You had me at raised by wolves. You kept me when the people who interacted with the protagonist started telling their versions of his life and his magical powers.

I enjoyed this warm and quirky story very much. Although the initial pace started a little slow for me personally, I liked the layers that developed through the multiple characters' perspectives. And speaking of characters, my favorite was Lydia, but there were many richly drawn others who were easy to connect with and feel for. The whimsy of the language and story make me eager to see what this author has in store next!

This story is told from multiple perspectives through various points of time. But every account centers around Weylyn and how he has changed that person's life. I usually find that this kind of storytelling style can get quite complicated and murky. But the author handled it fantastically and I could not imagine this story being told in any other way. I love Weylyn; he is a sweetheart and someone I wish I could have met in my own life. He is conscientious and caring and always trying to be someone he is not. Every character that is introduced to him gets changed in their own way, and I love how each of these characters had their own unique voice and experience with Weylyn. Now, I usually prefer hearing things from the main character's point of view but the author managed to give the reader a full appreciation for Weylyn through so many different perspectives that I was just as happy. I would not say that this story is plot-driven; it's more about Weylyn struggling to deal with his abilities and finding himself. If you are looking for something more plot based, you probably won't enjoy this story. I loved the simplicity of the motives behind Weylyn's actions, as well as that of others. This story also pulled at my heartstrings; I didn't realize how attached to Weylyn I had become as I was reading this book! Overall, this was just a lovely engrossing read that used an interesting style to shed light on a wonderful protagonist. I would definitely recommend this novel to fans of magical realism and sweet character-driven stories! I'm giving this novel 5/5 stars!

Remember those books from childhood that just made you smile with possibility and satisfaction?

It seems like adulthood doesn't hold enough of that kind of hopefulness. We get bogged down in responsibility and commitments, forgetting about the magic in everyday.

And then a book like Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance comes along, making the impossible seem more plausible.

You can't classify Beasts as anything but magical realism, but it's so much more. Somehow Lang skips over the smarmy aspects of a boy raised by wolves and makes Weylyn Grey likable, believable, and fun.

The beauty of Beasts is its narration. If you know me, you know I LOVE an unreliable narrator. But, in a unlikely story such as Beasts, readers need to hear the story from reliable sources. Hearing about Weylyn's life through the eyes and minds of those that met, knew, and loved him through the years helps ground the magical tale. All the narrators are reliable and skeptical, but all fall under Weylyn's enchantment long before they come to believe in his supernatural abilities.

Weylyn himself is such a lovely, lonely, believable character, making his otherworldly qualities seem like just another quirk. His understanding of people is the best of his abilities, somehow finding those that are also lonely and alone.

Beasts is a wonderful read. It's one of those books that will make you think highly of humans AND wolves, making you hope that a man like Weylyn really does exist and will cross your path. It's not a deep, difficult read, but it will bring on the 'feels.'

One of the blurbs from another author called Beasts "Charlotte's Web for adults," and I have to agree. The fact that Weylyn has mystical powers is a large part of the book, but it's not the whole part. The humanity of Weylyn and of those telling his story is the heart and soul of Beasts, and a beautiful soul it is.

I loved Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance. It's the kind of read that's tonic for your soul.

I'd rate this 4.5 stars.

One of the factors that helps transform a very good novel into a great one is memorable characters. And while I've read a lot of books this year and over the last several years that featured characters I couldn't quite get out of my mind, it's rare to find a character as special, as incredible as Weylyn Grey, the main character in Ruth Emmie Lang's terrific Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance.

"Weylyn doesn't quite fit into the world we're familiar with," Daddy said, choosing his words carefully. "He's a strange boy, but in a wonderful sort of way."

Orphaned at a young age, Weylyn was raised by wolves—literally, he lived with a pack of wolves—and is more comfortable being with animals and living outdoors than following traditional social constraints. But that doesn't mean he doesn't get lonely, and when he meets 11-year-old Mary Penlore in the woods, and he saves her from being attacked by one of his wolves, Mary realizes that Weylyn is unlike anyone else she has ever met, and even then she realizes she needs him in her life, and in fact, is willing to run away from home and live among the wolves with him.

The thing is, when Weylyn is around, interesting things happen. The weather seems to change dramatically, he can literally communicate with animals of all types, and he seems to be able to stop tornadoes and storms from happening. But at times, it also appears he might cause those things to happen. He can't explain it, and no one around him can either (if they actually believe what they see), but his biggest fear is somehow he'll cause harm to someone he cares about, so he's more willing to go it alone than hurt someone.

"I've been called magic, but I wouldn't use that term exactly. I like to think of myself as always being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time. Very rarely am I simply in an acceptable place at a generally convenient time."

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance follows Weylyn through his life, as he makes his way across the country. It's a story told by those who got to know him, even for a short while, and feel the amazing impact he had on their lives. A family challenged by the decision to take young Weylyn in as a foster child, a teacher struggling with her own childlessness, a young mayor tired of living his life in his father's shadow, even a young boy who wants to believe magic is real—these are the people whose lives Weylyn touches. And as a touch point is Mary, whose life always bears the indelible impact of knowing him.

This is one of those special books that requires you to suspend your disbelief, or simply believe that there are things in life that may seem impossible to grasp, but you just need to accept them. If magic, and communicating with animals, and causing strange phenomena to occur doesn't appeal to you, you'll probably not enjoy this book. But if you do, and you can just let yourself take a leap along with the characters, this is a story you'll marvel over.

I was absolutely charmed by this book from start to finish. I loved nearly all of the characters and I loved Weylyn's relationships with the many people he met. One character remarked that Weylyn might be "too good for this world," but fortunately the world isn't quite as cruel to him as I feared it might be. I also worried that Lang might take the plot into melodramatic territory, and I was so pleased she steered clear of that.

Lang is a fantastic storyteller, and her imagery and dialogue are so skilled, it's so hard to believe this is her debut novel. Books like this don't come along too often, so this is a special one to savor. I can't wait to see what Lang has up her sleeve in the future.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

This wasn’t remotely what I was expecting. What I thought I was getting was an urban fantasy tale of a werewolf with something of a Jungle Book twist. What this book actually covers is the life of Weylyn Grey, mostly through the viewpoint of people who come into contact with him and whose lives he affects. From the time he is found roaming around the forests with a pack of wolves, he is clearly unusual. But other odd things continue to happen around him.

Given this is set in contemporary America, these unusual talents don’t encourage Weylyn to don a spandex suit featuring a cape and his underpants over his tights – instead they are a constant concern as they often put those around him in acute danger. There is a particularly poignant scene just over halfway through the book where we learn why he hates snow so much.

There are a number of viewpoint characters throughout this book – something I’m not normally a huge fan of. Some of them only feature for a single section, while others return more than once. But each one plays a role in Weylyn’s life as they come into contact with him and become aware of his strangeness. While it has been done before, building the characterisation of the main protagonist through the various viewpoints of a series of transitory characters is a risky strategy. This normal structure most often occurs in murder mysteries where we gradually learn about the victim through the eyes of those who knew her and the investigating team looking into her murder. If we don’t like the victim all that much, it doesn’t really matter – the issue powering the narrative drive in such stories is discovering who killed her. However, for this book to work on almost any level, we need to like and empathise with Weylyn and his plight, because if we don’t care then there’s no point in continuing to read on.

While this may be her debut novel, Lang clearly is an experienced, competent writer with a clean, unfussy writing style that quickly drew me into this book and kept me engrossed until the end. I was sufficiently invested that despite the fact that I could predict the probable ending some way off, I was perfectly happy to relax and go with the flow. And when the ending finally did come, I was left with a lump in my throat.

There is a warmth and gentleness about Weylyn that drew me to him. Lang doesn’t actually sugarcoat his life – some harsh things happen, but there is a steel core of optimism running through this book that swept me up and had me believing that in the end, the right folks would prevail. If you are looking for something a bit different with plenty of heart and adventure, along with a splash of magic realism, then this comes highly recommended.
8/10

This was such a magical story. I don't read a whole lot of magical realism but it seems that I love them when I do read them. I am not sure that this book would work for every reader since there are a whole lot of strange occurrences but it worked well for me and I am so happy that I decided to pick it up.

This book tells the story of Weylyn Grey. We don't learn his story from Weylyn. Instead, we learn about him in different points in time from others that are close to him. We see Weylyn as others see him and learn all of the incredible things that play a part in his life. Each section of the book shares a very vivid snapshot of this wonderful character.

Weylyn lives a life unlike anyone else. He is different in a lot of ways. He has a certain innocence throughout the book and it is hard not to fall in love with him. I also really liked the characters in the story that shared Weylyn's story. These characters grew and changed over the course of the book and seemed to be positively changed through their association with Weylyn.

There is a bit of magic on nearly every page of this charming story. This was a strange book in a lot of ways but it was strange in the best way possible. There are so many strange things associated with Weylyn and his life that I never knew what to expect. I quickly learned not to even try to guess what Weylyn would do next and just sat back and enjoyed the journey.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of magical realism. I found this book to be a wonderful story filled with magic. I am very impressed by Ruth Emmie Lang's debut novel and can't wait to read more of her work in the future.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.

THAT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL.

“what happened next wasn’t exactly extraordinary in any way. He simply took my hand in his and we watched the sun melt into the ocean.”

I am going to start with this book being one of the very rare books to catch my attention with the very first sentence.

The writing style of this book was so unique and beautiful without it being too flowery. I loved how each of the chapters were written and I remember thinking of how there could be a book like this in the world. It is exactly my type and my style. and plus, WOLVESSS!! You put wolves in a story and it will always get my attention right away. There is just something so beautiful about wolves that makes them so fun and mesmerising to read about. I find wolves such beautiful animals and I loved being able to read a book that was centered around them in a way.

The relationships of each character and how they were written was my other favorite part of this book. They just seemed so raw and wonderful that it made me love each of them to the bottom of my heart. They were very much explored but not to the point that readers would get bored of it too quickly. The main character was practical and didn’t get me annoyed to the point that I wanted to pull my hair out like a lot of fantasy protagonists with how stupid and impractical they could be at times. Even though I had no idea what was going on sometimes because the world building was a bit off, I still fell in love with the characters despite not being able to fully know who each one of them was yet. I LOVE WENDLYN SOMEONE CAN FIGHT ME ON THIS. And they are so sweet, I cannot.

“You don’t really know whether you’ll make a good parent until you are one.”

Old style references was also something that very much added to the subtle charm of the book, even though this was just pretty obvious in the first part of the story.

When I was reading this book I was literally happy and excited one second and then feeling like my heart was crushed the next moment. I loved everything that the book focuses on. The plot was seriously wonderful and I can say that this is a book that was definitely for me. It was hitting me in all the right spots. With all the supernatural stuff going on everything was still surprisingly relatable for normal people, especially teenagers.

This was a funjurney to be on even though the right was to describe this is a bit moody. Though, there were still light and fun parts to balance everything out.

This book has me amazed.

“i guess i knew less about the universe that i thought i did”

I forgot just how fast books can transport you to a whole different world in a way that nothing else can. And I really felt it in this book. This was such a wonderful fantasy and romantic read that readers should get when they are in the mood for books that will show you the other side of the mundane world and just how extraordinary a normal life could be if you just choose to believe it.

Every thing unfolded so beautifully in the end and I just really have no other adjective to describe it. Beautiful.


//
Full Reviews are posted in my blog

Although I hesitate to use the word quirky, the story of Weylyn Grey is just that. Filled with quirk, charm, and a healthy dose of magical realism, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is a perfectly strange, heartwarming debut novel by Ruth Emmie Lang. Orphaned, raised by wolves, and possessing the unusual habit of influencing the weather – when he least expects it – Weylyn is not your average man. The novel is told through the eyes of those that meet him, whether they love him or think he’s odd. The novel is a warm, weird story that simply made me happy, and I’ll be recommending it to those need of something just a little different.

(If you can resist “raised by wolves” in the description of a novel, you’re a stronger than I’ll ever be.)

There are hints of many classic novels in this, including The Wizard of Oz and The Chronicles of Prydain series, with its depiction of a plucky young hero and a trusted sidekick. But Weylyn is slightly different from these characters, as Weylyn can control the weather. And bring plants back to life. And talk to animals. From the moment he was born, sprinkling the doctor with snow, he's been special. After the accidental death of his parents, Weylyn is left to survive with a pack of wolves. And then he meets Mary.

This reads a bit like a modern day fairy tale. It's full of magic, wonder and adventure. I liked the descriptions of the various weather events, ranging from snowstorms and rain, and I felt the magical aspects of the tale were woven together well into the story. It never felt overly 'fantasy', and kept itself grounded in realism.

The characters Weylyn meets are vastly varied - including a pack of wolves and a talking pig. However, I felt aside from Mary, they were rather woefully underdeveloped with no depth or dimension to them. I also didn't really connect with Weylyn himself. Perhaps this is because we don't hear from him directly, as the story is told from these characters he comes into contact with rather than himself. I would have preferred to have had a few chapters from Weylyn's perspective to gain some kind of emotional attachment to him, and get to know him better. However, that said I like the interesting way the author told the story through these 'bystanders' as opposed to the main character - it showed the story in a rather unique way. Perhaps this would have worked better if there were fewer narrators which were more 'fleshed out'.

I also found the plot a little lacking in direction. Although we see, essentially, Wenlyn on a journey to self-acceptance and a 'home' to call his own, I found myself wondering - what's the point?

A short read, that would have been better if longer and the characters more developed. But I liked the ideas, the imagination, and the memories it invoked.

I love the premise of this novel, but the scattered perspectives and lack of character depth made it a 2 stars.

The premise: Weylyn was raised by wolves, can manipulate the weather, and his best friend is a unicorn pig.

That's pretty much all I needed to hear to request it on Netgalley. I love weird stuff!

The novel is stronger in the beginning, when it focuses on a couple of pov characters. But as the novel continues, more and more characters are added until it seems there are 20 povs in the novel, and none of them feel or act like real people. And the worst is when it finally enters Weylyn's head at the end. His perspective is shallow, and mere reiterations of what other people have said about him.

Overall, I'm disappointed I didn't enjoy this more.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Reviewed on Goodreads 10/25/2017]
[Posted on Amazon 11/14/2017
[Posted on personal blog 11/10/2017]

So what’s this book about?
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is a standalone novel (approximately 352 pages) that would sit happily within the literary fiction, urban fantasy and/or magical realism genres and quite possibly the young adult genre too due to the lack of any explicit 18+ content.

So, what did I like about it?
As a debut author, Ms Lang has set the bar high with this novel; I found both her plot involving and her characters engaging (even the ones that were hard to stomach). I liked the way she paced her tale, how she balanced the emotional scenes with more light-hearted/humorous ones and the sprinkling of unexplainable events (magic) that can be found throughout.

I like that Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance gives us snapshots of Weylyn Grey’s life, from when he was a boy through into adulthood, to his present day existence, however, I never felt lost in the epic timeline as Ms Lang clearly titles each story (book) with when and where the events to follow take place. What I thought was unique, was the fact that we see these events not though Weylyn’s eyes (our main character) but from two “supporting” characters that were there at the time; this also allows us the opportunity to understand how Weylyn impacted their life. But fret not, lovely followers, Ms Lang ensures that we don’t get lost by allowing each character clearly labelled chapters within each story (book) to describe their account.

Oh, and as I’m waxing lyrical about the characters, I also loved the fact that Ms Lang spent as much time crafting her supporting cast as she obviously did for Weylyn. As you can imagine, some characters play bigger parts than others in the overall tale and although we may only get a glimpse into their lives, thoughts, hopes and aspirations, every single one was included to highlight a specific purpose. I embraced the fact that certain scenes really made me stop and think about the way we view and treat others who are different from ourselves in our, so call, civilized society.

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance made me both laugh and cry, the gentle mystery of Weylyn’s powers delighted my intellect, the emotional journey pulled my heart strings, I was charmed by Weylyn’s animal companions as well as his innocence and view of the world and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next to this amazing individual.

So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?
Nope, nothing. (Hence the 5 star rating.)

So, basically what I’m saying is...
I fell in love with this novel!

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance had everything that I look for in a 5 star book; intelligent writing style that’s easy to read, main characters with depth of personality that I can like (or love to hate) and believe in, depth of character in the supporting cast, believable background story/setting (even when there’s magic involved) and a balanced mix of relationship – platonic or romance - scenes to scenes with action. I was left utterly charmed wondering where Ms Lang would take us next.

This book is about adventure, family, love, lose, and friendship to name a few. It had the right amount of magical realism and didn't weigh down the story at all. The pacing was great and I read it in two days. Despite having numerous narrators, the fully developed all of them to a point were they felt like real people.

Weylyn is born into a normal family but when he become an orphan he runs away and is raised by wolves. Unusually things keep happening to him and he has no idea why. We follow him though out his life and relationship he builds with people along the way.

This is a heartwarming story that I would recommend.

Wow. It's a fable, it's magical realism, it's deep and dark and sad and funny. It's also kind of awkward, in the beginning. This may be because the critical mind is trying to fit the narrative into a box. Then, at some point, the critical mind says, "There must be more, many more books from this author." And then, one realizes, this is never going to fit into a box, this is a living narrative. It starts with a birth, and ends in new life. There's trauma and happiness along the way, all along the way of Weylin's life. Somehow, there's a thread of good humor woven throughout the musical tapestry of this novel, and one is left with a sense of the goodwill that binds all the earth's creatures together, a sense of hope in the mystery that dissolves the wall between wilderness and civilization that is not at all the sense of taming. At its heart, this is a story about what happens when magic (or love) comes into our lives, and we make the choice to believe...or not. There must be more, many more books from this author. It's a mystery, a ghost story, a love story, a fable, a jar full of magic light. Wow. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-galley for review, the book is on my Christmas wishlist!!

When one hears the phrase “raised by wolves,” it triggers a certain feeling. It’s one of those ideas that feels old-fashioned – almost quaint. The argument could be made that it leads to stories that are by their very nature limited in the way that they can be told.

This means that when we meet young Weylyn Grey in debut novelist Ruth Emmie Lang’s “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance,” there are certain expectations regarding how things will proceed. Instead, Lang takes us on a thoughtful journey of magical realism as we watch the life of, well, an extraordinary young man unfold through the eyes of those who cross his path and are forever changed by his presence in their lives – however brief it might be.

Weylyn Grey’s birth was extraordinary, marked by storms that were magnificent and unprecedented in their power. Orphaned at a young age, he took to the woods and fell in with a pack of wolves – a pack that took him in and protected him and raised him as one of their own.

But it all begins to change for Weylyn when he meets Mary, a young girl who gets swept into his orbit and winds up living with Wylyn and the wolves for a brief period of time – brief, but entirely unforgettable. The impact of their meeting spans decades – something that is both good and bad for them both.

A few years down the road, Weylyn is taken in by a local pastor and his family. While most of the man’s family is less than thrilled about the not-really-feral boy in their midst, his daughter Lydia quickly connects with Weylyn (as well as Weylyn’s uni-horned pig pal Merlin). But it all has to change when he somehow stops a tornado there on the plains of Oklahoma, displaying power that leaves him as an outsider once again.

On and on through the years we go, observing Weylyn as he moves in and out of assorted lives, drastically altering the outlooks of those he touches. Whether he’s hired by a small-town mayor to stop a hurricane or venturing into the wilderness alongside a wolf researcher or becoming a lumberjack who grows more trees than he cuts down, Weylyn moves through the world as an enigma that nevertheless deeply affects everyone he meets along the way.

All of this is rendered by way of a framing device that involves a young girl who stumbles upon an aged Weylyn living a hermit-like existence in the woods – an existence whose motives become all the more touching as they are clarified.

Relating the story of your hero through the observations of others is a risky proposition; it can result in a passivity that negates some of the reader’s potential empathetic and emotional engagement. That remove from the narrative’s central figure can cause real storytelling issues. However, “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance” largely avoids those issues, thanks to Lang’s clear and concrete representation of the relationship dynamics at play.

In Lang’s hands, Weylyn becomes a rare balance of star and subject. He is THE central figure in this story, yet all of our exposure to him comes through the experiences of those around him. By using the ripple effects of Weylyn’s personality and power, Lang tells a story that both shapes Weylyn’s character and is shaped by him. Yet he remains charmingly idiosyncratic throughout, with his eccentricities shining through.

The movement in time could have made for a confusing read, but Lang handles the narrative jumps flawlessly, quickly bringing forward the new perspectives in a manner that speeds things along without ever coming off as rushed. And when relationships are revisited as they are in the latter parts of the book … that’s when the story burns brightest, when Weylyn and those close to him are forced to reckon with the massive effect he had on their worlds and worldviews.

“Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance” has the feel of a fairy tale. It explores the magic of its world in an easy and natural way. Lang isn’t concerned with explaining the extraordinary – it’s enough to acknowledge and celebrate it. That attitude, more than anything else, is what makes this such a lovely book.

This book might be the best book I read this year. The story is captivating, especially the way the characters are tied together. I loved the bittersweet nature of Weylyn's relationships with his step-sister and Mary and his backstory. While the story is obviously centered on a supernatural element in Weylyn's abilities, it's not overdone and even people who are not fantasy or sci-fi fans would appreciate reading it because the story is so strong. There's a lot to love about this novel: it's whimsical, heart breaking, and heart warming.

Weylyn Grey’s life has never been what one would call ordinary. From his very first breath of air, Weylyn affected the weather itself as snow began to fall and continued to fall until 6 inches were on the ground. This wouldn’t be the first or the last time that the weather was affected by Weylyn. Orphaned and subsequently raised by wolves, Weylyn lives a unique life and BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES is his story as told by those who briefly experience some of the strangeness that surrounds Weylyn.

Told through snippets from other characters, BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES threads its way through Weylyn’s life. At first, I found the change in narrators a bit disconcerting, particularly since I wasn’t overly fond of some of the early narrators of the story. Surprisingly, Mary Penlore is my least favorite narrator and yet she’s the love of Weylyn’s life. I love the magic surrounding their romance but their early exploits left me shaking my head in frustration. Soon, however, we meet Lydia Cramer and Mrs. Meg Lowry, two of my favorite characters in the storyline. It was only by seeing Weylyn through their eyes that I began to truly like Weylyn.

I love the animals that weave in and out of the storyline of BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES. From Merlin the magical pig to Matilda the talking raccoon, the animals provide a sense of wonder and magic to the story. However, Ruth Emmie Lang doesn’t hesitate to show the darker, harsher side of nature as we clearly see with the wolves and the bees. Regardless, the scene with the fireflies will stay with me for a long time as that sense of wonder is so well executed by Ruth Emmie Lang.

It’s hard to characterize BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES as it has magical realism, romance, and quite a bit of fantasy in it. The strength of the relationships and the reader’s investment in the believability of those relationships is what makes BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES work. If you love magical realism, don’t hesitate to give Ruth Emmie Lang’s BEASTS OF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES a try.

*review is in the editing queue at Fresh Fiction*

Have you ever read a book and thought; man, the writing is beautiful, the story is interesting, why isn’t it working for me? That’s my experience with Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance. Magical realism is a fascinating world to play in, and is, at its heart, about finding magic in everyday life. This story, however, seemed more about finding the ordinary in the extraordinary, and the result was a beautiful story that just didn’t click with me.

Beasts starts off slow, with the birth of one Weylyn Grey. From the night of his birth in 1968, he’s been different, and throughout his story, which we see through the eyes of those around him, it’s proven over and over again. Weylyn can speak with animals, can make things grow, can influence the weather, all amazing abilities, but it all just feels...normal. More about that in a moment.

Weylyn’s parents die when he is young, still in kindergarten, and when the state comes to take him, he runs away into the woods and lives with the wolves. That’s when we meet our first real narrator in Michigan in 1979 (other than the doctor who delivered him), Mary Penlore. Mary is a pre-teen girl who feels abandoned herself after her mother’s death and her father’s difficulty to communicate with her. After befriending Weylyn (who, despite having lived with the wolves since around 6, is not feral), she runs away, living with Weylyn and the wolves for several weeks, until they are both picked up by authorities. Mary is sent back to her father, and Weylyn ends up in Oklahoma, fostered by the Kramers, the pastor and his family.

With the Kramers, we get Lydia, our next narrator, and she is fabulous. The outcast in a family of beautiful women, Lydia is sarcastic and talkative beyond belief, a good foil for Weylyn who, as a wolf-child, isn’t particularly talkative himself. But there is friction in the family, both before and because of Weylyn, and so off he goes again.

We see Weylyn growing up through the eyes of those around him, but it’s all told in first person, and each storyteller feels much like the one before. From Mary, the girl who ran away with him to live with wolves, to Lydia, his adopted sister, to Duane the logger and friend, there’s no real character, just a narrator. It’s jarring to try to see Weylyn from different points of view, while the internal monologue all feels the same.

The actual structure of the story is set up with modern day interludes between glimpses of Weylyn’s past. I find it interesting, however, that although it is framed as Weylyn telling young Roarke his stories, but each part is from an outside point of view, more about the effect of Weylyn on those around him than his own story. Is he telling Roarke what we are reading? Is he just saying what happened to him, without the narrator’s point of view? It’s never really clear, and there were times it felt like Weylyn knew what the person was thinking and feeling, which was a little disconcerting.

The characters in the story don’t seem to have much in the way of an arc. Weylyn, our central figure, is the “naive and wise child” - you know, the one who seems pure and innocent and yet wiser than the hills. Leeloo from The Fifth Element is a science fiction example of this, as both a protector and someone who needs protection. It’s an interesting archetype, but doesn’t leave any room for growth. The Weylyn you meet in the beginning is much like the Weylyn you see in the end. Mary and Lydia, for all their narrative importance, have basically no development whatsoever. Yes, things happen to them, but they are just along for the ride, not driving the car.

The magic in this magical realism novel is vast. Weylyn can do amazing things, but they are rarely framed as such. Let’s look at his life with the wolves. Weylyn can talk with animals, can understand them and have them understand him. They want to do things for him. When he and Mary are in the wilderness, attempting to fend for himself, it just seems like another part of life, like the wolf character is just another character, and not actually a wolf. They look for food, they get cold, they look for food again, Mary misses showers, and that’s it. The wow of “how do you talk to animals!?” is there and gone in an instant, and the magic fades as a result. Each of the characters has a moment, upon introduction, where they are amazed by Weylyn and his abilities, but it’s just that, a moment. The magic part of the magical realism here seems so divorced from the rest of the story. It’s disappointing.

There’s something else I’ve gone back and forth on with this book - the writing. There are times I think it’s beautiful and lyrical, here, for example:

We sat there for a long time, watching the sun sink into the valley like butter melting on toast, or at least, that’s what it looked like at first. The longer I stared at it, the more it looked like the tree line was reaching up into the sun, not the other way around.

But then I get a list of dates and times, or unimportant details about how sensitive Mary’s mother’s sense of smell was, and I just wonder…why? It doesn’t enhance the story. It doesn’t further the plot or the character arcs. It’s just...there.

Finally, I do want to touch on the romance. Weylyn and Mary, his first real human friend, meet up again later in life, in 1997, and their budding romance is lovely, but never really feels defined. She’s attracted to him, you think he is probably the same for her, but it’s more dreamlike than anything else, more wish-fulfillment than actual functional relationship.

There are some books you devour right out of the gate, and others that take more time to grow on you. I think Beasts is one of that second category, because even with its faults, I found myself picking it back up over and over, wanting to know how the story ends. And now that I’ve finished it, I think I need to go back and reread it. But I’m ultimately left wanting more, and I don’t think what I want is actually part of the book.

Great book. Highly recommend. Fabulous story, great book club pick.

Delightful! By turns whimsical and poignant, poor Weylyn just can't seem to get things quite right. He doesn't have much control over powers he can't really define, and powers you can't control are more of a nuisance, and often dangerous, than a boon to your existence! Most who come into contact with Weylyn realize how special and fascinating he is, but it seems like he is constantly leaving those he loves, whether by his own unhappy decision, afraid he'll hurt them, or by being forced to go. Nature gets a boost around him, and the weather reacts to his moods, and you spend the book rooting for him to find his Happily Ever After, because he's such a gentle, caring and innocent soul.

The structure of the story was different, told from the alternating points of view of those interacting with Weylyn, only finally getting his perspective towards the end. While you feel sad for this man who has had such a different and often solitary life, it is also a heartwarming story as he seems to make it back to those he loves time and again. This book was a magical hug, and I look forward to more from Ruth Emmie Lang!