The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff

The Wild Ways
Tanya Huff
Gale Women #2
Published 2011 by DAW

Bite-sized Review
Tanya Huff produces another fascinating story of the Gale family and the world they live in. I can't wait to see more of this series.

King-sized Review
This series is rather different from most of the UF/PNR out there. It feels more like the style of Charles de Lint than Richelle Mead or Kelley Armstrong. Huff plays with legends much older than werewolves or vampires, with the Gale family at the center of everything. I actually really like the world of these books; the Gales are powerful in interesting and unusual ways.

Where the first book, Enchantment Emporium, focused on Allie Gale and her role, The Wild Ways follows Allie's cousins Charlie, a Wild Power, and Jack, a dragon prince. They're both great characters: neither really fits into the mold for Gale women or men, so this book is about each of them learning their place in the world. They're also funny and work really well together, and since (unlike Allie) neither of them really got a love story, I hope we'll see more of them in the next book.

In this book, Charlie investigates the theft of selkie skins. Gales aren't supposed to involve themselves in anything that doesn't directly concern the family, but she's never been very good at following the rules. This story was good, if not particularly intricate. There were a few moments where the direction of the plot just seemed sort of...random. But the appeal of these books isn't in the plot, it's in the world and characters anyway. However, there were several times in the book where I was on the edge of my seat, and there are a few questions I still want answers to after finishing the book.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good