Wraeththu

Rating:
Summary: Fun, Beautiful, Obsession-Inspiring
Review: This is pretty much Storm's best known work and my personal favorite just because it's the most FUN. Wraeththu is a trilogy which, through three POVs, reveals a post-apocalyptic world in which mankind has been superceded by a new species of pretty adrogynous pansexual hermaphrodites. Originally the Wraeththu come about from a single mutant who "infects" other teenage boys through his blood and soon "inception" spreads and these pretty boys start a war with humanity and take over. They're stronger, long-lived and have all kinds of psychic and other gifts that mankind either doesn't have or have squandered. They also find out that even though they used to be boys, they can now have kids. The book is a coming of age story for a whole race, showing how they must overcome their human past and morph into something greater. There are a ton of themes that get covered in the series, including mysticism (equivalent of Reiki training, "caste-training"), ..., characters facing major challenges in the way they view themselves and the world... and some loves stories too. NOTE: The trilogy is about to continue with three more books, with the new fourth book coming out in May. In addition, there is a growing Wraeththu fan fiction movement which is blessed and encouraged by Storm herself.

Rating:
Summary: Read and be enraptured
Review: The title of this sucker says it all: Enchantments, Bewitchments, Fulfilments. In this book you are introduced to a new race of people, so much more than human, in some ways the same, in some ways better, in some ways just as bad. Storm Constantine is absolutely amazing in that she weaves a luxurious, sensual brocade of what the Wraeththu are -- their physiology and their customs, their beliefs and their lifestyles -- and at the same time keeps the narrative from becoming a didactical lecture by blending her descriptions into the lush landscape that is her plot, and coloring the mix with her own writing style. Her prose is painfully artful, as lyrical as an ancient melody, and just as timeless. She says with a few words what other authors would need half a page for. Each story is a first-person narrative by a different character, and as you get into their heads you can't help but fall into the story and empathize with the characters. This book actually deserves more than four stars, but just a bit less than five. The third story in this trilogy, to me, just didn't carry the same heart and impact that the first two did. It might be due to the fact that everything you need and want to learn about the Wraeththu and their world is in parts one and two. By the time you get to part three, you pretty much know everything, and the story has to be buoyed by plot alone. As good as it was, it simply lacked the mystery and enchantment of its predecessors, and the ending was kind of questionable, though the installment is no less stylistic than the other two. All in all, an incredible read, tearfully beautiful. Don't be daunted by its large size; it is three books in one, after all, and you'll find yourself so eager to soak up Constatine's prose that you'll need a crowbar to pry the book out of your hands.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating look at a possible future...
Review: I highly recommend this book! Storm Constantine creates a fully believable world, filled with exotic cultures and even more exotic characters that you will come to love.

Wraeththu is told from first person perspective, which I enjoy, and is broken into three books. Each is told from the perspective of a very different character. First is Pellaz the innocent young man, who introduces us to Wraeththu culture even as he is introduced to it, himself. Next is Swift, a first generation Wraetthu with whom we see the upheaval and maturing of the Wraetthu culture, and learn further secrets of this strange new race. Finally it wraps up with Calanthe, the chaotic har who is the catalyst for most of the action in all three books. He brings the story to a very satisfying close.

A warning though, if you dislike sex in your books, there is a strong sexual element that is integral to the story. It is not graphic nor gratuitous, in my opinion, but it is definitely there and it is non-traditional. You will need an open mind to fully enjoy these books.

All I can say is that if you are looking for something different and good you will find it here!

Rating:
Summary: Fun Goth-fiction
Review: Constantine starts with the premise that, during and after a vaguely described decline of modern society, a mutation appears among humans. The mutants call themselves Wraeththu, and they are androgynes, resistant to disease and injury, long-lived, beautiful and psychically gifted. The Wraeththu are an attractive literary creation, well described and vivid.

The first book follows one Pellaz from his inception (mutation to Wraeththu) to his ascension to the throne of a powerful kingdom. The second picks up the story of Swift, one of the first generation born Wraeththu, and the third returns to Cal, Pellaz' lover in the first book, and brings the whole trilogy to a climax.

This is light, easy to read, soap-opera stuff. Constantine does not avoid 20th-century slang and colloquialism, which provides a nice counterpart to the sometimes overly lofty metaphysical themes. Since Wraeththu are very sexual creatures, there's a lot of sex, though it isn't graphically described. I generally found the characters appealing and the plots, though not very complex, interesting (though the very end of the third book gets silly). The novels overall do have a shallow quality: we meet characters and never see them again, the obvious gender issues are skipped over rather lightly, and the most interesting aspects of the world are never explored. But they're an easy, fast-moving read.

Rating:
Summary: The most amazings books I have ever read
Review: Storm constantine is the most brilliant writer ever, and I didn't think I could ever like anyone more than Poppy Z. Brite. I learned about Storm though a book called Hex Files: The Goth Bible. I was obsessed with her even before reading anything she wrote. I was intruiged by her subject matter, which was a gothic fantasy style. The first of the series was definately my favourite, about a boy named Pellaz who is taken away by a mysterious stranger named Cal. The reason this book was so great was that is dealt with something I had never seen in other books (to any great degree): androgyny. The only thing people may dislike about this series is the very simple plot. But the complex and beautiful characters more than make up for it. I have never been so enthralled with any characters before, aside from a few in Poppy Brite's novels. The second book, then narrated by Swift, is another beautiful tale, but this time told from a completely different point of view. Where Pellaz was changed from human to hara (the term for the Wraeththu hermaphroditic race), Swift was pure, actually born that way. You get to live through life with him and watch him grow and become strong. Storm's imagination is wonderful. The last is narrated by Cal, who was basically an outcast at this point. Like the other books, this is basically an account of a journey, but the difference this time is that the book is meant to sound as if it's written by Cal, and not Storm. Whatever the case, you must get these books. Since most of Storm's books are out of print, hunt them down. I found the whole trilogy in a used book store for $6. And get her other books too. Calenture is also amazing. I still have to find most of her others and read the ones that I do have. Get these. NOW. -Opium Poppy Fields

Rating:
Summary: An entire world brought to life
Review: Storm is definetely and excellent writer and has the talent to make you present in the place that the characters experiences are happening. While I think that this collection is a bit flawed she is definetely continuosly evolving as a writer and will bring us many great fantasy works over the years.

Rating:
Summary: Pearls and Wreaththu and hara oh my!
Review: Many other people have reviewed this book saga with depictions of Pell and Cal and Seal and everyone else along with some nicely vague descriptions of the story itself. I just felt like I had to put my two cents in as to why one should buy it.

I first read Wreaththu as a 'completed trilogy' in high school, borrowed it from my girlfriend and freaked when not 2 months later she gave me my own copy for my 'inception'. *chuckles* (Guess she wanted her copy back.) It has to be oe of my most prized possessions. I loved it and could not put it down from the moment she put it in my hands, and our 'clique' of fantasy lovers talked about it non-stop for weeks after I finished it.

I swear, if you like fantasy, the creation of a new race from humans, homosexual literature and characters you love and hate all at the same time, then this saga is DEFINATELY for you. You'll want to beat them sometimes, comfort them others, and generally shove a stick up their collective bumps from time to time. A dark, yet magical future? Sex, how only Storm Constantine can write it? She remade my world with this story, I only wish I could live in that world instead.

If you do not own this book: give it a try! Buy it, borrow it, but some how, get this book and read it! It's well worth your time and even if the story itself doesn't suck you in (and I almost guarentee if you are a fantasy fan who enjoys a slightly darker look at what our future may hold then it should), the way it's written will blow your mind. Storm Constantine, like Francesca Lia Block, has a writing style all her own (so far as I've read).

Also, if it's not enough that it's a great book and is just utterly amazing, Storm loves her readers and has a Yahoo!Group where she frequents and talks to her fans. She even enjoys reading fanfictions based off her world and characters! How many other authors can say that???

Rating:
Summary: Unique and Incomparable
Review: This work is so... rare. I read the three books of Wraeththu one after the other and it felt like a single work, it really did. I never once found myself disinterested, or bored, or unable to care for the characters. The only difficulty I have is trying to figure out which one of them I love more fiercely.

Storm Constantine's style and abilities are incomparable. She has the most unpretentious way of speaking. It all sounds just like an honest, first-person narrative. Unlike many authors, she makes absolute allowance for the reader's intelligence. That does not mean that she leaves you guessing - in fact, all ends are neatly wrapped up. It's just that she does not preach, does not lecture. She just talks.

The plot, the world, the people are completely surprising. The world is very much a fantasy world, but it also flows out from our own world's not-so-distant future. The beginning of the Wraeththu race heralds the end of the humans. And good riddens. We destroyed our world. We destroyed ourselves. Women are becoming barren. Society is failing. The wraeththu are a human mutation that has the potential to reach far beyond humanity's limits. They are hermaphrodites and not bound by the same strictures of society and emotion that destroyed the old world. They have some new ideas, new ways to go. There are some incredibly interesting philosophical ideas here. The best thing about the wraeththu, though, is that their original theories don't stick. They are forced to change and many of them are not too proud to see their own mistakes, not just those of the humans that preceded them. At first, I was afraid this would turn into a utopian preaching, but it did not. Not at all.

The main characters... Ahh... There are Pellaz and Cal, who are lovers, and friends, and also really interesting, intelligent, imperfect people. There is Swift, who tells the second book and who refused to let me be upset at the shift in the point of view. There is the mysterious and beautiful Cobweb, with his jealousy and protectiveness and passionate attachments. So many wonderful, perfectly-developed characters.

But in the end, it all comes down to Pell and Cal. Pellaz narrates the first book; Cal - the third. Pellaz is, in every way, a good, understandable, charismatic and simply irresistible character. Cal, too, is charisma incarnate, but he is the opposite of Pell - plagued with a violent past, filled with flaws of temper, and of morality, and some pretty off-the-leash tendencies. The world just wouldn't be right without Cal. He is all the sanity and insanity of the world wrapped into one gorgeous person.

These books are strong in characters and strong in the plot. They are flawlessly balanced. All that is interlaced with a deep sheen of eroticism. It is not explicit, mostly, but it is always there. It makes everything richer and more honest. When people don't have to think about their repressed desires, they have so much more time to get on with their lives and let the really interesting things drive their actions. This makes the wraeththu a little less petty than humans were. This allows a truly ingenious plot to blossom.

I can imagine people who might have a hard time getting over the sexual orientation of the wraeththu and their physical differences from the humans. I would feel unimaginably sad for anyone who could not get past this. They would be losing so much.

Rating:
Summary: Like nothing you've ever read.
Review: This is (in my opinion) the greatest piece of gothic fiction ever written. I've read it three times, lent the books to friends (and have not ever been able to reclaiming my copies since they usually say that they've lost it, but it never fails to bring a smile to my face when I see it in their bookshelves years laters), & I'm in the process of ordering a fourth copy to write a thesis about Storm Constantine's work.

Everything about this book is magnificent. The archaic language keeps you on your toes. The plot refuses to give you a break. It's beautifully written in an almost poetic style all of its own. The romance within the covers is exquisite without being overbearing. Moreover, everything, including the characters, is so richly depicted, that at times its possible to find yourself as part of the plot.

My suggestion: Buy it, read it, but whatever you do don't lend it to anyone if you'd like to keep it as part of your library -- for I guarantee you that it will not come back to you easily.

Rating:
Summary: Wraeththu
Review: The Wraeththu are a race of supernatural beings mutated from man who are now the dominate species on the planet. Even though only men can be made into Wraeththu every member of the race is both male and female and they can even give birth. Wraeththu is actually three books in one. The first centers around Pellaz, a human turned Wraeththu who eventually becomes leader of the species. The second follows Swift, a natural born Wraeththu and son of the leader of a violent tribe. The last book returns to Cal, an important character from the first two books.

These books have everything you could ask for; great characters, plot, and writing. It really doesn't get much better than this. It took me a while to finish all three books because I'd get so attached to one character that it would be hard to switch over to another. The books may be a bit slow moving for some. There's a lot of gradual characterization and very little action. Fans of good fantasy should give this one a try but if you are homophobic, avoid it like the plague.