[hmorphone]

TITLE: Inhuman (World of the Lupi 3.5)
AUTHOR: Eileen Wilks
GENRE: Paranormal
PUBLISHED: 8/07/2007
RATING: ★★★☆☆
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon / Barnes&Noble
MOBILISM LINK: http://forum.mobilism.org/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=299142

Review: Inhuman is a novella set in Eileen Wilks "World of the Lupi" world. It was originally published in the anthology On the Prowl. It is now also available as an individual ebook.

Inhuman is set in the timeline between novel 3 - Bloodlines, and novel 4 - Night Season. The two primary characters (that it adds to the existing world) are Kai Tallman Michalski (yes I agree that her name's a mouthful!) and Nathan Hunter. Kai is a "gifted" human - one with a paranormal ability and Nathan is something else entirely. I can't give away what he actually is without it being a spoiler. Suffice it to say that you do find out in the course of the novella, and you do receive a moderate amount of background explanation (though not necessarily enough to answer all of your questions.)

It's a paranormal story (but NO VAMPIRES) and it reminds me a lot of an urban fantasy. It's got elements of romance and a bit of a mystery as well. Some of the gifted in Kai's town are murdered and in the course of her, Nathan's, and the local law enforcement's investigation, she also becomes a suspect.

The way Wilks resolves the mystery is both a pleasant surprise and a little bit of a stretch. In the course of the resolution several important secondary characters are introduced. I really liked Dell, one of them, even though she doesn't quite seem true to the facts presented earlier in the book. The fairies also make their first official appearance in the series in several interesting ways.

Wilks handles the romantic aspects of the novella in an even-handed way, the same way she usually handles it in the rest of the series. It's prominent enough for most romance fans to enjoy, but it's also secondary enough for it not to interfere with the non-romance fans' enjoyment. The eroticism is handled similarly, though a bit on the milder side.

I liked it. Why did I like it? Wilks builds an enjoyable and plausible world for us, and then populates it with characters interesting enough to keep our attention. She surprises us at times with plot twists and revelations that we didn't see coming but they also usually don't seem contrived. I would have enjoyed seeing this novella expanded to a novel and having a better and deeper understanding of the characters background and the primary plot. Even so, it still does work well as a novella.

I would recommend it to most readers - with some caveats. While it would be a decent stand-alone read, I would recommend you read the first book in the series, and if it's your cup of tea, read Inhuman in the correct series order. If you don't like the World of the Lupi enough at that point, then I don't think this novella is enough to change your mind.

Kai, Nathan, and Dell do show up as secondary characters in novel 4 - Night Season. As of partway through novel 6 - Blood Magic they don't reappear yet. They are popular enough with our fellow readers for Wilks to have added a question about more books featuring Kai and Nathan to her FAQ. She states, in response to those requesting more Kai/Nathan books, that she isn't able to manage writing a second (spin-off ?) series at the same time as she's writing more World of the Lupi. We can only hope to see some more of Kai, Nathan, Dell, and certain fae folk in the pages of the World of the Lupi novels.