GROWL AT THE MOON by Rhys Hughes (BOOK REVIEW)
Bill Bones was a normal human being until he studied under a Mojave Shaman and was transformed into a man-dog called The Growl. Now, driven by a keen sense of justice, The Growl is on the hunt for the villains who killed his boss, newspaperman Ridley Smart … and he’ll stop at nothing!
Crossing the deserts and forests of the American continent, The Growl searches for the men he must kill. Along the way he meets more beast-men, more magicians, the avenger Jalamity Kane who is seeking to rid the world of the beast menace, and other dangerous characters, from the artificial to the wild, from the robotic to the demonic.In the deft hands of Rhys Hughes, this inventive tale becomes a masterpiece of twists and turns … exploring and questioning our definitions of humanity, discovering the very meaning of what life and reality might be.
Confession time: I’d never heard of Rhys Hughes before encountering this book. I am amazed he’s not better known (endorsed by Michael Moorcock, no less!). But I will gladly do my little bit to share just why we should grab a taste of his work.
Growl at the Moon is bonkers. Utterly gonzo. A shamanic dog-man on a quest across America (and beyond, kind of), in a world where physics as we know it is malleable and puns are a necessary facet of life. I felt shades of Robert Anton Wilson and Joshua Millican, but ultimately was left wanting to sit a while with both characters and author, sharing a (non-cactus-based) drink and enjoying our time together on this ride.
The book reads like a comic-book series, with each chapter an adventure that could stand alone but which is part of The Growl’s strange journey to avenge his friend and editor. Characters vanish only to reappear later having had their own encounters along the way, everyone has a story to tell (sometimes just stalling for time, but that’s like real life, right?), and there are lessons to be learned about logic, magic and humanity. Again, all malleable.
The writing is an absolute joy, managing to be both dry and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Subtle references are sprinkled throughout and I know I probably missed many, but nothing is lampshaded – the little in-jokes are there if you catch them, like a wink to a like-minded reader.
And while silly, there are also poignant moments. The Growl is so endearingly honest (as you’d expect from a dog-man) that I was on-board with his quest from the first, trying to figure out if he was even going to succeed – this is the kind of book that might well have ended like Monty Python’s ‘Holy Grail’. Fortunately it doesn’t, but my advice to you is to ride along, learn from our hero’s pragmatism and don’t judge.
This really isn’t like any book you’ve ever read, but I absolutely recommend it.
Growl at the Moon is available now, you can order your copy on Amazon
