5 reviews for:

The Wolf Children

Peter Millar, Cay Rademacher

3.64 AVERAGE

sarahe's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 stars. Thank god the divorce hearing was in eight days and they had to crack the case by then because otherwise Stave would still be mooning round the ruins. Maybe the aimlessness is meant to convey the torpidity of the hot, stuck summer of 1947 but it makes for a draggy narrative. As in the previous book, the atmosphere of ruined Hamburg is the main thing here but the frozen winter of 1946 was a bit better.

amuxl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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? Yes

4.25

thirs's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

didactylos's review

3.0

For most of the book it’s a great atmospheric read with developing characters and situations that are engrossing. Sadly I felt the ending sudddnly had to get rather overly ‘gung-ho’ and lost credibility

bernieem's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This story takes place post WW2, in Germany, in a Brit-controlled region, which I found really interesting. I like how beyond trying to solve the murder, we get to see how the Germans were impacted after the war. This is a topic I didn’t even think about but its made me keen to learn about how the German civilians coped with their country losing the war.

I wish we got to delve deeper with the wolf children - I got the impression from the title that this will be about Stave encountering a group of them, but we only got to see individuals associated with them.

Stave’s personal problems felt quite unresolved, especially with Anna and Karl, it would have been great to hear about Karl and Staves and how their relationship was impacted in the past with Karl’s Nazi views

I also found the ending to be rushed and abrupt, but overall it was quite an enjoyable read.

Quotes:

Life would be boring if we had nothing to worry about. [p. 81]