Review: 100 Times (+More Times)

Katie Fleming sent me a review copy of 100 More Times – the sequel to 100 Times. I didn’t get to review the first book, so consider this a look at the series so far. As with many of my reviews, this comes with friendship-bias. To avoid unfairly weighting things in their favour, I tend not to be the Big Review Guy, and instead focus on the things that make the books awesome. Thankfully, my catch-line for these books does the job:

Gay Werewolves

100 Times (by Katie Fleming and E. Kerr) introduces us to two characters: Myran and Quill. Myran is a human. Quill is a werewolf. They’re kinda gay for each other. (They’re really gay for each other, and it’s a glorious celebration of same-sex relationships.)

Let’s be clear early on: Quill’s werewolf nature is mostly a plot device. He doesn’t eat people throughout the book. (Spoiler? I mean, these aren’t horror comics.) Instead, Fleming and Kerr use other aspects of being a werewolf as elements of the story – most notably in the first book, the pack. Every werewolf has a pack, and it’s this introduction of Myran to Quill’s pack that becomes the centre of the first story.

Much as one would meet their partner’s family for the first time, and the usual struggles of worrying if the relationship would be accepted, Quill struggles with the notion of introducing his human partner to his werewolf family.

It’s an incredibly endearing story, and it doesn’t end with the pack.

More Times

When we reach book two, we’re faced with another dilemma between the couple: a disconnect about the meaning of family, how one (Quill) avoids talking to/about his, and how the other (Myran) values his.

We won’t get super spoilerific about it, but it’s a similar sort of story to the first book, building upon the relationship between our protagonists.

The books aren’t dialogue heavy, relying on a few key words each way, and a guided narrative with charming artwork to tell the story instead.

A big part of me just wants to celebrate the everything that has to do with the gay werewolf aspect of the books. The English graduate in me wants to celebrate the analogy between homosexuality and lycanthropy, or the parallels between human-werewolf relationships and white-and-black relationships in the early twentieth century. You can choose to appreciate those nods to romantic difficulties in history, if it so pleases you. Otherwise, I’d just pick the books up to enjoy the exploration of a relationship across the varying struggles of romance.

100 More Times is launching at Thought Bubble this weekend. Be sure to check it out, and tell Katie I said hi!