By Blood We Live

By: Glen Duncan

Narrated by: Abby Craden, Amber Sealey, Steve West, Rob Shapiro

First Glen Duncan gave us his monstrously thrilling, genre-reinventing The Last Werewolf: the tale of Jake, a werewolf with a profoundly human heart, considering bringing to an end the timeless legend of his kind.... Then Talulla Rising: Jake’s werewolf lover, mother to newborn twins, on the run from those who want her destroyed... And now By Blood We Live: a stunningly erotic love story that gives us the final battle for survival between werewolves and vampires, and one last searing - and brilliantly ironic - look at what it means to be, or not to be, human.

The story opens: Talulla has settled into an uneasy equilibrium. With her twins safely at her side, and the devotion of her lover, Walker, she has what appears to be a normal family life - except for their monthly transformation into werewolves hungry for human flesh. But even this hard-won, tenuous peace is undermined for Talulla by nagging thoughts of Remshi, the 20,000-year-old vampire who haunts her dreams. For his part, Remshi can’t escape the feeling that he knows Talulla from many (many, many) years before. Still, they have their distractions: Talulla is being pursued by a fanatical, Vatican-based Christian cult, and Remshi is following a trail of reckless feedings by a newly turned vampire bent on revenge. But, as the novel unfolds, Talulla and Remshi are inexorably drawn to each other - and toward the moment when an ancient prophecy may finally come to pass.

©2014 Glen Duncan (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Once more, Duncan’s elegant, striking prose is the star in his enthralling conclusion to the Last Werewolf trilogy.... There are plenty of battles, blood, and sexy escapades; but the real treat continues to be Duncan’s beautifully twisted way with language and the profound thesis he poses about humanity. Defiant and dramatic to the last, Duncan wraps up his finale with a flourish." (Booklist)

“Glen Duncan is back at the top of his game with By Blood We Live... [The novel] elevates the lurid pleasures of a straightforward, if unconventional, horror story by means of Duncan’s elegant, even rapturous prose and his knowledge of art and literature... Stylish.” (Washington Post)

“By Blood We Live is a page-turner with heft. A smart, fast yet thoughtful read. There are plenty of plot twists if that is what you are after, but much of the fun is in the way it applies literary tricks to genre tropes. That and the bone-crunching and skin-tingling physicality of the writing... Storytelling to chill the blood.” [Sunday Herald (Scotland)]

A stand-out from page one!

Boys and girls; this, *this* is a literary orgasmic experience:

“The last moment before the bite is like the last moment before coming: stopped time and shrugged-off space, an instant of seeing how it is for God. It’s why people in sexual extremis say Oh, God. It’s not a cry to the Divine, it’s a recognition of their own divinity. I was very aware of my mouth open, my heartbeat in my teeth, the obscene ease with which I held him, the room like a frozen grin around us, and beyond it the Californian night and the orange blossom and the desert and the sprawling dark continent’s indifferent consciousness gathering a kind of Meaning.”

And it’s on page 6. Page 6! Which means that there are many more liter-orgasms to come. I feel like I’m at the beginning of a whirlwind love affair.

Good till the end.

Story was excellent. Ending seemed forced and suspect. Seemed forced and unnecessary. The great love story only happened for 3 months then they were separated by 20k yrs. Then dude finds her again, then offs himself in a few hours after that. What was the point?

what a waste.

A very strong performance for a very strong book

absolutely captivating from start to finish. having different performers for the different characters was the best choice. talula's voice was a much stronger fit than from Talula Rising. it looks like the trilogy is completed but I do want to see more of this universe.

the weakest point, same as Talula Rising, is that Glen doesn't write women talking about sex in a believable way. since it only comes up briefly in this book, it doesn't warrant a deduction in score.

Great writing, mostly great Narration

I really enjoyed all three books in the series, this is my least favorite of the three but it’s still really enjoyable all but for the narration of Talulla. All the other voices are really well executed, unfortunately though this narrator absolutely butchers the art of voice over to the point that you start to dread her part in the story. I have had to stop listening to the book and come back twice as her effected narration is so grating. Please for the love of Wulf re-record Talulla’s section of this audiobook.

What a dumpster fire

Is there anything you would change about this book?

the entire plot is all over the place. Compared to Duncan's first two books, I was totally disinterested in what happened to all the players in this book.

What was most disappointing about Glen Duncan’s story?

Another books that tries to get a vampire and werewolf to be lovers. What blazing originality. Glen Duncan lowered himself to tween plot lines. The first two books I couldn't stop listening to. This book I had to make myself finish. Just because you cuss a lot and have graphic language doesn't mean it's an adult book.

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

Didn't have a problem with the narrators.

What would have made this romance irresistible?

Re: no more vampire/werewolf romances.

Any additional comments?

Might has well called this Twilight Part VI (or whatever the fuck they're on). Duncan's first two books were spot on about ADULT themed supernatural fiction, but this third book should be placed in the young adult section (minus graphic language).

Next verse, same as the first

The performance was better than the second in the series. However, changing Talulla performer was off putting since I listened to the series in less than a week. The story however could have been left at a single book, since it left it open like the first. Still as I am biased and a fan of werewolf genre, I still was happy to listen.

Fantastic series! 👏

I highly recommend all the three of Glen Duncan's audiobooks in this series. i loved the audiobooks so much, I purchased all three in print as well. BRAVO 👏

Not worth the credit

Uuugh.

I was so irritated by this book, I don’t even know where to start. It did NOT live up to its predecessors. I loved The Last Werewolf, and though I wasn’t a huge fan of Tallula Rising, it wasn’t BAD. This book was bad. The plot felt everywhere and nowhere all at once. We spend half the book dealing with YET ANOTHER capture and escape, my goodness, and then the ending is just…weird. It almost made me laugh it was so absurd.

Just stop at book one

If I had stopped at the first book and the outcome was left to the reader’s imagination I would have been better off. I had heard this was “the” werewolf series to read! A classic of the genre. So as an avid werewolf fan I jumped at it. Book one was good. Book two was meh but livable. But this would be finale I wish I’d left alone. It drones on. I grew to actually dislike Telula immensely with no redemption at the conclusion. Selfish, horrible person, parent and companion. Remshi should have never been a part of this and better suited for a spinoff as it didn’t come together. Also the OVERUSE of the word c*nt in this series is off putting and I’m a straight man. It doesn’t fit coming from a female character as I even asked my wife and she even said a woman would hardly ever use the word to self describe he privates.

Side note changing narrators for Telula from book two to here really throws it off a bit too.

In the end read at your own risk if you’d read the other two. This is not on par with the original at all and you will really not feel for Telula at all.