Talulla Rising

By: Glen Duncan

Narrated by: Penelope Rawlins

Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

When I change I change fast. The moon drags the whatever-it-is up from the earth, and it goes through me with crazy wriggling impatience.... I’m twisted, torn, churned, throttled - then rushed through a blind chicane into ludicrous power.... A heel settles. A last canine hurries through. A shoulder blade pops. The woman is a werewolf.

The woman is Talulla Demetriou. She’s grieving for her werewolf lover, Jake, whose violent death has left her alone with her own sublime monstrousness. On the run, pursued by the hunters of WOCOP (World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena), she must find a place to give birth to Jake’s child in secret.

The birth, under a full moon at a remote Alaska lodge, leaves Talulla ravaged, but with her infant son in her arms she believes the worst is over - until the windows crash in, and she discovers that the worst has only just begun....

What follows throws Talulla into a race against time to save both herself and her child as she faces down the new, psychotic leader of WOCOP, a cabal of blood-drinking religious fanatics, and (rumor has it) the oldest living vampire. Harnessing the same audacious imagination and dark humor, the same depths of horror and sympathy, the same full-tilt narrative energy with which he crafted his acclaimed novel The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan now gives us a heroine like no other, the definitive 21st-century female of the species.

©2012 Greg Duncan (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The horror genre at its best - wildly imaginative, written with wit and intelligence, wickedly entertaining.” (The Times [UK])

“Irresistible... As with The Last Werewolf, Duncan writes with caustic edge and pop-culturally relevant humor... His gorgeous prose makes these books more than just werewolf-genre flashes in the proverbial pan.” (Dallas Morning News)

“The arch relationship Duncan establishes with his readers - along with his scathingly intelligent psychological insights and flat-out killer writing, his companionably high-mannered narrative voice, and his mad plot chops - makes Talulla Rising a high-calorie blast... Duncan delivers with intelligent humanity a monster we want to track and befriend, even knowing she would happily eat us alive.” (Heidi Julavits, New York Times Book Review)

Couldn't put it down.

This series has been great. What I enjoy most is as your fall into the characters you will, at times be forced to question your own morals and social ethics. Keeps you tuned in and surprises you at the best times. Definite must read.

Big Bad Wolf Needs Some *!@*#?! Lifebuoy Soap

I feel the need to qualify this unorthodox review, and admit I didn't continue beyond 4 1/2 hrs. (so pass on this if you want the complete experience of a listener):
I've filled a few "Swear Jars" in my day; there have been times I couldn't kiss my mama with this mouth; I had the un-cut version of the song "Up Against the Wall Mother F-ers" in the 60's, not proud of it (it was just bad music); I'm not prudish or judgemental, and I fully support the First Amendment...but holy *!#*?*! I just ran into the first object in my life that I find so gratuitously offensive that even the ususal for-art's-sake pass can't excuse this hot obscene mess. The very raw and adult prequel, The Last Werewolf (which I liked - wrote a positive review) was just rough-foreplay in comparison. It too was literally peppered with C-Bomb assaults, dropped every few pages, ...but this was C-Bomb/F-Bomb Blitzkrieg; all shock and no awe. My ears have been vi-o-lated.

If you were to cut every *!?@#! word out of this book (you'd have about 1/2 the bulk), the detailed crude acts alone would still keep this one in the category of #**?&! There is erotic...then there is just plain debasement...then there is this. The crass language and lascivious behavior of Duncan's werewolves are far more convincing arguments for folks to start packing silver bullets than the much less repugnant idea of being attacked, mauled, and possibly becoming one of his repulsive potty-mouthed creatures. (I hope she-wolf Talullah doesn't lick her hind-end with that muzzle.)

Narrator Penelope Rawlins was just as bad as the material she was reading, and her male French accent was painful, or ridiculous. Last Werewolf, for all of its vulgarity, was at least performed by Robin Sachs with his aristocratic-sounding voice, Penelope just sounded uncouth -- any redeeming savior faire that Jake possessed and left as a legacy was mangled by Penelope/Talulla. [*Listen to the difference in the samples provided from each book.] But in fairness, it would take an extraordinarily mellifluous voice to make these words sound nice. After this performance/material, I'd advise her, with sincere concern, to take her mouth through a car wash (which I'll bet she did).

I thought Duncan bravely pushed the boundaries with The Last Werewolf, giving the whole monster-lore an unabashedly brazen beast that was original and "believable." Talullah Rising was one of the books I'd been looking forward to reading, even knowing the material would be borderline hard-core, the language flat-out nasty. I found out I have limits. Too bad, because what I did make it through was interesting, and I feel like I missed out on a good storyline. Duncan, you're a good writer -- WT *#!@%!!*?

I hope that you have better luck, and some Herculean tolerance. *Words do have the power in and of themselves to be offensive, especially en masse. Just ask your mom, your sisters, your wife, your daughters.

Horrible Narration

Any additional comments?

Wish I had listened to the audio sample first. The narration is just awful - her performance is just lousy, and her voice/delivery doesn't fit the character/story. Total waste of a credit. Such a shame, as the narrator for the first book was spot on...

Not the best book I have read lately

What would have made Talulla Rising better?

Stop using so much of the "F" words and other similar profanities. It cheapens the character and prevents development of a multi-faceted main character. It has been my experience, when a person or writer resorts to gross, profane and nasty explainitives in order to get a shock factor response...well that is not intelligent use of pros.

Would you ever listen to anything by Glen Duncan again?

yes, as long as it is not similar to the format used in Tululla Rising

What does Penelope Rawlins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It really helps to visualize in one's mind what Tululla might look like and what to lesser characters might be like physically,

Bizarre choice of narrator

I liked the first book because it wasn't Sookie Stackhouse, at all. This one, strangely, is. The writing is much weaker and the narrator's vapid style (with frequent, bizarre mispronunciations) matches. I can't accept that it's the same author.

Too many cultural errors to enjoy

I am a fan of Glen Duncan. I loved ???The Last Werewolf??? and ???I, Lucifer???; so, I was really excited about this book. ???Tallula Rising??? starts less than a year after ???The Last Werewolf??? ends; so, Tallula is still grieving for Jake and about to give birth to Jake???s offspring. After giving birth, Tallula???s child is kidnapped, and the reader is taken on the journey to recover said child. Seems interesting, right? It isn't. Most of this book is spent describing the newborn. Plot development is slow and Duncan continues to have Tallula use British slang instead of American slang even though she is supposed to be American. Because of these constant cultural errors, it is impossible to get lost in the story. Ultimately, Glen Duncan is too male and too British to channel a female American. This is not Duncan???s best work. The narrator also doesn???t help. She keeps dropping accents in the middle of dialogue and confusing accents between characters. If you want to read this book, I suggest buying the text, because as an audio production, it is awful.

Horrible narrator

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

People who enjoy poor narrators.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The infants. They hardly spoke.

What didn’t you like about Penelope Rawlins’s performance?

She bit off more than she could chew, so to speak. My biggest beef, besides her sounding like a twelve-year-old, was her constant mispronunciations. Here are two: "Haitian" is hi-eeshun and "reprisal" is "ruh-preezul." And she's constantly mispronouncing words, usually in really awful accents.

What character would you cut from Talulla Rising?

My gripe is with the narrator, not the story.

I need some one to like

What disappointed you about Talulla Rising?

There was no one in the story to like they are all killers like killing enjoy killing think it is
there right to kill. I need a good guy some one to like.

Has Talulla Rising turned you off from other books in this genre?

no

Have you listened to any of Penelope Rawlins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Performances was good the writing was fine i need a good guy in my books

What character would you cut from Talulla Rising?

not cut i need a champion