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A loner teen finds himself caught up in a paranormal paramilitary threat—but he has both untapped personal resources and some unlikely allies to help him out.
Ever since his mother died, his father—a sometime Special Ops–type agent who happens to be of Native American descent—has been worse than useless. Lucas just concentrates on doing well in school and mooning over the beautiful daughter of one of the Pakistani scientists working at the new Romanian-owned top-secret facility in town. He goes out of his way to avoid the Sunglass Mafia, a bunch of unusually pale Russian students. But when his father is kidnapped and gives him a coded message by telephone, Lucas discovers that his heritage is more complicated and powerful than he had thought. Bruchac throws an enormous number of plot complications at his protagonist, from a schoolboy crush to filial angst to bioterrorism of a particularly creepy sort to a coming-of-age epiphany with a twist. For the most part, he keeps all the elements working pretty well, but Lucas tends toward introspection, which results in rather more navel-gazing than thriller-readers normally like. But the scenes with the Sunglass Mafia both defy stereotypes and manage to be very funny, and when the action kicks in, it does so in overdrive.
A solid entry into the paranormal market, with an appealingly different hero. (Paranormal thriller. 12 & up)
Wolf Mark is an awesome book. Joseph Bruchac takes you into the mind of Luke, and I do mean literally takes you in the mind of Luke. This story is told from Luke's POV, but you're seeing it all through Luke's perspective, the way his dad has trained him to see the situation. Wolf Mark is total testosterone. Definitely an all guy's storyline. Bruchac does put just a splash of romance in with Luke's feelings for Meena.
Luke just wants to be brave enough to ask Meena to take a ride on his motorcycle, his second love, the Norton Commando. Luke thought he could finally have a normal boys, teenage life, but all that changes for Luke when his father gets kidnapped by Maxico. Then Luke finds himself teaming up with the Sunglass Mafia, as Luke calls them. They are a gang of seven Russians that goes to school with him at RHS. These Russian teenagers have a little secret of their own, and talk about the unlikeliest gang of teenagers that Luke could team up with to help him rescue his dad while being a werewolf skinwalker. Well . . . this would be the group.
This is where I really started to enjoy Luke's character and the storyline. Before this, it's mainly Luke's thoughts you're reading, and I do have to say, I like more interacting with characters and hearing their voice in books. And boy does it pick up here with the Russian's vampires. I love Luke's relationship with the Russian's vampires, especially three of them: Yuri, Vlad and the tough, sexy Marina, who definitely has the hots for wolfboy Luke. But Luke's heart belongs to Meena, pining for his daydream date with Meena on the back of his motorcycle.
Wolf Mark is a Fantastic novel full of action, an awesome storyline, and teenage boys' first love. I fell in love Luke and definitely got my testosterone fix in this novel. I recommend Wolf Mark as a must read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 29, 2011
Luke, the main character, will draw the reader into this novel. His life has been secretive up to this point, he has to deal with the knowledge that his father is a black ops infiltrator and that he has a strange wolf mark on his wrist. He has always tried to blend in, but his attempts are not always successful-especially when his father mysteriously disappears, leaving Luke a target. The action really takes off here as Luke decides that the Russian crowd should be viewed in shades of grey, rather than black or white, and how he should approach the subject of his wolf mark and his fathers disappearance.
Luke is a great main character. He has plenty of knowledge about black ops, as does his father, that really adds to the book. He is a bit of an enigma in the beginning, forcing the reader to look deeper. At times, he can be impulsive, though he appears cautious by nature. The reader will enjoy following his thoughts and actions through the book. The secondary characters are just as intriguing, the reader will get to meet quite a few "characters."
The events are fast-paced, some high-energy. The plot was intriguing, could have been developed a little further. The story itself was good enough to hold this readers attention. This book is good for young readers through teens.
Overview
Luke hopes that this time, he’ll finally have a normal life. He’ll be able to ask out the girl he likes. He’ll hang out with his friends. He’ll be ...