad there isn’t a generic term that refers to one who changes between beasts, in-general, to human and back again…

Oh wait! Maybe, there is ONE…

By: Grebmar

Grebmar — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 03:49:00 +0000

I often wonder the same thing, to the extent that I think YA might actually be a marketing code that targets adults who want to read YA, rather than books targeted at ‘young adults’ themselves. I know when I was a young adult I found most books directed at YA’s (me) to be patronizing and ‘dumbed down,’ even if they weren’t, and skipped ahead to ‘adult’ books.

By: James Stephenson

James Stephenson — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:10:00 +0000

Being put off by the YA title is a mistake IMHO. YA does not necessarily mean that the story is watered down and/or censored for a younger audience. Like any other literary subdivision, YA includes great books and awful books. But believe me when I say that there really are some great YA books that can be enjoyed by adults as well. Essentially, if the plot of a novel features a coming of age story then the publisher is going to classify it as YA because YA outsells pretty much every other type of book.

By: Simon Champion

Simon Champion — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Not trolling, just curious – what makes a YA novel? Why is it labelled for young adults when it gets reviewed by not young adults (sorry Cory)? Does it lack anything that more mature people expect in a novel? As a reader in his mid 40s I’m actually put off by the label YA, is this a mistake?

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:32:00 +0000

Tangential:

Pinkwater himself wrote several lighthearted books about tween werewolves. Benign shapeshifter werewolves, not cursed bloodthirsty brutes.

By: pKp

pKp — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:06:00 +0000

This review has been written, for free, by a guy who writes YA, reviews it periodically and has a kid daughter. I’d be inclined to believe Cory when he says that this is unlike anything he’s read, even if the basic structure (shared more or less with all YA, fantasy and other coming-of-age novels since Goethe) is the same.

By: Peter Eller

Peter Eller — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:51:00 +0000

“YA novel unlike any other” ? an orphan boy with special powers who gets even with bullies?
a YA novel like EVERY other!

By: show me

show me — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:27:00 +0000

Sounds a lot like “Highlander” to me. Are there swords involved?