Hello Fellow Journeyers,
Pardon my absence! My wife and I recently returned from a much-needed and enjoyed vacation in southwest Utah. We visited Zion Nat'l Park, Valley of Fire State Park, Snow Canyon State Park, and Red Cliffs Nat'l Conservation Area; it was spectacular. We spent 3½ days hiking, exploring, relaxing, and having fun together, but I also got to spend time diving into a randomly discovered book by Gino Marchetti in Runeheart. With a wonderful cover and intriguing synopsis, I quickly jumped in.
What's the story about: Runeheart is a first-person, single POV story of a man (named Rune, cleverly) suffering from a curse of being a werewolf while being tasked with the personal mission of assisting a family that comes into his care by chance.
The first and most important thing to get across is Runeheart is a character-driven story through and through. If one is expecting nonstop action in the form of horrific violence, lots of mindless rampaging, and/or a cacophony of shallow situations that pose him as more of a reluctant hulking hero, it won't be found here. Runeheart is a slower, methodical tale of regret and shame brought on by a life lived under a malediction. The story permeates with moments of warmth between unexpected characters while contrasting with a constant feeling of otherness and separation due to secrets and potential danger. The way that this story is told is simple and accessible (one of the best qualities a book can have), which contributes to the well-executed progression and tension. The main pull comes from wanting to invest more in each character and knowing how they handle future situations rather than the pull of plot intrigue. It isn't the fast and hard methodology of cliffhangers and twists that so many authors employ but is more of a dreading of the inevitable that constantly pulls you through.
The next area of note in Runeheart is the way worldbuilding and history is presented. Because the focus is immediately upon Rune and his personal plights and mission to assist the family under his care, we're immediately thrust into his world but know quite little regarding the wider world. Due to this, when worldbuilding does happen it feels fresh, natural, and interest-inducing. Rune's life has been a long and fascinating struggle, but we're never given long stretches of backstory that feel out of place or unnecessary to the present circumstance. Marchetti seems very particular and intentional in his use of storytelling dynamics that serve a purpose and it's for that reason that I never lost interest. This is not a fantasy book with an endless history of races or countries or groups, nor does it have a Sanderson-ian amount of magical lore, it is a small-scale tale with emotional impact and weight to the characters that inhabit the world Marchetti has created. It was exactly what it needed to be and was presented as.
Finally, I appreciated almost everything about this book and story but I did have two issues: the communication style and accent that many characters had were a little heavy and difficult to read flawlessly (in written form) because dialogue is essential to all books. I found myself constantly having to slow down to make sure I was reading it the way the author intended which was tiresome. I could've easily read entire conversations incorrectly and, while this was simply my experience, it was prevalent throughout the book. That being said, the writing itself feels very established and thoroughly beyond a "debut" author's skill. I rarely noticed characters speaking unnaturally or stiffly, which allowed further investment more often than not.
The second issue I have lies in the final act of the story. The first two acts really take time setting up the necessary points, establishing relational dynamics, moving with importance and tension, while the final third seems to progress far too quickly and choppily for it to truly satisfy or resolve in a way that was wholly believable. All of the tension of the entire story leads to a cathartic scene of whether there is acceptance for his condition, and while I do believe that it was played more realistically than I expected, it did feel a little too easy to get through. Honestly, with the way that the final third was leading, I'm confident that this book could've been fifty pages longer and it would have been perfect. By that point Marchetti had proven that he possesses the skill to write this potentially devastating final act with emotional impact and depth. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't up to the quality as what came before. Also, there is set of character decisions that (while foreshadowed) still felt like a little bit of a jump to understand. The last chapter has an ending that seemed to fit the story, but like I said above, I think more pages leading to this final chapter would really have gone a long way in making it all wrap up in a perfect way.
★★★★✫ 4.5 Stars - Runeheart is exactly what I love about character-driven stories: it has a compelling lead with realistic characteristics and difficulties, a plot that was easily accessible and understandable, and themes and ideas you can deeply connect and resonate with. Rune was a fantastically complex character to lead the story and has compelling side characters to fill in the gaps (with one in particular that deserved far more time in the book). The story itself lent itself to both self-containment and singular reading satisfaction while also giving way to potentially greater stories in the future. This is an exceptional, exploratory werewolf tale that should be generating a lot of traction and I hope that Marchetti continues writing entries in this world and other stories as well. His ability to write with emotional depth, insight, and understanding was the best part of Runeheart and I hope to read more books with this level of competence. Highly recommend!
Let me hear from you! If you like what you read, want to hear more thoughts on this book, other reviews, or talk book recommendations and Essential Reading, leave a comment below.
Rating system:
★★★★★ 5 Stars: It was amazing; I loved it. Read this book and found nothing wrong with it; it is Essential Reading at its very best!
★★★★✫ 4.5 Stars: It was nearly perfect. I really loved almost every aspect of it, but a few things kept it from being a personally perfect favorite. This is definitely Essential Reading!
★★★★ 4 Stars: It was great; very worth reading and satisfying for the most part; highly recommend.
★★★✫ 3.5 Stars: I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but it was lacking in certain areas.
★★★ 3 Stars: It was good, but could've been better or improved upon significantly.
★★✫ 2.5 Stars: I loosely enjoyed it. Certain aspects were good, it was worth finishing, but had many issues.
★★ 2 Stars: It was okay, I didn't feel strongly about it.
★✫ 1.5 Stars: I finished it, but it was a chore to get through.
★ 1 Star: I did not like it. It was not worth finishing or I did not finish it.