CompleteMartialArts.com - Male of the Species
|
List Price: $10.99
Our Price: $10.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ellora's Cave Publishing
|
Average Customer Rating:   
|
|
Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781419957086
ISBN: 1419957082
Label: Ellora's Cave Publishing
Manufacturer: Ellora's Cave Publishing
Number Of Pages: 206
Publication Date: 2007-11-01
Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing
Studio: Ellora's Cave Publishing
|
|
|
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Devin Grant is an alpha on a mission. Rejected by his pack for refusing to believe that one man loving another is wrong, Devin finds himself alone and directionless until a chance meeting with fellow outcast Quinn Alexander starts him on the path to forming his own pack. With Quinn's experience and his own needs guiding him, Devin fights to make their pack dream a reality. Along the way, he makes an enemy the unscrupulous leader of a black arts coven and unexpectedly finds his mate, human Ryan Mitchell. With strength and courage, Devin works to win his mate and build his pack until a stunning betrayal threatens to cost Devin not only his mate...but his humanity.
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Comment: The basic idea--a young werewolf is banished from his pack for being gay, founds his own pack and then has to face his lover being sacrificed by a viscously evil coven--sounded like a hell of a lot of fun, which is why I bought the book. And yes, I'll say that the plot did follow the description.
The problem is that the book felt far more like lazily-written fanfiction than an actual novel. Conflicts were set-up and then solved with an almost deus-ex-machina casualness in far too little time, and the villain of the story was so typical as to be ridiculous. I kept thinking that if the book was about four times as long there would have been room to properly deal with the far-too thin emotional content and the sub-plots of the other werewolves. Not to mention create a credible menace out of the coven and explain such things as to how a supposedly super-secret organization could be apparently common knowledge and yet never be officially investigated for the murders everyone knows the coven is responsible for. My other beef is that the entire pack consisted of gay males, with not a single female werewolf in sight. What about the lesbians? The concept would have worked better for me if there had even been one female wolf in the pack, even if she had been completely in the background.
In short, it's no wonder eBooks seem to be getting a bad rap, if this is the kind of thing they publish (yes, this was originally an electronic book).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Male of the Species
Comment: Devin Grant no longer has a pack. After defeating his father in battle, he transforms into his wolf form and walks away; he knows he will never be accepted as alpha of his father's pack because of his sexual orientation. Traveling alone he is lonely and hurt. One night Devin comes across another wolf's territory and finds a cave. Seeking warmth, Devin invades the other wolf's space. The other wolf returns, but allows Devin to settle down next to him. The next morning, they wake up as men, introduce themselves and become friends. Devin asks Quinn Alexander to teach him how to be an alpha and in return Devin will start a new pack. A pack that accepts people the way they are; not the way people want them to be. Along the way, Quinn and Devin become lovers but each knows that they aren't mates.
Devin and Quinn return to Quinn's home and set out to find new pack members. Quinn has offered his home as pack territory and Devin is humbled and honored. Two new members are found, Nick Boyce and Sam Sterling, and the men welcome their two new pack mates into the family in their own special way. Nick and Sam, with the help of Quinn's money are able to go college to earn the degrees they have always wanted. Time passes and the men settle into a new routine but Quinn is restless and informs Devin of his plans to return to the woods for a short while.
Devin is enjoying his new pack mates and loves being the alpha. He is still lonely however, because he knows that none of his new pack mates is his mate. His loneliness comes to an end when a new man is hired on where Devin works during the day utilizing his wildlife biology degree. With one simple smell, Devin knows that human Ryan Mitchell is his mate. Devin knows he has to take things slow with Ryan but he is willing to wait. Just as Devin and Ryan declare their status as mates and lovers, someone close to them sets Ryan up to be captured by the sadistic leader of a coven. Devin's fury is a sight to behold and he is determined to get Ryan back.
Male of the Species by Kate Steele is extremely powerful. I could sense the love between the pack mates and most especially Devin's total adoration of Ryan. I was aware of the longing of each of the pack mates for their own mates and I loved how Ms. Steele incorporated mini stories into Male of the Species. It gives me something to look forward to as possible new novels.
Male of the Species is hot and explosive. Very emotional at times, I fell quickly under its spell and couldn't put this book down. I am quickly becoming a fan of Kate Steele!
Talia
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
Customer Rating:
Summary: A whole lot of porn with a lot less plot
Comment: That's exactly what's in it. . .a whole lot of porn! If that's what you're into then this book should get you off quite a few times, after all the scenes are quite hot and the action (sex, that is) is pretty intense. But, a good book should rely on more than that and unfortunately I didn't find it here.
There was an interesting set up of Devin being rejected by his pack because he was gay and then finding the strength to start his own pack with a variety of other "outcasts" but that's about as far as we get with that story line. Well, there was something that had to do with a coven and using black magic but we didn't get to that until the last few pages.
The one thing that I was really disappointed about was that the author did nothing to help us "explore" the world of werewolves. We were never taken on that journey that us readers usually love to take. Instead, the world already existed and Devin and the others lived in it and we (as readers) feel like outsiders because there was no explanations or revelations.
To give an example, Devin asks his new friend Quinn to teach him how to survive on his own. Quinn agrees and in the very next paragraph we skip ahead to, "In the days that followed, Devin carefully assimilated the knowledge Quinn imparted." And that was that. I would have wanted to be in on that knowledge and the author missed a great opportunity to take us on that journey!
Anyway, a great wackoff book but otherwise somewhat dull and unfullfilling.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I really wanted to love this
Comment: MALE OF THE SPECIES is a werewolf story. Devin Grant's father kicks him out of his birth pack because Devin is gay. Devin wanders around by himself for a while and finds Quinn, a wealthy lone wolf (also kicked out of his own pack for being gay). Quinn and Devin decide to form a pack for all the rejected gay werewolves in their city, with Devin as the alpha. Devin eventually meets Ryan, the human male who is destined to be Devin's mate. Along the way, Devin and the pack make enemies with the leader of an evil black magic coven.
This was so disappointing to me. The premise was really cool, but the author didn't do it justice. There was no world building, no original
mythology, no new werewolf lore from the author's imagination. Instead of feeling like one original story on its own, it feels like bits and pieces of other (better) stories I've already read. Even the sex is so
template-based that it's actually boring. The dialogue is so formulaic and perfect that it feels unnatural and makes the characters appear flat and one dimensional. I know that sounds like a silly, picky thing, but unnatural dialogue can make an entire book feel like a college essay.
I'm just so spoiled by other great authors that have a signature style and add personal touches to their work that I have trouble getting through a story as sterile and impersonal as this one.
This book wasn't awful, but compared to all the wonderful wolf stories I've already read, I just can't make myself call it great. At best, I call this a good "beginner" M/M werewolf story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Hot
Comment: Steele, Kate. "Male of the Species", Ellora's Cave, 2007.
Very Hot
Amos Lassen
I always find it interesting when women write gay books and sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. Kate Steele manages to engage out emotions and she writes some very sexy scenes. We have a tantalizing story that can be read and reread because of the humor, the warmth of the plot and the wonderful spellbinding characterization.
Alpha werewolf Devin has been turned out of his pack because he is gay and Quinn has been waiting for the right man to become Alpha to a new pack. Together they will be able to build a family of those men who have been abandoned by their packs. The men meet at the home of Quinn's aunt but they soon discover an evil coven in their city. The members of this coven murder werewolves because it gives them power to do so. What is an act of betrayal puts Ryan, Devin's new partner, in danger of being the next sacrifice.
There is a lot of action in the book and there is a lot of hot sex. The love that the pack shares is beautifully written about but the affair between Ryan and Devin is the focus of the plot. It is the deft characterization of Devin, Quinn and Ryan that captures the reader right away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
