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kels_mac's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
3.75
The cliche trashy werewolf romance I needed to get me out of my reading slump
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Emotional abuse
marigoldenora's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book tore at my soul in the best way. I laughed and cried with these characters and their struggles. However, this is book is graphic in more ways than one and has some complex characters that you're not always going to like. I loved this book and the message is carried, but be ready for graphic descriptions and to be a little uncomfy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexual content
frazilice's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault
k80mae's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-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? Yes
3.25
I find myself struggling to write any kind of nuanced review for this book. On the one hand, I absolutely devoured it in just a little over a day. I read the first 300 pages in one sitting. I found the characters and their voices to be absolutely compelling, even if their arcs felt circuitous and repetitious at times. Ox especially had an absolutely wonderful narrative voice and made it so easy to be immersed in his story when normally, I find the first person POV absolutely grating. Every single one of his platonic relationships were compelling and interesting and I wish had been fleshed out even more than they were. The interpersonal dynamics here were fascinating and so much fun to read.
On the other hand, I don't know if I was really sold on the romance here. Next to Ox and the rest of the cast of characters, Joe did not feel nearly as fleshed out or strong of a character. Throughout the book, he was the only character whose voice I felt did not land for me. Considering he is the main romantic interest and driving force behind Ox's actions, it made it difficult to invest myself in the romance. What I find myself most distracted by, however, is that I was completely unable to look at the world-building and plot and not think that the author had to have been inspired by fandom for a very specific television show popular in the 2010s. Nearly every world-building element felt like a detail I had already seen before, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised to have found this on AO3. I don't want to outright say that this is a negative quality because I do think that it absolutely worked for this story, but it made for a very distracting read even as I sped through it.
Overall, I'm not sure if I will personally continue with the series, but this is absolutely the kind of book that has a very particular audience who I hope is able to find it.
On the other hand, I don't know if I was really sold on the romance here. Next to Ox and the rest of the cast of characters, Joe did not feel nearly as fleshed out or strong of a character. Throughout the book, he was the only character whose voice I felt did not land for me. Considering he is the main romantic interest and driving force behind Ox's actions, it made it difficult to invest myself in the romance. What I find myself most distracted by, however, is that I was completely unable to look at the world-building and plot and not think that the author had to have been inspired by fandom for a very specific television show popular in the 2010s. Nearly every world-building element felt like a detail I had already seen before, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised to have found this on AO3. I don't want to outright say that this is a negative quality because I do think that it absolutely worked for this story, but it made for a very distracting read even as I sped through it.
Overall, I'm not sure if I will personally continue with the series, but this is absolutely the kind of book that has a very particular audience who I hope is able to find it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Ableism, Grief, Murder, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Alcoholism and Bullying
Sexual assault is threatened, but the description in that threat is repeatedly vivid so the SA tag is necessary. The adult/minor relationship is a bit of a grey area, but when Ox and Joe enter a romantic relationship, Joe is still only 17.bialves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Torture, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty
sarrie's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.25
Wolfsong is a quiet, sneaky little book. I'll admit on opening the arc I recieved (many thanks to the publisher), I didn't expect to get on with the writing which felt stilted and staccato at the beginning. I discovered however there was a very good reason for that style. The story is told from Ox's perspective, reflecting back on his life growing up with the Bennett's, a pack of werewolves who move into the house down the road soon after his drunk, abusive father leaves. He quickly becomes entangled in their lives, drawn to the family and specifically the youngest Joe. Joe becomes his shadow as they grow up into their twenties and learn to stand by each other and fall into a deeper relationship with each other and those around them.
To get my one concern out of the way, there is a bit of an odd age gap between our main character Ox and Joe. Joe was very, very young when he met Ox and felt the call of his fated mate in him. Ox had no idea till he was into his twenties. For the most part I felt like it was handled fairly well, you could tell Mr. Klune was extremely careful with it and I ended up happy with the way it was handled but I think some will still find it uncomfortable.
Besides that one concern I loved so much of this. It had me laughing out loud and then tense nearly crying at times. The emotional vibrancy here was powerful. The perspective of Ox, a simple guy, really cut things into the basics and the conflicts in the book felt realistic and believable. Even seeing the path the story was going to take I was heartbroken when those things happened. There are a lot of violence and even two deaths on page. I'll list what I remember of the triggers below, as it can be intense.
I'd highly recommend this for fans of romance, paranormal and fantasy especially. I am most definitely purchasing my own hardcover (budget be damned) as this is a story I can and will reread to annotate and enjoy.
TWs:
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
To get my one concern out of the way, there is a bit of an odd age gap between our main character Ox and Joe. Joe was very, very young when he met Ox and felt the call of his fated mate in him. Ox had no idea till he was into his twenties. For the most part I felt like it was handled fairly well, you could tell Mr. Klune was extremely careful with it and I ended up happy with the way it was handled but I think some will still find it uncomfortable.
Besides that one concern I loved so much of this. It had me laughing out loud and then tense nearly crying at times. The emotional vibrancy here was powerful. The perspective of Ox, a simple guy, really cut things into the basics and the conflicts in the book felt realistic and believable. Even seeing the path the story was going to take I was heartbroken when those things happened. There are a lot of violence and even two deaths on page. I'll list what I remember of the triggers below, as it can be intense.
I'd highly recommend this for fans of romance, paranormal and fantasy especially. I am most definitely purchasing my own hardcover (budget be damned) as this is a story I can and will reread to annotate and enjoy.
TWs:
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, and Child abuse
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
mili24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault
elenaysuslibros's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-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? It's complicated
3.0
Cuando tomaba este libro para empezar a leer me costaba tanto parar, me tenía super metida con la historia. Aunque me gustó el libro si tengo algunos peros que no podía pasar por alto.
Primero, las cosas buenas. Me gustó como de una pude vincularme con los personajes. No me cayeron todos bien, pero si quería leer de ellos, saber como pensaban. Me gustó Ox como protagonista, sobre todo porque aunque hubiesen momentos donde no estaba de acuerdo con él si entendía sus motivos.
Me encanta también esta familia encontrada, aunque a momentos era demasiado sectaria (así un poco como la familia Cullen). Me gustaron sobre todo los integrantes del mecánico de Gordo y su relación con Ox.
Creo que la historia tenía muchísimo relleno, escenas que no tenían por qué alargarse tanto o momentos muy repetitivos, pero como estaba como bala leyendo se me hizo como leer Slice of life: pasa poco y es casi rutinario, pero estoy cómoda leyendo y dispuesta a seguir.
Ahora, lo que más me enojó de este libro fue la traducción. No tiene que ver con la historia en sí, pero fue lo que más me dificultó la lectura. Habían cosas que se notaba que podrían haber sido mejor pulidas, escoger mejores palabras, y el hecho de yo poder notar eso mientras leía me descolocaba un montón. Que el mecánico en vez de llamarse "Gordo's" (como supongo que se llamaba en ingles) se llamara "Lo de Gordo" me pareció una sobrecorrección innecesaria y además fea.
No sé si esto tenga que ver con la traducción o con la escritura, pero que diga "me fulminó con la mirada" me parece un pecado. Se debería sacar esta expresión y cambiar por una mejor.
Lo otro que no me gustó fue lo repetitivo del libro, sobre todo con Ox mencionando una y otra vez lo que le dijo su papá antes de irse. Si quieren mostrar que eso causó un trauma en él, en vez de repetir una y otra vez la frase es mejor mostrar como eso se manifestaba en su vida cotidiana. Pasaron los años en el libro y él aunque fuese un adulto seguía repitiendo como niño esa frase y me tenía desesperada.
Siento que el drama, la familia cerrada y el romance tan intenso y posesivo era muy similar a la dinámica de Crepúsculo. La relación de Ox con la familia Bennett era super potente, y no sé si me daba risa o ternura.
El romance del libro no me terminó de convencer, creo que no se hacían bien el uno para el otro y era demasiado para que terminaran bien, pero si me parecía interesante su dinámica.
Quizá parezca que solo tengo cosas negativas, pero si me gustó el libro. Pensé que me iba a gustar más, pero de todas maneras voy a ver el resto de los libros porque creo que los romances que siguen (ya quiero leer el de Gordo porque es personaje mi favorito) me van a gustar más.
Primero, las cosas buenas. Me gustó como de una pude vincularme con los personajes. No me cayeron todos bien, pero si quería leer de ellos, saber como pensaban. Me gustó Ox como protagonista, sobre todo porque aunque hubiesen momentos donde no estaba de acuerdo con él si entendía sus motivos.
Me encanta también esta familia encontrada, aunque a momentos era demasiado sectaria (así un poco como la familia Cullen). Me gustaron sobre todo los integrantes del mecánico de Gordo y su relación con Ox.
Creo que la historia tenía muchísimo relleno, escenas que no tenían por qué alargarse tanto o momentos muy repetitivos, pero como estaba como bala leyendo se me hizo como leer Slice of life: pasa poco y es casi rutinario, pero estoy cómoda leyendo y dispuesta a seguir.
Ahora, lo que más me enojó de este libro fue la traducción. No tiene que ver con la historia en sí, pero fue lo que más me dificultó la lectura. Habían cosas que se notaba que podrían haber sido mejor pulidas, escoger mejores palabras, y el hecho de yo poder notar eso mientras leía me descolocaba un montón. Que el mecánico en vez de llamarse "Gordo's" (como supongo que se llamaba en ingles) se llamara "Lo de Gordo" me pareció una sobrecorrección innecesaria y además fea.
No sé si esto tenga que ver con la traducción o con la escritura, pero que diga "me fulminó con la mirada" me parece un pecado. Se debería sacar esta expresión y cambiar por una mejor.
Lo otro que no me gustó fue lo repetitivo del libro, sobre todo con Ox mencionando una y otra vez lo que le dijo su papá antes de irse. Si quieren mostrar que eso causó un trauma en él, en vez de repetir una y otra vez la frase es mejor mostrar como eso se manifestaba en su vida cotidiana. Pasaron los años en el libro y él aunque fuese un adulto seguía repitiendo como niño esa frase y me tenía desesperada.
Siento que el drama, la familia cerrada y el romance tan intenso y posesivo era muy similar a la dinámica de Crepúsculo. La relación de Ox con la familia Bennett era super potente, y no sé si me daba risa o ternura.
El romance del libro no me terminó de convencer, creo que no se hacían bien el uno para el otro y era demasiado para que terminaran bien, pero si me parecía interesante su dinámica.
Quizá parezca que solo tengo cosas negativas, pero si me gustó el libro. Pensé que me iba a gustar más, pero de todas maneras voy a ver el resto de los libros porque creo que los romances que siguen (ya quiero leer el de Gordo porque es personaje mi favorito) me van a gustar más.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Sexual assault
rachratesreads's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Ableism, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Sexual content, and Torture
Minor: Abandonment, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism
anintrovertrambles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault