Review: Nocturne

Nocturne
By Christine Johnson
Expected publication August 23, 2011 by Simon Pulse

So I only read the first book in this series (yes, this is part of a series) because I got a copy of this title at ALA. That being said, I thought the first one was okay - I didn't really feel any connection to the characters but the action was decent. After reading through the second novel, I find myself agreeing with my initial evaluation of the series. If anything, Claire becomes a far more obnoxious and irritating narrator in this one and no other character is really featured to the same depth as she is, so it's hard to care about anyone in the novel. Oh, maybe I should talk about the plot before I get too far into this review...

After the bad summer, Claire just wants to find a balance between her wolf side and her human side. Unfortunately, this is starting to seem impossible. Claire will have to prove her skills as a wolf to the pack and her skills as a friend and girlfriend to Matthew and her friends.

That is a pretty terrible description, but, honestly, when I think about it, not too much happens in this book. Well, not until the last 50 pages or so and that action is so ridiculous that I don't even really want to talk about it. Like I said, Claire is much more silly and annoying in this one. She spends all her time pushing away her friends and then getting mad at them for continuing to live their lives without her. The action was the strong point in the first novel and it's definitely lacking here. Claire has to demonstrate her wolf skills and there is one she can't do. But instead of talking to her mom about it (the easy solution), she makes it complicated for herself. Then she goes to the big fall dance, but OF COURSE it's the same night as the big ceremony for the wolves. I just don't care. The main action of the novel seems to come in the last 50 pages, as I mentioned, and revolves around Claire's utter stupidity. Seriously. She thinks one of her friends has found out her secret. But she is clearly so off-base about it that it makes the entire rest of the novel absurd.

I don't really think there's much else to say about this book. It just wasn't good. I won't be reading anymore about Claire de Lune.

Thanks to the publisher for an advance reader's copy.