Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2014
368 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
First Glen Duncan gave us his monstrously thrilling, genre-reinventing The Last Werewolf: the tale of Jake, a werewolf with a profoundly human heart, considering bringing to an end the timeless legend of his kind. Then Talulla Rising: Jake's werewolf lover, mother to newborn twins, on the run from those who want her destroyed. And now By Blood We Live: a stunningly erotic love story that gives us the final battle for survival between werewolves and vampires, and one last searing - and brilliantly ironic - look at what it means to be, or not to be, human.
The story opens: Talulla has settled into an uneasy equilibrium. With her twins safely at her side, and the devotion of her lover, Walker, she has what appears to be a normal family life - except for their monthly transformation into werewolves hungry for human flesh. But even this hard-won, tenuous peace is undermined for Talulla by nagging thoughts of Remshi, the twenty-thousand-year-old vampire who haunts her dreams. For his part, Remshi can't escape the feeling that he knows Talulla from many (many, many) years before.
Still, they have their distractions: Talulla is being pursued by a fanatical, Vatican-based Christian cult, and Remshi is following a trail of reckless feedings by a newly turned vampire bent on revenge. But, as the novel unfolds, Talulla and Remshi are inexorably drawn to each other - and toward the moment when an ancient prophecy may finally come to pass.
"Duncan's style is animated, and he recounts the imperatives of vampire and werewolf brutality and sexual aggressiveness with particular gusto." - Kirkus
"Duncan's a gorgeous, daring writer even those horrified of horror can love." - Library Journal
"Fans of the first two books who have become attached to Tallula and her kin will be satisfied, but others may wonder what the fuss is all about." - Publishers Weekly
This information about By Blood We Live was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Kim Teasdale
Glen Duncan was born in Bolton, Lancashire (UK) in 1965 to an Angli-Indian family. He studied philosophy and literature at Lancaster University. After working as a bookseller for some years, he traveled around America and India by train, before becoming a writer.
His first novel, Hope, was published in 1997, and has been followed by five further novels: Love Remains (2000); I, Lucifer (2002), shortlisted for the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; Weathercock (2003); Death of an Ordinary Man (2004); and The Bloodstone Papers (2006), set in India in 1946, and A Day and a Night and a Day (2009), The Last Werewolf (2011), Talulla Rising (2012), By Blood We Live (2014).
Glen Duncan was named by The Times Literary Supplement as one of Britain's 'twenty best young novelists'. He lives in ...
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
