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melanie_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
A reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood, For the Wolf is magical story that goes beyond the traditional fairy tale. Red is a heroine worth rooting for: forced by birthright to be a sacrifice, she is determined to follow through with that sacrifice for the sake of those she loves. She makes it clear that this is her choice. Her relationship with Eamonn (the Wolf) is also one that requires a lot of determination. While he'd rather she leave him alone, she sees his sacrifices and can't help but stay. Their connection is as inevitable as Red's choices regarding the Wilderwood. The first 30% of the book is slow (a lot of background) and details and answers are slow to be revealed, but the story itself coupled with themes of magic vs. shadow, power, faith & religious abuse, etc. made this an amazing read!
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Sexual content
charliesmom's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Moderate: Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Cursing and Physical abuse
readwithria's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I love fairytale retellings, I love folklore, and I love Hannah Whitten’s other book The Foxglove King, so I went into this book wanting to love it with my whole heart. It delivered on so many things! The world was lush and beautiful, the prose was atmospheric, and the characters had such strong bonds with each other. This book took the spooky forest trope and spun it into something new and delicately beautiful.
The one thing that kept this from being a five start book for me was the pacing. It was definitely intentional, and built a lot of necessary tension, but the first half was much slower than I personally prefer. It picked up significantly around the halfway mark, and the last 40-50 pages were an avalanche of action and emotional beats.
I can’t wait to read the sequel! Hannah Whitten is making herself one of my go-to spooky season authors. 4 stars.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Gore, and Self harm
Moderate: Cursing, Confinement, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
bea_reads_books's review
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Body horror, Violence, Animal death, Gore, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent
kaycie51782's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Are you familiar with the advice when writing narrative fiction "Show, don't tell"? This author from that advice VERY SERIOUSLY. There wasn't a passage in this decently lengthy book that wasn't overflowing with vivid imagery. It was exhausting to read.
The main characters glorified self harm in defense and protection of the magic in the story. It got a little sickening by the end. There were ridiculously overused phrases ("she pressed her lips into a bloodless line", "she curled her fingers until crescents were pressed into her palms", and on and on and on).
The mythology of the universe was never well explained. The author took far too long to tell any kind of back story, but continued to pour more and more foreshadowing and blocked memories until I didn't really care what happened.
Sometimes it's okay to say "This event made her mad" instead of "The scene playing before her caused her vision to redden" or something similar.
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Torture, Gore, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Cursing
clevergirl216's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Violence and Blood
Moderate: Grief and Cursing
saurahsaurus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Alcohol, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Murder, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Gore, and Violence
bluelillybooks's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I've recovered and here's a review:
My reading experience was definitely a rollercoaster: I went from being super excited to bored to interested to mildly annoyed to captivated and emotional. Save to say the last 20% of the book made my rating go from 3 to a very decent 4 stars. It's easy to fall into the fiction as you follow the characters and the atmosphere - which plays a character of its own throughout the book- is strong from the start. The author lost me for a while in the middle when there just weren't enough things going wrong; too much exposition at a point where you would expect action. So I was all the more happily surprised when the story picked up speed, I suddenly got attached to the characters and promising subplots finally thickened.
Whitten's writing style is right up my ally and I immediately clicked with the fluent storytelling, pretty metaphors and clever allusions. The way the Wilderwood is both setting and character pleases the literature student within me and it is just beautifully and cleverly done. But I wish there were more synonyms for words like "root" and "vine" because girl we got it after the 1726th time.
There was.. a lot of blood though. Like /a lot/. The plot revolves around blood. So big big trigger warning there. I guess that's why this book really walks the line between YA fiction and fantasy.
That makes it a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating for me! I did really enjoy For the Wolf and I'll be reading its sequel For the Throne without a doubt. Thanks for getting me out of a reading slump Whitten!
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Blood, Body horror, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Minor: Cursing, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Alcohol, Grief, Murder, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Terminal illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
ka_ke's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Cursing
Minor: Death and Death of parent