Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

1 review

rachratesreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book caught me by surprise (especially my rating of it). I typically don’t like romance books with a lot of angst, which this was. HOWEVER, this wasn’t just a romance book. Wolfsong is a coming-of-age story, a story of first loves, grief, loss, and the ridiculous things we do when we’re in love. It’s not a spoiler per say, because this information is literally on the back of the book, but Joe leaves. Joe separates himself from Ox for three years and readers get to see how the characters are effected by this decision. What I loved about this was the immaturity of the decision. Did I want to smack Joe upside the head? Yes. Did this decision make sense considering he was a high-strong, grieving teenager? Also yes. The whole decision wasn’t black and white, and we also get to see how they work through this separation once they were finally reunited. I can’t really say any more about that without spoiling other things. I just love the was TJ Klune writes these layered characters who feel such raw emotions. They’re so real, it’s beautiful. (Add him to the list of authors I really admire). 

Another amazing part of Wolfsong is the werewolves and the world building surrounding them. Whenever I read shifter romance, I feel subjected to the borderline A/B/O dynamics (iykyk) with all the goddamn sniffing. If I never read another book about “smelling like [character’s] mate,” it’ll be too soon. When it’s brought up, the sniffing is only really done in relation to identifying their mate, and that’s it. And that’s not what happens here. I’ll be frank, I really love “realistic” supernatural elements. I don’t care that their powers make them Super Strong, I want to know how it’s a hindrance. I want to know the embarrassing parts, because that’s what makes non-human characters relatable. They have hyper smell? I better read about some embarrassing scents. And that’s what TJ does in this book. There are so many awkward werewolf moments and I love it. I also love how we weren’t just told the characters were mates, but we were actually shown how they get to that point. 

Honestly? I want to read all of the others and I want to do it now. Tor, I love you, and I’m glad these are getting traditionally published, but if you don’t release them all at the same time, I’m going to lose it.

CW: ableism, death of a parent, violence, blood, torture, sexual content, with mentions of SA and cannibalism
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