Clay - the Warrior/Minstrel

I stayed up all Tuesday night reading a book. And when I say all night, I mean I started the book at midnight and I finished it at 8:30am - that's right. I didn't sleep. The book was Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. It's told from a first person perspective - Elena, the heroine who happens to be a werewolf. I won't give away the story but essentially its very violent, lots of fluffy animals and gross humans are killed and has some weird werewolf outdoor sex. I was going to write an extensive review of this book, but having read something about it on the net, I've decided to analyse the hero - Clay a werewolf who completely embraces his wolf side. On the flipside of the Madonna/Whore complex that women attribute to men, the ideal man (and romance hero) is the Warrior/Minstrel that women want - big tough guys who exhibit signs of sensitivity and Clay is an almost perfect example.

Clay is psychotic. And I don't mean he has scary thoughts - he really is crazy. He killed his first opponent via dismemberment at the age of 17 and has no qualms in killing anyone who threatens the werewolf Pack. At the point in the novel he has such a fearsome reputation that when people see Elena they become wary because they know Clay can't be too far away. He is a complete Warrior - someone who will fight cleanly, fight dirty, fight anyway if it will give him the outcome he wants. But at the same time, there's more to him than the crazy guy who'll torture someone and then break their neck without blinking an eye.

He's also a Minstrel type - Elena and Clay meet at a uni where he was lecturing on anthropology and she was a student. After hearing that Elena never had a Christmas with all the trimmings, he spends weeks researching the topic so that he can give her one. He discloses his difficult youth and background to her (although omits his wolf-ness which causes friction later). When the novel begins, the two have been estranged for about a year, but it is implied that for every day she is gone, Clay waits for Elena to return at the gates the Pack estate.

He's by no means perfect - I'd probably have the same hangups as Elena if the person I loved *conveniently* forgot to mention he's a supernatural monster, and said monster then goes on to do some pretty unforgivable things. But he's one of the more interesting characters I've come across in a while.