9.74k reviews for:

Wolfsong

TJ Klune

4.13 AVERAGE

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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: Yes

This book is like candy canes and pinecones and epic and awesome

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous emotional funny reflective 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
adventurous emotional sad 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

This book strikes a wonderful balance of heart-wrenching and heart warming. It's filled with an expansive cast of characters who feel deeply grounded, relatable, and lovable.  The beautiful prose creates a deeply rich world that is built on familiar tropes without being overly twee or obnoxious. A wonderful book.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Wolfsong follows the story of Ox, a teenager with no friends who, by chance, meets a young boy, Joe,  who immediately takes a liking to him and introduces him to his family. As it turns out, Joe’s family are werewolves. Bonds grow as the years pass, and some harrowing events take place along the way. 

This story was beautifully written, but far longer than it needed to be. There was a lot of repetitive filler (how many times did we need to be reminded that Ox’s daddy said he’d get shit all his life?) and internal monologues that went on for what felt like entire chapters. Klune has a talent for painting lovely scenes with words, and he created some fascinating characters and a gripping plot. 

The one thing I couldn’t abide, however, was the age gap between Ox and Joe. It’s true that age gaps don’t really matter when both parties are adults. 42 and 36? Who cares? But 23 and 17? 16 and 10? No, thank you. Klune tells us time and again how Joe’s family was okay with it, that Joe chose Ox and knew from the moment they met that they’d one day mate, it was fully Joe’s choice, and the characters don’t enter into a romantic relationship until they’re both consenting adults. But it doesn’t compute for me why Klune chose those ages, that age gap.

dominerdy's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 27%

I was really enjoying this book until the 23 year old main character started crushing on his 17 year old best friend.

The main character recognized it as wrong, and then the 17 year old’s family and everyone involved told him it was fine? I expected someone to call this out, but no one in the book seemed concerned about this. Almost everyone seemed to encourage it.

The normalized pedophilia just makes me too uncomfortable to continue reading.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes

Ahhhmazing. I cried multiple times. Ox was such a lovely narrator, and it was extremely rewarding to see him grow to understand himself and love himself over the course of the book. I just... love this book a lot.

Update 4/2024: Just doing my yearly re-read~

sydneejc's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 30%

Twilight from Jacob’s POV if he was human surrounded by wolves ? Including a weird imprinting on a young person … but instead of a baby it’s the non related younger brother you grew up with …

Also the writing was so repetitive! This is a sample of how I heard the dialogue: 

I said: joe (because it’s Joe! Joe Joe Joe )
Joe said: ox? Ox ox
I said: my daddy left me
Joe said: I know
I thought: pack pack pack family 

I really wanted to like this. The story and world developing had so much potential but the entire time it was just “you should feel in love with these people” and no reason why. 

It was also way too long holy crap. 30% in and we’ve gotten nowhere
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

Gay/bi werewolfs & witches in a small rural town. Slow pace for a 20 hour, 500 page book. Spicy scenes felt from a dude perspective. Be sure to read the epilogue. Overall wasn't for me.