Reviews with content warning for Religious bigotry - For the Wolf

Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten

30 reviews

emilykn92's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

2.5

One of the quote endorsement things on my library’s copy of this book said it was great for “fans of Uprooted,” and I am definitely a fan of Uprooted. And I was liking the twisted fairy tale vibes I was getting from the back cover.

As hard as everything from the cover to the protagonist’s name tries to give a Red Riding Hood vibe, For the Wolf is reimagining of Beauty and the Beast if anything. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’ve watched the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast, you’ll be able to predict the basic shape of a lot of future events.

In this word, the gods are gone, and the Wolf in the Wilderwood has them trapped. Per tradition that’s practically taken the role of prophecy, the oldest princess becomes queen, and the second princess gets sacrificed to the Wolf in hopes that an acceptable sacrifice will convince him to release the gods. Naturally, queens try to only have one daughter, but Red has the unfortunate honor of being a twin. So on her twentieth birthday, she got to be sacrificed to the Wolf.

The main story is Red, meeting the Wolf (which is actually a title, not a species indicator), exploring what in the heck is going on in the Wilderwood, and dealing with magic. But there are also some parts from the perspective of Neve, Red’s sister, back at home and desperate to get her sister back.

At first, I loved the story. It definitely had Uprooted vibes, I was curious about the Wilderwood and what was behind all the weird stuff going on, and I was actually a little interested in the relationship between Red and the Wolf.

And then it started to drag. Red is stubborn and powerful and has an attitude of “I’m here now so I’m going to help,” but the Wolf absolutely refuses to tell her anything about what’s going on, claiming he’s trying to protect her even when knowing would help her protect herself. I was expecting him to eventually give in and tell her and then the story could start, but he never did. Red doesn’t find out certain Very Essential Information until right before the climax. It only took a few chapters for this deliberate and repeated refusal to let Red join the plot to go from slowing down the story to outright frustrating.

The big driving force of this story is how much Red is loved, but I think I have a different understanding of love than than what’s in this book. There are no less than two (and arguably three) characters who show their love for Red by being willing to die in the process of undoing Red’s choice rather than accept that she made a choice they didn’t like. They all said they loved her – and maybe they thought they did – but actual love has to also involve respecting the other person’s autonomy. If they aren’t willing to respect her choices about her own life and instead do everything in their power to force her to do what they want, that shows more that they feel like they own her or are entitled to make decisions for her rather than loving her.

I wish I could have liked this book more than I did. The world was fantastic, even the small bits of politics that I got from Neve’s sections were interesting, a unique religion is a driving force in the story, the Wolf’s story was revealed in tantalizing layers, I actually enjoyed the slow-burn relationship between Red and the Wolf, and the Wilderwood was a great setting with a lot of potential. But even though the story hinged around Red’s choices, every single character in the book was dead set against letting her make those choices – or if she managed to anyway, doing everything up to and including dying to undo them. It’s like the entire story was telling Red, “Yeah, we know you’re the main character, but we don’t want you to be part of it so it sit down and shut up.”

I did finish it. I suppose it’s because I wanted to see if anyone ever let Red make a choice (spoiler: no, the only “character” who respects Red’s choices is not even human) and because there were other good things in the book (the Wilderwood, mainly) whose stories I wanted to see play out. I was so excited to find something similar to Uprooted that I hoped to love, and then it rapidly decided that it hated its protagonist and drove me into frustration. I wish I could have liked this.

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tiitu's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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holthmsn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

For The Wolf is a creative story which is loosely based on the story of Little Red Riding Wolf, following our main character called Red who is destined for the Wolf. While the novel gets into the rhythm of the story and becomes enjoyable, the first 100 pages of the book have a lot of world building. For The Wolf also centres around a unique magic system and once developed into the main plot, is an enjoyable read!

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readwithde's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

My opinion on this book changed frequently, but I think, in the end, that's what partly made it excellent and definitely memorable.

I appreciated how the early sections of lore and worldbuilding were handling all *in media res* as Red prepared to leave for the Wilderwood. For the first 100-ish pages, though, most of Red's story is lore and worldbuilding with little character development or character building. Her sister Neve, friend Raffe, and beau Arick all enjoy time apart from this influx of lore, and therfore are much more interesting towards the start of the story.

As Red learns to live with the Wolf

and the others bound, Fife and Lysa, she grows in both knowledge and power, as well as developing a strong bond with Eammon, the Wolf.

The middle of the book shines with their budding partnership and slow-burn romance, effectively pushing Neve's narrative to the side.

The conclusion was a bit jarring for me.

The deck was stacked for a courtly intrigue/persuasive fight between the sisters, but quickly veered off course to what seemed like a climatic end.

As things started towards a denouement, the action picks back up, the descriptions moving so quickly I had trouble understanding what was actually happening. It did slow back down,

giving the characters a proper battle and more complete ending,

but it still felt a bit vague and hollow to me.

Some of the most interesting worldbuilding I've read in a long time, and very descriptive magic; captivating.

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calcifire's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

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cammiem8's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book was interesting and kept me hooked but I felt it never quite lived up to its concept. Don’t be fooled by the title, the red riding hood connections are purely aesthetic and seem like a marketing gimmick. There are some really cool creepy images and some very intriguing bits of world building, so it’s a quick read despite being long.

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dernhelms_bag's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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forthesanityof1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The only thing I kept thinking about while reading this was how much I could see it made into a movie by Studio Ghibli. The author knows how to take her time in all the right places and draw out the pocket of the story in a way that felt effortless, hence the Ghibli vibes. This book is a beautiful, wonderful mix of dark fantasy, fairy tales, and political intrigue. I want to gush about so many things I loved about it. The world building is fantastic, I loved the whole idea of the Wilderwood and the Wolf. The Wolf himself was so different than what I was expecting that I adored him from the get go for the subversion. The narrator, Red, feels like a breath of fresh air. I loved her attitude towards everything, her fear and her contempt and her curiosity. Her reflective nature helped make this story what it is. I think my favorite thing about this book, though, was the writing style; it's utterly captivating to me, cutting in just the right way to make the reader feel the impact of certain lines and really experience the storytelling and the uniquely terrifying setting of the Wilderwood. Holy crap, do I recommend this book.

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

For the Wolf was one of my most highly anticipated reads for the year and, boy, did it deliver! I loved this book from its first page right up to its last and it easily earned its rightful spot as one of my favourite reads this year so far.

Redarys is a Second Daughter and all her life she's known what that means: her only purpose is to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood so that he will return their old kings-turned-gods to her world.

The First Daughter is for the throne.
The Second Daughter is for the Wolf.
And the Wolves are for the Wilderwood.

But Red soon discovers that not things aren't always what they seem, and old myths and legends sometimes lie. The Wolf is in fact a man struggling to hold together the now crumbling Wood, the last remaining barrier between Red's world and an evil beyond imagination.

For the Wolf brings together familiar fairy tales and original mythology to create a complex and rich world. I could definitely see elements of Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, and even spotted a little Snow White in there! This book takes well-known tropes and elements and gives them an original twist, creating a highly entertaining and engaging read that had me gripped throughout.

I personally loved the characters and the way they changed throughout the book as more and more is revealed about the Wilderwood and its purpose, the kings, and the mysterious shadows slowly creeping into the world.

Red is definitely the centre of the book, whether we're following her POV or looking at her sister Neve's attempts to find a way to bring Red back. I really enjoyed seeing Red grow and accept her role in the wood... and at the Wolf's side. While at first she seems passively resigned to her fate, her full strength quickly comes through as she works hard to find her own place in the world. Red is headstrong, witty, independent and fiercely loyal to the people she loves: basically, everything I love in an MC. The romance is definitely a slow burn and Eammon, the Wolf, is the perfect tall, dark and brooding gentleman.

I also really liked Neve's interludes. I found her to be a very interesting character, and in some ways even more complex and intriguing than Red. I'm so curious to see what Neve'll get up to in the next book! The entire cast is fantastic, and I loved all the secondary characters. I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of some of them, but maybe I'll get my wish in the second book.

The world-building was also perfectly on point! The Wilderwood gave me definite Uprooted vibes, as did some of the writing. I'm in love with the author's writing style and the way she crafts gorgeous and deliciously creepy descriptions. The pace did slow a fair bit around the middle mark, which made it feel as though certain sections were dragging on with not much happening. It picked up again though and the ending was incredibly fast-paced and gave me ALL the feelings at once.

For the Wolf is one of those books that reminded me why I love fantasy so much. Magic, an eerie wood, legends and traditions, and an incredible cast of characters come together in this beautiful and unforgettable tale. Can't wait for the second book!

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